⻛・景 Windscape: The Culminating Project of Yale-China Resident Artists

THE YALE-CHINA ASSOCIATION AND THE INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF ARTS & IDEAS ANNOUNCE
⻛・景 WINDSCAPE THE CULMINATING PROJECT OF YALE-CHINA RESIDENT ARTISTS FROM YALE’S DAVID GEFFEN SCHOOL OF DRAMA

Three theatrical designers are creating an installation that fuses music, nature, and an exploration of the evolution of the Chinese language.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (June 11, 2025) – The Yale-China Association and New Haven’s International Festival of Arts & Ideas are proud to partner for a second year to present the culminating public showing of an artist residency program for students at Yale’s David Geffen School of Drama. The residency supports emerging artists in creating new intercultural work that -- in process and presentation -- brings together students, artists, and audiences from New Haven, Yale, and the world.

This year’s Resident Artists are all first-year designers hailing from China: sound designer Jinling Duan, lighting designer Qier Luo, and set designer Yaya Zhang. The trio has been working together since January to create an immersive installation that will invite visitors to experience the evolution of the Chinese language across time as it is written and spoken, transferring movement, breath, history, and individual recollections. Resident Artist Yaya Zhang describes the boldness of the experiment: “It’s our first time working without a narrative, so we’re learning to respond to the space and engage the audience in new ways.”

Drawing inspiration from their personal histories as well as from natural elements, traditional Chinese music, and visual and tonal components of Chinese characters, the team is creating an immersive environment that will invite viewers to engage with the fluidity of language, culture, and the environment. Sound designer Jinling Duan explains: “We’re creating something that is both sculptural and musical at the same time.”

The team has been hosting workshops with New Haven community members exploring the symbolism and evolution of Chinese characters, and these exchanges have become an integral part of the creative process. The group will host similar workshops on Thursday, June 19th and Saturday, June 21st from 7-8p during open gallery hours. These sessions will be open to all ages, free of charge.

⻛・景 Windscape will be open to the public from Thursday, June 19th to Saturday, June 21st from 6-9p, and Sunday, June 22nd from 3-6p at the Yale School of Art Edgewood Gallery at 32 Edgewood Ave in New Haven, CT. Advance free registration on the IFAI website is suggested but not required.

Creative Team Bios

Jinling Duan 段珒苓 (Co-Creator/Sound Designer) is a sound designer and composer from Guangdong, China. She holds a BFA in Sound Design from the Central Academy of Drama and is currently pursuing her MFA in Sound Design at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. Jinling specializes in using sound as a narrative tool to craft immersive and emotionally resonant experiences. Her recent sound design credits include Witch (Yale Cabaret), while her work as a sound engineer includes Notes on Killing (Yale Repertory Theatre) and Metamorphoses (Yale School of Drama).

Aaron Frongillo (Project Manager) is a theatre maker originally from Franklin, MA. He is a current MFA candidate studying Technical Design & Production at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. He is also a graduate of Wagner College where he completed a double major of Theatre Performance and Design, Technology, & Management. He hopes you enjoy the exhibition!

Qier Luo 罗 绮 儿 (Co-Creator/Lighting Designer) is a lighting designer and researcher originally from Zhejiang, China. She holds a bachelor’s degree in East Asian Languages and Culture from Bryn Mawr College. She is currently pursuing her second MFA in Lighting Design at David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. Recent lighting design credit includes Coriolanus (Yale), Apologiae 4 & 5 (Yale Cabaret); China Based design: Sanctuary (Shenzhen), A Statue of a Woman Doing Chores (Shanghai), Midnight Movie (Aranya), To Be Buried (Shanghai and Guangzhou); New York-based design: Rooftop Somnambulism (Brooklyn), Venus (Waterwall Productions), The Tenants (NYWF). Philadelphia-based design: Ship (Azuka Theatre), King Lear (Hepburn Theater), Fear Babies (Headlong Institute), Milky Way (The Fidget Space). Bloomington-based design credits include Wonderful Town, The Heiress, Julius Caesar, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, and Prospect Hill.

Yaya Zhang 张文瑾 (Co-Creator/Visual Designer) is a set designer from the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, born and raised in Nanjing, China. Her journey began with a deep love for drawing and a fascination with how space holds memory and emotion. She is drawn to stories that live between cultures—where language falters and feeling begins. At Yale, she seeks to unlearn limits and reframe Chinese aesthetics through fresh forms and gestures. She believes in theater as a collaborative act of empathy—an art of listening, shaping, and trusting. Her work searches for quiet clarity in complexity and connection across distance.

For more information, contact Michael Leibenluft at the Yale-China Association at michael.leibenluft@yale.edu