Chiaroscuro
Concept by Swedian Lie
Devised by Swedian Lie, Emma Clark, and Jack Schmitt
Devised by Swedian Lie, Emma Clark, and Jack Schmitt
Synopsis
An exploration of issues of racial and cultural identity through the eyes of a Chinese-Indonesian artist living in the United States. Contending with issues of identity, nationality, society, and culture and incorporating elements of performance and visual art, this work questions whether the risk of plunging into uncertainty is ultimately worth the freedom found in wandering in the grey zone.
Performance History
February 2013: Georgetown University, Washington DC
WABI SABI //
Dim lights.
Two metal prisms sit on stage.
Downstage of them is a low-lying wooden box that has “Chiaroscuro” brandished on top. Upstage of them is the “tea unit”: what looks like a Chinese wooden tea tray combined with an end table that has a shelving unit underneath.
Honkyoku music is playing in the background. Ritual fills the air.
CHIARO and OSCURO enter the stage, hunched over. They are dressed in baggy clothes with a color palette that is distinctly black and white. Both are wearing bandanas. CHIARO is wearing a white face mask and OSCURO is wearing a black face mask. They labor their way methodically onto the stage,
carrying weaved baskets on their backs. Their floor pattern suggests that they are tea farmers.
They make their way to the metal prisms. Pulling out two small burlap sacks that have the word “IMPORTED” stenciled onto it, they take the sacks and stand on opposite ends of the tea unit.
Dim lights.
Two metal prisms sit on stage.
Downstage of them is a low-lying wooden box that has “Chiaroscuro” brandished on top. Upstage of them is the “tea unit”: what looks like a Chinese wooden tea tray combined with an end table that has a shelving unit underneath.
Honkyoku music is playing in the background. Ritual fills the air.
CHIARO and OSCURO enter the stage, hunched over. They are dressed in baggy clothes with a color palette that is distinctly black and white. Both are wearing bandanas. CHIARO is wearing a white face mask and OSCURO is wearing a black face mask. They labor their way methodically onto the stage,
carrying weaved baskets on their backs. Their floor pattern suggests that they are tea farmers.
They make their way to the metal prisms. Pulling out two small burlap sacks that have the word “IMPORTED” stenciled onto it, they take the sacks and stand on opposite ends of the tea unit.
They rip open the sacks and begin pouring its contents into the tray. CHIARO is pouring white rice grains that have various tea leaves and spices mixed in with it, while OSCURO is pouring a mixture of dark-colored spices (such as nutmeg, cloves, black peppercorns, etc). Though they are both pouring into the same tray, the contents should not mix but rather be confined to their respective sides, creating a demarcation down the middle.
Once finished, CHIARO and OSCURO pull out two quintessential British tea cups with saucers from inside their baskets. They place each cup on the shelving unit, right underneath the two ‘mixtures’ of the tray. They take out two quintessential British tea kettles and began pouring hot water through the two mixtures. The contents will steep in the water, producing tea that will fall through the filter—which forms the underside of the tea tray—and drip into the cups. The results are a cup of ‘black’ tea and a cup of ‘white’ tea.
Once the cups are full, CHIARO and OSCURO stop pouring and place the kettles back into their baskets. Taking out the cups, they face one another, preparing for a toast.
With a clink of the cups, they pull down their face masks and sip.
The music cuts out.
Once finished, CHIARO and OSCURO pull out two quintessential British tea cups with saucers from inside their baskets. They place each cup on the shelving unit, right underneath the two ‘mixtures’ of the tray. They take out two quintessential British tea kettles and began pouring hot water through the two mixtures. The contents will steep in the water, producing tea that will fall through the filter—which forms the underside of the tea tray—and drip into the cups. The results are a cup of ‘black’ tea and a cup of ‘white’ tea.
Once the cups are full, CHIARO and OSCURO stop pouring and place the kettles back into their baskets. Taking out the cups, they face one another, preparing for a toast.
With a clink of the cups, they pull down their face masks and sip.
The music cuts out.
