Lost and Found
two channels video installation, mixed media, sound
Lost and Found is a six mins, two channels video installation composed of projected videos on a physical architectural structure of the artist’s childhood home.
Viewing time as a fourth dimension of the space, the work investigates where childhood memories reside from various spatial perspectives: an architectural space of a childhood home, the physical space of a body and the imaginary space in game play and stories.
The toys, building blocks, form the physical architecture ground plan, dividing each room. It also acts as a performing object, evoking a return to childhood. The images projection mapped in the designated rooms activate the house and assemble memories. The animated light shines through the architecture creating live shadows, capturing the quality of time and revealing the spatial relationship among rooms and images.
Artist Statement
With an unexpected incident, my family reclaimed our childhood home in 2019.
Lost and Found is a response to the experience of returning to my childhood home for the first time after 22 years in Taipei, Taiwan. Instead of “walking down memory lane”, I had a relatively detached and dull experience touring the home. I find that many childhood emotions and memories aren't directly preserved. They are present yet elusive, like fragments of a fading dream.
A childhood house, to many, is a time capsule – a vessel for memories, emotions, and experiences frozen in time. As I matured and ventured to the U.S., I came to recognize that my childhood home was the very ground where I forged my sense of belonging and deepened my cultural roots. Crafting a space with memories is like solving a puzzle, reconfiguring their placement while reliving them. This process serves as a therapeutic exploration, helping me reconnect with my identity and personal history.
Lost and Found is developed during my art residency at Automata, Los Angeles, 2023.