This exhibition explores the enduring presence of historical memories in our contemporary lives. Two main aspects at the core of this discussion involve the textualization of histories and the materialization of memories. Much like our complex, chaotic contemporary lives, the works showcased in this exhibition exude a sense of anachronism. They imply that not only are we the products of history,
2023 Neo n’ Old series Projection Installation,Multi-channel Video Installation, Transparent Glass Stickers, Acrylic Light Box
Neo n’ Old is a series of works begun in 2021 by artist Yung-Chih Lee. Using both video projection and transparent glass stickers as medium, these works replicate and recreate the patterns and textures of iconic neon advertising boards, with references gathered from a variety of historical sources. By copying these once ubiquitous images, the artist brings into the present moment an atmosphere of an old industrial era that has now faded into the past. At the same time, this act reproduces the craze for neon signage that was so popular in Asia during the 1980s.
Neo n’ Old reproduced famous images of well-known brands such as Morinaga, Fujifilm and Seiko, as well as many others. With transparent glass stickers and video projections placed high above the exhibition space, visitors were able to look up and find themselves drawn into the unique atmosphere created by these unique signs of their times. Neo n’ Old_National, a new work in the series, is based on a red neon advertising board once located outside Taipei Main Station and Zhonghua Shopping Yard. The work itself consists of a lightbox installation and a large-scale motion video projection, one that creates a movie reel-like effect.
By collecting and collaging these now defunct neon signs, the artist not only manages to convey his personal memories and experiences, but also presents to the audience an urban landscape of a specific era, representing and forming an interrogation between the real and the virtual, the past and the contemporary.
On the street, paint peeling from rusting metal has patterns on its back similar to those of the lingzhi mushroom, and the crystalized rust conforms to the contours of time, documenting almost stratigraphic records of different periods. Before such inferior materials, so commonly seen in our daily lives, are disposed of as useless waste and incinerated into ash, they also serve as an everyday spectacle, marking a sort of micro history. From this history, witnessed by the peeled paint and rediscovered on the street.
The Lak Tshat Greenhouse: “Lak tshat” is the Taiwanese term for “peeling paint”. It is designed to accelerate the production and “incubate” mottled marks on painted metal products in a laboratory setting. In addition to artificial “cultivation”, it aims to cogitate upon the elimination and continuation as well as the existence and demise of substance in comparison with the decay of “natural materials”.
Science Park Renaissance Cement,Close lightly pebble, Performance Documentary
This work is resident project at HsinChu City old street.
I rubbed the paper over the signboards of the companies at Hsinchu Science Park and transferred the print to the inscribed boards I made that had been common on the old, Western-style buildings. Then I placed the boards inside some old and shabby frames, carefully embedding them as animal camouflage. With the change of times, such Taiwanese architectural style and materials become familiar as well as nostalgic to all.
The way we value the profundity of culture is preserving architecture and remodeling it to be another “culture.” What I did is simply relocating those technology brands that have contributed greatly to Taiwan’s economy and turning them into another sort of “culture.” No one would find them awkward if they were just treated as new signboards.
A journey of self discovery, exploring childhood memories of being indoctrinated with historic information, taking from Guo HeMing’s“Distant Keelung River” and the methodology of “Shui Jing Zhu”. From the perspective of a pretend Chinese scholar, procrastinating in seclusion, viewing all that occurs at She Hou, Keelung river. An escape, for the sake of health and comfortability, of the urban resident; under the paradox of civilization and nature, combined with nostalgia for ancient times, untimely absurdity arises, yet most sincerely praising the river of time.
