Speed Dating, a multimedia work including ambisonics, three-screen video, graphics, and a hand puppet, talks about Asian American self-image and online dating culture. The fictional narratives cover topics such as colonization, immigration, multiraciality, and sexuality based on real stories, in-person interviews, and sources including dating websites’ slogans (Asia Charm, MatchTruly, EastMeetEast, Tinder, OkCupid, and Compatible Partners), Asian Bodies That Proudly Defy An Archetype from HuffPost, and Noёl Alumit’s Rice Room: Scenes From a Bar. Plenty of works exist on how society perceives Asian Americans. Yet, there are not as many works on how Asian Americans view themselves. I am hoping to decode stereotypes in depth and shine light on disregarded issues through the intimate, introspective, and historical perspectives of modern young Asian Americans.
Michele Cheng, a 1.5 generation Taiwanese American, is an interdisciplinary composer intertwining diverse media such as music, experimental theatre, and puppetry to engage with social issues and cultural identities. Her works have been performed at CCRMA (Stanford, US), ICMC (Santiago, CL), ISSTA (IE), SICMF (Seoul, KR), Sonorities (Belfast, UK), SEAMUS (US), NYCEMF (NYC, US), eavesdropping (London, UK), New Music Gathering (Portland, US), Casa Obscura (Montréal, CA), Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon (Dijon, France), National Theater and Concert Hall (Taipei, Taiwan), among others. She has received commissions from JACK Studio, National Sawdust, White Snake Project, I Care If You Listen; grant from New Music USA; and scholarship from Atlantic Center for the Arts. She is a co-founder of the experimental pop duet Meoark and fff, an interdisciplinary improv collective led by feminist media artists. https://www.michelecheng.com
Simona Fitcal is a media artist, whose work offers a symbolic and expressive approach to digital visual effects by means of experimental video, multimedia performances, art installations, and interactive art. She often collaborates with musicians and programmers to bring a different dimension to her work. Fitcal is a graduate of the MFA Program in Art Practice in the Art and Art History Department at Stanford University. She holds an MA in Digital Media from the University of the Arts Bremen, Germany. She is a recipient of 2015 Murphy and Cadogan Award in film/video. http://simonafitcal.com