- DATE : 05/11/2025 05/11/2025
- TIME : 13:00–14:00
- VENUE : Online Event
Venue: 2.55 Edinburgh Future Institute, University of Edinburgh
1 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh EH3 9DF, United Kingdom
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 civilisation develops and changes, abandoned spaces inevitably emerge. Ordinary people call them ruins, haunted houses, unfinished buildings, or idle spaces—explored, rumoured, 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 globalisation, providing fertile ground for avant-garde and experimental expression.
Yet most people harbour a 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 the 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 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