Mirror-24 relationships (Taipei 2024)
 Venue: Huashan Fruit Wine Brewery Dance Theater
This work originates from Playing Landscape, an experimental theater piece presented in 2008 at the National Theater  in Taipei. Cindy Ng had embarked on a journey of live ink performance on stage, collaborating with the Point View Art Association to create an ink imagery theater piece. This marked the beginning of her five-year exploration in theatrical performances. The project’s funding from The Cultural Development Fund of Macao.
Mirror was one of the incubated works at the 2021 Macao Fringe Festival. The artist established intimate connections with 24 participants, using art as a form of healing, and then created 24 unique live ink performances, each dedicated to a single audience. The premiere received critical acclaim.
Building on the experience of the 2021 Fringe Festival and aiming to reach a broader audience, the creative team evolved Mirror from its original format—a series of 24 intimate, one-on-one interactive "personal concerts"—into a new structure: four mid-to-small-scale theater performances. In this iteration, each audience forms the 25th relationships with Cindy.
This iteration of the project proceeded smoothly with minimal adjustments, retaining the same four core team members:  Cindy as the lead artist, Yaya Lam and Bobo Loi providing live music, and Erik Kuong continuing as producer. The project was met with positive reception and consisted of two phases: 
Phase 1: "Establishing Relationships"
Conducted in late March to early April 2024, this phase required each of the 24 participants  to meet with Cindy before the performance.  After completing one of the 24 relationship-themed interactions did the performance officially take shape.
Phase 2: "Live Performance"
Held on May 8–9, 2024, this segment comprised four shows, each featuring six segments(approximately 6–10 minutes per segment) for a total runtime of 80–90 minutes. The performances were based on the 24 established relationships from Phase 1. Cindy, drawing from her interactions with the 24 participants, collaborated with the two musicians to explore how to present "the audience’s relationship with ink, sound, and imagery" in the live setting.
This structure allowed audiences to experience diverse artistic forms and content in a condensed time frame, enhancing engagement, interest, and interactivity.
The performance was exceptionally rich and unique in its interactivity, creating a profoundly meaningful and daring artistic experience. To achieve this, Cindy arrived in Taipei several weeks in advance to "Establish Relationships" with the Taiwanese participants of Phase 1, gathering and refining material for the performance. The 24 pre-selected audience engaged in one-on-one interactions with the artist before the show, allowing their thoughts and emotions to become an integral part of the creative process.
Beyond these 24 participants, all attending audiences were invited to write or sketch their impressions in the notebook during the live performance, co-creating "the 25th Relationships" with Cindy.
The project aimed to immerse audiences in a therapeutically artistic experience—inviting them to contemplate  works made by the artist, while witnessing the live creation of ink imagery, accompanied by real-time vocalizations, instruments, and singing bowls performed by musicians Yaya Lam and Bobo Boi.
By watching the projected ink imagery and recordings, audiences revisited and reflected on their interactions with the artists, deepening their emotional and intellectual engagement with the work. The performance became a mirror reflecting both the creator’s inner world and the audience’s psyche, offering a visceral encounter with the richness of life.
The immersive, interactive approach transformed spectators into co-creators—their thoughts and emotions woven into the fabric of the performance, evoking precious memories and unspoken feelings through projection and live improvisation.

This artistic project not only facilitates interaction between the audience and the artist, but also weaves the audiences' thoughts and emotions into the fabric of the work, enriching the entire performance with added depth and dynamism. The collision between participants' diverse regional backgrounds, cultural perspectives, and daily habits with the creator's vision. Simultaneously, this interactive approach provides audiences with a platform for self-expression, empowering them to actively participate in the artistic  process. They co-create distinctive and meaningful works that transcend conventional spectatorship.

