WITHIN THE PULSE OF TIME: AVA HSUEH’S ABSTRACT PAINTING

2025 Spotlight Taiwan Conference Keynote Lectures

WITHIN THE PULSE OF TIME: AVA HSUEH’S ABSTRACT PAINTING

此時彼刻 — 薛保瑕的抽象繪畫

AVA PAO-SHIA HSUEH（薛保瑕）

Time is not unidirectional but by contrast, shuttles back and forth between numerous intersections. As an abstract painter, I learn from history and embrace the present in the moment, whilst looking to the future in our imagination. How to respond to present reality and explore the characteristics of contemporary abstract art through abstract vocabulary has always been the core of my artistic practice. At this point, whenever we are confronted with a work of art, we are no longer mere strangers. Instead, we shuttle back and forth and transforming in that point in time, thus becoming transplanters of temperature, as well as annotators of text.

About the Speaker

Ava Hsueh (b. 1956) obtained her D.A. degree in Arts from New York University and currently serves as the Honorary Professor at the Tainan National University of the Arts. She has been appointed as the Director of National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Chief Executive of National Cultural and Arts Foundation, and has served as the Dean of the College of Visual Arts, the Chair of the Doctoral Program in Art Creation and Theory in Tainan National University of the Arts. Hsueh has long chosen abstract art as her expression. In dexterously conjuring biomorphic abstraction and geometric abstraction, she creates a hybrid reality that corresponds to epochal shifts in contemporary abstract art.

Hsueh has exhibited internationally, including in Taiwan, China, Korea, Japan, France, Italy, and the U.S. She has been awarded the Creation Award of Li Chun-shan Foundation of Modern Painting, the Institutional Honorable Award for Woman in Culture and Arts, the Third Merit Medal from the Executive Yuan of Taiwan, the 3^rd Art Education Contribution Prize: Outstanding Teacher from the Ministry of Education, and the Research Award National Science Council (1996). Her works are housed in various collections, including the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art, Taichung, Taiwan; Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan; Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Taichung Art Museum, Taichung, Taiwan; Tainan Art Museum, Tainan, Taiwan; National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China; White Rabbit Museum, Chippendale, Australia; and private collections.

Ava Hsueh lives and works in Taichung, Taiwan

此時彼刻 — 薛保瑕的抽象繪畫

時間流不是單向的，總是往返於多個節點。作為一位抽象繪畫的創作者，我向歷史學習，並在當下接應現實，更在想像中望向未來。如何以抽象語彙回應當今的現實並探究當代抽象藝術的特質，一直是我的藝術課題。此時，面對作品，我們不是陌生人，而是穿梭其間移相互轉譯，成為溫度的嫁接者，也是文本的插頁者。

薛保瑕

1956年出生於台灣台中

現居、創作於台中

薛保瑕為美國紐約大學教育學院藝術博士。現任國立臺南藝術大學榮譽教授。曾任國立臺灣美術館館長、財團法人國家文化藝術基金會執行長，國立臺南藝術大學視覺藝術學院院長、藝術創作理論研究所博士班專任教授暨所長等。長久以來選擇以抽象藝術作為創作的表現形式，作品主要以冷熱兩種抽象符號表現混合性的現實，並因應時代的改變進一步探討當代抽象藝術的特質。

其作品於台灣、中國、美國、法國、義大利、韓國，和日本等地展出。曾獲李仲生基金會現代繪畫獎、女性文化藝術學社獎、行政院特殊功績三等功績獎章、教育部第三屆藝術教育貢獻獎─教學傑出獎，和國科會84學年度甲種研究獎勵等。作品為國立臺灣美術館、臺北市立美術館、高雄市立美術館、臺中市立美術館、臺南市美術館、北京中國美術館、澳洲白兔美術館等機構典藏，以及私人收藏等。

SOLO EXHIBITION

2020     “One and the Other: 2020 Solo Exhibition of Ava Hsueh”, Tina Keng Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan

2019     “Position: 2019 Solo Exhibition of Ava Hsueh”, Moon Gallery, Taichung, Taiwan

2018     “Between Shuttles: 2018 Solo Exhibition of Ava Hsueh”, Tina Keng Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan

2017     “Into The Filed: 2017 Solo Exhibition of Ava Hsueh”, Red Gold Fine Art, Taipei, Taiwan

             “Accumulated Power: 2017 Solo Exhibition of Ava Hsueh”, Show Gallery, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

2016     “In Front of You–Solo Exhibition of Ava Hsueh”, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan

2015     “Deciphering Phenomenon–Abstract Art of Ava Hsueh”, Red Gold Fine Art@ART TAIPEI 2015, Taipei, Taiwan

2014     “A Transit Survey－Solo Exhibition of Ava Hsueh”, Red Gold Fine Art, Taipei, Taiwan

             “Mind Maps: 1989–2014 Abstract Art of Ava Hsueh”, InART Space, Tainan, Taiwan

2013     “Realm·Energy－2013 Solo Exhibition of Ava Hsueh”, Taitung Art Museum, Taitung, Taiwan

             “Non-Zero Point: 2013 Abstract Art of Ava Hsueh”, Tina Keng Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan

             “Abstract Art of Ava Hsueh”, Art Beijing, Beijing, China

2012     “Energetic Scene: 2012 Abstract Art of Ava Pao-shia Hsueh”, Red Gold Fine Art, Taipei, Taiwan.

             “Flowing Reality: 2011 Abstract Art of Ava Hsueh”, Shanghai Art Museum, China

2011     “Flowing Reality: 2011 Abstract Art of Ava Hsueh”, National Art Museum of China, China

2010     “Flowing Factor: Ava Pao-Shia Hsueh’s 2010 Solo Exhibition”, Beyond Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan

2004     “Flowing Codes”, IT Park, Taipei, Taiwan

1998     “Solo Exhibition of Ava Hsueh”, Crown Art Center, Taipei, Taiwan

1997     “The Phenomenon of Intentionality”, Galerie Pierre, Taichung, Taiwan

             “Solo Exhibition of Ava Hsueh”, Taichung Cultural Center, Taichung, Taiwan

1995     “Deconstruction·Spirit·Elegy·Strength”, National Tsinghua University Arts Center, Hsinchu, Taiwan

1993     “Visible and Invisible”, Gallery 456, NYC, N.Y., USA

1992     “Solo Exhibition of Ava Hsueh”, Crown Art Center, Taipei, Taiwan

             “Solo Exhibition of Ava Hsueh”, River Art Center, Taichung, Taiwan

1990     “Solo Exhibition of Ava Hsueh”, Dziou Tai Gallery, NYC, N.Y., USA

             “Solo Exhibition of Ava Hsueh”, L’ultima Gallery, Santa Monica, C.A., USA

1989     “04=1+1+1+1”, Taiwan Museum of Art, Taichung, Taiwan

             “04=1+1+1+1”, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

1988     “Solo Exhibition of Ava Hsueh”, Amerasia Gallery, NYC, USA

1987     “Solo Exhibition of Ava Hsueh”, Taipei Gallery, NYC, USA

GROUP EXHIBITION

2024    “Ocean in US: Southern Visions of Women Artusts”, Kaohsiung Fine Arts Museum, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

            “Enclave:  An Autobiography”, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

2023    “Art in Our Time: NTMoFA Collection Highlights”, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan

            “Glory of The Century: 2023 Academician Exhibition of Taiwan Academy of Fine Arts ”, National Taiwan Normal University(NTNU) Art Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

           “Natipnal Large-Sized Oil Paintings Exhibition 2023”, Taichung City Seaport Art Center, Cultural Affairs Bureau , Taichung city Government

             “Sowers: 2023 Academician Exhibition of Taiwan Academy of Fine Arts ”, Kaohsiung Fine Arts Museum, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

2022    “SHERO: Taiwan Contemporary Women Artists”, Tainan Arts Museum, Tainan, Taiwan

                  “Taiwan Art Romance: 2022 Academician Exhibition of Taiwan Academy of Fine Arts”, National Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Taipei, Taiwan

2021     “Super Fusion—Chengdo Biennial (First Section: Polymorphic Co-Existence”, Organizer: Chengdu Art Museum, Location: Chengdu Tianfu Art Park(Chengdu Tianfu Art Museum, Chengdu Museum of Contemporary Art), Chengdo, China

             “ART 021 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair”, Tina Keng Gallery, Shanghai Exhibition Center, Shanghai, China

             “ART TAIPEI 2021”, Tina Keng Gallery, Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall 1, Taipei Taiwan

             “Matching of Arts and Walls”, Whitestone Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan

             “Taiwanese Art Treasures Preserved Overseas—The Homecoming Exhibition of the Sun Ten Collection”, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan

             “Abstract: Emotional Expressions”, Beyond Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan

2020     “Art Shenzhen 2020”, Bamboo Space, Shenzhen, China

             “The Consciousness Flows Within”, Asia University Museum of Modern Art, Taichung, Taiwan

             “Full Blooming in Southland: The 10^th Anniversary of the Taiwan Academy of Fine Arts”, Tainan Art Museum, Tainan, Taiwan

             “TAIPEI DANGDAI 2020”, Tina Keng Gallery, Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, Hall 1, Taipei, Taiwan

             “The 10th Anniversary of the Taiwan Academy of Fine Arts”, Bo-ai Gallery of National Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Taipei, Taiwan

2019     “ART 021 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair”, Tina Keng Gallery, Shanghai Exhibition Center, Shanghai, China

             “Art Shenzhen 2019”, Bamboo Space, Shenzhen, China

             “The Herstory of Abstraction in East Asia”, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

             “Cross-Strait Contemporary Abstract Art Exhibition”, Bo-ai Gallery of National Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall; Tainan Fuly Museum, Taipei; Tainan, Taiwan

             “2019 JINGART”, Tina Keng Gallery, Beijing Exhibition Center, Beijing, China

2018     “The New Vision of Printmaking”, Triangle Space in Chelsea College of Arts of University of the Arts London(10/12-10/26); Faculty of Fine Arts, Complutense University of Madrid(10/16-11/09), London; Madrid, UK; Spain

             “Art Shenzhen 2018”, Bamboo Space, Shenzhen, China

             “The Essential－2017 New Acquisitions”, Kaohsiung Fine Arts Museum, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

             “DADA”, ART AMOY, Bamboo Space, Xiamen, China

             “Diverse Tones．Unifying Resonance－A special Exhibition of Female Artists Returned from Abroad”, Tainan Fuly Museum, Tainan, Taiwan

             “Illumination in an Alley: Cross-strait Contemporary Art”, Da Xin Art Museum, Tainan, Taiwan

             “The 33^rd New Year Prints of R.O.C. Exhibition Prosperity and Vitality for the Year of the Dog”, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan

2017     “2017 National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall Exhibition Review Committee Group Exhibition”, Bo-ai Gallery of National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Taipei, Taiwan.

