YU-CHEN WANG

LIQUID LOVE

14 Nov 2020 - 24 Jan 2021

MOCA Taipei

Curator: Amy Cheng of TheCube Project Space
Artist: Hassan Khan (Egypt), dj sniff (Takuro Mizuta Lippit)(Japen), Hito Steyerl (Germany), Hao Ni (Taiwan), Yu-Chen Wang (Taiwan/UK), Chi-Yu Wu (Taiwan), and Chung-Han Yao (Taiwan).

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The group exhibition Liquid Love invites seven artists from Taiwan and the international world. The exhibition seeks to explore how networks, algorithms, big data, and massive messages profoundly affect modern people’s life in today’s telecommunication society dominated by the flow of financial capital and advanced technologies.

The title of this exhibition is derived from the book by Polish sociologist Zygmunt Bauman, in which he analyzed the nature of telecommunication in network society, using “liquidity” as the concept to describe the post-industrial modern world, the evolutionary new interpersonal relationship, as well as the new relationship between humanity and the world.

In the “liquid modern world”, people relish the merits and sense of speed brought by technological development. However, due to the concomitant expansion and boundary-blurring of the real and the virtual, people also needs to continuously adapt to the new situational volatility both physically and mentally.

In the age when the relationships between individuals and groups are flowing, liquefied, ephemeral and unstable, this exhibition treats the artistic creation an as an alternative way for communication between individuals by encouraging ruminations on this liquid world, envisaging the future with which we are about to confront.

 

Introduction to the exhibition artists and works:

Egyptian artist Hassan Khan’s work The Infinite Hip-Hop Song is an algorithmic product. Once the computer boots up, it produces an endless, non-repetitive stream of hip-hop songs. The artist derives the vocals from the pre-recorded tracks by many hip-hop singers. This automatic composing system bears more than a passing resemblance to an autopoietic “organism.”

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In his work Drinking from the Spring of Liquid Love, Japanese musician/artist dj sniff (Takuro Mizuta Lippit) collected songs with the title “Liquid Love” from a large volume of online information. The length of the “collected data” amounts to about half a day. The artist remixes these songs into a “new work,” and then plays it via the reconnection of a set of repurposed sound objects like turntable, cassette player, spring, and amplifier. After layers of deconstruction and reconstruction, the source material becomes unintelligible to the visitors as “sound signals” and a new song engraved onto vinyl.

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German artist Hito Steyerl’s work Liquidity Inc. can be interpreted as a survival strategy for individuals in face of the unstable and uncertain future (e.g., financial and market fluctuations or economic recession) in the liquid world. Bearing the signature of Steyerl’s message-based image, the protagonist in this work is a financial analyst who has been unemployed since the global financial crisis and implied to embody Bruce Lee’s philosophy of life: “Be water.” Steyerl also created an “immersive” environment for the visitors, as if they were temporarily sitting on the seats “amidst waves” to experience this work.

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Chung-Han Yao’s work Feel the Space seeks to investigate the parallel evolution of the real world and the cyberspace. The artist recorded several outdoor DJ performances in Taipei, and these recordings are played back in the exhibition venue between the same hours of a day as those of the real events. Nonetheless, the visitors can only hear the ambient sound in the exhibition venue. They must go on the Internet via their smartphones to attend the “scene of performances” if they want to listen to the music played by the artist. Their visual and auditory senses thus simultaneously overlap each other and become displaced in the real world and the cyberspace. Ergo, the visitors shuttle between two disparate worlds by means of changes in the way of listening.

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Hao Ni’s work Structure Study VI is a six-channel video work. The artist firstly edited the video footages of events such as disasters, conflicts, factory machines, explosions, and running animals he collected from YouTube into three parts. Then he invited three drummers to imitate the situations that the images indicate. The artist edited these video footages in a way as if he were “composing music,” producing a symphony of impassioned, fierce images and sounds with a subtle touch of order. This work allows the visitors to feel the powerful impact of massive images in the cyberspace.

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Yu-Chen Wang’s multimedia installation If there is a place I haven’t been to follows her consistent surrealist style, offering astute observations to the industrial development and scientific thoughts of all stripes in the contemporary society, and meanwhile interpreting them in a wonderfully imaginative fashion, insofar as to engage in dialogues with memories, histories, as well as different people, events and things. Wang’s painting features an ecological system composed of gorgeous creatures and machines. She ingeniously blends the files, images and sounds she collected into the multiple storylines and perspectives of this work, shaping a concatenation of autobiography-like “temporal landscapes” that engulf visitors.

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Chi-Yu Wu’s work The LED Future is a black futurist sci-fi image. The artist created a world in his imagination where the natural source of light (i.e., the Sun) has completely burned out, and we have no choice but to depend on the artificial source of light (i.e., LEDs) for survival. Apart from serving as the source of light and representing images nowadays, the extensively used LEDs have become the primary terminal interface for messages and signals—LEDs replaced God-created light, becoming the fountainhead that shapes memories and consciousness. The artist utilizes such imagination to reflect on the development of human history and civilization.

