Porn, phantoms and public art

By Susan Kendzulak
SPECIAL CONTRIBUTOR
Sunday, Dec 10, 2000, Page 19

Pictures from the screen test for Shu-lea Cheang's Fluid. PHOTO: TFAM

Taiwanese film-maker and multimedia artist Shu-lea Cheang stirred up a bit of controversy last September at the Taipei Biennial (Taipei Fine Arts Museum) with a live audition for her upcoming sci-fi porn film Fluid. Yet Cheang's casting call was more of a media spectacle, for the local Chinese press at least, than anything particularly scandalous.

Bondage and art for the Taipei Biennial, Fluid consists of separate experimental phases: mainstream advertising, casting, filming and museum display. The digital prints from the live casting session were recently installed at TFAM where they will remain on view to the end of the Taipei Biennial, Jan. 7.

After weeks of advertising in the local Taiwan press for aspiring porn stars, Cheang, on the night of the Biennial opening, filmed screen tests and shot photographs of the actors who performed nude or in bondage gear acting in front of a row of brightly lit urinals and a highly curious crowd of spectators. Even though some actors were a bit camera-shy, the casting set maintained the cool aura of a professional film shoot rather than a Saturnalian feast.

Fluid explores the state's role in relation to the body, especially in light of the AIDS crisis. PHOTO:TFAM

For this latest installment of Fluid, a discreet closet-like space on the second floor of the museum has been set aside. One wall contains three urinals, again brightly lit, each containing a white cream-filled condom. The partition wall is coated with 70 glossy digital prints from the casting session framed with thin lattice strips. Some photos have a neon green tint reminiscent of a Nan Goldin photograph. Extreme close-ups expose wet lips and tongues, glittery eye shadow, glistening sweat, hair follicles and skin pores. Cheang's stylized bondage images consist of two pairs of hands loosely tied together and a bullwhip lying on the floor. Besides these erotic digital prints on display, a flat screen monitor displays Fluid's Web site with its moving images: http://www.wmw.com.tw/fluid/. After the success of her seductive Japanese porn film i.k.u, Cheang was keen to cast Fluid in Taiwan. It will be shot in Denmark next year with an international cast. The film will explore the state's role in relation to the body, especially in light of the AIDS crisis. Her wide interests have also led Cheang to examine the hot-button issues of pornography in the museum setting while continuing to place avant-garde art films in the adult triple-X world. Cheang continues to challenge her audience with the question: when is something pornographic and when is it art?

A poster from Tu Wei's exhibition humorously commenting on the possibility of a ghost in the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. PHOTO: NFAM

Ghost stories

Art Notes: What: National Geographic MRT photo installation Who: Chi Ti-Nan Where: Chungshiao-Fushing and Hsimenting Mrt stations When:Until Dec.16 What: Fluid at the Taipei Biennial - Screen Test Photos Who: Cheang Shu-lea Where:Taipei Fine Arts Museum When:Until Jan. 7

If you had the good fortune to go to TFAM last week, you may have seen a ghost wandering around in the basement. As legend goes, phantom-like creatures have been infesting the museum and making artworks disappear and causing a mysterious fire. Conceptual artist Tu Wei (杜偉) wanted to create an exhibition taking this ethereal figure as his starting point. His one-person show consisted of a sign posted adjacent to a locked gallery.

The sign showed that "you are here" and that the ghost is there. Besides warning visitors not to smoke, drink, eat or spread gossip, it also warned ghosts that they are unwelcome. According to Chinese beliefs, ghosts like to inhabit the corners of a room.

Tu Wei's installation was located in the most remote corner gallery in the museum's basement. Architecturally, the space has posed problems to artists trying to figure out how best to fill the cavernous gallery.

In Tu's show, the viewer, frustrated that the display area's door is locked, peers into the slight open crack of the doorway. Slowly emerging out of the distant dark shadows is a faint bluish hooded figure walking slowly towards the viewer which then suddenly vanishes.

For a work of art, Tu Wei, like Duchamp, only allows one viewer at a time to peer through the doorway. By not allowing entry into the room, Tu Wei succeeds in filling the space and your imagination with the spirit of a ghost.

Although this show is now over, the arts world gossip that inspired it -- a ghost in the gallery who seems to target some of the more challenging and physically explicit works displayed in the gallery -- may still be wondering about. Tu's work provides a slight element of humor to a mystery that remains unsolved.

Public Art

Another exhibition which uses location as part of its message is the photo installation sponsored by National Geographic is currently on view at the Chungshiao-Fushing and Hsimending MRT stations. Even though it is part of the promotion for the Chinese version of NG, the installation blends commercial display, architectural design and visual aesthetics to create a public art display. The designer, architect Chi Ti-Nan (季鐵男) and his workshop, sought to utilize the urban space by fragmenting the images -- here, images of exotic peoples from around the world -- and installing them on panels that coordinate with the stations' architecture. Chi also observes how the MRT stations' large passageways are ideal arenas for public art and another effective forum to enhance Taipei's visibility and international standing.

National Geographic is famed for its distinct photo style and by displaying these images larger than life in Taipei's public spaces, brings exposure to world cultures directly to the local populace.