             “Compromise”, Art Shenzhen 2017, Bamboo Space, Shenzhen, China

             “The New Vision of Printmaking”, Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei, Taiwan

             “Limitless Landscapes”, Art Influence, Taipei, Taiwan

             “Art Made in Taiwan: An Exhibition from the Taiwan Academy of Fine Arts(TAFA), 2017”, National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Taipei, Taiwan

2016     “Non-figuration”, Art Shenzhen 2016, Bamboo Space, Shenzhen, China

             “Contemporary Taiwan: An Exhibition of Abstract Art Classics”, Tainan Fuly Museum, Tainan, Taiwan

             “The Troika”, Red Gold Fine Art, Taipei, Taiwan

             “Art Made in Taiwan: An Exhibition from the Taiwan Academy of Fine Arts(TAFA) in Korea, 2016”, The National Academy of Arts of The Republic of Korea, Seoul, South Korea.

             “Boundless Visions – New Acquisitions from the Permanent Collection”, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

2015     “Alter Abstract, The Intersection Between The Cold and The Hot: The Abstract Arts of Taiwan and Korea”, Red Gold Fine Art, Taipei, Taiwan

             “Sans Limites, Sans Frontières”, National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall; Fondation Taylor, Taipei; Paris, Taiwan; France.

             “Encoding & Decoding－Imagery between Reality and Mind”, Da Xiang Art Space, Taichung, Taiwan

2014     “Yes ! Taiwan－2014Taiwan Biennial”, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan

             “Now Taiwan－the Taiwan Academy of Fine Arts”, The Shoto Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan

             “Woman-Home: In the Name of Asian Female Artists”, Kaohsiung Fine Arts Museum, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

             “Art of ‘Made in Taiwan (MIT)’ An Exhibition from the Taiwan Academy of Fine Arts”, School of Art Gallery, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

             “Angle of View－Invitational Exhibition”, Teh-Chun Art Gallery of National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan

             “ARTSHOW BUSAN 2014”, Busan, Korea

             “Plus．From New York to Taipei”, Red Gold Fine Art, Taipei, Taiwan

2013     “Form of Formless: Taiwan Abstract Arts”, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangdong, China

             “Taiwan Modern Arts Development within 50 years of Postwar”, Creative Space, Taipei, Taiwan

             “Horizon Realm: Contemporary Art From Taiwan”, Tenri Cultural Institute(07/11－08/09); JSU Liberal Arts Gallery(09/05－11/06), New York; Mississippi, USA.

             “Rolling! Visual Art in Taiwan”, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea

             “The Beauty of Taiwan: The Representative Art Works from Modern and Contemporary Arts in Taiwan”, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

             “The Strength form Locality and Others: The Perceptual Coordinate and Route of Taiwan Contemporary Arts”, Pingtung Art Museum, Pingtung, Taiwan

2012     “2012 International Women Arts Exhibition: Lights of Women”, Gwangju Museum of Arts Geumnam-ro Gallery, Gwangju, Korea

             “Form of Formless: Taiwan Abstract Arts”, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

             “Post-Colonialism & Post-Modernism: 2012 Exhibition of the Taiwan Fine Arts Academy”, National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Taipei, Taiwan

2011     “Creativity & Communication: Mainland China Travelling Exhibition of the Taiwan Academy of Fine Arts”, National Art Museum of China; Guangdong Museum of Art, Beijing; Guangdong, China

             “105 Invitational Exhibition of Ceramic Paintings: A Tribute to Professor CHEN HOUEI-KUEN, Yingge Ceramic Museum, New Taipei City, Taiwan

             “Return to the Essence: Survey of Contemporary Abstract Painting in Taiwan”, Red Gold Fine Art, Taipei, Taiwan.

             “100 years and 100 paintings: Invitational Exhibition of Taiwan, Contemporary Artists”, National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Taipei, Taiwan

2010     “04 = 1+1+1+1”, Howard Salon, Taipei, Taiwan

             “Continuation: Special Exhibition of Li Chun-shen Modern Painting Award Winners”, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan

             “Continuation and Initiation: The First TAFA Academicians Exhibition”, National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Taipei, Taiwan

             “Beyond Vision: Highlight of Abstract Painting from the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts Collection”, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan

2007     “National Taiwan Normal University 68 Grade Group Show”, Tainan Cultural Center, Tainan, Taiwan

2006     “Place/Displace: Three Generations of Taiwanese Arts”, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan

             “Marco Vision, Micro Analysis, Reflections− Contemporary Art in Taiwan in the Post-Martial Law Era”, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan

2005     “Art and Gender－Women Artists Dialogue with the Life ”, Art Center of National University of the Arts, Tainan, Taiwan

             “Arts Make the World Transform－Without Boundary”, Soaring Cloud Art Center, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

             “Lightscape－Between Mind and Matter”, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

             “Intertidal Zone Art Monitoring Station－Annual Project 2005”, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan

             “Perceptions of Lives－Self Portrait, Self Images”, Soaring Cloud Art Center, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

             “2005 Kuandu Extravaganza: Exhibition of Modern Art in Taiwan”, Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei, Taiwan

             “Aside”, Taiwan New Arts, Tainan, Tainan

             “Place/Displace: Three Generations of Taiwanese Arts”, Richmond Art Gallery; Art Center of Columbus State University; Pacific Asia Museum, Vancouver; Georgia; , Los Angeles, Canada; USA

2004     “Place/Displace: Three Generations of Taiwanese Arts”, Art Gallery of Allen R. Hite Art Institute of University of Louisville, Kentucky, USA

             “2004 The First Wuhan Documentary Nomination Exhibition”, Fine Arts Museum of Hubei Institute of Fine Arts, Hubei, China

             “Establish Difference: The Development of 1990’s Taiwan Arts”, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

             “The Contemporary Arts of Southern Taiwan”, Art Center of National Chengkung University, Tainan, Taiwan

2003     “Discourses on Love: 64 Conversations in SARS Era”, IT Park, Taipei, Taiwan

             “Scanning Abstraction”, Lin & Keng Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan

             “Trace Mark of The Time: Taiwan’s Art After 1950”, Chan Liu Art Museum, Taoyuan, Taiwan

2002     “Woman’s Arts Biennial: 2002 Aspect”, Shegar Museum, Shegar, UAE

2001     “Absolute Body: The Sensation of Taiwan Woman’s Arts”, Main-Trend Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan

             “A Commemorative Exhibition for the 2nd Anniversary of the 921 Earthquake in Taiwan”, Earthquake Museum of Taiwan, Taichung, Taiwan

             “Main−Trend: Toward The New Century”, Main−Trend Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan

             “Representation of Mind: Taiwan Woman’s Contemporary Arts”, Kaohsiung Fine Arts Museum, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

2000     “The Fifteenth Asia International Arts Exhibition”, Tainan County Cultural Center, Tainan, Taiwan

             “Commemoration of the 921 Earthquake Anniversary: The Chichi Ark Installation Art Exhibition”, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan

             “The Time Subject in Visual Arts: Permanent Collection”, Kaohsiung Fine Arts Museum, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

             “Visions of Pluralism: Contemporary Arts in Taiwan, 1988−1999”, National Museum of History, Taipei, Taiwan

             “Commemoration of the 921 Earthquake Anniversary− Recover from Tragedy: Outdoor Installation Art Exhibition”, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan

1999     “The Fourteenth Asia International Arts Exhibition”, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum; Tainan County Cultural Center, Fukuoka; Tainan ,Japan; Taiwan

             “The Unpredictable Changes in the Subtropical Zone”, New Confucian Art Gallery, Taichung, Taiwan

             “Visions of Pluralism: Contemporary Arts in Taiwan, 1988−1999”, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

             “Partial Injection− Cultural Formulation in Cold and Hot Replacement”, Mountain Arts Museum, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

             “Contemporary Abstract Arts”, Ke-yuan Gallery, Taichung, Taiwan

             “Southern Land Images: The Changing Urban Visions of the Contemporary Arts in Taiwan”, Asia Club; Capital Museum; National Museum of History, N.Y.; OAK; Taipei, USA; Taiwan

             “Drawing Images: Working on Paper”, Taipei College of the Arts, Taipei, Taiwan

             “Magnetic Writing: Working on Paper Group Show”, IT Park, Taipei, Taiwan

1998     “Today’s Masters and Young Artists: New Images of Taiwan Contemporary Abstract Art”, Paris, France

             “New Images of Taiwan Contemporary Abstract Art”, Dimensions, Taipei, Taiwan

             “1998 Tachikawa International Festival”, Tokyo, Japan

             “Grand Opening”, Lin & Keng Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan

             “Taiwanese Arts”, Milan Art institute, Milan, Italy

             “New Drawings”, Taipei Art Association, Taipei, Taiwan

             “The Fifth Pyongtaek International Arts Festival”, Pyongtaek Museum, Pyongtaek, Korea

             “Imagery and Aesthetic: Contemporary Woman Arts in Taiwan”, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

             “Century·Women−Group Art Show”, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

