Fangas Nayaw

Amis people
Born 1987, Taitung County, Taiwan
Lives and works in Taipei City, Taiwan

Central to the work of Amis choreographer Fangas Nayaw is the dilemma of how to adjust to the reality of contemporary social life, and in the face of globalisation, while preserving tradition. Equally at home in theatre and innovative platforms such as virtual reality, Nayaw’s museum-based participatory projects engage audiences in intimate discussions of indigenous issues while introducing Amis songs and modes of socialising.

In the Taiwanese dissident tradition, Nayaw views the performing arts as a medium that can generate social change, and his work touches on lingering controversies from the past and the present. With La Punk XXX, a theatrical production restaged as a video installation, Nayaw expresses his deep concern for the loss of indigenous perspectives on land use and natural resources, and its long-term implications. He proposes an ‘indigenous punk’ futurism, based on an ethos of shared responsibility, trust and perception, where creation is predicated on ‘multiplication and superposition’.