Cicada toys, mechanical structure - designed by Christopher Towers ( @good_name_london )
Dimensions variable
people usually tend to choose what we want to remember - and so, sometimes our memories wouldn’t accurately reflect what happened at that time or moment - we remember it as what we wanted it to be remembered
after went back to Taiwan for a month in last year - the feeling of ‘home’ was all over me for a while. London didn’t manage to cease me from thinking about home
the idea is simply started with a toy that i used to play when i was young - a toy you could probably still find in the street markets in Taiwan. it’s a toy that could create the sound of cicada - male cicada usually make noise in summer in order to attract the female - that’s the sound i would always think about in summer, the sound that carries the summer in Taiwan
hoping to recreate the space, the situation, the surrounding through the sound - the sound is no longer invisible - it becomes a space that allows people to interpret their own relations with cicada - and for me, this is the sound that reminds me of you
*specially thanks to Arieh Frosh ( @arieh.eh ) for encouraging me at the first place to work with something technical/digital - i was never good at it or liked it, and perhaps still is
Amba Sayal-Bennett ( @ambasayalbennett ) for introducing Chris to me - a life safer as always - v generous of you amba x
Christopher Towers ( @good_name_london ) for designing the structures within such short period of time but still be able to takecare all the details details
鄭忻如 ( @mei_ling_cheng ) for posting the toys to me x
this piece was showing in the group show “Magnified Ear 放大耳” back in early June 2023 - curated by Jingwen Weng ( @jingwenweng_ ) & Yang Li ( @happynoheya )
Installation images of 'Magnified Ear 放大耳', A.P.T Gallery, London, 2023. Pictures by Studio Adamson.
Mild steel tube, plastic
Dimensions variable
each circle represents a person - the design is to reveal the pattern of the conversation - when they overlap, that’s how the connection begins
installation shot in my studio at Royal College of Art in 2020
Mixed media
Dimensions variable
an installation based on the video tape of my childhood - for me it’s still a bit fragmented tho, it’s hard to really recreate something in the past specially when you were in such early stage of life - my body, my sensation are probably just about to start learn to function