Synopsis

Taiwan’s unique landscape and geopolitical history serves as a theme for The Subduction Zone. Located at the subduction zone where the Eurasian Plate converges with the Philippine Sea Plate, the island of Taiwan has developed a unique topography as a result of the downwelling tectonic activity. Similarly, Taiwan’s position at the boundaries of different political forces within the global geography, and the hidden forces exerted by political, economic, cultural, and ideological plates, have shaped its national identity. Our Suite de Danses which is 3rd chapter of The Subduction Zone is in cooperation with Taipei Municipal Fuxing Senior High School students. Shake invited these participant-students to share: Which songs make them recall their childhood? Which songs remind them of their parent’s generation? Which songs do they learn in school? They appropriate the military parade (which still could be found in Taiwanese school activities) as the narrative form to perform the selected songs, and shoot the video at the Jili Badlands which caused by the subduction process. In order to represent the constitution of culture and education in Taiwan, the participant-students try to re-interpret the songs which express their generation and cultural identity in front of this specific landscape because it displays Taiwan’s geographical changes.