The continuation of the spirit of “The Underground Beats”: Cultural Action and Collective Sound Making Regarding Memory
This speech focuses on Acid House, its late member DJ Wayland, and their experiences in organizing events, creating, and interacting in life. From these experiences, we will initiate discussions and reflect on the potential future development of Acid House and its social network. Furthermore, by exploring the reflexivity of this unconventional cultural community, we will respond to observations regarding Taiwan’s contemporary art and cultural ecology. In other words, it is through Acid House and DJ Wayland’s past journey of creating or participating in alternative cultural scenes—particularly the case of “The Underground Beats: The Glory of the Sound Wave Labyrinth” in August 2024—that we will investigate how to organize communities and hold events with cultural activism in mind. Our aim is to delve deeper into the so-called “underground spirit” and continue its development. The specific questions for discussion include: What is the underground spirit? What is the significance of investigating it in the contemporary context? What kind of discussions can arise from it? Isn’t hosting a party as simple as throwing a party? Why should it be considered a cultural event? What proactive roles can different individuals play in similar scenes?
Acid House. As its primary organizational goal, the Acid House team aims to showcase real-time behaviors, videos, and sound creation while experimenting with these elements. They are also dedicated to bringing contemporary artists and scholars together, amplifying their voices through performances and cultural action strategies, and establishing a diverse platform for community exchange through various projects. Representative Chen Siao-Chi (Director) will deliver a speech on this occasion. He holds a master’s degree in Drama and Theatre from the National Taiwan University of Arts and is a cross-disciplinary creator, exhibition curator, and performance art enthusiast. In 2013, he introduced the concept of “party theater”, participated in the planning of several electronic music events, and experimented with cross-disciplinary performances within the rave scene. In recent years, he has organized numerous performance art co-learning and presentation projects, primarily under the name of Acid House. The second speaker, Chen Yi-Che, joined Acid House in 2023. He holds a master’s degree in fine arts from the National Taiwan University of Arts and is also a creator. From 2014 to 2016, he managed the arts and culture space “18 Lane 5” in Tamsui. While closely observing the gathering and dispersal of crowds in arts and culture scenes for long, he continues to collaborate with various community groups and operates a studio named “tiān tái” in Sanchong, New Taipei City.