Together in a Peach Garden

Together in a Peach Garden is a creative performance workshop presented by Xiao Ke × Zi Han at Taohuatan Cultural Center in Nanguo Taoyuan, Foshan, Guangdong, at the invitation of the Radius Artist Residency Programme. Through a combination of “lecture theatre + interactive game theatre,” participants and site management staff entered into games and discussions about the “Peach Garden.” Taking on stakeholder roles in Nanguo Taoyuan from the position of others, they explored its many possibilities. Participants included local residents of Nanguo Taoyuan as well as friends interested in contemporary theatre who travelled especially from Foshan, Guangzhou, and elsewhere.

During the two-week residency, Xiao Ke and Zi Han visited surrounding communities and interviewed people from different backgrounds who were connected to Nanguo Taoyuan, using art as a bridge to deepen interaction between the artists, local residents, and local culture. Working through their distinct methods and perspectives, Xiao Ke and Zi Han shared documentary shorts created during the residency, including conversations and interactions with residents and records of everyday life across the two weeks. From their perspectives, the films retraced the contours of the “Peach Garden” and unpacked a living community representative of industrial transformation in Guangdong’s Pearl River Delta.