依據場地而定
展覽：趨光
貝塔寧藝術村，柏林/德國
carve on board
dimensions variable
installation view of the exhibition
Phototaxis
Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin/Germany
2019
Phototaxis
The exhibition is named after the term from behavioural science. Phototaxis is the bodily movement of a botanical organism in response to light, either towards or away from it. Through, light, the artist metaphorizes the pre-existed traces and silhouettes in contemporary world; by video and embossing installation, he extends the dialectics of different space and time about biology, minerals, history, religion, and science.
In the work “Plants,” the artist utilized a shot of a window frame from a science-fiction film, and sculpted the plants within the shot, along with its light and shadow onto a piece of wood; then set it against the voice-over text from the film, and then relocated it to the art space. Like whispers, the work weaves together a path between the unknown and the complete, life and death, virtuality and actuality, yearning and rationality.
Wood and marble, two major factors in his recent works, are index to his practice. Gold leaves are subtly employed and applied to the surface of the old objects and to fill the gaps and scars, which seem full of stories. Such tactics, much like a sanctifying rite, transforms our sense of time. In the video “The Marble Workers”, the artist firstly repaired and renovated the old mine trolley and gilded the surfaces. Through the process of pushing the trolley to connect the factory, disused mine districts, worker dormitories and mining tunnels, a journey of memories, which overlap the reality, was pieced together. The light reflected from the gold leaf, machineries and objects gently illuminate one another and went through different time and space.
The video “GuanYin" embodies artist ‘s continuous reflection on mining industry. In the video, we sometimes see a close-up of the partial part of the statue of Guan Yin and sometimes of the small insects and plants. The image of organic living beings versus the inorganic stone is like a metaphor of a fleeting life versus eternity in a spiritual level. When the artist filmed onsite, he collected the wasted marble chips dropped on the ground in the Buddha statue stone-carving factory. He used the marble chips as raw material for sculpturing vivid sambar deer in various positions. The marble blocks are carved into the statues of The Goddess of Mercy, while the marble chips are gathered to make deer. The artist deliberately chooses the protected animal species living in the Eastern mountain area of Taiwan - sambar deer- as a prototype for his sculptures. On the one hand, he tries to sketch out the local environment from culture industry to nature conversation. On the other hand, deer implies spiritual exploration in the context of Buddhism. In Buddhist fables, deer often plays a role of saving either human beings or a herd and is regarded as incarnation of Buddha. The spirit of deer represents devotion, sacrifice, redemption and enlightenment. Therefore, if we imagine the wasted marble chips “sacrifice” for the birth of Buddha statues, the artist reshapes the wasted and gives it a new life.
How does art rebuild the material’s subjectivity, consciousness, or even order in the era of scientific adventures and catastrophe? “Phototaxis” attempts to reinterpret those contrived and rationalized rules and logics, and develops an immense memory restoration.
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