Project Proposal Muyang Teng

I am currently conducting research on two projects that are closely related but have slightly different focuses. The first project is called Octopus in Drag, while the second project is called Dear Abliz.

What Do You Want to Make?

Octopus in Drag

I am interested in producing an animated portrayal of an octopus, a creature that has often been associated with the "yellow peril" metaphor in Western culture. The term "yellow peril" is a racist concept that depicts people from East and Southeast Asia as a danger to the Western world. This idea emerged during the 19th century when Western imperialism was expanding, and it portrayed East Asians as inferior beings with extraordinary abilities. I'm not interested in the historical use of the "yellow peril", I'm interested in my experience of racism as a Chinese/Asian folx in the Netherlands. "Chinese people will do any cheap job" has become "Asian sluts will suck all cocks of any other races.

The animation will begin by showcasing a misaligned, fragmented, and indistinct octopus that is illuminated by a powerful yellow light. This visual approach aims to depict the misrepresented image of Asia in different forms of media, such as pornography and news, as well as the racial stereotypes imposed on various Asian communities.

I would like to discuss the concept of toxicity. According to Mel Y. Chen, discussions about toxicity frequently contribute to the creation and reinforcement of social hierarchies and racist beliefs. Thinking about the connection between the body and toxins is inextricably linked to thinking about the relationship between the "imagined West" and Asian/China. Instead of viewing it as a simple encounter between two entities, it is now seen as an assemblage of elements. Power relations play a role in shaping this assemblage. The configuration, functions, and effects of the body-toxin relationship are flexible. The concept of becoming-toxic is introduced, where the body is not simply affected by a toxic substance but is itself transformed into toxicity. This embodiment challenges common categories and distinctions between "taking poison" and "being poison". Ambivalences between poison and cure are not only allowed but facilitated. The drug can be both enjoyable and enable different body practices, while the substance can also intoxicate, paralyze, or even kill.

In Queer Art, Antke Engel suggested the term "Drag" to describe this combination. Drag brings together bodies and images, blurring the lines between them and creating fantasies of different embodiments. Drag is a unique blend of reality and fiction, is embodiments with its hybrid nature. These embodiments are always distinct and different, existing in a different time and place. According to Antke Engel's suggestion, engaging in drag as an art form has the potential to challenge dominant ideologies and create a space that is removed from the immediate impact of personal experiences on the formation of identity. Drag assemblages support the undoing of gender, sexuality, and race.

Why do you want to make it?

Relation to previous practice

My works deconstruct oppressive systems through fragmented storytelling with emotional drift, presenting characters destined to fail in this world. Subjective perspectives and methods like glitches and hacking are maintained to challenge and reshape societal norms and colonial perspectives.

My work The Ruined Map at the end of 2022 reflects upon displacement and dysphoria, the inter-imperiality between mainland China and Western, and the entangled relationship between imagined community, masculinity, and pharmacopornographic technology. My work Purple Kiss examines the anus as a post-gendered organ, imagining a toxic future in which humans become asexually reproduced, plastic synthetic, with the shape of sea anemones, exploring the porosity, plasticity, and toxicity of the queer bodies.