顧世勇
Ku Shih-Yung
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Dialogue with a Fetus and a Dream: A Joint Exhibition with Ku Shih-Yung and Chen Hui-Chiao
中文
text by Huang Hai-Ming

The months of June and July were very busy for the local art community this year. The Taipei Fine Arts Museum held its "1999 Taipei International Biennial" and the Taiwan Museum of Art organized a "Conference of Chinese Curators" and "Night Heat Pictures". In fact, these activities were so high profile they all but kept other activities out of the press. In fact the joint exhibition by Ku Shih-yung and Chen Hui-chiao at IT Park Gallery, "I want to Cook Poached Eggs" x "Silent Looks", was probably the best small-scale exhibition during this period. I would characterize it as a very special and successfully curated exhibition.

Dual Exhibition:
The Ku Shih-yung Segment

Fin-de-Siecle Bell - Morning (1)

It is morning in a forest clearing and before us stands a small bell tower, a little higher than the height of a person. At the top is placed a giant "transparent bell jar". The bell itself makes no sound, so anyone standing in the separated, effectively isolated space, directly under it simultaneously hears both the sounds they themselves make and the sounds of the surrounding forest. From this position a multi-layered concentric circle structure can be hypothesized.

A: The innermost circle represents consciousness of one's own physical archetype, but when the focus is made external the main role is taken by the sun. However, the focus here is the first awakening of physical consciousness in the morning.

B: The second layer is the transparent protective membrane that surrounds the body.

C: The third layer is the forest which itself surrounds the protective membrane on all sides.

D: The fourth layer is the unknown space beyond the reaches of the forest, perhaps this mortal life of ours.

Fin-de-Siecle Bell - Morning (3)

It is morning on the beach of a small island and before us stands a small bell tower, a little higher than the height of a person. At the top is placed a giant "transparent bell jar". The bell itself makes no sound, so anyone standing in the separated, effectively isolated space, directly under it simultaneously hears both the sounds they themselves make and the sound of the ocean. From this position a multi-layered concentric circle structure can be hypothesized.

A: The innermost circle represents consciousness of one's own physical archetype, but when the focus is made external the main role is taken by the sun. However the focus here is the first awakening of physical consciousness in the morning.

B: The second layer is the transparent protective membrane that surrounds the body.

C: The third layer is the ocean surrounding the protective membrane on all sides, perhaps it symbolizes amniotic fluid.

D: The fourth layer is unknown space or this mortal life of ours, beyond the reaches of the ocean or maybe the amniotic fluid.

From the above introduction it would seem that the most important characteristic of these works is a sufficient level of separation, because it is only through such separation that the first sound of objective-subjective resonance can be heard. However, this sound is often drowned out by the clamor. Ku Shih-yung's 1990 piece "Time Error", includes the use of an hourglass, where a grasping hand serves as the neck. In other words, the physical sense of touch is utilized as a way of experiencing the passing of time. The same analogy can also be used to explain this series of pieces. I see this bell jar as half an hourglass, wherein time stands still, where everything remains at the beginning of time or archetypal, where the difference between objective and subjective remains indistinct. In this sense it can be seen as an allusion to the experience of the birth fetus.

"I Want My Eggs Sunny Side Up" - Morning (2)

On a breakfast table in front of a bed, in a bedroom by the sea, we see two glass bell jars, placed on two plates, covering two fried eggs.

Why do I choose to discuss "Morning (2)" last of all ? Quite simply because this piece is part of a more direct dialogue with Chen Hui-chiao's work. Most specifically, the sense of "daily routine" and "physicality" are heightened in this work. In addition, the bell jar with its ability to give out sounds of empathy protects the egg, but the content of the egg - the yolk is itself protected by the egg white. As a result, the bell jars seem more and more to take on the character of the womb.

This scene contains within it a certain time order. The shell of an unfertilized egg breaks and is temporarily returned to the "bell jar - womb" for protection.

At this point several interesting ideas are purposefully linked together. In fact, I would say that the number of things thus linked is probably even greater than we are able to imagine. As both Ku Shih-yung and Chen Hui-chiao are old members of IT Park Gallery, and therefore very much familiar with each others work, the different levels of dialogue are extremely complex.

The Chen Hui-chiao Segment

"Never shout or trample the dream awake....".

Distributed amongst the pure whiteness of the medical cotton balls that fill the exhibition space we find white ping pong balls. Like so many unfertilized eggs, implanted in the soft structured textured membrane of the womb these represent a potential life force already possessed of its own structure, awaiting just one missing element to start its conscious mission. They will either break away from the membrane wall or fail in this inner space, crumbling in on themselves and dying, ending life as an entirely different color. The most soul stirring scene here lies not in a strange visual expressionism, but in the unchanging eggs devoid of self, waiting for the start of life, and the gradual change of another warm decisive moment.

The flying ping pong balls in the pure white clouds several hundred meters from the ground, seem like small silkworm eggs, caught up in the crystal clear silver thread of a silkworm. In these clouds suspended in the sky, they wait for the birth of constantly metamorphosing silkworms. Tied up in their own cocoon, transforming into pupa, the moths break out of their confinement, mate, produce eggs and wait for these to gestate into another life of change.

At this juncture I do not present the most stirring vision, preferring to merely point out the most tranquil of moments in this dramatic process. The unchanging eggs, still devoid of self, lie peacefully in the path of an infinite life history that cannot be seen, but can be partially felt.

Then Sleep, My love....

An expensive, luxurious, king-sized bed covered with long-haired silvery white fur. In front of the bed are placed two fried eggs. Beyond the window we see are an early morning vision of a forest and an ocean scene. Though the sun makes no direct appearance, it can be discerned by "light spots" from the first rays of the morning sun reflected on the ocean and the reflective "halation" of luxuriant well spaced leaves. This atmosphere is a little too like the feelings one gets on holiday of isolation, relaxation, softness and well being. But no-one can be seen in this room, is there really no-one there ?

Facing the holiday feelings of leaving, leisure, softness and fortune that surround this luxurious downy king-sized bed, we soon encounter a different feeling. It is not fur and needles, a beautiful and dangerous material. Instead a series of the most basic of contrasts are immediately aroused in the viewer; softness, well being, gentleness and pain, intensity, alarm.

This feeling can develop into the same intensity as sexual passion, into the disassociation, coldness, the abusing and being abused of the bedroom, even murder...

I do not present the most stirring vision, preferring to merely point out the most fundamental sense of existence in this dramatic process. As for my own most basic physical feelings, I have a sense of rebirth through sensitive skin and its relationship to the external world. That is in the period before a clear distinction has been made between inner and outer worlds, where we have the most direct physical consciousness or perhaps even that feeling has not yet come about, but is only on the point of doing so.

This growth situation that can be felt but not seen, is also a form of tactile "physical perception" that alludes to the humming sound of Ku Shih-yung in the mother's womb and Chen Hui-chiao's unconscious "life force" in the clouds. It creates a situation caught between the conceptual and the surreal. The intercrossing, flowing images here are very detailed and rich, disavowing any few words designed to encapsulate or frame them.
 
 
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