1997     “1997 Los Angeles International Art Festival”, Art Core, L.A, USA

             “The Peace”, Nagasaki Prefecture Museum, Nagasaki, Japan

             “Limited Treasure”, Galerie Pierre, Taichung, Taiwan

             “GRANDS ET JEUNES D’AUJOURD’HUI Salon 1997”, Paris, France

             “Reconstruction in the Age of Chaos”, Yiamtian Art Gallery, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

             “The Third Tainan Arts Exhibition: Invitational Exhibition of Jurors", Tainan County Cultural Center, Tainan, Taiwan

             “Tunghai University Fine Art Department Professor‘s Group Show”, Tunghai University Art Center, Taichung, Taiwan

1996     “Discovering The New Power of Taiwanese Art”, Gallerie Pierre, Taichung, Taiwan

1995     “Taiwan Legend: 1980−1995 Contemporary Painting in Taiwan”, Gallerie Pierre, Taichung, Taiwan

             “Other – Distance”, Hanart, Taipei, Taiwan

             “Other – Distance”, Studio Aperto/ Associazione Culturale per la Promozione doll’Arte in Europe, Roma, Italy

             “Present Arts in Taiwan: Series 1, 04=1+1+1+1”, Howard Salon, Taipei, Taiwan

             “Invitational Exhibition of The Fourteen National Arts Exhibition”, The National Taiwan Art Education Center, Taipei; Taichung; Kaohsiung, Taiwan

1994     “Building Bridges among Cultures”, Da Vinci Hall Art Gallery of City College, L.A., USA

             “Five Women Artists”, Walter Wickiser Gallery, N.Y., USA

             “The End of Century: Taiwan Women Abstract Paintings Group Show”, Hsiung-shih Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan

             “The Sampling Exhibition: From Local to International”, Galerie Pierre, Taichung, Taiwan

             “Dialogue Between Arts and Life”, Dimensions, Taipei, Taiwan

1993     “New Works”, Walter Wickiser Gallery, N.Y., USA

             “New Scene of Asia Art”, The CUNY Graduate Center & The Mina Rees Library, NYC, USA

             “Approaching the Peak”, G. Zen 50 Art Gallery, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

             “Forms and Colors− Women Abstract Art”, Home Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan

1992     “The New Image of Asian women: My Eyes Blur Sometimes at Beauty”, Asian American Arts Center, NYC,USA

             “Grand Opening”, A-P Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan

             “The Third Wave− The Rise of New Generation”, Galerie Pierre, Taichung, Taiwan

             “Invitational Exhibition of The Thirteen National Arts Exhibition”, The National Taiwan Art Education Center, Taipei; Taichung; Kaohsiung, Taiwan

1991     “New York/ Taipei: An Encounter with Modernism, A Joint Exhibition of Chinese Artists from Soho”, Taipei Gallery, NYC,USA

             “Grand Opening Art Exhibition”, The Hight Up Gallery, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

             “The Dialogue between Woman Art and Contemporary Art”, Dimension Art Center, Taipei, Taiwan

             “North American Taiwanese Art Show”, Creative Gallery, L.A. USA

             “Transculture− Contemporary Chinese Artist in America”, Smithtown Arts Council, Long Island City, N.Y., USA

             “Taipei−New York: Confrontation of Modernism”, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

1990     “1990 Chinese Contemporary Arts”, China House of Arts, NYC, USA

             “Critical Situation-Three Abstract Artists”, MMC Gallery, NYC, USA

             “National Exposure”, Wetherholt Gallery, Washington, N.Y., USA

             “04 Show”, Howard Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan

             “International Memorial Arts Festival”, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, NYC, USA

             “The Annual Competition”, Islip Art Museum, N.Y., USA

             “Contemporary Drawing Exhibition”, Eslite Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan

1987     “American And European Chinese Artists Exhibition”, Taipei; Taichung; Kaohsiung, Taiwan

1986     “Representative Works of Pratt Fine Arts Institution”, Puck Gallery, Pratt Institute, NYC, USA

1985     “New Talent− Three Young Artists Exhibition”, Howard Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan

AWARDS

2019     The Best Art Gallery Asian Artist Exhibition of the Year “Between Shuttles: 2018 Solo Exhibition of Ava Hsueh”. CANS ART. 11 Feb. 2019. Web. 4 Mar. 2019. <http://www.cansart.com.tw:8000/mag/?tw-n-d-4702.htm>.

2016     Award of The 3^rd Art Education Contribution Prize: Outstanding Teacher, The Ministry of Education, Taipei, Taiwan

2010     Award of Elastic Salary Project of Top Talent, The Ministry of Education, Taipei, Taiwan

2009     The Third Achievement Medal. The Executive Yuan of the Republic of China

             Asia/Pacific Who’s Who. Asia/Pacific Who’s Who, vol. IX, New Delhi: Rifacimemto International, 2009

1998     Women Culture and Arts Institution Honorable Award. “Century·Women Group Art Show”, China Museum of the Arts, Women Culture and Arts Institution, Beijing, China

1995     Research Award. “Abstract Painting In The Postmodern Era: A Critical And Creative Study of The Artist/Researcher’s Project”, National Humanity and Science Research Association, Taiwan

1993     Creation Award. Li Chun Shen Foundation of Modern Painting, Taiwan

1990     Honorable Award. The Annual Competition, Islip Art Museum, East Islip, N.Y.

1981     First Prize. The Teacher's Painting Competition, Chung-Ho City, Taipei, Taiwan

1979     Second Prize. The Selected Sculpture Exhibition, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan

RESEARCH

1998     “The Critical and Creative Study of Contemporary Taiwanese Abstract Art by Women Artists”, collected in Theory of Women’s Arts: The Cultural Phenomena of Taiwan Women Arts, Taipei: Fembooks Co., 1998.

1995     Abstract Painting in The Postmodern Era: A Critical and Creative Study of The Artist/Researcher’s Project, Diss. NY: NYU UP, 1995. (Awarded the “Research Award” of the National Humanity and Science Research Association, Taiwan, 1995.)

DOCUMENTARIES AND INTERVIEWS

2022     “Imperfect Perfection,” ART ECHO on MNEWS｜https://youtu.be/Q_5jHj891nk

2020     “900F, Extremely Large Paintings in ‘One and the Other: 2020 Solo Exhibition of Ava Hsueh,’” ARTS TREND on TVBS｜https://youtu.be/jqCVWo5VXdg

2020     “Vol. 958—Artist/ Ava Pao-Shia Hsueh,” SUPER ARTISTS on BLTV｜https://reurl.cc/NAy0Zk

2019     “The Herstory of Abstraction in East Asia,” Interview with HSUEH Pao-Shia, Taipei Fine Arts Museum｜https://youtu.be/L5tDCBPx4-w

2016     “In Front of You–Solo Exhibition of Ava Hsueh” ｜(trailer)https://www.facebook.com/1090657856/videos/10206762826244511/

COLLECTIONS

Tainan Arts Museum, Tainan, Taiwan

Taichung Fine Arts Museum, Taichung, Taiwan

White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney, Australia

National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art, Taichung, Taiwan

Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

Kaohsiung Fine Arts Museum, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Taida Contemporary Museum of Art, Tianjin, China

Dimension Foundation, Taipei, Taiwan.

Taiwanese United Fund, Los Angeles, USA

Oriental Healing Arts Institute, Los Angeles, USA

River Art Center, Taichung, Taiwan

Galerie Pierre, Taichung, Taiwan

Private Collections

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2025 Spotlight Taiwan VR Filmfest in Scotland: Showcase of Digital Artist Ya-Lun TAO

2025 蘇格蘭臺灣光點電影節：陶亞倫教授科技藝術專場

Ya-Lun TAO陶亞倫

Ya-Lun TAO (b.1966) was born in Taipei, Taiwan. Ya-Lun Tao is a pioneer in the Taiwanese new media art scene. He is the recipient of numerous prestigious honours and awards, including the International Digital Festival of Contemporary New Media Art (MADATAC) in Madrid, Spain; the most iconic contemporary art award in Taiwan—the Taipei Arts Award; and the Taipei County Prize. He is also the youngest recipient of the Contemporary Painting Creation Prize, which symbolises the contemporary artistic spirit in the Chinese-speaking art community. Meanwhile, he is the grantee of the Taiwan Fellowship Program by the Asian Cultural Council (Rockefeller Brothers Fund), for which he has been invited to visit the US as a visiting scholar. He has been invited by the Headland Center for the Arts in San Francisco as an artist-in-residence and has been invited by 1a space in Hong Kong and sponsored by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council to become the first artist-in-residence at 1a space. In addition, he has conducted artist residency at the Nordic Institute for Contemporary Art, which is famous for digital image and techno-art. Tao was ranked first in the grant program of the Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France. He was also an exchange artist in Boston at the invitation of the Boston City Government. Tao was invited by the MADATAC in Madrid, Spain, to present his solo exhibition at the Media Lab Prado in Madrid. He was also invited by the mayor of San Lorenzo del Escorial to present his solo exhibition at the Monasterio de San Lorenzo. In 2009, he was invited by the OK Zentrum in Linz, Austria, to hold a large-scale solo exhibition. Tao has also held solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA), Taipei; the Digital Art Center, Taipei; the Taipei Fine Arts Museum; the Nordic Institute for Contemporary Art, the Hong Kong Arts Center; the Headland Center for the Arts in San Francisco; the Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts; IT Park; and Double Square Gallery.

5 November 2025 9:00-14:00 Wandering Ghost Series 《徘徊的幽靈系列》

Venue: E22, Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh. 74 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh EH3 9DF

Wandering Ghost No.1《徘徊的幽靈 No.1》

 3D digital image, VR, Kinetic installation

Dimensions variable, 2020

Wandering Ghost No. 1 is a VR experience installation that moves horizontally. Audiences need to wear VR headsets and stand on a mechanical platform to feel their bodies moving slowly in a horizontal fashion through an enormous space with surveillance towers. When audiences wander between the towers, beams from spotlights pierce and monitor the darkness, like desiring eyes that want to devour individual lives. Through the work, the artist explores the panoptic view of power and the reflexive meaning embodied by the physical/virtual worlds.

