Taishin Bank Foundation for Arts and Culture

Comments on the Finalist 

In the exhibition, the banana is used as a symbol embedded in the historical context of colonial economy, which continues LI Kuei-Pi’s long-term investigation of transborder economic activities and colonial economy. Starting with field research, the artist does not stop at recounting events and displaying documents but rather demonstrates multiple perspectives to approach the events through a multitemporal and real-virtual juxtaposition of sculptures, video installations, food, online games, and an auction mechanism. At the same time, the auctioning of the banana coins directs the audience’s attention to the manmade factors in the economic system. Through a circuitous yet powerful way, the exhibition brings back the history of colonial currency and evokes the memory of resource plundering and the economic production of colonial empires. (Commentator: CHANG Yun-Ting)

Artwork Introduction

Bananas, as a common cash crop in the tropics, are highly involved in the history of colonial agriculture and governance technology in the last century. It witnessed the expansion desire of empires and demonstrated their exploitation in the name of trade and their subsequent collapses. Three works are interwoven to create the complete “Banana Coin Project.” Through sculptural casting, minting NTFs, the exchange system of a virtual currency platform, the sounds of AI, a sound database, and events taking place during the exhibition, the project uncovers a channel to escape from the modern-day financial system, and engages in the discourses about the unending trauma and greed.

About the Artist

LI Kuei-Pi (b.1991, Taiwan) received her MFA from Taipei National University of the Arts in 2017. She currently lives and works in Taipei. Her practice has consistently focused on the neglected landscapes and exchange networks in a globalized context. Through appropriating fieldwork methods of different disciplines, archival reading, and the reenactment of history, Li uses images, objects, and writing as the main forms of her art projects, through which she creates a platform for exchanging ideas and initiating discussions.

Production Team

Cast | YEH Yi

Director of Photography | LAN Hao Lun

Camera Operator | CHEN Po Wei

Camera Assistant | WU Chin Lin

Art Director | WU Jia Rong

Assistant Art Director | CHEN Wei Chen

Editor | CHEN Ting Wei

Sound Designer | Bai-Shiang Music Studio, LIOU Zih Ci

Wardrobe ＆ Makeup Artist | TSENG NaNa

Colorist | LAN Hao Lun

Food Designer | CHENG Ching-Hsin

Game Design | Showing Vision Studio