INVITADXS

Sketch CHI, Kai-Yuan|Taiwan|Single channel video|2021|5:50

It was a journey intertwined by sections of highways, only for a certain purpose or not for a certain purpose. The displacement of going and passing seemed to be a vacuum drawn away from life, the purity without a name, a structure, or an identity. While
exposing myself to the sun, traveling on the highway, the sparse vegetation as well as landscape came in sight in the wind, time appeared to be slowed down in front of an
expanse of landscape, and things were being shifted out in the order of nature. Yet what I wanted to find out has already passed. All I can respond with is merely a condensed
video.

WANG, Yu-Song|Taiwan|Single channel video|2017|8:00

The concept behind the artwork, Hualien White Lighthouse, is derived from Yu-
Song Wang’s thoughts for plein air painting, where he seeks to use the plein air painting

approach to convey a performance concept, experience non-figurative elements in a
given space, and depict things that the eye can’t perceive. By doing so, Wang achieved
the following realization: The objective with plein air painting is not about tangible
views or objects but the artist’s will and feelings towards the act of painting, whereby
the viewers are able to imagine the meaning behind the creative process when they see
such artwork.
The subject of this artwork, the white lighthouse, references the essay Hualien
White Lighthouse included in The Searcher: Collected Lyrical Essays by Yang Mu.
Yang often spent his years in junior high gazing at the sea and the lighthouse outside
the window of his classroom; the lighthouse was later demolished due to expansion
construction at the harbor. After reading Yang’s writing in high school, the image of the
white lighthouse left a lasting impression on Wang. With the same scenery set in a
different space-time, Wang has also looked out from that same window, where he
imagined and longed for that white lighthouse. He has since been on a quest for that
legendary form, which echoes with his relentless pursuit to identify painting as an act
of physical practice, with more imaginative possibilities uncovered the further he digs

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Continental Sea LIN, Ying-Chieh and CHANG, Ken-Yao|Taiwan|Single channel video|2019| 9:02
Khun-sin, which describes the uplift back of the whale, is one of the many ancient names in Taiwan. It also marks the mainland island surrounding the lagoon. If you see through by the old coastline of old Taij-iang inner see, it looks like whales dim in the
water half. ZitDim Art Space ( a space we run with artists from Hong-Kong and Taiwan )
opened just a half year, near the Yongfu elementary school. Under the guidance of
historical enthusiasts, it was discovered that some of the Qing Dynasty’s ruins were
hidden in the high-rise roadway behind the campus. Its are two scenes of “ Eight Scenes
of Taiwan”: Cheng Tai Guanhai and Fei Ting Ting Tao( means the beautiful pavilion to
listen to waves or watching the ocean), the name sounded magnificent. However, after
the actual visit, we saw only a new and old indistinguishable stone monument, with a
few bright red words. Living in a city connected by asphalt roads, it is difficult to
imagine the situation of seeing the ocean and hearing the waves. I thought it was just a
kind of a literati-style. After chatting with the neighbors, we learned that Ximen Road
that we pass every day was the coastline of the old Taijiang inner sea in the Qing
Dynasty. It changed by the re-routing of the river and the siltation of the river, which
formed the geography of Tainan that we understand today.
Back in Tainan in 2004, a sperm whale stranded on the west coast of Yunlin. On
the way to transfer its body to Tainan, it exploded at the crossroad of Ximen Road and
Xiaobei Road. There were few fixed-angle photos, but the event itself is framed by
images of different resolutions, and it coincidently happened on the coastline we are
looking for, like inserting an indigestible landmark on the map. To find the skeleton of
the sperm whale, we accidentally stepped into the Taijiang Whale Dolphinarium in
Sicao that was semi-abandoned. It was raining heavily that day. We took the
photographic equipment and prepare to negotiate with the manager, but we cannot even
find a ticket booth, the entire specimen museum is out of electricity, overflowing with
moisture, the glass box of the whale worm, the dolphin has been filled with water
droplets, seeing the pale, white whalebone hanging in the air, suddenly there is an
illusion as if we are the creatures that are out of date and accidentally sneak into the
deep sea.

