“Forward-Backward of History: Time-Image of Relational Re-construction” initiates a two-stage reconstruction of images through “Screening” and “Artist Solo Exhibition” to explore how images, through forward and backward movements, undermine the authority, grand narratives, and unidirectional storytelling of history. The project endows it with alternative methodological entry points, thereby reimagining the past and creating the future.

In the first stage, the “Screening” showcases works by artists Wang Jun-Jieh, Lin Yi-Chi, Chen Yin-Ju and Au Sow-Yee. Through the narrative perspectives of these four artists, which are multidirectional and intertwined with virtuality and reality, the characters and events embedded in the images not only open up a more multidimensional interpretative space and meaning but also highlight the limitations inherent in the representation of historical facts. The exhibition questions whether it is possible to reconstruct the relationship with the past through the power of images, and even allows the future to have the potential for creation or change.

In the second stage, the “Artist Solo Exhibition” will feature the first solo exhibition in Taiwan by Wu Tsang, ranked 14th in the 2022 Art Review Power 100 global list. Curated by Director Huang Chien-Hung, the exhibition is expected to showcase various image works by Wu Tsang spanning different genres, communities, and disciplines, starting on November 8 at the Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts.

Wang Jun-Jieh｜Passion

Single-channel video, Color, Sound／13’26”／2018

“Passion” narrates the descent of passion beneath everyday life, beginning with the abrupt appearance of the astronaut “Hal” at a deserted harbor at dusk. The storyline unfolds through the intense fighting and brawl among three other sailors, leading to the vanishing of passion after a sudden death.

The scenes in this work draw inspiration from the German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s “Querelle” (1982) and incorporate imagery from French director Jean-Luc Godard’s “Passion” (1982) and American director Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968). The artist attaches “desire” to “images,” presenting the passion of creation as a motivation for survival akin to the energy of eros. However, when passion comes to an abrupt halt, all momentum dissipates. The body and desire can no longer contend against the external world, leaving behind only empty and rotten imagination.

Lin Yi-Chi｜Requiem for the Dream of Father

Single-channel video, B&W, Sound／22’00”／2017

“Requiem for the Dream of Father” is a five-chapter video work in which the artist wears a skull mask symbolizing the death of the father, embarking on an exploration of childhood, which is intertwined with dreams and memories, revealing intimate family spectacles.

Through role-playing rituals, the artist reenacts wild and fantastical experiences from childhood with her father under the lingering authoritarian ghost.

With discontinuity of images, segmented frames, and flashback montages, “Requiem for the Dream of Father” creates a subtle and ambiguous intermediate zone. The Taiwanese narration at the beginning of each chapter, spoken in the mother tongue with an intimate tone, hypnotizes viewers to cast aside consciousness and enter this realm of memories and dreams. So the work is able to summon the re-enchantment and revival of past memories, in a poise of staring directly at the ghost in the dream of the father and undertaking a bidirectional requiem belonging to self and father.

Chen Yin-Ju｜Extrastellar Evaluations III : Entropy : 25800

Single-channel video, B&W, Color, Sound／17’00”／2018

The final chapter of the "Extrastellar Evaluations" series, “Extrastellar Evaluations III : Entropy : 25800,” continues the narrative axis since 2016. It combines physics, astronomy, extraterrestrial legends, and cosmology to reflect on human civilization and the future.

Based on the concept of “Great Year” (note 1) referred to in both astrology and astronomy, and the concept of “entropy” (note 2) as well as the thermodynamic second law, which points to energy disorder and the “heat death” theory of the universe. In “Extrastellar Evaluations III : Entropy : 25800,” the artist blurs the line between hypothesis and positivism by referencing a large amount of argumentative data. In the video, the artist “communicates” with the cosmic super-spirit RA, gradually unfolding the ultimate fate of the universe predicted by numerous scientists and astronomers: energy will eventually be depleted, leading to a “catastrophe,” where motion and life can no longer be generated in the future.





Note 1: "Great Year," also known as Platonic Year or Precession of the Equinoxes, is the time it takes for the vernal equinox to complete one full orbit along the ecliptic. It plays a significant role in Greek mythology, archaeology, astrology, and the study of myth origins. NASA estimates its cycle to be approximately 25,800 years.

Note 2: Coined by German physicist Rudolf Clausius in 1854, entropy was initially applied in thermodynamics as a measure of the unavailability of a system’s energy to do work and a gauge of irreversibility. It serves as a metric for the disorder of a system and is widely cited in control theory, probability theory, number theory, astrophysics, life sciences, information theory, ecology, and other fields.

