Jay Hezekiah

How can innovation be utilised to preserve culture and create new interactions with the art form?

This project seeks out to rewrite the Chinese gangster narrative that plagues lion dance, doing so by presenting the art form as a multi-faceted network of ritual, performance and expression.

By rethinking what performance can become, the concept of lion dance as contemporary art is put under the spotlight. Lion dance as contemporary art does not just uphold ritualistic responsibilities but also serves as a medium for expression, where practitioners experience an active relationship with their tools of expression.

[Innovation in culture] imagines a relationship between practitioner, craftsmen and artefact where the lion influences the movement of the practitioner and the practitioner's movement influences the features of the lion, with craftsmen mediating this relationship.

The redesigned lion features translucent 3D printed skeleton with appendages and translucent grated PET 'skin' that bounces and shimmers with each dance move. The kinetic aspect of the lion accentuates the movement of the practitioner and the translucent nature of it brings focus to the intention of the practitioner instead of what the lion represents.