Mirror Stage: i ⇌ ! ——Composing and Improvising Gender through a Failed Reflective Soundscape

Abstract

When she looks in the mirror, she finds herself in errors. This study draws from Lindy Lin’s embodied experience as a girl, women, and female artist, reflecting her long-term exploration of gender, identity, and self-reflection through a process of deconstruction and reconstruction. The research weaves together a defective continuum of audiovisual composition, improvisation, interactive media, and collaboration with female, trans, non-binary, and gender-fluid artists to challenge societal norms and dismantle the male-gazed mirror. By reimagining traditional symbols—such as the Chinese flute dongxiao, sewing machines, guitar, and feminine elements like water, silk, combs, and clips—and by liberating female vocal expression, the project opens a radical space for reinvention, offering a new, emancipated manifesto of identity and self on the societal stage.