The Trio Hall

The Trio Hall, which received its world premiere at the 75th Berlinale in February, is a satire that takes aim at chauvinism and colonialism; a postmodern potpourri of images taken from Taiwanese films and TV shows. The whole thing was put together by Taiwanese artist Su Hui-Yu, who has transformed his performance of the same title at MOCA Taipei (2023) into an exceptional feature film debut crammed full of boundless creativity.

Provocative pop re-enactment

Nothing is sacred in this eccentric revue. Stalin dances with Chiang Kai-shek, Mao with Hitler – on roller skates and dressed for the ’80s – not to mention Churchill in a bathing suit. A competition between dictators: flashy, flamboyant, full of Hegelian dialectics and encompassing the whole world. The Trio Hall is a provocative pop re-enactment of the Cold War era that raises questions about the authoritarian tendencies emerging in the second decade of the 21st century.

Su Hui-Yu ushers us through the visual language of two strong visual cultures: the romanticism of Taiwanese Three Hall Cinema from the 1960s and ’70s, and TV and variety shows from the ’80s. This results in a scintillating picture parade where entertainment, escapism and ideology collide: dark humour for a world on the brink of chaos.

From May 22 until July 12, Su Hui-Yu's exhibition The Space Warriors and the Digigrave is on show at Ellen de Bruijne Projects in Amsterdam, more information here.