20 Beans + A Box
20 Beans + A Box is a performing and visual art group founded in 1993.
The members are mainly university graduates who studied a variety of disciplines, including Philosophy, Comparative Literature, Performing Arts, Engineering and, predominantly, Fine Arts. Some of them are now arts administrators in various organisations. Their first work Wall Play won critical praise and several awards in the Urban Councils Annual Drama Festival 93 - from this beginning the foundations of 20 Beans were laid.
20 Beans share no formal performance training but are enthusiastic in exploring all possibilities in using the theatre to create different types of artistic work. In their performances, 20 Beans combine various visual elements such as installation art, painting, images and video art inside the theatre in an attempt to give their performances a new and varied visual appearance - which is not solely based on performance and movement. Critics have tried defining the group as a New Generation of Alternative Theatre, Experimental Theatre or Youth Angst Theatre, based on the work done over the last 5 years. However, 20 Beans is not static and is continually changing, experimenting and moving into new directions.
Their experimentation by the interaction of live performance & visual art work as well as performance as installation art often creates an unusual atmosphere for the audience that brings the performance off the stage and into the audience. The past work "Action Blueprint RX" of the Now Festival '95, organised by the Hong Kong Arts Centre, A Travelling Work of Voices on the Chinese University Campus in 1996, ja6luk9tsoet7 at Zuni Icozahedron in 1997 and Invisible Hypothesis at the Hong Kong Arts Centre in 1997 were created under this objective.
In the Every Single Other Territory (My Own Idiosyncrasy Garden), the Hong Kong Arts Festival98 Programme, 20 Beans had succeeded in exploring the concept of video theatre with Videotage and the multi-media performing art group Momentm (Australia).
20 Beans not only concentrates on performance but has previously had three multi-media installation exhibitions. In these exhibitions, they try to integrate the visual arts with other multi-media components - with the use of light, motors, constructions, video and projections. Recent exhibitions include "Detached Hallucination" at John Batten Gallery in 1997 and the "田口回" installation exhibition at the Para/Site Art Space in September 1998. These have been important signposts for 20 Beans in their effort to create cross-artform work.
Individual members are involved not only in collective performances they have developed altogether, but have been actively gaining further experience by joining other local or international art programmes and festivals. These include, the 3rd Castle of Imagination Art Festival in Poland, the 2nd Nippon International Performing Arts Festival in Japan, an Artist-in-Residence programme organised by Art Space in Australia, etc. Some of the 20 Beans artists have appeared in local exhibitions including "Manulife New Artists Exhibition 95" at the Pao Gallery, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Fringe Festival '97 curated programmes Hong Kong Experiment at the City Hall. Collaborations in other performance include Zuni Icosahedron's The Trial, Here here There there, Dance On 97, Edward Lam Dance Theatre's Bad Girls Meet Material Boys and YeDing's "Who's Annie".
20 Beans are not only involved in collective performances, they have been actively promoting visual and performing arts through participating and organising various educational workshops. These include the Walkie Talkie Workshop for the Tomorrow Arts Festival by Warehouse, I-D Generation - the Daring Artistic Creatures (Artists in Residence 98-99 Multi-media Workshop) and the Arts Development in Schools - Creative Workshop for Ying Wa College.
