Summer School as School 2023
Film School Program
August 9, 2023, 19:00

Film School Program
The Difficulties of Re-Identity: Video Art and Experimental Moving Images from Taiwan, with works by Chang En Man, Posak Jodian, Ciwas Tahos, Hou I Ting, Hsu Chia Wei, Yao Jui Chung, Li Kuei Pi, Wu Chi Yu, Liu Yu, Au Sow Yee, Zhang Xu Zhan
Presentation by Nobuo Takamori

Venue: Boxing Club, Mark Isaku 8, 10000 Prishtina, Republic of Kosovo

Taiwan is one of the earliest countries in Asia to develop video art. Since the 1980s, video art has become one of the common materials for Taiwanese artists.

Furthermore, the history of Taiwanese experimental films can be traced back to earlier. In 21st century, the boundary between Taiwanese video art and experimental film has gradually blurred, "moving images / time-based images" becoming an interdisciplinary form of artistic expression.

Taiwan's very existence is often seen as a problem. Taiwan's multicultural and complex history is based on the fundament of Austronesian culture. Yet it has experienced colonial rule by the Dutch East Company, Spain, the Manchurian Qing Empire, Japan, and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), creating a complex historical identity. This type of complexity entangles Taiwan's political status today while shaping Taiwan's cultural character. In addressing this difficulty of self-identity, artists have developed various narratives that deconstruct history. Whether it is the perspectives of indigenous artists, recalling the legacy of the Japanese colonial period, or reflecting on the experience of the “White Terror” era, artists intertwine images and narratives in their works through deconstruction, re-creation, symbolism, and poetic expression.

This Screening Program at Summer School as School 2023 in Kosovo, curated by Taiwanese curator Nobuo Takamori, selects the works from 11 Taiwanese artists or artists based in Taiwan. They come from different generations, genders, and ethnic groups, but their works are full of insight in Taiwan's past and present, and even extend the methodology experimented in Taiwan to Southeast Asia and other parts of Asia, reforming a unique image aesthetics developed from Taiwan's identity dilemma. This event will be accompanied by a guided lecture by the curator to help the audience understand the works, and as well as the identity narratives of Taiwanese history.

Artists:

Chang En-Man, Snail Paradise Trilogy: Setting Sail or Final Chapter, 2021, 14’35”
Posak Jodian, Misafafahiyan Metamorphosis, 2022, 16’26”
Ciwas Tahos, The Land in the Middle of the Pond, 2021, 8’21”
Hou I-Ting, White Uniform, 2017, 11’39”
Hsu Chia-Wei, Takasago, 2017, 9’20”
Yao Jui-Chung, Long Long Live, 2013, 7’19”
Li Kuei-Pi, Clement Town, 2023, 23’00”
Wu Chi-Yu, 45nm: Wind Test, 2008, 1’25”
Liu Yu, Caecus creaturae, 2019, 32’53”
Au Sow Yee, Pirates, the Trembling Ship and their 1001 Nights I: Rock and Row, 2022, 05’37”
Zhang-Xu Zhan, Si So Mi, 2017-18, 05’06”

Biography

Takamori Nobuo is a Taiwanese independent curator with Japanese descent, he is currently based at Taipei, Taiwan. Takamori has been worked as chief-curator of 2021 Asian Arts Biennial, Phantasmapolis, which aims to described the futurism and sci-fi perspective inside Asian contemporary art. For more than a decade, Takamori’s curatorial work and research project aims to evoke the hidden linkage between Taiwan and Southeast Asia, with practical exchange project for encourage the interaction of contemporary art from both sides. Takamori’s notable projects include Taiwan International Video Art Exhibition 2014 “The Return of Ghosts” (Hong Gah Museum, Taipei), and “The Secret South: from Cold War Perspective to Global South in Museum Collection” (2020, Taipei Fine Arts Museum).