Let's say you go to a party and paint designs on your body, then someone takes your photo and includes it in a project promoting world peace. Will it help stop the US from bombing Iraq? Will it keep the North Korean regime from building nuclear weapons? The organizers of a music and art event taking place this evening think it might. But while they're busy making final preparations for their festivities, other anti-war activists in Taiwan are wondering aloud about the efficacy of partying for peace.
In the past few weeks there have been several events aimed at gathering support for Taiwan's nascent peace movement and with the immediate goal of creating a local voice of opposition to a war in Iraq. Some of these activities have been protests, but others have been in the form of parties.
The first of these parties took place a month ago today. Early on Feb. 15, a few hundred protesters gathered outside the American Institute in Taiwan to voice their grievances with officials of the US' defacto embassy in Taiwan.
PHOTO: DAVID MOMPHARD, TAIPEI TIMES
Later that same day, several dozen people attended a party at Huashan Music House (華山音樂管) that went into the small hours of Sunday morning. The management of Huashan donated the space and attendance was free. The only thing party-goers were asked to do was paint their face and imprint it on a large white cloth "as a sign of commitment ? to show your dedication to world peace," said the event's organizer, Sean Wratt. Many people painted one of their hands instead.
Another event, titled "Peace de Resistance," took place on the eve of Taiwan's 228 Peace Day at Taipei dance club Vacuum Space. Organizers charged attendees NT$200 and invited them to "give peace a dance."
This evening's event, which will take place at the dance club The Wall, is billed as a "collective musical and art event where everyone is the artist ? using the sensuality of their bare bodies as an expression of peace."
PHOTO: DAVID MOMPHARD, TAIPEI TIMES
That ought to get at least a few people in the door. But Eric Lin isn't likely to be among them. He is an activist with Peacetime Foundation and would like nothing more than to see Taiwan's youth expressing their opposition to war. But Lin wonders what effect a party like tonight's might have. "I think their intentions are good, but I'd rather see them protesting in front of AIT in the morning instead of partying all night," he said.
And is there a difference between a party and a "collective musical and art event"?
"`Bare bodies' sounds like a party to me," Lin said. "Who is George Bush more likely to listen to; someone who hands him a petition with 10,000 signatures or someone who chooses an occasion like war to get naked and dance?"
As one of the organizers of tonight's event, Dominik Tyliszczak, has every intention of baring his body as an expression of peace. "Petitions get swept under some rug that the politicians never lift," he wrote in on-line materials publicizing the night. "Art is forever."
He has a point. Music, poetry and drama have served as outlets for anti-war sentiment since their beginnings. On March 3, Tyliszczak helped host a reading of Aristophanes' Lysistrata on the same day that readings of the Greek anti-war comedy were happening around the world.
The Lysistrata Project was conceived just seven weeks ago by two New York actors. Within days of having the date decided and after a lot of good publicity, 1,029 readings of the play took place in 59 countries. There weren't any tickets sold and most of the readings were reported to be rather intimate affairs, but as far as theatrical productions are concerned, that's a blockbuster run for a 2,400-year-old play.
Aristophanes is said to have written it out of grief over the thousands of Athenians who were killed when the Spartans attacked the city of Syracuse during the Peloponnesian War. It centers around the women of Athens, who tire of losing their sons and husbands in battle. They conspire with the women of Sparta to deny sex to all the region's men until a peace treaty is written and signed. It's a bawdy comedy that was first shown to Greeks during the festival of Dionysus, the god of happiness who, just by coincidence, was honored with drunken orgies.
Just what kind of art will be part of tonight's festivities? Kuo Pei-vong (
At least four photographers will capture his handiwork on celluloid and include this "body statement" as part of Art Project's artmobile exhibition.
And how will the exhibition help the anti-war effort? Tyliszczak and Kuo both prefer to focus on the reasons behind the expression rather than what effect it might have.
"Having your body painted and photographed carries a risk," Tyliszczak said. "You notice there were a lot more hands than faces on the cloth at the Huashan party," where he was the first to slather his face with red paint. He said that by overcoming their fear of that risk, people could overcome their fear of being heard as an individual voice speaking out for a strongly held belief.
"There are many ways of achieving the same goal," Kuo added. "This is another way that people can join."
Joining isn't free. Entry is NT$500 and includes a drink. "Part of the money will go to Greenpeace. Another part -- and this is more important -- will go to creating an artistic statement," Tyliszczak said, citing the costs of the artmobile project. "This is not about creating a profit, it's about creating the potential for more to happen."
Does that mean Taiwan's youth will continue partying for peace? The handbill for tonight's event says it will go on "till wars end."
Aristophanes didn't have that kind of chutzpah. He built a career on writing political plays, but after Lysistrata -- and feeling overwhelmed by a war -- he wouldn't pen another for nearly 20 years.
While Lin maintains that a coordinated campaign of letter-writing and protests is a more effective tool for voicing opposition in today's world, he agrees that Aristophanes couldn't have done any better by drafting a petition than writing a comedy. Years after the first performances of Lysistrata, Athens was crushed by the Spartans and the freedom of expression that gave life to the play was largely squelched.
"Certainly I agree with their right to express themselves," said Lin. "And I think what they're doing is getting some people involved who otherwise wouldn't. I just don't want anyone painting me."
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