Trapped Citizens: Reproduce the Scene
3 episodes in total. (Duration: 15-30 minutes per episode)
As a group focusing on production of culture, Trapped Citizen — a collective of musicians, designers, craftspeople and zinesters — is aware of the content and its social context. In the past two years, it has organized a variety of events such as musical performance and discussion, and has pondered upon the question of “Art for what sake.” Through the radio project, Reproduce the Scene, Trapped Citizen tries to reproduce the process of our performance/actions and make the consensus about the artistic scene in the ages.
EP1. Interview: Younger Punk
Punk as a music genre originated in the 1980s, serves as an introduction not only to music but also to political thinkings for members of Trapped Citizen. It provides a possible route to practice music as a way of resistance. However, we are surprised that the younger generation still listens to punk and form their own bands. We interviewed three friends who are in their twenty-something, to get a better understand of how they enter the punk community, their observation on the scene, and the reason they pick up a music of 40-year history to express themselves.
EP2.One Day of Trapped Citizen
Trapped Citizen’s collective house is located behind Dazhi Market. Members sleep in the boisterousness during the daytime and wake up at night, rehearsing, chatting, and discussing. Trapped Citizen have a meeting every two weeks. When the tenancy is due next year, members discuss their individual life and the collective projects, trying to figure out the next step of Trapped Citizen.
EP3 & 4. Interview: dB Test
Trapped Citizen organized dB Test, a guerrilla party, under Yongfu Bridge last April. Inspired by Hong Kong’s Guerrilla parties, the aim of dB Test was to challenge the definition and order of public space. two monthslatter, dB Test moved to Daguan Community, where residents faced the threat of eviction. Trapped Citizen tried to lead its community into Daguan, to brought more support to the residents. We invite members from Daguan to review the series of dB Test.
Trapped Citizens
Trapped Citizens was founded in 2015 as a book club by a group of musicians and friends. As of now, we are a collective with 15-30 members, composed of musicians, visual designers, film workers, and friends. In 2017, we transformed a building in Dazhi into our base for living, working, and band practice. We also utilized the space to hold occasional public events, including talks, gatherings, and film screenings.
Since 2016, Trapped Citizens has organized diversified activities in various venues. We hold “Manuke from Southeast Asia in Solidarity Party” at a freezing riverside, music festival “Trapped Citizens Riot” at a steaming hot warehouse, and guerrilla parties “dB Test” at public spaces. Surrounding the theme of “Do It Together” and exploring how music and art can be a cultural activism, we also coordinated a series of talks at our Dazhi base.
Trapped Citizen is a very loose and flat organization. There is neither clear obligation nor hierarchy within the organization. Instead, we have regular meetings to make consensus decisions on all kinds of things, from the shared goal and value of the organization, to various daily routine. Based on these characters, maybe Trapped Citizens could be seen as some sorts of collective?!