VR + R (Virtual Reality + Reality) production

Reeds

Choreography: Jiawei WANG, Yanyan QIAN

Reed is tender but resilient. Feeble humans could easily be destroyed, but those as tenacious as reeds probably survived, with dignity and respect.

During the World War II, an estimated group of 400,000 Asian and European women were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military. Only a minority survived the War, and in most cases they lived in poverty and exclusion afterward for over half a century. Since the 1990s, more and more survivors have bravely broken the silence. By initiating a series of campaigns, they asked publicly for apologies and compensation on behalf of all the ‘comfort women’ victims, of which very few are still alive today.

Dedicated to the sex violence victims and survivors of all wars and conflicts, this production Reeds reflects the above history from the perspective of Peace Studies with the framework of direct-, structural- and cultural- violence analysis via two questions: who threw them into the darkness during and after the War? How can we use art, particularly the forms of dance, music and virtual reality, to demonstrate our attitudes towards ‘comfort women’ as humans, so as to shape the future?

Reeds explores a combination of dance and virtual reality technology, with VR documentary, virtual and real dance performances.