Living in Taiwan, surrounded by the sea, there is a kind of illusion about the inner
sea of the island country, with land or mountains as the frame, as the freshwater lake
where the rain gathers or the sea view suites alongside the road, is realistic and
unrealistic. The exhibition "Continental Sea" starts from the historical landmark of
"Fei-Ting Ting Tao", but the exhibition itself does not focus on a linear sorting of human
geography for local changes. When the land is connected to the island and the sea is not
in the sea, what kind of spiritual interpretation can we make to the sea that has
disappeared? Compared to the clarity of the land, the sea symbolizes various
possibilities, and in these possibilities, it can be romantic, inclusive, aggression,
political, trying to look at the spots, place names and events that seem to be misplaced
from above. Between, draw a new sightseeing path.

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Floating Island:Daofong
LIN, Ying-Chieh and CHANG, Ken-Yao|Taiwan|Single channel video|2019|
8:06
Tai-jiang Inland Sea, formerly known as the “sea of whale bones” in Dutch ancient
literature, could probably be given the name for the shoals that looked like whale backs
rising from water. Or maybe there had been whales losing their ways here and got
stranded on the sandbanks called “kun shen (the body of a giant fish)”?
However, with the constant overflowing and diversion of rivers, no matter for the
sea of whale bones or Daofong Lagoon, both the estuaries and the areas of inland seas
are vanishing gradually because of riverbed silt. The phenomenon is called “Floating
Island” in geography.
At present, we can only find some traces of these inland seas in Qigu and Beimen
Districts as well as in those fish farms densely located along the west coast. The history
of salt production in Taiwan is just like legacy of these inland seas through the imagery
of salt crystals on the ground surface after the emergence of floating islands. Nowadays,
as global warming is happening, we are seemingly able to envision sea level rise that
submerges the land area once again from a futuristic perspective. Is it possible that even
hái-iang (whale in Sirayan) aspires to return to land where its ancestors used to live?
We, who yearn for the sea while being enchanted with the myth of giant fish, stroll
along the border of ancient Soulangh (Siao-long in Sirayan) peninsula and contour the
landscape of Daofong Lagoon with our body. The project extends from the artist’s
exhibition “Continental Sea” in 2019. During her three-month residency, the artist has
linked the projects through utilizing spaces, scripts, writing, and images while
attempting to comprehend and envisage the interchangeable relationship between
“inland sea” and “land at the border of sea and rivers” from the past to the present. The
images refer to topology and the myth that are developed by the inland sea, salt, and
whales. The gradual disappearance of the inland seas and what it may symbolically
mean to Taiwan shall also be explored.

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A turtle and...

HO, Yen-Yen|Taiwan|Single channel video|2019|8:05
A turtle and... is the transformation of an off-site artist residency experience on
Chongming Island, Shanghai, represents the physical exertion and fatigue, weird
perception of time, the voice dialogue between inner and exterior space, and the mixed
experience of memories and experiences in the process of physical displacement. The
video records a trip on a sightseeing boat from Yilan Wushi Harbor to Guishan Island.
There are three scenes in the film: the ship’s cabin, Guishan Island and the abandoned
fortress. The tour guides depicted the personification of the island as a turtle,
introducing the geological landscapes, legends and the development of the place. As a
former military base, tourists could only image the island through languages and the
observation from outside instead of visiting in person. The action of “visiting around
the island and going back” seemed to embody the psychological feelings of enclosure
during the journey and the displacement.
Through the arrangement of images, literal narratives and sounds, the work tries
to transform the island into a life form and consider the boat as the extension of physical
fatigue, form the perspectives of the lands and the sea that staring at each other, reforms
the connections between lands, islands and the ocean, discusses the searching for the
tangible and intangible boundaries.

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The Gorilla

WANG, Shao-Gang|Taiwan|Single Channel Video|2021|05:13
It was a prelude of vaccine and genetic pathway.
In the Post-Pandemic Era, can people rediscover the path to the origin of human
beings in their own gene?
One day, the vaccine went in my body. At night, the side effects occurs with
vaccine caused fever, and made me pacing back and forth in my studio, because it really
ached, every part of my body was aching badly... In the suffering moment, the immune
system in my body was causing me troubles, making my consciousness gradually leave
the body. A strange feeling of déjà vu came to me and I saw myself existing in a tropical
rainforest. I saw dark grey hairs began to grow from my hands. Am I experiencing a
devolution or revolution? A fog in front of me covered my vision, the reality and the
space were folded together. It seemed that the world has no more boundary. Grass and
vines were holding my body softly from the back. In that moment, I had a strong
intention of sketching, in memory of the scene that I was wondering in the rainforest,
it might be the sketch of an installation.

