Ovah | Teng XueOvah | Teng Xue

Ovah | Teng Xue

Pronouns: He/him

The realization of identity is a steady and slow process. The relationship between constraint and liberation is relative. Inspired by ballroom, the underground queer subculture, as well as the reinterpretation of the sequence and construction of vogue’s five elements, Ovah is an extended reality system in the form of a costumed physical exoskeleton and a virtual experience which explores the correlation between liberation and constraint. Ovah, which comes from ballroom terminology, is a variation of "over" or "over the top, " usually used to describe excellence in a ball. It also represents the ability to pass as a certain gender or sexuality in everyday society.

Ovah is a system but also a dramatic play; a play in which participants are both audiences and performers; a play in which the participants can unconsciously and simultaneously feel the transition and correlation between physical constraints and virtual liberation; a play in which virtual reality no longer serves in a way to encourage/require the participation of physical body movements; a play which discusses the potential ways of developing empathy, even new kinship, via VR technologies to transcend our understanding of identity and queerness.