The Islands
Mixed Media Installation
a 16mm film and five video objects
Mixed Media Installation
a 16mm film and five video objects
"Taiwan is not a boat, she is a land rooting into this world."
- Nan-Jung Cheng, Taiwanese publisher and pro-democracy activist
- Nan-Jung Cheng, Taiwanese publisher and pro-democracy activist
Taiwan as an island, has changed hands many times in its 500 year history. "The Islands" suggests the effects of post-colonization and the conflict between personal memory and the inherited memory of history.
Video Object (Untitled 1–5)
Five Taiwanese elementary school desk sets are reimagined as video sculptures. Each desk features a unique animation composed of historical Taiwanese archival photographs and sound, representing one of five distinct colonial periods in Taiwan's history.
Five Taiwanese elementary school desk sets are reimagined as video sculptures. Each desk features a unique animation composed of historical Taiwanese archival photographs and sound, representing one of five distinct colonial periods in Taiwan's history.
To experience the work, viewers must physically engage with each sculpture—kneeling, donning headphones, or reclining as if to nap, peeking through a small hole in the desktop to see inside the drawer. These intimate, embodied interactions mirror the act of "studying" history, echoing how students are shaped by institutional systems of knowledge.
Untitled 5
Untitled 3 (detail)
Untitled 1
Untitled 2
Untitled 5 (detail)
Untitled 4 (detail)
Untitled 2
Untitled 5
Untitled 4
The 16mm film The Islands floats like a boat above the video sculptures, projected onto a sheet of transparent acrylic at the center of the room.
To know more about the film, please visit The Islands (Film)
