Taishin Bank Foundation for Arts and Culture

Comments on the Finalist

Twilight—The Prospects of Asian Industry, Korea, Japan, Taiwan Collaborative Art Project took place in Taiwan, where ten artists from three countries were connected in five spaces. The ecology of Taiwan sees a positive consolidation and development due to the gathering of certain people. Interdisciplinary and heterogeneous independent cultural art spaces emerge, establishing own styles; a super-friendly connection is formed among spaces, jointly construct, exist, and prosper, jointly doing something meaningful. 

This exhibition “mobilizes” Howl Space, Fotoaura Institute, Absolute Art Space, vacant space downstairs of Cheng Da Book Store, and Da-Yuan Machinery Factory, and used the unique Asian theme of “industrial landscape”. Japanese and South Korean artists have all used local Taiwanese topics and cultural elements in their creative works, and Taiwanese artists also have presented works on topics of their long time concerns. It is imaginable how intricate the administrative work must have been, and yet the artists have achieved an agile, visionary, comprehensive, and exciting exhibition. (Written by HU Yung-Fen)

Artwork Introduction

The lifestyle of contemporary people and the cities they inhabited are filled with countless “inventions”—from small things such as clothing and cellphones to large things like transportation, these things are all the results of industrial development within the last century. Twilight—The Prospects of Asian Industry, Korea, Japan, Taiwan Collaborative Art Project sets out to answer the following questions: “what is industry?” and “how has industrial production influenced our life and environment?” Meanwhile, comparing to large-scale industrial mechanisms, such as globalized production and consumption chain, “artists” are like small-scale, self-employed individuals in the context of industrial production. Being among canvases, paint brushes, pigments mixed with different material, flax seed oil, stone, and carving knives, how should artists view “the industry of art” and their creative environment in contrast to the developmental progress and context of art history? 

Twilight—The Prospects of Asian Industry, Korea, Japan, Taiwan Collaborative Art Project co-organized by Howl Space in Tainan and Space O’NewWall in Seoul invites artists specializing in different art forms from Korea, Japan and Taiwan to directly enter reachable industrial landscape in cities. From small household factory located in common residences to large industrial zones and science park on the outskirts of cities, these sites have all become the subjects of the field study and research experienced by the artists and curators. 

About the Artist

WU Shang-Lin

WU Shang-Lin is an artist and independent curator, who engages in the interdisciplinary creation and research of photography, video, and performance. Currently lives in Taipei, he received his master’s degree (DNSEP) from the National School of Fine Art, Dijon in France. In recent years, he has conducted residencies respectively in Korea (Gyeonggi Creative Center), Taiwan (Taipei Artist Villages), and Japan (Arcus Project). His work mainly explores the various issues produced by the endless expansion of contemporary cities. Through his own perspectives and exchange with other people, he reveals the choices of every individuals in relation to how they cope with their present situations through different aspects. 

YANG Chia-Hsuan (b. 1982) was born in Tainan, Taiwan, and is now based in Tainan. After graduating from Tainan National University of the Arts, she has worked as a freelance art critic and has consistently published art reviews on different media platforms. Since 2012, Yang has also utilized Howl Space, an independent art space in Tainan, as a base to observe the city’s art ecology, while carrying out experimental local residency programs, coordinating exchange between local and international artist residency, and conducting her curatorial practice.