An improvisational indigenous Taiwanese contemporary performance and video.

In Eru, the language of the Truku tribe, “Elung” means “a path.” Founder of Elung Art Corner, Don Don Houmwm, hopes to cross art disciplines and styles, to clear his vision, and to stay aware of the ancestral path. In 2009, when finished with life in Taipei, Don Don chose to return to Tongmeng where he grew up. While walking and living there, he could feel his grandparent’s breath, and found gigantic energy for creativity. His work is the story of his land. It is involved with myth, history, family, even tribal issues. All these empowered his creativity. He mingles traditional musical instruments and ideas of theatre, and further transforms performance to become installation and video. His work combines the language of harmony and conflict. He meant to establish this “Elung” to share his childhood purity, and the energy belonging to the mountain and the valley. He hopes to transmit this emotions continually.

About the Program

Chanting Spirit
Using traditional Truku musical instruments, and Ami tribe chanting to complete the ritual of purity and welcome the spirit, Don Don seeks to install conscience in his art, and calls for a return to nature.

Don Don Hounwn
Don Don is a performer from the Truku tribe, Taiwan. His creations include various forms of traditional music instruments, and a blend of performance, video, and song that incorporate his special life experiences. He was a member of “Formosa Aboriginal Song and Dance Troupe” and “U Theater” and received first place in the Pulima competition in 2014.

Don Don Houmwm was born in Tongmen, Xiulin Township, Hualien County, Taiwan. “Don Don” means adorable child; given the recent culture developments in the tribe, it is a special and modern name. “Houmwm” is Don Don father’s name, and means sharp knife, “Don Don Houmwm” “is a combination of contemporary and traditional, reflecting the creator’s personality and sense of humor but also a serious creative attitude in which modern and traditional elements keep hitting the rub. As Don Don says, it is a” knife fight,” one in which I expect “the refined knife is able to guard the pure soul of child enough to create a bright future ….”

Image: The Brink between Perfection and Wreckage, 2015

Organized by Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei and the Taiwanese American Arts Council, New York, and iegoart.com

Special thanks:
J. J. Shih (Executive Director, MOCA, Taipei)
Maple Yu Chieh Lin (curator, MOCA, Taipei)

Program Made Possible by: