JW: The biennial really opened my eyes as it was a new way of working.
TT: How did you first conceive of this show Variation Xanadu?
JW: Samuel Taylor Coleridge's opium-inspired poem Kubla Khan was the starting point. The idea of this place Xanadu was more poetic than the generic space of utopia. I like the suspension of disbelief he created in his poetry and it's important for contemporary art. I actively try to lay out a practicing theory for artists to work with in a different way. And starting in 2002, I was thinking about including international artists in an exhibition. I was more interested in media society, problem of images and the dark side of globalization. I got this idea from living in Taiwan that that younger artists here no longer care about aesthetics. They don't talk about poetics anymore. They talk a lot of theories; yet the theories don't go with their works. So I wanted to go back to the basics of art: Why do we do art? And to reintroduce the poetry.
Here many young artists act passively and think about their own body, which is not only unhealthy, but egocentric. In Taiwan, there is a focus on generation gaps and every five years is a new generation of artists, but this concept doesn't exist in the US or Europe; art is not divided like this. This generation gap doesn't make artists responsible. You don't have to talk about history or tradition. My thinking is how to unite these things together by including the poetic feeling of work while touching on issues of space.
TT: Are these issues raised in the art institutions and academies here?
JW: Not really. Most professors are artists and teach how to create, without teaching views about the world, about some key issues in the world like Iraq, globalization. They tend to just talk about form and art in its most narrow sense.
TT: Are there special qualities you look for in a work?
JW: The more exhibitions I do, it's really important that the character of the artist comes through. I would say decency counts. (Laughs.) I prefer artists to be good to work with, reasonable and to be able to create.
TT: Would you like to do international exhibitions?
JW: I have reluctance to become a media figure. Self-promoting is not in my character.
MORE INFO:
What: Variation Xanadu
Where: Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei 39 Changan W Rd, Taipei (台北市長安西路39號)
Tel: (02) 2552 3721 or go to www.mocataipei.org
When: To Sept. 25
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