Au Sow-Yee｜Electric, Cosmos and the Séance, part of The Extreme Journey of Perwira and the Calm Sea: In 3 Acts

Single-channel video, Color, Sound／12’27”／2022

The series “The Extreme Journey of Perwira and the Calm Sea: In 3 Acts” centers around Tani Yutaka, a Japanese intelligence agent active in Malaysia, exploring different dimensions of the shifts in “boundaries” concerning nation, politics, culture, and more in the history of Southeast Asia.

As a second act, “Electric, Cosmos and the Séance” reimagines the life journey and reincarnation of Tani Yutaka in the 1940s. The artist searches for Tani Yutaka’s presence in various archives, placing this legendary figure in a constant state of movement and detachment within historical time-space, mass media, and the Southeast Asian seascape, creating the image of a flâneur. By reconstructing Tani Yutaka’s maritime journey, the artist explores various emotional relationships within temporal or geographical boundaries, projecting the intertwined links between Taiwan, Southeast Asia, and Japan.

Wang Jun-Jieh

Graduated from the HdK Art Academy in Berlin, with the highest diploma (Meisterschüler) for outstanding artists, Wang is a pioneer in new media art in Taiwan. He currently serves as the director of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. Wang has been frequently invited by major international museums and art institutions, exhibiting at renowned institutions such as the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, MoMA PS1, Secession in Vienna Vienna, among others. He has also participated in exhibitions at the Johannesburg Biennale, Taipei Biennial, Venice Biennale, and Gwangju Biennale. In recent years, he has curated exhibitions such as “Transjourney – 2012 Future Media Festival,” (Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, 2012), “Re-Base: When Experiments Become Attitude” (Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab, 2018), “The Wild Eighties: Dawn of a Transdisciplinary Taiwan,” and “A One and A Two: Edward Yang Retrospective” (Taipei Fine Arts Museum, 2023).

Lin Yi-Chi

Currently living and working in Taipei, Lin has received training in contemporary art and film production. Her artistic focus is on the experience of diaspora within the geopolitical context of Asia. Conducting field research to collect memories and dreams, Lin reconfigures the re-enchantment of individual experiences. By summoning marginal narratives, she engages in the reproduction of nationhood, history, and collective memory. While collecting the creative materials, Lin also attempts to expand and shape the diversity of image creation. She has received recognitions such as Taipei Art Awards honorable mention (2018); first prize of the Pulse Prize in Miami, USA (2019); first prize of Kaohsiung Award (2018); the Jury Prize of Huayu Youth Award (2021). Lin has also participated in Jakarta Biennale (2022), Gwangju Biennale (2021), and Biennale Jogja (2019).

Chen Yin-Ju

Chen obtained a Master’s degree from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2003, interpreting social power and history through cosmological systems. Utilizing astrology, sacred geometries, and alchemical symbols, she considers human behavior, nationalism, imperialism, state violence, totalitarianism, utopian formations, and collective thinking. In recent years, Chen’s work has increasingly integrated space science and mysticism, exploring imaginative connections and reflections between the cosmos and the human condition. She has been invited to participate in various exhibitions, including the Shanghai Biennial (CN, 2023, 2014), Taipei Biennial (TW, 2023, 2020, 2012), the Tate Modern (UK, 2023), Gwangju Biennale (KR, 2021), “Space Oddity” at Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (CN, 2021), “The Modern Exorcist” and the “Art Histories of a Forever War: Modernism between Space and Home” at Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TW, 2021).

Au Sow-Yee

Born and grew up in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Au is a graduate of the Film Department at the San Francisco Art Institute and the New Media Art Department at the Taipei National University of the Arts. Her works often revolve around mysterious historical facts or biographies from the real world. Employing fictional narratives and assembled images, she extends the meta-text of her creations. In recent years, she has shifted her focus to explore the relationships between history, politics, and power. Au reimagines historical consciousness across Malaysia and Southeast Asia, along with nearby regions. At the same time, she extends discussions on the mechanism of image-making, applying mechanical film projectors for live performances. Recent exhibitions include the Sharjah Biennale (2023), Busan Biennale (2022), “The Oceans and the Interpreters” (Hong-Gah Museum, 2022), and “One song is very much like another, and the boat is always from afar” (Times Museum, Guangzhou, 2021).

*Free admission. No registration is required. Admission opens 10 minutes before the screening starts. Please respect the viewing rights of others. An early arrival is strongly advised.

*The KdMoFA reserves the right to make final modifications and changes to this event. Please refer to the museum website if any changes are made.