Hsu Chia-Wei [Taiwan]

“Black & White – Panda”

Lecture Performance|Presentation of video works

Hsu Chia-Wei collaborates with comedians on a new tale of black and white animals.

Hsu Chia-Wei is earning a deserved reputation as a leading figure of Taiwan’s new generation of artists. He presented his works in the Taiwan Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2013, was a finalist for the HUGO BOSS ASIA ART Award, and won the Grand Prize at the Taishin Arts Award in 2017.
Hsu returns with his first ever performance piece, a story of black and white animals commissioned by Theater Commons Tokyo. Take a classic example, the panda: why has it become so adored that it has to be exported all over the world? Or how about this: what happened in Ueno and Taipei Zoos during the second world war? Drawing on thorough research into China’s “panda diplomacy” and zoos’ policies before and after the war, and featuring contributions by Japanese comedians, this comic performance promises to deftly pick apart grand historical narratives and anthropocentric perspectives.
Alongside Hsu’s lecture performance, his past video works will also be on view.

Profile

Hsu Chia-Wei
Hsu is interested in the forgotten histories of the Cold War in Asia. His works develop a keen sensitivity that weaves together reality and illusion, history and the present by building a circuit of events in the hors-champ of people and places off the screen of history.
He has been continuously trying to merge the languages of contemporary art and film to originate his works, in concern of how to step into reality through film creation, fabricating a mythical narrative which lingers between fiction and reality. He maintains a critical attitude toward filming, and through the power of film creation, he strives to move art to locations outside museums and to developing his political practice.
In 2015, he had a solo exhibition at the Van Abbemuseum in the Netherlands. In 2013, he was invited to present his works in Venice Biennale for the Taiwan Pavilion. In the same year he was a finalist for the Hugo Boss Asia Art Award. His artworks had been presented in many exhibitions in museums, biennials and film festivals, such as Jeu De Paume, The 39th International Film Festival Rotterdam, 2012 Liverpool Biennial, 2012 Taipei Biennial, 2016 Taipei Biennial, The 8th Taiwan International Documentary Film Festival, and Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin/Madrid, and screened at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin, and Reina Sofia National Museum in Madrid.

  • Dates
  • Lecture Performance
  • March 9th [Fri] / 19:00-

  • March 10th [Sat] / 19:00-

  • Presentation of video works
  • March 2nd [Fri] / 13:00-19:00
  • March 3rd [Sat] / 13:00-19:00
  • March 4th [Sun] / 13:00-19:00
  • March 5th [Mon] / 13:00-19:00
  • March 6th [Tue] / 13:00-19:00
  • March 7th [Wed] / 13:00-19:00
  • March 10th [Sat] / 13:00-17:00
  • How to Participate
  • Lecture Performance: Booking essential. Show general admission pass on entry.
  • Buy Pass
  • Presentation of video works: Admission free
  • Language
  • Japanese
  • Works presented
  • The story of hoping island (2008) 12min. 40sec. (Japanese dialogue)
  • Takasago (2017) 9min. 20sec. (with Japanese subtitles)
  • *Drones, Frosted Bats and Testimony of the Deceased (2017) 3min. 40sec.-8min. 40 sec. (Japanese dialogue)
  • Ruins of the intelligence bureau (2015) 13min. 30sec. (with Japanese subtitles)
  • Industrial Research Institute of Taiwan Governor - General’s Office (2017) 3min.
  • *Drones, Frosted Bats and Testimony of the Deceased (2017) 3min. 40sec.-8min. 40 sec. (Japanese dialogue)
  • - The above films will be screened on loop during opening hours.
  • * This film is edited automatically by a computer program each time. Therefore, the screening content varies.
  • Credit
  • Concept and Direction | Hsu Chia-Wei
  • Script, Performer | Hsu Chia-Wei, PEACH (Tomotada Yotsuyanagi, Bane Kurita, Hidekuni Naoki)
  • Stage Manager | Chen Yating (Mars A Sol Co., Ltd.)
  • Sound | Takeshi Inarimori
  • Interpreter, Translator | Kaoru Ueda
  • Special Thanks | Liu You-I
  • Production Manager | Saki Tanaka
  • Supported by Taiwan Cultural Center, Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan, Hong's Foundation for Education & Culture