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Tomorrow’s Lonely City

Chapter Three: Capital Cities Submerged by the Sea
Water

CHEN, I-Chun|Taiwan|film|2016|10:00
Old documents reveal that Earth’s plates have moved even more over the years.
The area of land has significantly reduced, and the proportion of sea and land has
become 95:5. The alerts about the greenhouse effect and the rising sea levels have been
mentioned in the ancient texts, but, most likely, not many pre-extinct humans earnestly
practiced how to avoid disasters. Nowadays, undersea exploring has become prominent.
The sea is like a treasure-trove, which reflects on the ancient wisdom. We learn from
the archeological studies of human thinking of how to disguise as a human being and
how not to be exposed. How did they survive in the cities, what was their lifestyle? It
has become an important exploration. Only 0.002% of us, white-collar robots who have
the whole body, have the skills to do archeological research. Looking at a statue made
of bronze, we can estimate that it is a relic of a certain diety from pre-extinct Denmark.
It appeared in the waters of pre-extinct Bangkok, hence, I think the strength of ocean
currents really should not be underestimated. Distinguishing to which of the systems
this object belongs to is very difficult.

CHEN I-CHUN
Chen is best known for her artistic practice in video art, experimental
animation/video, interactive art, multi-media art, and painting. Her primary focus is on

social issues and folk stories in industrious and marginalized areas, also among the
lower middle class. The idea of her artworks is to weave a giant map of the history of
rural villages and industries, which carries an individual’s experiences between reality
and illusion. It also attempts to create a conversation with a realistic/real society. The
poetic image and the romantically lighthearted music express the impossible dream.

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Absence

HONG , Jun-Yuan|Taiwan|Video Installation|2018|06:20
This video work has a strong self-experience inherent emotional vacancies,
especially divorced parents, domestic violence, economic weaknesses and other broken
primitive family growth, becoming a reductive sample of the inner spirit. Due to the
above factors, the three protagonists of the image reflect the inability to repair the direct
emotional structure, forming many contradictory characters and inner entanglement
when facing the object, while the cascading in the close-up is the creator and the mother
and the message dialogue. A fragment between. Back in the image of the work, strong
waves attacked and eroded the traces of the face. The corners of the eyes, nose, ears,
and mouth are the legacy of the waves. Even if the facial expression is distorted and
sad, the outer contour is surprisingly beautiful waves. Ironically, the interior of the
facial image has long been the inner vacuum of emotional retreat.

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Love Song in Harbour City
WU, Tien-Chang|Single Channel Video, color, sound|2020|5:57
Born during the baby boom generation, Wu Tien-chang has witnessed the
transformation of Taiwan: from a base for the KMT to prepare their coun-terattack back
to the Mainland China in the Cold War era, the free area of the Republic of China,
Republic of China on Taiwan (President Lee Teng-hui), Republic of China is Taiwan
(President Chen Shui-bian), to Republic of China (Taiwan)(President Tsai Ing-wen) in
the “New Cold War” era between US and China these days. Back in the 1970s, when
the United States broke off the diplomatic relations with the ROC and the ROC walked
out of the UN, Taiwanese endured the toughest days. During the stormy times of these
70 years, the unique historic experience that we cher-ish has led to the rise of Taiwanese
consciousness while safeguarding Tai-wan’s freedom, shaping a sovereignty, “an
imagined community with shared destiny.”

An expert in reproducing the truth in life with doctored and fake images, Wu Tien-
chang uses visual images and symbols of “farewell,”such as artificial skin membrane

and other medium, to create works of art not only touching the soul of millions of
Taiwanese, but striking a chord with the public, and demonstrates the perseverance of
the people of Taiwan. Using exaggerated and exotic images, Wu Tien-chang depicts the
irreparable sor-rows and loss of the individuals and the nation, which, on the one hand,
reveal the historical context of Taiwan, and, on the other hand, offer a bright vision for
the future.
In 2020, Wu Wen-chang finished his video under the title “Love Song in Harbour
City,” depicting different desire and longing for the nation, re-viving the collective
memories of Taiwan in over half of a century after the war, a rich and exotic tapestry of
all the diversified races. Through “Love Song in Harbour City,” a Taiwanese ballad by
Wu Jin-huai, he pays trib-ute to life from the perspective of seagulls, sailors, and
soldiers. It in fact ventilates Wu Tienchang’s own patriotic sentiment and evokes the
histor-ic ambiance of the Cold War with the harbor, citadels, and monoliths. He brings
out the most critical issue: the national identity on Taiwan and raises the question,
“ Why and for whom?”