Bitter Moves Sweet Truths
An evening of continuing
Angela Wai Nok Hui
Ghost and John
24 Feb 2022 - 7pm
The Old Fire Station, Oxford
23 Mar 2022 - 7:30pm
Streatham Space Project, London
Last Christmas, a new telescope was sent into space and is now wandering in the dark and mysterious galaxy - is this how we, as artists, feel when we go deep into our consciousness in search of what makes us feel alive?
On this multi-sensory journey, we navigate the dilemmas of politics, sickening racial attacks, and the widening gap between the ‘successful’ and ‘starving’ artist figure, moving with and through the audience.
Together they look at what creative exchange and artist alliance means in a world where the arts are under threat, and how to project a healthier future in the post-pandemic world.
This dynamic promenade piece will merge dance with soundscapes & projections, transporting you to a place of calm that strives to build connections through art.
Ticket holders are invited to an after-show conversation
Interviews and featuring of the event and artists are welcome. If interested, please contact us at press@ghostandjohn.art
Photo by Oxford Atelier
Our Story
For Angela, Ghost and John, ‘Bitter Moves Sweet Truths’ is a sequel to ‘Skirmishes’, a stage piece presented at The Place in 2020 before the pandemic hit. The three met in 2019 in London, in the heated midst of the Hong Kong movement. Witnessing the political crisis unfold from faraway, they sought refuge in creative collaboration with each other.
Knowing Thomas Page and Shivaangee Agrawal also quit a platform due to the organisers’ unawareness of racial and gender politics and artist’s labour, we all gathered and questioned what we can do as independent activist artists while we tried hard not to sink in the sea of the current art industry. Thomas and Shivaangee then participate in this production as facilitators.
‘Bitter Moves Sweet Truths’ does not aim at answering questions, but boldly hold safe spaces for creative expressions about the sweet and bitter in finding allies in our many fights and the belief in the power in collaboration and togetherness.
Creative Team
Idea, Direction, Performance: Angela Wai Nok Hui, Ghost and John
Sound and music: Angela Wai Nok Hui
Archive film manipulation and projections: Ghost Chan
Text: John Chan
3-D visuals for projection: Jeffrey Choy
Stage management: Bonnie Chan
Facilitation: Hidden Keileon CIC, Thomas Page Dance, Shivaangee Agrawal
Venue partner: Streatham Space Project & Old Fire Station
Rehearsal space support: Chisenhale Dance Space & Papergang Theatre
Archive footage:
Walt Disney's 'Peter Pan' (1953)
BBC America's Apollo 11 Taking Off (1969)
Angela Wai Nok Hui and Ghost and John's 'Skirmishes' (2020) at The Place London
Music:
Sergei Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 18: I. Moderato, performed by Khatia Buniatishvili, Paavo Järvi and Czech Philharmonic Orchestra (2017)
Jer 柳應廷《人類群星閃耀時 Stellar Moments of Humankind》(2021)
Photo by Oxford Atelier
About the Artists
Angela Wai Nok Hui comes from formal classical training. Her practice is ultimately grounded by a clear devotion to explore and expand the boundaries of music, performance and sound art. Passionate about the creative process and experimenting with different art forms by re-creating and re-imagining sound and music. She is determined to continue forging her own narrative and platform in order to support her own wild imagination. She is always in search of new media with which she can represent herself more fully.
Over recent years, she has started to create her own work which often engages with political references and themes of identity from both places she calls home, embedded within the strange and beautiful sound worlds Hui creates to surround us all.
Ghost and John are a Hong Kong multidisciplinary art duo who are best known for their innovative integration of performance and contemporary technologies. Drawing from their experiences of working within biology and computer science, they have developed a dynamic artistic practice that examines the intricacies of the body and nature, technological advances and folklore that accompany history.
Their embrace of digital technology allows them to create extended choreographic experiences beyond theatre and dance, and broadcast their arts to wider audiences. Working across video, installation and performance, they create unique spectator encounters from scientific to spiritual, and from historical to mythical. Through complex investigations of social, historical, and cultural differences across the globe, they constantly explore the post-colonial trauma of Hong Kong, the use of technology in a democratic society and new forms of art presentation.
Their works have been presented internationally at Bloomsbury Festival and CCA Goldsmiths in London, ImPulsTanz in Vienna and Tai Kwun and Goethe-Institut in Hong Kong.
Photo by Oxford Atelier
About the Facilitators
Hidden Keileon is a multidisciplinary artist-led non-profit enterprise aiming at building inter-racial solidarity among global majority communities and addressing social issues related to migration and racism. Adopting a collaborative approach, we are elevating East and Southeast Asian artists in the UK by platforming their works. We recognise the inequalities in the current British society and bring a voice to the unheard narratives of the marginalised and underrepresented communities.
As a collective of artists across music, theatre, dance, design, film and performance, we are continuously expanding our expertise. We work with a fluid structure and create the yet-to-exist and hard-to-imagine.
Thomas Page (He/They) is an independent dance artist based in Oxford and the Artistic Director of Thomas Page Dances (TPD).
Currently undertaking their masters at The Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance, Thomas is also an Associate Artist of Swindon Dance, The Old Fire Station Theatre, and a recent SPARK Artist in Residence at The Pegasus Theatre.
Since founding Thomas Page Dances in 2016, the company has rooted their choreographic practice around sociopolitical ideas in movement. Using choreography as a form of aesthetic activism and the universality of dance as a language seeking to create connections between people who are often separated by very specific ideas, beliefs or experiences. This practice is seen both in Thomas’ work with their professional company and youth company, TPD Young Artists.
Shivaangee Agrawal is a dance artist with a practice that concerns choreography, writing and advocacy. Having trained in Bharatanatyam in both London and Bangalore, she graduated from Trinity Laban in 2018 where she was awarded The Choreological Prize. She has worked for a range of choreographers including Janine Harrington, Rosie Kay, Sonia Sabri, Seeta Patel, Shane Shambhu and Suba Subramaniam, and continues to train at The Bhavan, London. She’s been awarded choreographic support from Akademi’s Choreographic Commissions and ACE’s Developing Your Creative Practice. Shivaangee’s newest work “North” premiered at Bloomsbury Festival 2019 and then at the opening night of Resolution Festival 2020. She has led the creation of ReRooted Dance Collective, which is developing a methodology for classical Indian dancers to work collaboratively and experimentally in the studio. She is supported by The Place as a Choredrome Artist 2021, as she explores collectivity, rhythm and disorientation.
Photo by Oxford Atelier