Kai Tuchmann will deliver a performance-lecture titled “To Wake up the Archives!” at the Department of East Asian Studies (Sinology) on 28 May. During his visit, Tuchmann will present a performance-lecture exploring politics and identity through archival material and contemporary dance.
Dr. Xi Muliang will deliver a public lecture titled “Official, Commercial, and Experimental: a brief overview of contemporary Chinese theatre and its historical background” at the Department of East Asian Studies (Sinology) on 7 May. During his visit, Dr. Xi will present an overview of contemporary Chinese theatre and its historical development across official, commercial, and experimental dimensions.
Professor Keping Wu (Duke Kunshan University) will deliver a public lecture titled “From Fertility to Spectacle: Performing Women’s Bodies in Post-socialist China” at the Department of East Asian Studies (Sinology) on 30 April. During her visit, Professor Wu will present her research on the transformation of the “Fair Lady Festival” (Xiannü Jie) and its changing meanings across different historical contexts.
On 11 December 2025, Rossella Ferrari was invited by Kunsthalle Wien for a lecture and conversation titled “Transition and Transformation: Contextualizing Art and Culture in Postsocialist China“. The lecture was part of a public programme connected to the exhibition Teenager by Chinese visual artist Guan Xiao.
Between 20-23 November 2025, Fabrizio Massini attended the 2nd Qiandeng Lake Fringe Festival in Foshan, China, as an invited guest and observer. On November 21, he participated in a round-table discussion titled “Watching Theatre Festivals All Over the World”.
On 19 October 2025, Rossella Ferrari participated as an invited speaker in the “Wuzhen Dialogues” at the 12th Wuzhen International Theatre Festival in Wuzhen, China, where she spoke in a session titled “Literature with its Triumphs and Failures”.
On 14 May 2025, Rossella Ferrari delivered an invited lecture at the University of Turin, Italy, titled “Opere Modello 2.0: Reinterpretazioni postsocialiste del teatro della Rivoluzione Culturale” (Model Operas 2.0: Postsocialist Reinterpretations of the Theatre of the Cultural Revolution)
Professor Shen Lin (China Academy of Art/Central Academy of Drama) delivered a public lecture titled “New Looks on an Old Stage” at the Department of East Asian Studies (Sinology) on 27 March 2025. During his visit, Professor Shen conducted extensive interviews with the Team as an advisor to the project.
Funded by the FWF (Austrian Science Fund) Grant DOI: 10.55776/PAT9791923
Performing Postsocialism in Twenty-First-Century China
This project explores theatre, dance, and performance art in contemporary China, examining how artists navigate the shifting cultural, social, and political landscape of the postsocialist era. Through a combination of archival research, ethnographic fieldwork, and performance analysis, we investigate the evolving role of performance in shaping and reflecting China’s twenty-first-century transformation. Discover our research, meet the team, and explore the impact of performance in China today.
Department of East Asian Studies (Sinology), University of Vienna, Austria
维也纳大学汉学系
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