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Cloning the nation

By Vico Lee
STAFF REPORTER
Sunday, Dec 30, 2001, Page 18

Chen Kai-huang fills the studio with water to create a sea for his installation, Cloning Taiwan. PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

"Cloning Taiwan" (複製島), the current exhibition at Bamboo Curtain Studio (竹圍工作室), took Chen Kai-huang (陳愷璜), who works under the name "Tchenogramme," several years to complete. The single installation is not meant as a work of art, but as the starting point of an actual project to clone Taiwan, which, Chen believes, will be feasible in the near future.

To visualize the scenario, Chen filled the floor of the studio with water and scattered a dozen satellite photos of Taiwan, illuminated by florescent lights, at the bottom of this imaginary sea, Chen's ideal place to clone Taiwan.

Like a freshwater fishery, these small Taiwans lie motionless, as if incubating. In the background, viewers hear the buzzing of modem noise being played again and again. It seems that these clones are repeatedly trying to link up with the rest of the world.

At the same time, a TV placed in mid-air shows the images shot from a fast-moving motorcycle and from a ship, dispersed with scenes of several people having a big meal on a makeshift table by the roadside. The same image is projected onto the water surface.

Cloning Taiwan, by Chen Kai-huang. PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

A recurring theme in the film is that of moving on, or fleeing, which seems to be the fastest and most direct way to solve the unpleasantness that many Taiwanese feel about living on their island.

"We can make many clones of Taiwan and let people immigrate there and build up new societies," Chen said in an interview.

Art Notes: What: ``Cloning Taiwan,'' Chen Kai-huang solo exhibition Where: Bamboo Curtain Studio 39 Chungcheng E. rd., Sec. 2 (北市中正東路2段39號) When: Until Jan. 31

For him, the Dec. 1 election took the unpleasantness to an unbearable level. "Every time I turned on the TV, there were campaign commercials and endless tirades from candidates. It was inescapable," he said.

He also found that the divided ideologies of the candidates, each of whom claimed to represent mainstream public opinion, made it even more urgent to clone the nation, so that each political party can have a Taiwan for itself.

The film also contains a section of animation showing many oversized Taiwans sprouting up on the world map, some connecting the two sides of the Atlantic Ocean, some reaching into the sea from the tip of Spain, and some overlapping Taiwan to enlarge it.

The ghostly appearance of enlarged Taiwans prompts viewers to reflect on what life in Taiwan would be were the island located in a different continent or were a continent unto itself.

The question as to whether nations besides Gambia, Nicaragua and other impoverished diplomatic allies would be happy with a Taiwan-shaped appendix is conveniently ignored.

"If there's to be any connection between art and society, artists have to play an active part in suggesting solutions to social problems," Chen said.

That's why he plans to soon set up a "Cloning Taiwan" Web site, where everyone will be welcome to share their ideas on how to clone the country.

The work's seemingly unrealistic and sometimes irrelevant stand on Taiwan's future can be quite ironic, unless you share Chen's great confidence in cloning technology.

Whether one believes in his seemingly far-fetched fantasy or not, it's a work worth not just seeing, but feeling as well.

The sensation one feels standing in the pitch-dark studio lit only by pictures of Taiwan clones can almost make one believe that there will be many more Taiwans to come and each will be a brave new world.
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