MAM Research 010: The Dawn of Taiwanese Video Art in the 1980s-1990s
Date｜04.24-09.01.2024
Venue｜Mori Art Museum, Japan
The Dawn of Taiwanese Video Art in the 1980s-1990s at the Mori Art Museum features 10 pioneers of the Taiwanese video art scene, including Kao Chung-Li, Yuan Goang-Ming, Kuo I-Fen, Chen Chieh-Jen, Lu Ming-Te, Hung Su-Chen, Wang Jun-Jieh, Chen Cheng-Tsai, Lin Chun-Chi, and Lee Kuang Wei. This exhibition is curated by Kondo Kenichi, a senior curator at the Mori Art Museum, and Taiwanese curator Song-Yong Sing.
Kao Chung-Li's video installation work Grooming was previously displayed in his solo exhibition “Re-Present: Kao Chung-Li” at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum (2023). The work consists of a webcam, a depth camera for object recognition and a screen. Viewers can see multiple delayed footages of themselves from the screen, challenging the viewer’s subjectivity. Fish on Dish (1992) is one of Yuan Goang-Ming’s early works. It presents the imagery of a fish being projected onto a white plate, as an attempt to display the reality and difficulties of one’s existence.
The screening program MAM Screen 019: The Dawn of Taiwanese Video Art in the 1980s-1990s presents works by five artists: Yuan Goang-Ming, Hung Su-Chen, Wang Jun-Jieh, Chen Cheng-Tsai, and Lin Chun-Chi. On the Way Home (1989) is also made in Yuan Goang-Ming's early years, combining images from real life with computer-generated imagery. The scene features a middle-class office worker returning home at night and performing a series of behaviors (reading, doing laundry, drinking tea, repeatedly locking and unlocking the front door), conveying a sense of ominousness and unease.