The panoptic view of power in the physical world: Foucault applies the “panopticon” to illustrate the operation of social power. Bentham designed the panopticon in 1791, which rendered the prisoners feeling as if they were being monitored all the time and would consequently obey the rules under the surveillance. The interrelation between “watching” and “being watched” is similar to the light shining through the prison cell window, which forms the prisoner’s shadow. Therefore, not only can the prison guards see every prisoner, but the prisoners can also see and monitor one another. The ubiquitous surveillance is embedded with the power of “discipline,” turning society into an enlarged panopticon. The modern technology of discipline by power is internalised as the ability of self-monitoring, allowing power to reach the deepest, darkest corners of an individual’s mind and best exemplifying Foucault’s idea of “microscopic power.”

The panoptic view of power in the virtual world: in the era of “post-new media,” power assumes the form of virtual data, streaming into a massive, self-operating network. Surveillance cameras, sensors and identification systems at every possible corner constitute an Internet of Things. In front of “huge data,” the so-called private information becomes transparent. The virtual world of the internet creates an alternative panopticon, whereas the governance technology enabled by big data evolves into the new power structure. Electronic information technology replaces physical walls and watch towers to deprive humanity of the right to enjoy freedom—it has become the primary strategy to achieve social governance. Like what is depicted in the dystopian novel 1984, “Big Brother” is an omnipresent power.

People have mistaken “freedom” as a concept related to rights and obligations in “the public sphere”; in truth, the value and realization of freedom is in “the private sphere”—it is realized in the sense that people can be free to desire, in the private space of the psyche, unintentional oblivion or deliberate breaches of public discipline. So, the power of watching is not in the hands of the “monitor” but in those of the “monitored.” Freedom as psychological privacy cannot withstand drawn-out surveillance, up-front gaze or sideline observation; on the contrary, freedom only exists in the concealed, inner and invisible space.

Wandering Ghost No.2 《徘徊的幽靈 No.2》

3D digital image, VR, Kinetic installation

Dimensions variable, 2020

VR experience installation Wandering Ghost No.2 requires audiences to put on VR headsets and stand on a mechanical platform that moves vertically to slowly descend into a vast, virtual space.

As audiences enter the gloomy site, a sombre figure implicitly appears, sitting in the sepulchral space with a lifeless yet imposing look. Death does not disappear throughout the vicissitudes of time. Contemporary politics, at any given time, is present, and constantly predicts, manipulates, interferes and directs a wide range of exceptional events, turning everyone into “homo sacer” described by contemporary political thinker, Giorgio Agamben. Contemporary political regimes take turns to invoke the spirits of “savior-like, great figures” to extend and enhance governance technology, creating an ever-lingering spectre lurking in a ubiquitous “power space” manipulated by the combination of contemporary technology and authoritarianism.

Wandering Ghost No.3 《徘徊的幽靈 No.3》

3D digital image, VR, Kinetic installation

Dimensions variable, 2020

Wandering Ghost No.3 is a VR experience installation that requires audiences to put on VR headsets and stand on a mechanical platform that moves vertically, slowly descending into a vast, virtual space.

“Space” is political and ideologically charged, a product informed by a wide spectrum of ideologies that give rise to various, diverse “space politics.” Therefore, when we unfold a panoramic map, it reflects the result of diverse, complex political activities. The artist creates Wandering Ghost No.3 with classical Greek columns and architectural format, matched with arrays of luohan (arhat) stone statues, forming an underground temple ruin that beckons at the museum as a historical site and the derivation of space politics. “Space” has always been shaped by different historical and natural elements—it is a process of politics that is always political and strategic.

Wandering Ghost No.4 《徘徊的幽靈 No.4》

 3D digital image, VR, Kinetic installation

Dimensions variable, 2020

Wandering Ghost No.4 is a VR experience installation that moves vertically. It requires audiences to put on VR headsets and stand on a mechanical platform, slowly ascending and moving horizontally through the tower before returning to where they start.

In the Book of Genesis in the Christian Old Testament, the man-made Tower of Babel represented humankind’s desire to reach heaven. The ambitious action was stopped by God, who divided humankind by making them speak different tongues. Without communication, the plan to build the tower soon failed and humankind became dispersed in the world, unable to build the road to heaven ever again. In modern linguistic context, the Tower of Babel also refers to “utopian fantasies.” “Utopia,” etymologically speaking, refers to “no-place” and “a good place,” paradoxically implying that the good place is nowhere to be found.

The artist posits the utopian concept between the real and the virtual, hinting that the “interior” of this massive museum is built on a found ruin. Therefore, in the virtual reality, he constructs the ancient Tower of Babel with stone, giving it a historical appearance, whereas the interior is rendered high but empty, with scaffolding to convey the ruinous imagery. The collapsing Tower of Babel ends with the chaotic loss of a unified language—a metaphor for contemporary humanities and culture. It reminds people of major 21^st-century events, such as the September 11 attacks and all other actions done in the name of “justice,” which serve as the modern examples of the fallen Tower of Babel. Social development and progress are based on human concepts. History itself has no end and constantly repeats like a feedback loop. When the contemporary Tower of Babel collapses, it becomes a reminder for humankind to think about what “utopia once again” really means.

Wandering Ghost No.5 《徘徊的幽靈 No.5》

3D digital image, VR, Kinetic installation

Dimensions variable, 2020

Wandering Ghost No.5 is a VR experience installation that moves vertically. It requires audiences to put on VR headsets and stand on a mechanical platform that slowly ascends into the virtual gigantic red dome.

The work reveals a virtual image of a massive radar, beckoning at information-gathering surveillance radar system operated by the national capital—this is the artist’s interpretation of how the “virtual reality” entirely replicates political and social systems in the physical world. It becomes a new form of technological authoritarian system that creates resistance between the power centre and the peripheral as well as tension between dictators and those fighting for freedom in the virtual network. As modern man longs to hold onto freedom, he must become a “ghost” to frequently switch from one virtual space-time to another to escape the virtual apparatus and its governance. However, we can never be sure if contemporary technology is leading us towards a utopia of technology or a perfect totalitarianism. The efficiency and the power of contemporary technology allow contemporary politics to take advantage of the effectiveness and concealability offered by technology to enhance and expand its control – the total control that is far more powerful and fierce than traditional authoritarianism – over the state and its people.

Wandering Ghost No.6 《徘徊的幽靈 No.6》

3D digital image, VR, Kinetic installation

Dimensions variable, 2020

Wandering Ghost No.7 《徘徊的幽靈 No.7》

3D digital image, VR, Kinetic installation

Dimensions variable, 2020

Wandering Ghost No.6 and Wandering Ghost No.7 are VR experience installations that move horizontally. Audiences are required to put on VR headsets and stand on mechanical platforms that slowly move through vast virtual spaces.

Paul Virilio describes the hyper-realistic, encoded world as “death at birth” and “near-death experience,” which are reminiscent of the physical experience one might undergo on the verge of life’s end in clinical medicine: the body drifts like a “ghost” and whatever seen and heard becomes disassociated from the physical, real world.

As of now, the deep fear of being infected with viruses has kept people away from making physical contact, further pushing cultural activities into virtualization and completing the colonization of the everyday life (physical reality) by the internet space (virtual reality). Our consciousness, body and perception have all become data, like hidden, fluid ghosts, dispersed in a wide range of desiring machines. The virtual body is not an explicit “presence,” nor an empty “absence.” It is simultaneously capable of destruction and compensation. In the form of compensation, it denies and supplements the “presence” of the physical reality, “suspending” the physical reality while augmenting it. Like a “ghost,” it is neither external nor internal, neither virtual nor real. Instead, it is an intimate combination of reality and virtuality that coexist in the consistently expanding multiple space-time.

Wandering Ghost No.8 《徘徊的幽靈 No.8》

 3D digital image, VR, Kinetic installation

Dimensions variable, 2020

Wandering Ghost No.8 is a VR experience installation that moves horizontally. It requires audiences to put on VR headsets and stand on a mechanical platform to feel their bodies slowly move through a vast virtual underground hideout and wander in the dome-shaped concrete fortress that embodies a cold, stern sense of mystery with an extending tunnel and a gloomy, silent atmosphere. Erected on both sides of the tunnel are spherical objects covered with various electric wires and devices. Their identical appearance suggests replication and derivative production, recalling massively produced destructive weapons. Are they steel cannons? Or, is it an imagery evoking the threat of biological technology and weaponry?

Tao Ya-Lun employs these atomic bombs in the underground hideout as a symbol to denote the varying metaphors of atomic bombs that echo the spreading virus enabled by globalization, creating a changing global scene. The order of the modern world is the result of World War II. Looking back upon the world wars seventy years ago, militarism also spread throughout the world like today’s pandemic. Humanity, after a period of peace, is now faced with a new twist of events. The military competition between the US and Russia as well as the war resulting from the desire for power have returned like the ghost of history—the destabilized peace will surely push human civilization towards a turbulent future.

Wandering Ghost No.9 《徘徊的幽靈 No.9》

3D digital image, VR, Kinetic installation

Dimensions variable, 2020

 Wandering Ghost No.9 is a VR experience installation that moves in a horizontal fashion. After putting on VR headsets, audiences can stand on a mechanical platform and feel their bodies slowly moving horizontally in a vast virtual utopia.

“Monument to the Third International” was a project devised by Vladimir Tatlin for the propagandist monument plan led by Lenin in 1919. To commemorate the October Revolution, the monument’s artistic concept was laden with political appeal and social ideal. Architecture-wise, it fully embodied the thinking of constructivism and conformed to the Soviet Union’s ideal of national efficiency.

