• Boring! The Performative Invisibility and Non-theatricality of Asian Americans in Higher Education
• Daphne P. Lei (bio)

Art objects occasionally perform an act of negation, some classic examples being Ce n’est pas une pipe (1929) by René Magritte and Le Vide (1958) by Yves Klein. The negation or lack of the object challenges the fundamental meaning of the subject’s gaze and complicates the relationship between the subject and object. Why does an object need to be negated, hidden, or erased in order to say something? What does the performative MIA (missing in action) tell us about the social and performance milieu? If the utterance of the missing object is not heard or cared for—that is, no one even notices its absence—does the object ever exist?

On the eve of the pandemic lockdown, two site-specific installation performances at the University of California, Irvine—Looking for an Asian American Play (February 11–12, 2020) and Viral Compassion (March 5, 2020)—sought to examine the performative (in)visibility—and to challenge the perception of (non)theatricality—of Asian Americans on university campuses. While in the United States in early 2020 COVID-19 was seen as an Asian virus “over there,” I became aware of the renewed scapegoating rhetoric and increasing violence against Asians and saw the urgency of creating these installation performances as a form of activism. “Theatre” on a college campus is an institution with specific spatial, temporal, ideological, and bureaucratic restrictions, [End Page E-59] functioning as a generally unwelcoming space for BIPOC artists as a result of Euro-American theatrical conventions. The general lack of AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) representation in university theatre curricula and performance seasons not only is detrimental to the growth of Asian American theatre, but also affects the general ecology of theatre. My purpose in producing these installation performances in public space therefore was to confront the general public with Asian American existence/absence by temporally occupying a common space.

Performativity and theatricality are interrelated in these two projects. In her Installation Art: Between Image and Stage, Anne Ring Petersen extensively discusses performativity and theatricality in installation performance. Performativity, she suggests, can be better understood by the German word hervorbringend, which Juliane Rebentisch used as a synonym for “performative.” Hervorbringen refers to the attempt to “bring out” (the intention of the artist) as well as “bring forth” (the viewer’s subjective interpretation).¹ Claire Bishop describes the key characteristic of installation art as the experience of singular totality, which requires the viewers’ physical presence as well as their sensorial and embodied experience of both the space and the ensemble elements of the art.² The performativity of an installation performance therefore depends on the viewers’ experience and interpretation. Theatricality, within the context of installation, can refer to the conscious staging, design, or choreography of the “scene,” or even “pathos-filled” artworks.³ Theatrical in design and content, the two works I discuss negotiate AAPI (non)theatricality through a dialectic and a performative process of engaging spectators.

Looking for an Asian American Play took place in multiple locations on the UC Irvine campus, between the Langson Library and the Gateway Study Center, as well as inside the library. Langson Library is a large, five-story research library; the Study Center is a building of similar size comprising study rooms and other institutional spaces. Outside of these two big buildings are benches, tables and chairs, wide steps, and large concrete railings that can all be used as staging areas. The passers-by did not seem to notice that a performance was about to take place.

The role of Professor (played by me) began by speaking to some students (actors and pedestrians): “Hello! Everyone! Attention, please. Today we are going to talk about Asian American plays . . .” Students (actors) interrupted her with various responses and questions:

“Do Asians write plays?”

“All the Asian people I know are doctors or engineers.”

“Do you mean . . . like Bruce Lee or Peking Opera?”

“Don’t you need to speak English?”

(Together) “Asian American theatre does not exist!”

A question was proposed by the crowd: “Where can we find Asian American plays?”

Professor responded by setting up a...

• 无聊的！亚裔美国人在高等教育中的表演隐形和非戏剧性
• 达芙妮·P·雷（简历）

艺术品偶尔会表现出否定的行为，一些经典的例子是René Magritte 的Ce n'est pas une pipe (1929) 和Yves Klein 的Le Vide (1958)。客体的否定或缺失挑战了主体凝视的根本意义，使主体与客体的关系复杂化。为什么一个对象需要被否定、隐藏或删除才能说些什么？表演型 MIA（缺失的行动）告诉我们关于社会和表演环境的什么？如果丢失的对象的话语没有被听到或关心——也就是说，甚至没有人注意到它的缺失——这个对象是否存在？

在大流行封锁前夕，加州大学欧文分校的两场特定地点的装置表演——寻找亚裔美国人戏剧（2020 年 2 月 11 日至 12 日）和病毒同情（2020 年 3 月 5 日）——试图审视表演性（不）可见性——并挑战大学校园中亚裔美国人对（非）戏剧性的看法。虽然在 2020 年初的美国，COVID-19 被视为“那边”的亚洲病毒，但我意识到新的替罪羊言论和针对亚洲人的暴力行为日益增加，并看到将这些装置表演作为一种激进主义形式进行创作的紧迫性。大学校园里的“剧院”是一个具有特定空间、时间、意识形态和官僚限制的机构，[End Page E-59]由于欧美戏剧惯例，BIPOC 艺术家普遍不受欢迎。大学戏剧课程和演出季普遍缺乏AAPI（亚裔美国人和太平洋岛民）代表，这不仅不利于亚裔美国戏剧的发展，也影响了戏剧的整体生态。因此，我在公共空间制作这些装置表演的目的是通过暂时占据一个公共空间来面对公众面对亚裔美国人的存在/缺席。

在这两个项目中，表演性和戏剧性是相互关联的。在她的《装置艺术：影像与舞台之间》中，安妮·林·彼得森（Anne Ring Petersen）广泛讨论了装置表演中的表演性和戏剧性。她建议，表演性可以用德语单词hervorbringend更好地理解，Juliane Rebentisch 将其用作“表演性”的同义词。Hervorbringen指的是“带出”（艺术家的意图）以及“带出”（观众的主观解释）的尝试。¹克莱尔·毕晓普将装置艺术的关键特征描述为对单一整体的体验，这需要观众的身体存在以及他们对空间和艺术整体元素的感官和具体体验。²因此，装置表演的表演性取决于观众的体验和解读。戏剧性，在装置的语境中，可以指“场景”的有意识的舞台、设计或编排，甚至是“充满悲情”的艺术品。³在设计和内容上具有戏剧性，我讨论的两部作品通过辩证法和吸引观众的表演过程来协商 AAPI（非）戏剧性。

《寻找亚裔美国人戏剧》在加州大学尔湾分校的多个地点、Langson 图书馆和 Gateway 学习中心之间以及图书馆内进行。朗森图书馆是一座大型的五层研究图书馆；学习中心是一栋大小相似的建筑，包括学习室和其他机构空间。这两座大建筑外面是长凳、桌椅、宽阔的台阶和大型混凝土栏杆，都可以用作集结区。路人似乎没有注意到表演即将开始。

教授（由我扮演）的角色开始于对一些学生（演员和行人）说：“你好！每个人！请注意。今天我们来聊聊亚裔美国人的戏剧。. 。” 学生（演员）用各种回答和问题打断了她：

“亚洲人写剧本吗？”

“我认识的所有亚洲人都是医生或工程师。”

“你的意思是 。. . 像李小龙还是京剧？”

“你不需要说英语吗？”

（合）“亚裔剧场不存在！”

人群提出了一个问题：“我们在哪里可以找到亚裔美国人的戏剧？”

教授的回应是建立一个...