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Organizer: MOCA Taipei, Taipei Culture Foundation
Co-organizer: TheCube Project Space
Exhibition Sponsor: National Culture and Arts Foundation (2018 Production Grants to Independent Curators in Visual Arts), Tung Ho Steel Enterprise Corp., and RC Culture and Arts Foundation

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If there's a place I haven't been to, 2020, pencil on paper, 150x270cm (detail)

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《未曾來過》是件多面向的裝置作品，以王郁媜個人過去十年間，於各地進駐和田調過程中收集的檔案媒材所構成。隨著聚焦在藝術家以及地方人事物的特定關係，這些文件記錄被重新脈絡化，並結合既虛構又具有自傳風格的敘事。藝術家創造出來的拼湊匯集，從檔案、記憶裡合成想像且重塑了未來的風景，在其中，生態系統（ecosystems）和科技系統（technosystems）密不可分地交織在一起。

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為了測繪這些景觀，藝術家利用繪畫、文本、雕塑、燈光、聲響和動態影像來誘發一連串針對展場情境和空間的介入。層疊的視覺元素散佈在台北當代藝術館內，引領觀眾穿梭往來、聆取內心獨白，沉浸於深沈的畫跡、迴盪的節奏還有交錯的光影之中。藝術家邀請觀眾依照自己的步調探索「內在風景」，他們在展場中的移動過程，不僅形塑個人獨有的經驗，也協同完成了整件作品。

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聲音設計：Capitol K

特別感謝：洪廣冀（台大地理系助理教授）
本作品由RC文化藝術基金會、國家文化藝術基金會贊助支持

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「液態之愛」及「聲經絡──台灣、菲律賓、新加坡、馬來西亞的聲響文化製圖」雙聯展

展期：2020/11/14 -2021/01/24
開幕：2020/11/13(Sat.), 6pm
地點：台北當代藝術館（MOCA Taipei）

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總展名為「液態之愛」的展覽於11月14日起在台北當代藝術館展出。本計畫獲得國家文化藝術基金會2018年視覺藝術策展專案（2018 Production Grants to Independent Curators in Visual Arts）贊助，由立方計劃空間總策劃，並由台北當代藝術館與立方計劃空間共同主辦。

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這檔展覽最特別的地方在於它區分為「聲經絡」和「液態之愛」兩組群展。兩個群展各其有主題，但二者又有許多微妙關聯之處，值得觀眾細細品味和探索。展覽兩個子題展分別位處於台北當代藝術館的一樓及二樓，分別呈現：一樓為「聲經絡──台灣、菲律賓、新加坡、馬來西亞的聲響文化製圖」，結合了影音文件與藝術作品，呈現四個不同國家的現代聲響文化故事；二樓展區為「液態之愛」國際聯展，探討關於當今由金融資本與科技技術結合所主導之電訊/網絡社會，如何深刻改變及影響當代人的生活及價值觀。

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關於「聲經絡──台灣、菲律賓、新加坡、馬來西亞的聲響文化製圖」：

「聲經絡」這個展名，是受中醫傳統經絡的觀念所啟發而來──認為人類生命跡象是透過體內的能量（氣血）於「經絡」裡的運行而得以維持。雖然西方解剖學無法證明經絡的存在，但在非西方的經驗主義裡卻有其可驗證的道理。「聲經絡」這個展覽是將這種身體觀作為意象比喻，呈現亞洲四個不同地區─台灣、菲律賓、新加坡及馬來西亞的聲響文化，以及聲響文化如何作為歷史拓樸的媒介與原料，來映現出一個地方的特殊歷史面貌。

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台灣的部份是由羅悅全策劃的「雨夜花與台灣聲響機器演進史」，其中包括三個部份：「話鼓電台」計畫、台灣聲響機器歷史年表，以及邀請藝術家鄧兆旻展出他長期對「雨夜花」這首歌的研究及創作《這麼多年過去》。這個展區藉由此三部份來共同刻畫聲響技術與人們的時代心靈狀態二者交互影響之下的演進關係。

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菲律賓部份邀請學者達鴦‧雅洛拉（Dayang Yraola）策劃的「塔金亭：聲響實踐的共鳴社群」，以大量、詳細的文件與影音紀錄鋪陳菲律賓1960年代以降的實驗聲響實踐的歷史。展名「塔金亭」（Taginting）為菲律賓他加祿語的「共鳴」之意。

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新加坡的區塊則是由音樂家袁志偉策劃的「夢瀾吞唱片快閃店：曹節的電子夢」，其中邀請新加坡藝術家無稽佳績（Ujikaji）再現其創作《夢瀾吞唱片行》（Melantun Records），並於這家快閃唱片行中介紹被遺忘的新加坡電子音樂先鋒曹節的創作。

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馬來西亞部份，邀請馬來西亞藝術家區秀詒以策劃「銀色噪音：關於流亡的馬來半島局部聲音迴路」來呈現關於馬來西亞國歌的出現、其流變與演繹的樂曲版本及歷史過程。

