Taishin Bank Foundation for Arts and Culture

Comments on the Finalist

In "Super Taboo," one of the works showcased in the solo exhibition, SU Hui-Yu demonstrates the portrayal of the body in a more powerful way than his previous work. The two-channel video, "Super Taboo," is performed by KING Shih-Chieh, who enacts the multilayered sexual imagination ostracized by the time of the martial law. The artist uses high-speed photography that stores 180 frames per second to capture the erotic scenes, which are rendered as stills or still frames. On the one hand, they visualize the sexual fantasy of the male protagonist; on the other hand, they are representations of the climax in pornographic novels or illustrated magazines. However, be it softcore or hardcore presentation of the body, the more crucial thing is that these sexual scenes are inappropriate and face the fate of being banned and criminalized. (Commentator: SING Song-Yong)

Artwork Introduction

Drawing on early variety shows, classic literature of sexology, and pornography of unknown origins, SU Hui-Yu's A Man after Midnight evolves around the themes of prohibited rebelliousness as well as lust and body while addressing the question as to how this sort of content muddled through the gray area of the government’s cultural censorship with multifarious patterns of aesthetic camouflage. By doing so, the series has portrayed a genuine sense of sexuality for this uninhibited era. The exhibition could be seen as a conclusion of SU's work from 2004 to 2014. However, it is not a retrospective but an evolution of the original context and subject matter of his art—an evolution from focusing on TV/mass media, reality/illusion, and images/daily life to a more comprehensive study of the complicated relations between history, communication, value construction, and ideology.

About the Artist

SU Hui-Yu was born in Taipei in 1976. He obtained an MFA from Taipei National University of the Arts in 2003, and has remained active in the contemporary art scene ever since. Su is fascinated by the intricate tapestry interwoven by images, media, history, and daily life. In his videos, he explores both mass media’s impact on viewers, and the projection of viewers’ thoughts and desires onto media. He draws from his experiences of being surrounded by media that range from movie, TV culture, advertisement, state apparatus, terrorism, self and other, body, projection of desires, and illusion and reality. Recently, Su’s interest in old books, from which he re-reads, revises and appropriates texts for his work, has led him to a new understanding of physicality, existence, and history. His work has been exhibited at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Hong-Gah Museum, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, San Jose Museum of Art in California, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University, and Power Station of Art in Shanghai. In 2013, SU’s The Upcoming Show was screened at Casino Luxemburg for the Luxembourg City Film Festival. In 2017, his work, Super Taboo, was invited to the International Film Festival Rotterdam and was a nominee in the short film category for the Golden Tiger award. The film festival also held a midnight hour screening for SU's work. In addition, Su was awarded the Asian Cultural Council Fellowship Award and participated in a residency program in New York City in 2009.