Built with industrial material, such as steel, iron and glass, the conical spiral monument reveals a massive structure that displays immense momentum, which, if completed, would not only exceed the height of the Eiffel Tower but also break away from classical architecture. Within the steel structure of the tower is a geometrical building comprising four rotating tiers, each turning at a speed rate determined by its function and execution efficiency. The ground-floor cube is to be used for the legislative institution; its rotation rate follows the legislative session cycle and takes one year to complete a full spin. The pyramid space above the cube, which is for the administrative institution, completes an individual spin every month. The subsequent cylinder is the information centre of the propaganda and communication institution, which rotates daily. The top tower, installed with projection equipment, completes its spin hourly. The spire of the tower functions as a radio tower for broadcasting and is equipped with a powerful projection system that can project important national decisions and messages onto the cloud every day. In terms of the state apparatus, the tower is the hardware, and people’s power is its software—a celebrated open system that honours people’s decisions to be announced by the government. It is not only a symbol of the communist power but also that of people’s power.

However, Tatlin only finished the model of the monument. Like the modern Tower of Babel, it was never built; yet a later generation has imagined and interpreted it throughout history. It has never existed in reality, but it is never absent; instead, it lingers in people’s minds and never disappears.

Wandering Ghost No.10 《徘徊的幽靈 No.10》

3D digital image, VR, Kinetic installation

Dimensions variable, 2020

 Wandering Ghost No.10 is a VR experience installation that moves in a horizontal fashion. With their VR headsets on, audiences stand on a mechanical platform and feel their bodies slowly moving horizontally into a vast virtual amusement park.

An amusement park is a product of the industrial age. The idea of an amusement park, which denotes a development from playgrounds to theme parks, can be traced back to three cultural phenomena in European history: periodic fair, pleasure garden and world fair. The number of amusement parks peaked in the early stage of the Industrial Revolution during the 18^th and 19^th century, and the phenomenon culminated in London where the development of capitalism and civil society first flourished. However, the world fair, with its ambition to seek novelty, demonstrated the zeal for new technologies, the fervour for accumulating capital and a fantasy to impress other countries, which lead to the emergence of contemporary theme parks. It foreshadows the lifestyle of a capitalist world from the end of the 19^th century to early 20^thcentury while beckoning at the arrival of a consumption-based culture in the context of globalization.

In 2005, the world’s fifth Disneyland was inaugurated in Hong Kong, “the Pearl of the Orient” where Eastern and Western cultures intersect. At the same time, it also indicates the expansion of the global consumer culture and its related industries. “Globalization” is in fact embedded with the connotation of hegemonic colonization. French media cultural theorist Jean Baudrillard has pointed out that Disneyland is the perfect simulacrum, a massive reality show, in which reality is replaced by thematically designed spectacles and people can live in a virtual fourth dimension—a utopia that transcends time and space while encompassing all histories, future and culture.

Amusement parks adopt the capitalistic logic to manipulate consumers’ desires and the mode of consumption. The highly developed capitalist society further evolves into the high degree of freedom in terms of Hong Kong being the international financial centre in Asia as well as a city that attracts the world’s capital flow. However, facing the fact that global capitalistic simulacra have now formed a heterogeneous hegemony of globalization, one cannot help wondering: is the amusement ride high in the sky in Wandering Ghost No.10 with no people on it hinting at a joyful tomorrow? Or is it simply a fragmented fantasy that mourns the loss of thought built on the spiritual ruins of cities?

Theatre in the Brain《腦內劇場》

3D digital image, VR, Kinetic installation

Dimensions variable, 2025

Use illusion to express illusion and expose illusion

Is the strongest political significance of art

用 幻相 來表現 幻相，來揭露 幻相

是 藝術 最強的政治意義

Nietzsche once said: Art is a scam. Art itself is a fictional illusion, but it uses illusions to express illusions and to expose illusions. Art itself is fictitious, but it also exposes all fictitious illusions. The value of art does not lie in the fact that it exposes illusions, but in the fact that art erases truth, uncovers illusions, and opens up this false world of reality.

What we call "the world" refers to the world that can be perceived by human senses and touch, a subjective "brain image" world. Color does not exist. Light of different wavelengths is reflected in our brains. Our visual nerves classify and reorganize the light, so we have the colorful world in our brains. Humankind's vision has moved from the absolute space-time view of Newton's era to the relative space-time view. People have many different views and discussions on the same space-time process. For all people who live in an instrumental rational system, in multi-dimensional time and space, the world we can observe and understand is only the projection of three-dimensional time and space on our "brain images". In different three-dimensional time and space, the amount of projection that our eyes can see is also different. We all give the most accurate measurement based on the phenomena we see from our perspective in this three-dimensional space, so our measurement values ​​are different every time. Everything is correct, but what we measure is only the projection of the "image in the brain", which is just an illusion. We have only seen a drop in the ocean of this vast universe of time and space.

The projection of the future world is a digital simulation of our "brain images". A person who is born with his brain in a fish tank and lives by a calculator will regard all sensory information he receives as false. Of? As Hawking said, creatures living in a virtual world cannot observe their universe from the outside, so they have no reason to suspect that the world they live in is not "reality."

In addition to the information received by the brain from external digital simulation technology, anything we see, sound, or even the feeling of touching an object is reflected in the brain by various nerves inside our body. circuit of electronic signals. In other words, our understanding of the world comes from the translation and reorganization of neural signals in the brain. However, can this seemingly superior nervous system completely and accurately receive, translate, and understand all the messages in the universe? Or is it just the opposite, is it our "brain images" that are being translated into all the information in the universe?

"Theater in the Brain" audience participation steps:

1. "In front of the curtain" is the "Sacrifice Altar." The audience enters the physical "Sacrifice Altar" one by one, and the place is quiet and clean. The audience wears "encephalograph" and "VR glasses". The audience wears a "brain wave meter" to detect changes in the audience's brain waves. The biological image at the center of the audience's point of view in the "VR glasses" will gradually change with the brain waves of the audience.
2. "Behind the scenes" children's body movements control the giant creatures in the VR virtual image of the viewer on the "Sacrifice Altar". The huge creature is also projected on the big screen "in front of the screen" in real time.
3. At the "Sacrifice Altar" in front of the “curtain”, the audience wears a "brain wave meter" to detect changes in the audience's brain waves. The biological image in the center of the audience's point of view in the "VR glasses" will become larger and larger along with the brain waves of the audience.
4. The biological image in the "VR glasses" finally eats the audience on the "sacrifice altar" one by one. That's the end of a show.

Challenge Biomedical Paradigm Through Art and Design

2025 Spotlight Taiwan Lecture

2025-6 History of Art Research Seminar

Time: 18 September 17:15-18:15, followed by drink reception

Venue: Hunter Lecture Theatre, 74 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh EH3 9DF

Challenge Biomedical Paradigm Through Art and Design

by Kuang-Yi KU (National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University)

*This lecture is supported by the 2025 Spotlight Taiwan Lecture Series*

In this talk, artist and designer Kuang-Yi Ku will present a selection of bio-art and speculative design projects developed in collaboration with scientists and medical professionals. His work explores themes of the human body, sexuality, interspecies interactions, and medical technology, examining the complex relationships between technology, individuals, and the environment. By challenging established medical dogmas, Ku expands our perspectives and inspires new possibilities in medical technology. His projects also expose the ethical controversies surrounding biomedical advancements, creating platforms for public debate. As cultural probes, his works encourage critical reflection on contemporary society and open pathways to envision possible futures.

About the Speaker

Kuang-Yi KU lives and works both in Taiwan and the Netherlands. He is an assistant professor at the Institute of Applied Art at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taiwan and a tutor in MA, Social Design at Design Academy Eindhoven. He is also doing his Ph.D. research at Sheffield Hallam University, UK and the research topic is the interdisciplinary practice between art, design, and bioscience. He has graduated with triple master's degrees in social design from Design Academy Eindhoven, dentistry from National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, and communication design from Shih Chien University. He is a former dentist, bio-artist, and speculative designer. He also co-founded TW BioArt (Taiwan bioart community) to stimulate the fields of BioArt and Science+Art in Taiwan. His works often deal with the human body, sexuality, interspecies interaction, and medical technology, aiming to investigate the relationships among technology, individuals and the environment.

Kuang-Yi Ku won Bio Art & Design Award 2022 and Core77 Speculative Design Award 2023 for the project “Atlas of Queer Anatomy”. His “Tiger Penis Project” has been awarded Gijs Bakker Award 2018, the annual prize for the best project by a graduating master’s student in Design Academy Eindhoven. He also won the 1st prize in the Taipei Digital Art Awards in 2015 with “The Fellatio Modification Project”, where he involves body modification, gender studies, queer theories, and dentistry all together. His works were featured in international media such as New Scientist, The Huffington Post, Elephant Magazine, DAMN° Magazine, Dezeen, Designboom, VICE, Dazed Digital, Daily Mail, New York Post, and so on.

Kuang-Yi KU: https://www.kukuangyi.com/

THE POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE RUINS （廢墟的政治地理學）

2025 Spotlight Taiwan Conference Keynote Lectures

THE POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE RUINS （廢墟的政治地理學）

JUI-CHUNG YAO（姚瑞中）

 As civilization develops and changes, abandoned spaces inevitably emerge. Ordinary people call them ruins, haunted houses, unfinished buildings, or idle spaces—explored, rumored, and feared by the public, with the timid advised to stay away. Authorities, on the other hand, avoid, conceal, or demolish them as quickly as possible. Some of these spaces are seen by developers as unpolished gems, but many more serve as refuges for the proletariat, scavengers, the homeless, the oppressed, drifters who have fallen on hard times, and even criminals, heretics, and outcasts.

Though ruins may be filled with negative connotations, they also hold vast possibilities. Their weathered decay, the play of light and shadow, the passage of time, the lack of oversight and supervision, the ability to evade scrutiny—all of these give them a unique allure, especially for artists and subcultures. The rise of contemporary art in Taiwan in the 1980s was, in part, nurtured by the ruins of post-industrial globalization, providing fertile ground for avant-garde and experimental expression.

Yet most people harbor deep aversion toward ruins. Filthy, dark, eerie, terrifying, mysterious, and haunted—what kind of enlightenment could possibly emerge from such places?

