Arctic winter kindles a new perspective

Living in a foreign country often helps a young artist realize his or her creative potential to a greater extent than would otherwise have been possible. So it comes as now surprise that more and more young Taiwanese artists are seizing the opportunity (presented by the increasing number of exchange programs available to them) to spend several months away from an environment that sometimes seems too provincial for their active minds.

In the case of Wu Dar-kuen (吳達坤), who lived at the Nordic Institute for Contemporary Art in Finland on an artist exchange program last year, the experience pointed his career in a promising new direction, one that is reflected in his ongoing exhibition entitled Streamer (流光幻影) at Tamshui's Bamboo Curtain Studio.

Streamer is a subtle reflection on the interplay between space and time. Beautiful and without irony, the installations are a marked departure from his previous vivacious works fantasizing about the technological future of the human race.

"The movement of a ray of light shooting across the sky from one place to another, which is what `streamer' means, is what I'm trying to show here," said Wu, relating the works to his journey to the far side of the earth and back.

Inside the pitch-dark gallery, three round screens, placed at ground level, show monochrome DVD projections of a flowing snowflake-dotted stretch of water. While two of them are played at normal speed, the third is always set at fast-forward. As if standing next to these nearly frozen rivers on screens in the dark is not haunting enough, three speakers that beam digitally distorted sounds of a boat navigating the water into viewers' ears to add to the bleak mood of the installation. Even inside the gallery, the soundtrack, with its eerie beeps and pings, creates an ambience that might induce agoraphobia. The video was shot from a boat en route to Helsinki. As shown here, the passage seems an experience as beautiful as it is cold and desolate.

Away from Taipei's lively social circle and bustling night life, Wu spent early winter last year on an islet off Helsinki, where he often went for days on end without speaking to a single person. The most readily available diversion, Wu said, was talking to himself.

Another DVD installation shows images of snow falling on the ground, on a house, on a tree and so on, played in reverse. Like the one shot from a boat, these are bleak but beautiful.

Constructing an atmospheric evocation of the Arctic winter almost obscures Wu's real intention -- musing on the workings of space and time. Intended as imageries of introspection, these DVD installations at times resemble travelogues, of which there are more than enough in Taiwan.

Streamer - A Solo Exhibition by Wu Dar-kuen runs through March 8 at Bamboo Curtain Studio, located at 39, Lane 88 Chungcheng E. Rd., Sec. 2, Tamshui, Taipei County (台北縣淡水中正東路二段88巷39號).