How do you characterize the media you work in?

I’m interested in crossing boundaries between media and adapting works to different environments. To that end, I’ve made cinematic performance art pieces, video installations, web-based works, photographs, and more.

How does your practice engage with technology?

Taiwan is a hub of cheap semiconductor manufacturing that offers the power of computing. I’m trying to get closer to that power by using AI in multilayered works that require significant electronic and computing energy, posing challenges to my computer program. I’ve never considered myself a digital artist per se, but I’ve been working with a team in Taiwan that knows how to make AI tools more effective. From my experience, you don’t have to be an engineer to use new technologies, but you have to know how to cooperate.

You were a finalist for the 5th VH Award. Can you tell me a bit about the work that garnered you this honor?

The Space Warriors and the Digigrave references a Sci-fi television program called Space Warriors that was broadcast by a government TV channel in Taiwan for a short time in the final years of martial law in the 1980s. The series had this naïve narrative in which the government and the nation protected the people from aliens; it was indoctrinating and nationalist as well as militaristic. As I child, I watched this television show. I wanted to revisit it to explore my own memory of martial law. I reshot the series and introduced abstraction, chaos, overlaid imagery, and erotic scenes in an effort to break the show’s nationalist and patriarchal logics.

What was your focus during your time at Eyebeam? Was there a culminating project?

At Eyebeam, I worked on the The Space Warriors and the Digigrave, which has taken the form of video installations in various formats, a website, and a forthcoming feature film. Also during my residency, Eyebeam hosted a conference on Taiwanese sovereignty. I was part of an online panel with Lee Tzu-Tung and [2020 Rapid Response Fellow] Xin Xin. It was a unique moment, in that three Taiwanese artists could speak openly about this political tension and geopolitical context.

How has dialogue or collaboration with Eyebeam artists and alumni factored into your work?

I think that these sorts of digital residencies will become more and more important and influential. I met so many wonderful people, both in and outside the cohort. It was a great experience meeting with and learning from experts in the field, like new media art curator Barbara London. Before incorporating new AI tools in the animation of my film, I spoke with peers in the cohort and other people involved with Eyebeam, who helped to direct me to open-source tools that I could use. That was invaluable.

How do you think about the role of the artist in society?

The duty of the artist is not to offer an answer or solution. I think that the role of the artist is to create different perspectives on—or dimensions to—experiences, rather than direct people and tell them what to do or think.