The Time-Space Loops
Translated by a.m. post
"The Time-Space Loops." - Southeast Asia -Taiwan Contemporary Art Interchange Exhibition
@ Banqiao 435 Art Zone | 26 October - 20 November 2016
The National Taiwan University of Arts has been very active recently, holding a number of contemporary art exhibitions and workshops one after another, even it was a smaller biennial. One of their latest undertaking is “The Time-Space Loops: Southeast Asia-Taiwan Contemporary Art Interchange Exhibition” at Banqiao 435 Art Zone, where seven artists/ collectives from Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia are showcasing the fruits of their collaboration and exchanges in a two classroom-sized space.
A staircase formed by several large white wooden boxes stacked together greets visitors as soon as they enter. It is said that installation was used in the live performance by art group jiandyin and workshop participant Pan Yen-an at the opening. Playing to the left of entrance, five music videos featured in the OK video media art festival organized by Ruangrupa. Among them are 2 early works of Tromarama, which is currently the most sought-after Indonesian video collective in global art scene.
To the right are three works created by Lo Shih-Tung during his residency with Ruang Mes 56. Cotton cloth, a catalog to rocks and minerals, and a gems shaped like tulip bulbs. A stack of papers, which are lists or essays or interviews on the Southeast Asian art market boom and a chronicle of it. The last is composed of six metallic vinyl records which resemble archaeological finds from the future. The artist links the ‘tulip mania’, the world’s first economic bubble, with the gemstone frenzy and art market craze in Indonesia, prompting viewers to think about Taiwan’s current Southeast Asian obsession.
Stands in the other room, Andreas Siagian’s work of 2 standing glasses with residues of metal finish on both sides - a mirror which has undergone silk-screen printing. Yudha Kusuma Putera puts the spotlight on the homeless people of Yogyakarta and Taiwan through references to Indonesian nationalism. He even designs a micro-economy for homeless people, just to donate NTD20 when you take one of his post cards. At the deepest part of the space is Anang Saptoto’s video, which was photographed in a furniture factory warehouse in the suburbs of Taipei specializing in the import of Indonesian timber, a violinist is playing a song The Heritage of Indonesia sadly for those furniture.
A low wall is a video installation ‘Spin Spirits’ by Shih Pei-Chun. The artist positioned her lens behind the holes in the old city walls of Yogyakarta used to aim guns at enemies, pointing in the opposite direction to the firearm barrels. She’s describing a city tale and the ‘exotic matter’ which found at Pokéstops in the augmented reality game, Pokémon Go. It is a nostalgic story, from Tainan to Yogyakarta, from personal relationships, the surroundings, to the virtual gaming worlds, as well as reality. Interestingly, she talks in Taiwanese-accented English that reminds audience of her identity.
If the ‘The Time-Space Loops’ refers to the a warping of space and time, then we are brought back to their residence time-space through the gravity of artworks. In this exhibition, art is derived from the inter-local examination - fragmented, pinpointed, but distinct - of empiricist imagination. Each artist has developed their new aesthetic language, cancelling out the affectation of artistic exchange. They have allowed their innermost thoughts to evolve naturally, achieving the purpose of conducting exchanges.
# Published on a.m. post Issue 124 (Jan/Feb 2017), p.18