About the Speaker

Jui-Chung YAO (姚瑞中) was born in 1969. Lives and works in Taipei. He graduated from The National Institute of The Arts (Taipei National University of the Arts). His works have been widely exhibited in numerous international exhibitions. including Venice Biennale, Yokohama Triennale, APT6 Triennale, Shanghai Biennale, Beijing Photo Biennale, Shenzhen Sculpture Biennale, Venice Architecture Biennale, Media City Seoul Biennale, Asia Triennial Manchester, Asia Biennale, Sydney Biennale & Taipei Biennale. Yao is the winner of The Multitude Art Prize in 2013 and 2014 Asia Pacific Art Prize.

Yao specialises in photography, installation and painting. The themes of his works are varied, but most importantly they all examine the absurdity of the human condition. Yao has assembled all the black-and-white photos of ruins he took in the past 30 years, grouped under the themes of industry, religious idols, architecture, and military bases. They reveal the enormous ideological black hole in Taiwan hidden behind the trends of globalisation and Taiwan’s specific historical background as a continuation of the main theme of his work: the absurdity of the historical destiny of humanity. In 2010, Jui-Chung Yao founded the "Lost Society Archives," urging students to engage in fieldwork to document public spaces and uncover the power structures behind them. This work led to the development of the concept of "political geography," viewing ruins as the products of failed power struggles. Through the way of field surveys, they have attempted to outline “mosquito houses” which have been widely criticised, published eight books named “Mirage: Disused Public Property in Taiwan” and practised looking into the possibility of observing the society through the meaning of Art.

Jui-Chung Yao has published several books, and his works are held in numerous public and private collections. He currently serves as an adjunct professor at the Department of Fine Arts at both National Taiwan Normal University and the National Taipei University of the Arts.

Jui-Chung Yao: www.yaojuichung.com

廢墟的政治地理學

然文明發展更迭必有廢棄空間，市井小民謂之廢墟、鬼屋、爛尾樓、閒置空間，民眾探之、傳之、懼之，膽小勿入;官家避之、掩之、拆之，唯恐不及。有些甚至為建商眼中待琢璞玉，更多是無產階級、拾荒者、無家可歸者、被壓迫者、混跡江湖不如意者乃至罪犯、異端、怪胎喘息之處。廢墟也許充滿負面意象，卻也蘊藏許多可能，其斑駁殘破、光影魅惑、時空流逝、乏人管控、無所監督、規避審核…，尤對藝文工作者或次文化族群有獨特吸引力，台灣當代藝術1980年代發展與崛起，即拜全球化後工業廢墟之賜，造就前衛與實驗之溫床。

但大部分人們對廢墟充滿厭惡情緒，集骯髒、陰翳、灰暗、恐怖、神秘、鬼怪於一身的廢墟究竟能啟蒙什麼呢？

姚瑞中 (YAO Jui-chung)

1994年畢業於國立臺北藝術大學美術系。多年來採取類似DNA曲線創作模式，幾條路線像綁辮子般相互纏繞，開展出了「身體政治」路線與「空間政治」考察的議題，以檔案學方式進行個人式國土普查，推出了數個以廢墟為主的創作計劃。2010年成立「失落社會檔案室」，號召學生透過田調見證現實的能力，專注於公共閒置設施的發掘，藉由紀實攝影考掘建築背後的權力運作，在特定歷史脈絡下所形成的「政治地理學」概念，指向所有廢墟都是權力鬥爭下失敗的產物，質變了廢墟影像在其創作甚至藝術語境中的意義。目前為國立台灣師範大學暨國立臺北藝術大學美術系兼任教授。 個人網站www.yaojuichung.com

Re-Shooting

2025 Spotlight Taiwan Lecture Series

Time: 29 May 2025 14:15-15:15

Venue: 2.35 | Hybrid teaching space (Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI)), 1 Lauriston Pl, Edinburgh EH3 9EF

Re-Shooting

Artist SU Hui-Yu (蘇匯宇)

In recent years, Su Hui-Yu has employed the approach of “Re-shooting” as a method and a metaphor to create new works. This method includes shooting new films based on old films, events, specific art pieces, or even a book. And as a result, the concept allows the artist to review and reflect on history, even to go further - open “the narrative”. Through this method, Su revisits past, unfinished, tabooed, and misunderstood figures and things. In this talk, Su will present how he uses his own way to achieve new revelations and unveils active historical viewpoints, addressing the connection between mass media, pop culture, memories of martial law, collectivism, nationalism, high-tech supply chain, and the post-colonial history of Taiwan and East Asia.

About the Speaker

SU (Su Hui-Yu 蘇匯宇) obtained an MFA from Taipei National University of the Arts in 2003, and has remained active in the contemporary art scene and the film society ever since. His “Re-shooting” series centres around Taiwanese and East Asian history, memory, re-imagination and transgression. His recent projects engage collective memories and ideologies while exploring the mechanism of oppression and liberation tied to Taiwan’s cultural values.

SU’s works have been exhibited at renowned festivals, exhibitions and art institutes, including MOCA Taipei, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Casino Luxembourg, Bangkok Arts and Culture Center, Kunsthalle Winterthur (Switzerland), San Jose Museum of Art (California, USA), Curitiba International Biennial of Contemporary Art (Brazil), 1646 Art Space (Den Haag, The Netherlands) and Power Station of Art (Shanghai, China), the International Film Festival Rotterdam, Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, Singapore International Film Festival, the Videonale (Germany), PERFORMA (New York, USA), RISING (Melbourne). In 2017, International Film Festival Rotterdam dedicated a retrospective to SU’s video works, while his video work Super Taboo had its world premiere in the Tiger Awards Competition for Short Films. From the summer of 2023, Su’s new project The Space Warriors series has been tour exhibited at Hyundai ArtLab in Seoul for the finalist of the 5th VH Art Award, ARS Electronica in Linz,  Kunstsammlungen am Theaterplatz in Germany, and Casino Luxembourg. The same year in May, Su’s biggest museum solo The Trio Hall was exhibited in MOCA Taipei, curated by Eugenio Viola. In 2025, The Trio Hall participated in the Forum section of the Berlinale as a feature film (World Premier).

2003年自北藝大美術創作碩士班畢業後，蘇匯宇持續以錄像、攝影與裝置藝術來探討記憶、身體政治、戒嚴與意識型態建構的關聯，並長期借用電影工業中的「補拍」（Re-shooting）做為方法進行創作。蘇匯宇認為，透過「補拍」，我們可以為那些來自過去的、未完成的、被禁制的以及被誤解的東西進行新的解讀，以此開展積極的歷史觀點以面對未來。其作品曾先後展出於北美館、國立台灣美術館、台北當代藝術館、關渡美術館、高雄市立美術館、加州聖荷西美術館、康乃爾大學強森美術館、墨西哥尤麥克斯美術館（Museo Jumex）、德國波昂美術館（Kunstmuseum Bonn）、盧森堡卡西諾當代藝術中心（Casino Luxembourg）、溫特圖爾當代藝術館（Kunsthalle Winterthur）、曼谷藝術文化中心（BACC）、深港城市建築雙城雙年展、烏鎮當代藝術邀請展以及上海當代藝術博物館（Power Station of Art）等重要機構，並獲北美館、國美館、高美館、忠泰藝術基金會、驕陽基金會與澳洲白兔美術館典藏。2017年獲邀鹿特丹影展（IFFR）舉辦個人專題放映「Su Hui-Yu: The Midnight Hours」，此後三度入圍該影展的金虎獎短片競賽。2019年獲台新藝術獎年度視覺藝術大獎。2019年以〈The White Waters〉獲邀參加紐約PERFORMA表演藝術雙年展。2022年〈The White Waters〉獲邀墨爾本國際藝術節（RISING）演出，並於同年籌備其首部長片作品 《未來的衝擊》系列二部曲。2023年，蘇匯宇的新作〈太空戰士：酷兒時間、逃逸與靈魂的緊急疏散〉（The Space Warriors and the Digigrave）入圍第五屆現代汽車VH 數位藝術獎（5th VH Award），於現代汽車藝術基金會(Hyundai ArtLab)與德國開姆尼茲美術館（Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz）展出。同年五月，蘇匯宇於台北當代藝術館發表其首次大型機構個展《三廳電影》。2025年，《三廳電影》長片版入圍柏林影展。

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS                                                      

2023 The Trio Hall, MOCA Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan

2022 1972, Toffler, Double Square Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan

2021 The Cinema of Séance, 1646, The Hague, The Netherlands

         Su Hui-Yu, Kunsthalle Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland

2020 The Women’s Revenge, Double Square Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan

2017 Wu-yeh-chang (午夜場), Titanik Gallery, Turku, Finland.

         Life, Pleasure and the Reading Room, TCAC, Taipei, Taiwan

2015 A Man After Midnight, Double Square Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan

2014 A Slow Universe Comes with Something Like Death, Kuandu Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

2012 The Upcoming Show, VT Artsalon, Taipei, Taiwan

2010 Stilnox Home Video, Tina Keng Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS                                                    

2024 My Last Will, Casino Luxembourg, Luxembourg.

The 5th VH Award Exhibition, Museum MACAN, Indonesia.

The 5th VH Award Exhibition, Singapore Art Week, Singapore.

2023 My Last Will, Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz, Chemnitz, Germany.

         Art in Our Time: NTMoFA Collection Highlights, NTMOFA, Taichung, Taiwan.

         ARS Electronica, Linz, Austria. 2022 Eye of the Storm, le lieu Unique, Nantes, France.

         Szeto Keung And Friends Under His Wings, Eslite Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan.

2021 From Object to Cosmos, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Art, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Revenge Scenes (Su Hui-Yu & Cheng Hsien-Yu), Digital Art Center Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan

Xindian Boys Part 4- The Untitled Year, VT Artsalon, Taipei, Taiwan

Reframe: Fatal & Fallen, Asian Film Archive, Singapore.

