Artistic Research and Dramaturgical Framework

Archipelagic Method: Amidst Islands

Beyond the Shore is a travelling series that connects different coastal locations at sea through research and performance. We work with an archipelagic method, inspired by Caribbean philosopher Edouard Glissant. The archipelagic emphasises the relationality of islands. In an archipelago, no island is above another and each has its own characteristics. The diversity of islands is held by the collective identity as an archipelago.

As an artistic collective, we work in a horizontal, relational manner, rather than in a hierarchical structure. Each of us is an island – each member of the collective interprets and builds upon the collective research and idea pool in generating new installments in the series. This inherent multiplicity allows for diversity within the artistic creations. Like the archipelago, the works unite through a strong focus on concept and dramaturgy.

A collective of pirate imaginaries

From early wokou piracy in Japan and China, to colonial dealings with the Dutch, British, and Portuguese, to recruitment in the Philippines and hiding out in Vietnam, Pirates of the Pacific travelled on multilingual, multiethnic, and multicultural ships at sea. Inspired by their alternative formation, Beyond the Shore is created by a collective of artists trained and based in different parts of the world. We draw from a multitude of artistic disciplines to create hybrid forms that bring together dance, theatre, music, moving image, technology, and analogue game. We tailor our performances to specific sites and spaces, and present our stories through multisensorial and multimedial means.

Tracing and deep mapping as navigation 

Our research challenges traditional, text-bound histories. Our project maps and remaps the oceanic world of the Pacific Ocean, from mythical figures to actual historical events. At our home base of archipelagic Hong Kong, we form the foundation of the artistic research through tracing Hong Kong’s coastal and port histories. In the larger frame of the South China Coast and the Asia-Pacific, the project builds historiographies of the region through researching early inter-Asian oceanic voyages, diasporic Chinese migration, and the relations between European colonial trading ports in Asia. Through this lens, we create ocean-centric narratives.

Mythwork and Critical Fabulation

Ocean-centric narratives, especially stories of non-humans and mythological figures, are never complete and often require active re-imaginations. Rather than simply narrating archival findings, our work makes use of Saidiya Hartman’s “critical fabulation” to address gaps in the historical records through embodied storytelling and dance. Aside from fabulating stories beyond human-centric knowledge, there is also a critical dimension to this method of working. In Venus in Two Acts (2008), Hartman suggests that historical research has to be combined with fictional narratives to recuperate the stories of missing African-American female slaves from the archives to restore their agency. Critical fabulation allows new stories to be told, ones that can potentially move away from repeating stories of trauma. Such an ethic echoes Tuck and Yang’s critical refusal towards emphasising narratives of pain and suffering in research on colonialism (2014).

In the words of Simon O’Sullivan, “there is always the possibility of telling a different story” (129). In From Magic and Myth-Work to Care and Repair (2024), O’Sullivan discusses the method of archaeofictioning. Rather than focusing on the ‘truth of the past’, this method asks what kinds of fictions can be reconstructed from found material. Specifically, he proposes the possibility of attending to new subjects, humans and non-humans alike, so as to summon “a different past and thus a different future” (131). To him, this work has an important ecological aspect, as the future implies a larger temporal and communal context made up of future human and non-human communities.

Eco-feminist sensibilities: Feminist stories and multi-species justice

Our work is grounded in eco-feminist sensibilities—Beyond the Shore is interested in untold stories of female figures and animals at sea, and we want to do our part in the ecological conservation of the Pacific ocean. In the margins of history, we trace and unearth hidden stories of female goddesses, mythical creatures, divers, pirates, pearl oysters… and retell their secrets buried in the sands of time. We hope our performance-making and educational initiatives will help strengthen more-than-human imaginaries towards ecological regeneration and justice for all. After all, the world is connected via one ocean.