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關於「液態之愛」：

位於展館二樓，是由策展人鄭慧華策劃的「液態之愛」國際聯展，邀請國內外七位藝術家的作品參展，探討關於當今由金融資本流動與科技技術結合所主導之電訊社會，如何在無所不在的演算法、大數據、海量訊息與技術的包圍控制下所深刻影響的當代生活。

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「液態之愛」展名來自波蘭社會理論家齊格蒙‧包曼（Zygmunt Bauman）的同名著作，包曼分析電訊及網絡社會的內涵與特質，以「液態關係」及「液態現代世界」來闡述當代人與人、人與世界的新關係。

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在「液態世界」其中，人們享受科技發展所帶來的便利與速度感，但因為現實與虛擬世界的隨之擴張與邊界模糊，也同時面對著無論是身體與心理，都需要不斷重新適應的狀況。

在這個個人與群體之間關係的流動化、液態化、短暫且不穩固的時代裡，本展將通過藝術創作當作為個體之間的新溝通方式，來刺激思考這種嶄新的關係，進而嘗試想像我們將面對的未來。

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展覽作品介紹：

埃及藝術家哈桑‧汗（Hassan Khan）的作品《無窮盡的嘻哈曲》（The Infinite Hip-Hop Song）是一套會自動「創作」嘻哈歌曲的演算法程式，只要「開機」，就源源不斷地自動產生饒舌音樂，且保證永遠不會重覆。其人聲內容，來自哈桑‧汗邀請的多位嘻哈歌手所預錄的唸唱片段。這套自動化的樂曲創作生成系統，像是一個能夠自我生長和延續的「有機生命體」。

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日本藝術家 dj sniff （水田拓郎）在作品《啜飲流淌的愛之泉》（Drinking from the Spring of Liquid Love）中，他從網路海量訊息的影音搜羅了大量曲名或歌詞中帶有「liquid love」字眼的歌曲，總長十多小時。他將其混音為「新的創作」。並且，再透過一套拆解、改造過的聲響物件如：唱盤、老式卡帶機、彈簧、擴大器等的重新串連而播放出。經過層層解構與重組，這些聲響已成為難以辦識的神秘「聲訊」。這件作品還包括藝術家與日本女歌手me/my/mo合作的一首與本展同名的歌曲，並委託台南的唱片製作師邱明進先生製成唱片。

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德國藝術家希朵‧史戴爾（Hito Steyerl）的《流動性公司》（Liquidity Inc.），或可被詮釋為人們面對著液態世界中的不穩定和不確定的未來感，諸如金融與市場流動性、經濟衰退下，個人求生的倖存之道。搭配著史戴爾特有的訊息式風格影像，本作品中的主人翁是一位在金融海嘯之後失業的金融分析師，他在失業後體現李小龍的哲學，學習「如水一般」的人生態度。史戴爾還為觀眾打造了一個「沉浸式」的環境，觀眾正如暫時棲息於「浪潮中」的觀影座來體驗和觀看。

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姚仲涵的《感覺空間》試圖探討現實世界與網路空間的時空平行狀態。展場裡播放的是藝術家在台北市周邊戶外的多個地點所進行的DJ影音紀錄，其於一天中發生的時刻，與展場內的時間一致。然而，觀眾在展覽現場只能聽到直播現場的環境音，必須要使用自己的手機連上網路進入另一個「現場」，才能聆聽到藝術家播放的音樂。視覺與聽覺同時在現實與網路空間裡在此發生了交疊、錯位，而藉著聆聽方法的改變，觀眾穿梭在兩個不同的世界裡。

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倪灝的《結構研究VI》是一件六頻道同步的影音作品。藝術家先從Youtube裡蒐集來關於災難、衝突、工廠機器、爆炸、動物奔跑……等等影片，剪輯為三段，接著邀請三位鼓手以打鼓來模彷影像中的情境。倪灝以如同「作曲」的方式加以編輯，像是呈現一部交響樂曲，在激揚暴烈的影像與聲響中有著幽微的秩序。觀眾可從這件作品中感受到網路世界裡，大量流竄的影像所帶來的速度與衝擊。

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王郁媜的多媒材裝置《未曾來過》，如她一貫的超現實風格，對現代社會裡各種科學思維與工業發展加以觀察與理解，又同時以充滿想像力的方式進行詮釋，以此和記憶、歷史及不同的人事物對話。王郁媜的畫作是綺麗的生物與機械體共構的生態系，在多重敘事線和視點中，將她一直以來所收集的檔案、影像與聲音融冶於一爐，塑造出一幅幅具自傳風格又同時邀請觀者一起進入的「時間風景」。

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吳其育的《發光半導體未來》是一個關於黑色－科幻未來主義式的虛構小說/影像。藝術家想像一個自然光源（太陽）已完全消失，而我們生存的星系，只剩下了LED人造光源並賴以為生的世界。現在被人們大量使用的LED，除了用來散發光源、再現影像，它也同時是訊息與訊號的主要終端界面──LED取代了上帝創造的光，成為形塑記憶和意識的來源。藝術家以此想像，反思當今人類歷史及文明發展。

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