Yueling Ji
Ph.D. Student, EALC
The Piano in a Factory and Socialist Theories of Form
Time: Friday, November 8, 1-3 pm screening+3-5 pm discussion
Location: Center for East Asian Studies 319 (1155 E. 60th St.)
Discussant: Anthony Stott (Ph.D. Student, Comparative Literature)
*Please note that there will be a screening of the film The Piano in a Factory 鋼的琴 before the discussion.
Catered lunch will be provided!*
On November 8, The Arts and Politics of East Asia (APEA) workshop is proud to host Yueling Ji (Ph.D. Student, EALC), who will present her paper “The Piano in a Factory and Socialist Theories of Form.” She summarizes her paper as follows:
The first task of this paper is to read the film The Piano in a Factory closely, formalistically, but also politically and historically, and show how the film demands that we do all of these things together. The second task is to survey theories of form in Chinese socialism, many of which rely on a dichotomy of form and content. While in some cases this leads to the dominance of political over formal aspects of the arts, in other cases politics itself valorizes and operates on a theory of form. The invention of a formal theory of subjectivity that is non-essential and malleable is key to political mobilization in times of social change. I will consider a long-lasting analogy between artistic form and subjectivity reform in Chinese socialism, and revisit the call to action in socialist realism as an opportunity to move beyond the form/content divide.
We look forward to seeing you at the workshop.
Jiayi Chen and Sabine Schulz
Co-coordinators, Art and Politics of East Asia Workshop
