Walking Machine of Heartlessness
Artist LIU Han-Chih manually creates objects which, in combination with narrative manuscripts and video installation, arouse spectators’ curiosity and elicit all possibilities from the bottom of one’s heart. He says, “My designs are always related to people’s desires, alienation and failure to socialize. The purpose of my designs is not to overcome obstacles but to express them in a dramatic way.”
His solo exhibition “Walking Machine of Heartlessness” at the lobby of the Taishin Financial Holdings features four of his works from 2006 to 2013. These devices aim to magnify certain secretive or abnormal mental states, making these inner states explicit on the outside and intensified on the inside. These peculiar internalities are derived from failure to escape from domestication and constraints of modern society, making one enrapture by a production line and sleepwalk on a highway.
Walking Machine of Heartlessness (2013)
A man walks through crowds, constantly pushed and shoved by people. A city dweller is often involved in a melancholy relationship with the outside world: one can neither fit in socially nor escape from the harsh reality. I customized this kind of melancholy walking into an electric device.
Collar Seizing Device (2011)
The device is worn at the torso with the handle connected to the collar. People can easily take you by your collar just by turning the handle. It is a device which facilitates being bullied.
Through the Window (2011)
Put a window by your shoulder and take it with you, allowing you to look out the window anytime and anywhere.
Too Late (2006)
The runner keeps talking about his memories of trying to recall why he is running. Decreased physical strength makes him breathless and his talking speed is not catching up with the caption speed. The captions which were added as post production after the runner had spoken are now preceding the speaker, programming the runner to say what he has in mind. He is meant to say those words and yet he never says them in time. The talking machine is broken and delaying due to overload. The captions and the sounds are running out of gear like loose mechanical parts. The mouth is opening and closing as if controlled by a machine and the runner is making nothing but noises which can be heard during mechanical operation.
LIU Han-Chih
Liu was born in Taiwan in 1982. He fabricates “quasi-props” with no practical functions to describe people and their circumstances.