Open Media Art Festival, Oil Tank Culture Park, Seoul, Korea

2020 2nd Chroniques- the Biennale of Digital Imagination, Marseille, French

Re:Play, C-Lab, Taipei, Taiwan

Daisuke Miyatsu: 25 years of video art, Alien Art Center, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

The Body Series: To the Unknown, Somerset House, London, United Kingdom

Being of Evils, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China

Short Film Programme: The Films We Remake, Asian Film Archive, Singapore

London Short Film Festival 2020, ICA, London, UK

2019 PERFORMA 19, New York, USA

Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture, Shenzhen, China

Spectrosynthesis II, Bangkok Arts and Culture Center, Bangkok, Thailand

ELYSIUM – The Spiritual Journey of YAO JUI CHUNG & SU HUI-YU, Casino Luxembourg, Luxembourg

OzAsia Festival, Adelaide, Australia

#RTS: ReTranSens- 14th Digital Art Festival Taipei, MOCA Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan

Dead End: The Notorious and Their Inexplicable Modes of Existence, Power Station of Art, Shanghai, China

Courses of Action, Goethe-Institut Hong Kong, Hong Kong

VIDEONALE 17: REFRACTED REALITIES, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn, Germany

Now Is the Time, Wuzhen International Contemporary Art Exhibition, Wuzhen, China

2018 Taiwan Biennale: Wild Rhizome, NTMOFA, Taichung, Taiwan

       Project Island Hopping – Reversing Imperialism: Lander, Jorge B. Vargas Museum, Metro Manila, Philippine

       Scripted Reality, Museo Jumex, Mexico City, Mexico

       8th Move on Asia, Alternative Space Loop, Seoul, Korea

       Dream Maker, Eslite Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan

       Video on the Phone, Hong-Gah Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

2017 Tropical Cyclone, Kuandu Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

Spectrosynthesis - Asian LGBTQ Issues and Art Now, MOCA Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan

         Osiris and Ganesha, Marso, Mexico City, Mexico

          Resting Transmissions, The Ryder Projects, London, United Kingdom

Broken Spectre，Taipei Fine Art Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

A Nonexistent  Place , JUT Art Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

Pheong Chang Biennial, Pheong Chang, Korea

2016 Taiwan Biennial: The Possibility of an Island, NTMOFA, Taichung, Taiwan

         Like Too Loud of Solitude, MoNTUE, Taipei, Taiwan

         Dance with the Museum Collection – Retrieved, Reimagined, Restated, Taipei Fine Art Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

2015 Our Eyes, Double Square Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan

Asian Arts Space Network, Asian Cultural Complex, Gwangju, Korea

Through Beauty a Salute to Death─Chen Shun-Chu & the Xindian Boys, Paris Photo, Paris

Selected Festival                                                            

2025 Berlinale - Forum, Berlin, Germany.

2023 Golden Horse Film Festival, Taipei, Taiwan.

         Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, France.

2022 RISING, Melbourn, Australia.

         CINEDANS 2022 Festival, Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

2021 International Film Festival Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherland.

         Frameline 45, San Francisco, USA.

2020 Golden Horse Film Festival, Taipei, Taiwan

2019 PERFORMA, New York, USA.

         International Film Festival Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherland.

         Frameline 43, San Francisco, USA.

         Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic.

2018 International Film Festival Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherland.

Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival, Berwick, UK

2017 International Film Festival Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherland

BAFICI, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Vienna Shorts Festival (VIS), Vienna, Austria

Lovers Film Festival, Torino, Italy

AWARD                                                              

2021 Golden Harvest Award - The Special Jury Prize

2020 TaiShin Art Award

         Golden Harvest Award - The Best Experimental Film

2017 “The Next Production Award” of Bureau of Audiovisual and Music Industry Development

2018  Kaohsiung Shorts (Kaohsiung Film festival)

2009  Asian Cultural Council (ACC) - Yageo Tech-Art Award

ARTIST IN RESIDENCE                                                            

2019 Awarded by Ministry of Culture, 18th Street Arts Center, Los Angeles, USA

2017 Vernacular Institute, Mexico City, Mexico

2014 Apartment der Kunst, Munich, Germany

2013 Awarded by Ministry of Culture, Egon Schiele Art Center, Cesky Krumlov, Czech

2009 Harvestworks Digital Arts Center, New York, USA

2008 Awarded by Council for Cultural Affairs, 18th Street Arts Center, Los Angeles, USA

2004 Awarded by Council for Cultural Affairs, 18th Street Arts Center, Los Angeles, USA

Hospice Care of the Post-Republican 《姚瑞中：後民國的臨終關懷》

2025 Spotlight Taiwan Lecture  

 

Hospice Care of the Post-Republican 《姚瑞中：後民國的臨終關懷》 

    Artist Jui-Chung YAO  Confronted with the inferiority complex shaped by Taiwan’s unique history and distorted society, ordinary people—me included, an indignant middle-aged man—are left powerless. This led to the creation of projects such as Territory Take Over (1994), which delves into Taiwan's subjectivity; Recover “Main-Land” China (1997), which challenges the political myths of modern Chinese history; and The World is for All, China Beyond China (1997–2000), which explores postcolonialism, along with an additional chapter to this trilogy, Long March: The Shifted Universe (2002–2004). In 2007, three video works—Phantom of History, March-Past, and Floating Mt. Jude—employed humor to subvert past authoritarian regimes. Later, Long Live! (2011) and Long, Long Live! (2013) offered reflections on Taiwan’s White Terror and martial law during the Cold War. In 2020, I created the fictional Republic of Cynic, where cynics and demons take center stage. Using the parasitic host of the Republic of China as a conceptual framework, the project explores emerging national identities and the shifting dynamics of the new Cold War. Through self-directed black comedy, it satirises the absurdities of the modern state system, suggesting that all struggles—whether between life and death or power and destruction—cast an inescapable shadow over our cynical society. No one can remain untouched; the absurd imprint of history burdens both body and mind.  In this era of terrorism versus imperialism, few dare to confront the truth, while many prefer to remain ignorant of the pain it might bring. Instead, they willingly embrace deception, choosing cynicism—perhaps a form of quiet, mundane happiness for the ordinary masses.    About the Speaker 

 