An Open Letter to Taipei Audience (Summary of the original letter)
Dear Taipei,
It is with deep gratitude that I return to this city where my journey with art and healing began—a connection forged through my public art project at Sanchong Hospital 2014. Today, I bring you Mirror – 24 Relationships, an experimental participatory project blending performance art, ink theater, and sonic improvisation, unfolding in two phases from March to May.
Phase 1 will cultivate intimate psychological bonds with 24 participants through one-on-one encounters. In Phase 2, these interactions will seed live creations: I, alongside musicians Yaya Lam and Bobo Loi, will translate your stories into real-time ink projections (clouds, water, mountains) and improvised soundscapes during the performances. Post-show, archival traces of our exchanges will evolve into a documentary exhibition, extending the dialogue beyond the stage.
This is both a private emotional exchange and a public artistic alchemy—using flowing ink and music to remap the psychic landscapes of urban lives. Having premiered in Macao 2021, now I invite Taipei to co-author this next chapter.
With anticipation,
Cindy Ng
March 12, 2024

Phase 1: Establishing Relationships
For the performance to take shape, each of the 24 participating audience was required to complete one of the following relational connections with Cindy after registration before the show:
1. Do nothing. See you at the show.
2. Say “good morning” to you 3 days in a row.
3. Say “good night” to you 3 days in a row.
4. Post me something. (I will return it after show)
5. Sent 3 color pictures to each other.
6. Be friend on Facebook.
7. Share music via any social media.
8. Share a place to daze.
9. Share a story of Taipei.
10. Describe the colors in your dreams. (With your own interpretation)
11. Share some memories in recent years.
12. Write a letter to each other.
13. Meet at Taipei Main Station.
14. Take a bus ride together.
15. Meet at Taipei Fine Art Museum.
16. Meet at Eslite Bookstore.
17. Meet at YongKang Park.
18. Meet a Nanmen Market.
19. Enjoy beef noodle together.
20. Meet at Shandao Temple.
21. Meet at a church.
22. Go to beach together.
23. Meet a New Taipei City Hospital Sanchong Branch.
24. Accompany you to anywhere you want.
Phase 2: Live Performances (4 Sessions)
Session 01）May 8th（1 5:00）
1.  Do nothing. See you at the show.
2. Say”good morning” to you 3 days in a row.
6. Be friend on Facebook.
13. Meet at Taipei Main Station.
14. Take a bus ride together.
18. Meet at Nanment Market.    Session 01）May 8th （15:00）
4.  Do nothing. See you at the show.
10. Describe the colors in your dreams.(with you own interpretation)
11.  Share some memories in recent years.
19.  Enjoy  beef noodle together.
20. Meet at Shandao Temple.
24. Accompany you to anywhere you want.

Session 03）May 9th （15:00）
3. 3 Say”good night” to you 3 days in a row. 
9. Share a story of Taipei
12. Write a letter to each other.
15. Meet at Taipei Fine Art Museum.
16. Meet at Eslite Bookstore.
17. Meet at YongKang Park.    Session 04）May 9th （19:30）
5.Sent 3 color pictures to each other.
7. Share music via any social media.
8. Share a place to daze.
21. Meet at a church.
22. Go to beach together.
23. Meet a New Taipei City Hospital Sanchong Branch.

 

 

An Open Letter to all the Taipei Audience including the 24 participants after the Phase 1 and before the show. (summary of the original letter).
To the 25th Audience:
Thank you for becoming the epilogue of this artistic journey. Over forty days in Taipei, 24 participants (ages 16 to 101) guided me to rediscover this city—their stories hidden not only in tearooms and family dinners, but also in the unfamiliar corners of urban life. Some kept emergency bags at the ready; others tended steadfastly to this soil; a few shared scars and regrets... These fragments of lived truth have all merged into our collective ink-stained memory.
Though we’ve only just met, now we share this fleeting moment in time. May our flowing encounter leave a tender mark on Taipei’s spring.
Cindy Ng
May 3rd, 2024

ART CRITIC

The performance at May 8th and 9th 2024. .

According to his story, Cindy made an ink mood live performance with dry leave..