Aulu Tjibulangan

Aulu Tjibulangan studied at the Taipei National University of the Arts and has performed for many contemporary dance companies in Taiwan such as Bulareyuang Dance. In 2016, Tjibulangan won the Rising Star Award at the Pulima Arts Award for his work Beyond and in 2018 was awarded a scholarship from the Jin-Lin Foundation to perform and attend the American Dance Festival.

To be provided with this opportunity to collaborate with Australian Indigenous performing artists will enable me to build upon and expand my current choreographic project, Qadaw, meaning Sun.

Aulu Tjibulangan

To further develop his choreographic work, Tjibulangan is interested in learning about the Sun, Earth and birds that are imbedded within Aboriginal Lore. In this, Tjibulangan will unite ideas of tradition and the Modern through dance, movement and environmental theatre.

As a counterpoint, Tjibulangan will draw upon his Paiwanese heritage to interpret and explore Walter Benjamin’s concept of ‘aura’ in his 1935 essay ‘The Work of the Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction’.

What is aura? A peculiar web of space and time: the unique manifestation of a distance, however near it may be. To follow, while reclining on a summer’s noon, the outline of a mountain range on the horizon or a branch, which casts its shadow on the observer until the moment or the hour partakes of their presence — this is to breathe in the aura of these mountains, of this branch.

Walter Benjamin

Tjibulangan explains how this relationship will be explored through the development of his choreographic work Qadaw during his 6-week residency in the Northern Territory.

The Sun, with its light brings colour to everything in the world. This light, and indeed, this ‘aura’ is also what gives the world its shape, defining the contours of the landscape. This interaction between the Sun and the Earth is also mirrored in the interaction between people and two Indigenous cultures.

Aulu Tjibulangan


To learn about Aulu Tjibulangan’s experience as the 2019 Taiwan Indigenous Artist in Residence read the Behind the Scenes article.

Contact

Level 2, Harbour View Plaza
8 McMinn St
Darwin, NT 0801

PO Box 535
Darwin, NT 0801

08 8941 1444