Tzu Ni Hung
It’s easy to mistake Tzu-Ni Hung’s resonance chambers for bowls with a hole in the bottom, but they are instruments that can be played with a bow, or components in speakers or sound installations. During her residency, the Taiwanese artist explored their different resonances, which depend on the thickness of the wall and the roundness of the rim, and recorded the sound of each piece before firing and after. She also captured the “noise” of the cooling ceramics, an intimate tingling like countless glass needles breaking, to be part of her auditory ecosystems. Hung not only uses the recordings in her own audio works, she also plans to include them in a sample pack for other sound artists she might collaborate with. Her experimental way of working with ceramics is rather a statement in Taiwan, where tradition is revered and anxiously guarded – mostly by men, of course.
Pei-Hsuan Wang |2
Pei-Hsuan Wang made a series of fascinating sculptures in homage of the women in her life. Her grandmother, who supported the family in Taiwan selling fruits from her orchard; her mother who migrated to America to start a new life; her close-knit group of aunties. They appear as if from myths and folktales, glazed in green, amber and white, the colours of Sancai burial objects of the Tang Dynasty (618–907). Today, Sancai pieces are sought-after artifacts linked directly to China’s venerable past. To Wang, who grew up in different cultures, questions of heritage are part of wider stories she explores through her art. Huddled Mass (Tree of Aunties), for instance, evokes the Chinese myth of Nüwa, the goddess who shaped humanity from clay. A desire to belong blends with the moment of creation; Nüwa’s serpent body intertwines with figures and creatures that allude to members of the artist’s family.
Lu Chiao Chih
Chiao Chih Lu’s plan was to mix seeds through the clay and let them germinate. Unfortunately, she was at EKWC during the fall – the wrong season for seeds to grow. But when a generous flower shop assistant gave her a bag of poppy seeds, she knew what to make. Stretching her body to the limit, she built three giant, fragile poppies in different stages of unfolding – budding, blooming, and wilting – to symbolise the flow of life. For the presentation, Lu gathered masses of fallen leaves to emphasise her connectedness with the earth, to which everything eventually returns.
Yi-Ling Hung
From architecture to scenography to PhD research focussing on food practices and foodscapes: the road that brought YiLing Hung to EKWC seems long and winding. Still, when she creates a physical surrounding in which people can share stories through food, all these elements come together. In EKWC, Hung made a series of conversation pieces to be placed on the table that represent different stories she tells her dinner guests during the meal and invite guests for an open conversation. The intimate performance connects personal experiences about migration and identity to different dishes