Jui-Chung YAO. www.yaojuichung.com 

    Jui-Chung YAO was born in 1969. Lives and works in Taipei. Graduated from The Taipei National University of the Arts with a degree in Art Theory. His work has been widely exhibited in numerous international exhibitions. In 1997, he represented Taiwan at the Venice Biennale. He has taken part in the International Triennale of Contemporary Art Yokohama (2005), APT6 (2009), Shanghai Biennale (2012), Beijing Photo Biennale (2013), Shenzhen Sculpture Biennale, Venice Architecture Biennale, Media City Seoul Biennale, Asia Triennial Manchester (2014), Asia Biennale (2015), Sydney Biennale (2016), Shanghai Biennale (2018), 14th Curitiba International Biennial of Contemporary Art (2019), XIII Krasnoyarsk Museum Biennale (2019), Taipei biennial (2020), Jakarta Biennale(2021), Mediations Biennale Polska(2022), Macao Biennale(2023). Yao was the winner of The Multitude Art Prize (Hong Kong) in 2013 and 2014 Asia Pacific Art Prize (Singapore). In 2018 he was the recipient of Taishin Arts Award (Taiwan). He has also been widely involved in the fields of theatre and films.   Yao specialises in photography, installation and painting. The themes of his works are varied, but most importantly they all examine the absurdity of the human condition. Representative works include Action Series. We can find the clue as he explores the question of Taiwan’s identity in Military Takeover (1994), subverts modern Chinese political myths in Recovering Mainland China (1997), and examines post-colonialism in The World is for All (1997-2000) as well as Long March-Shifting the Universe (2002). In recent years, he has created photo installations combining the style of ‘gold and green landscape’ with the superstitions that permeate Taiwanese folklore, expressing a false and alienated ‘cold reality’ that is specific to Taiwan. Representative works include the series of Celestial Barbarians (2000), Savage Paradise (2000) and Heaven (2001). Another photo installation series Libido of Death (2002), and Hill (2003), tries to probe into the eternal issue of body and soul. Recently, Yao Jui-Chung has assembled all the black-and-white photos of ruins that he had taken in the past fifteen years, grouped under the themes of industry, religious idols, architecture and military bases. They reveal the enormous ideological black hole in Taiwan hidden behind the trends of globalisation and Taiwan’s specific historical background as a continuation of the main theme of his work: the absurdity of the historical destiny of humanity. Since 2007, Yao has been creating a series of works including Wonderful (2007), Dust in the Wind (2008~2010), Dreamy (2008~2010), Romance (2009) and Honeymoon (2010-2011). He appropriates masterpieces from Chinese art history and recreates them in his way, transforming them into his personal history or as real stories, in an attempt to turn grand narratives into the trivial affairs of his individual life. Yao intends to usurp so-called orthodoxy with his recreated landscapes. In 2010, Yao grouped his students into a team in the photography workshop called ‘Lost Society Document’(LSD). He encouraged them to photograph and survey their hometowns. Through this method of field survey, they attempted to outline ‘mosquito houses’ which have been widely criticised, they published three books entitled Mirage: Disused Public Property in Taiwan and practiced the possibility of observing society by examining the meaning of art to the present time.     Apart from creating art, Yao Jui-Chung has curated exhibitions including The Realm of Illusion-The New Wave of Taiwan Photography (2002), King-Kon Never Die -The Contemporary Performance & Video art in Taiwan (2003) and Spellbound Aura-The New Vision of Chinese Photography (2004). His essays have been published in many art journals. He has also published several books, including Installation Art in Taiwan since 1991-2001 (2002), The New Wave of Contemporary Taiwan Photography Since 1999 (2003), Roam The Ruins of Taiwan (2004), Performance Art in Taiwan 1978-2004 (2005), A Walk in the Contemporary Art: Roaming the Rebellious Streets (2005), Ruined Islands (2007), Yao Jui-Chung (2008), Beyond humanity (2008), Nebulous light (2009), and Biennial-Hop (2010), Mirage: Disused Public Property in Taiwan Ⅰ, Ⅱ, Ⅲ, Ⅳ, V, Ⅵ, VII(2010~2019), Incarnation (2017), PHOTO-LOGES Ⅰ, Ⅱ, Ⅲ, Ⅳ, V, Ⅵ (2018~2024), Republic of Cynic (2021), Hell Plus (2021) and Muddy Buddha(2022). His works have been collected by the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan; the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan; Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia; Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art Collection, Cornell University, USA; Bibliothèque National de France, Paris, France (French National Library, Paris); Art Museum of Seoul, and many other private collectors. Yao Jui-Chung now works as an artist and Part-time Professor at the National Taiwan Normal University Department of Fine Arts.       《姚瑞中：後民國的臨終關懷》    面對台灣特殊歷史背景與變態社會造成的自卑情結，市井小民或我這種歲數的憤叔已無能為力，乃發展出探討台灣主體性問題的《本土佔領行動》(1994)、顛覆中國近代史政治神話的《反攻大陸行動》(1997)，以及探討後殖民主義的《天下為公行動》(1997~2000)與「行動三部曲外一章」的《萬里長征行動之乾坤大挪移》(2002)。2007年發表的《歷史幽魂》、《分列式》及《玉山飄浮》三件錄像，則以幽默手法對過往威權統治進行顛覆。2011年及2013年的《萬歲》與《萬萬歲》則針對冷戰時期的台灣白色恐怖與軍事戒嚴進行反思。2020年創建虛構的「犬儒共和國」設定犬儒與魔鬼共同擔任主角，以寄生宿主中華民國為概念，探討國族新認同與新冷戰趨勢，自演自導對現代國家體制造成的諸多荒謬以黑色喜劇諷之。暗示萬物鬥爭就如同電影或遊戲般，無論是生與死、權力與毀滅，都構成了我們所處犬儒社會一個揮之不去的陰影，旦我們都無法置身其外，逃避不了歷史加諸於身體與心靈的荒誕烙印。在這個恐怖主義對抗帝國主義的時代，乏人戳破真相，或不願知曉真相可能帶來的痛苦；倒是甘願被騙、寧成犬儒，也不失為某種平淡人生、市井小民的幸福吧！        姚瑞中 (YAO Jui-chung)     1969年生於台灣台北，1994年國立台北藝術大學美術系畢業，曾代表台灣參加1997年威尼斯雙年展、2005年橫濱三年展、2009年亞太三年展、2012年上海雙年展、2013年北京攝影雙年展、「集群藝術獎」得主，2014年深圳國際雕塑雙年展、威尼斯建築雙年展、首爾國際媒體藝術雙年展、英國曼徹斯特亞洲藝術三年展、新加坡「亞太藝術獎公眾獎」得主，北藝大傑出校友，2015年亞洲雙年展、2016年雪梨雙年展，2018年「台新獎」得主並再次受邀於上海雙年展展出，2019年巴西庫里提巴雙年展與俄羅斯克拉斯諾亞爾斯克雙年展，文馨獎得主，2020年台北雙年展與2021年雅加達雙年展，2022年波蘭中介雙年展，2023年澳門雙年展。1992至1997年曾擔任「天打那實驗體」團長、1994年楊德昌電影「獨立時代」美術指導。    專長為攝影、裝置及繪畫，作品涉獵層面廣泛，代表作品包括探討台灣主體性問題的《本土佔領行動》(1994)、顛覆中國近代史政治神話的《反攻大陸行動》(1997)，以及探討後殖民主義的《天下為公行動》(1997~2000)與「行動三部曲外一章」的《萬里長征行動之乾坤大挪移》(2002)，2007年發表的《歷史幽魂》、《分列式》及《玉山飄浮》三件錄像，則以幽默手法對過往威權統治進行顛覆，2011及2013年的《萬歲》與《萬萬歲》則針對冷戰時期的台灣白色恐怖與軍事戒嚴進行反思。除此之外也透過攝影裝置手法，以「金碧山水」風格結合台灣民間充斥的怪力亂神現象，呈現台灣特有的一種虛假、疏離的「冷現實」，代表作品為《獸身供養》(2000)、《野蠻聖境》(2000)及《天堂變》(2001)系列；而另以銀箔結合攝影裝置的系列《死之慾》(2002)、《地獄頌》(2003)，則試圖探討肉體與靈魂間的永恆議題。自2005年起整理過去十五年在台灣各處踏查所拍攝的廢墟照片，歸納了工業、神偶、建築及軍事廢墟四大部份，呈現台灣在全球化潮流與特殊歷史背後中，所隱藏著的龐大意識形態黑洞，延續「人類歷史的命運，具有某種無可救藥的荒謬性！」創作主軸。2007年後赴蘇格蘭高地駐村後開始繪製《忘德賦》(2007)、《世外塵》(2008~2012)、《如夢令》(2008~2011)、《恨纏綿》(2009)及《甜蜜蜜》(2010~2012)、《非常廟八怪》(2013)、《腦殘遊記》(2015)、《週休八日》(2016)、《寶寶》(2017)、《乖乖》(2018)、《離垢地》(2019)....，以「借屍還魂」策略改寫並挪用中國美術史經典畫作，再將其轉化成個人生活或真實故事，試圖將宏大史詩文本轉化為私微自傳敘事，以「偽山水」策略對所謂的正統性進行篡位。2010年至2019年帶領三百餘位同學返鄉進行《海市蜃樓Ⅰ、Ⅱ、Ⅲ、Ⅳ、V、Ⅵ、Ⅶ -台灣公共閒置設施》拍攝計劃，以「臨終關壞」概念刺穿社會積習已久的「蚊子館」現象，引起社會高度關注。2016年至2022年以「永劫輪迴」概念完成《巨神連線》系列，探討台灣民間宗教信仰透過巨大神像所展現的「欲力奇觀」。2018年至2021年拍攝宮廟內的人造地獄《地獄空》，試圖捕捉台灣特有的「新變形主義」，呈現「業力的具體化」。2020年創建虛構的「犬儒共和國」，以寄生宿主中華民國為概念，探討國族新認同與新冷戰趨勢。2022年推出《魔地佛》完成「因緣三部曲」。    著有《台灣裝置藝術1991-2001》(2002)、《台灣當代攝影新潮流Since 1999》(2003)、《台灣廢墟迷走》(2004)、《台灣行為藝術檔案1978~2004》(2005)、《流浪在前衛的國度》(2005)、《廢島》(2007)、《姚瑞中》(2008)、《人外人》(2008)、《幽暗微光》(2009)、《逛前衛》(2010，合著)、《恨纏綿》(2010)、《海市蜃樓》(2010，編著)、《甜蜜蜜》(2011)、《海市蜃樓Ⅱ》(2011，編著)、《萬歲山水》(2012)、《萬萬歲》(2013)、《海市蜃樓Ⅲ》(2013，編著)、《小幻影》(2013)、《海市蜃樓Ⅳ》(2014，編著)、《Mirage》(2016，編著) 、《海市蜃樓V》(2016，編著)、《好時光》(2016)、《腦殘遊記》(2016)、《巨神連線》(2017)、《攝影訪談輯一》(2018，主編之一)、《海市蜃樓Ⅵ》(2018，編著) 、《攝影訪談輯二》(2019，主編之一)、《海市蜃樓Ⅶ》(2019，編著)、《禽獸不如：台灣雙年展》(2020)、《犬儒共和國》(2021)、《攝影訪談輯三》(2021，主編)、《地獄空》(2021)、《攝影訪談輯四》(2021，主編)、《攝影訪談輯五》(2022，主編)、《魔地佛》(2022)、《巨神連線補遺》(2023)、《YAO JUI-CHUNG》(2023)、《攝影訪談輯六》(2024，主編之一)、《海市蜃樓VIII》(2025，編著)、《廢墟啟蒙》(2025，編著)…等書。策展經歷包括：「末世漫遊」(1997，三芝非常廟)、「幻影天堂：台灣當代攝影新潮流」(2002，台北大趨勢畫廊)、「酷斃了」(2002，高雄新濱碼頭空間)、「非常不廟之漫畫一代」(2002，台南原型藝術)、「金剛不壞-台灣當代行為藝術錄像展」(2003，高雄豆皮藝文空間)、「出神入畫-華人攝影新視界」(2004，台北當代藝術館)、「台灣行為藝術檔案展」(2005，牯嶺街小劇場)、「好自在：行為錄像接力展」(2005，台北MOMA)、「台北藝術博覽會：超時空連結-台灣當代藝術空間與藝術村網路」(2005，台北世貿二館)、「禽獸不如:台灣雙年展」(2020，國美館)…等。作品曾被台北市立美術館、高雄市立美術館、國立台灣美術館、台中亞洲美術館、關渡美術館、鳳甲美術館、桃園美術館、新北市立美術館、澳洲昆士蘭美術館、美國康乃爾大學美術館、美國舊金山Kadist藝術基金會、法國巴黎歐洲攝影之家、法國國家圖書館、韓國首爾市立美術館、韓國全北道立美術館、澳洲MAMA美術館、麗水攝影博物館以及許多國內外私人單位典藏。曾擔任台北市立美術館、高雄市立美術館與國立台灣美術館典藏委員，以及文化部駐村計劃暨國際交流與藝術單位營運委員、國家藝術基金會董事、台北市文化局及新北市文化局藝文補助、台北獎、高雄獎、南瀛獎、宜蘭獎、基隆美展、桃園美展、台北數位藝術獎、台北公共藝術、台北攝影新人獎、亞洲文化協會台灣獎助計劃、澳門藝術館、金門攝影獎、新北市美展、集保藝術獎、全國美展、藝術銀行、中國信託繪畫獎、總統文化獎...等評審委員。曾兼任並客座於國立台北藝術大學，也曾兼任實踐大學、國立台灣科技大學與國立台北教育大學。目前為國立臺灣師範大學暨國立臺北藝術大學美術系兼任教授。    個人網站www.yaojuichung.com 

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