Exhibition Date : 2023 / 11 / 01 – 2024 / 02 / 18
Location : 3F Library, 2F, 1F Outdoor, Chiayi Art Museum
Curator : CHIU CHIH-YUNG
On-site exhibition : WANG LIANG,WANG TE-YU,SHIH MENG-HSIN,TSAI MENG-CHANG
Virtual exhibition : WANG TE-YU,LIN YU-SHAN,CHEN CHING-YUAN,PU TIAN-SHENG
Unordinary Pathway embodies a new-type exhibition that centers on “city” as its theme, and integrates the virtual and physical forms online and offline. In this exhibition, the negative affix “un-”in “unordinary” indicates “something more” and “to surpass,” which not only emphasizes on going beyond ideas related to the everyday life, but also highlights Chiayi as a city that has been undergoing rapid urban evolvement. At the same time, the ways of viewing and appreciating art in the post-pandemic era call attention to how application of media technology of virtual-physical integration engages in the alternative creation of existing environment, unveiling a city between virtuality and physicality. The curating also inquires into the permeation of digital technology in everyday physical space and the contemporary cultural landscape informed by coexisting heterogenous realms.Specifically, Unordinary Pathway adopts a spatial strategy built upon a route spanning both the outdoors to the museum interior as well as the physical and virtual space, which demonstrates the interrelations between the everyday life and art, while foregrounding the multilayered spatial perception and interactive experience that this strategy of virtual-physical integration has to offer for audiences/participants/interactors.
SHIH Meng-Hsin, Dancing Pole, 2021, Fan, nylon fabric 610×50×50 cm
In Dancing pole, the artist converts the dancing balloon man commonly seen in large events into a utility pole. Being a dancing utility pole that moves in a random manner, it has no functionality as it cannot support electric cable and transmit electricity like a normal utility pole. Instead of cement, the new material is supple and light, allowing the utility pole to escape its everyday reality as well as its original purpose and meaning.
SHIH Meng-Hsin, Transformer Box 02, 2023, Iron, wood, cement, waterproof paint, 115×75 x 105 cm
Every time I pass by a transformer box, I can seem to feel the invisible energy coursing inside. As an indispensable facility for the transmission of electricity, transformer boxes are often overlooked and isolated in the cityscape. I reproduce and install a life-size transformer box by the roadside. Meanwhile, the transformer box is slightly leaning towards the direction of the traffic, echoing what it appears to be at the corner of our eyes when we pass by. Through the nuanced plastic form, the work is an attempt to engage the spectator in re-perceiving a peripheral object in the city.
For more information, please check
https://chiayiartmuseum.chiayi.gov.tw/English/ExhibitionsDetailE003100.aspx?Cond=2c648323-8b9e-4d84-be79-2ccde08cd5e9
