Creating a Feeling of Aesthetic Wholeness through Collaborative Performance through Doom Box: A Practice as research Investigation / Ya Shu (2025)

Doom Box is a practice as research, collaborative performance project. Choreographed by Ya Shu, performed by Alice Herzog and Ya Shu. Exploring a holistic aesthetic experience through the integration of movement, sound, costume, installation, and space. Rooted in the Chinese philosophical concept of qi (气)—a dynamic energy uniting body, space, and intention, the project resists linear narratives and fixed categories in favor of embodied perception, emotional resonance, and multisensory engagement. Drawing from both Western phenomenology and Eastern ritual aesthetics, the work is constructed through relational, responsive methods that arrange atmosphere and intuition over form and representation. Elements such as Ran An’s reinterpretation of Lascia ch’io pianga, ChengJun Sun’s improvisational soundscapes, and the tactile presence of Doxa (a central sculptural installation) act not as background components but as living agents shaping rhythm and meaning. Costumes designed by BoTing Hao similarly influence movement and sound texture, becoming participants rather than accessories. The performance’s methodology relies on sensory immersion, embodied memory, and co-creation, with no categorized separation between art forms. Rather than illustrating ideas, Doom Box invites the audience to experience a theatre of sensation—where breath, light, material, and sound interact in real time to evoke a sense of aesthetic wholeness. This integrated, non-didactic approach positions performance as a site of living inquiry and emotional truth, grounded in presence and perception.