Meeting with members of On Becoming a Loser (OBAL) is like experiencing a flashback to college life. Youthful eagerness and idealism are on a collision course with the cold, hard realities of the grown-up world.
Fifteen self-claimed “losers,” mostly women, started OBAL in September. At the time they were in their final year of university at National Chengchi University’s College of Communication (國立政治大學傳播學院).
“We had a school project called On Becoming
a Designer, so we thought, ‘Hey, we can call ourselves On Becoming A Loser,’” explains member Hung
Wei-ting (洪瑋婷).
They were disillusioned with university life — classmates they didn’t like, standards set by professors that they didn’t agree with — and the losers felt compelled to make something happen purely for themselves.
The result is Seesaw Seen, a group show
comprised of paintings, photography, audio and
video installations and film screenings that runs
until Sunday.
The exhibit reflects the restlessness of youth. In Pan Yu-ling’s (潘昱玲) Unfinished Paint (油漆未乾) installation piece, for example, viewers will find drawings, doodles, a painted park bench and video images projected onto a wall to express the artist’s feeling of incompleteness.
Some of the works on display are achingly private and intimate, such as the video installation Some of Her Parts, about the artist’s lesbian lover undergoing surgery to remove her breasts to look more like a man, and Sleepless (睡不著), a documentary about the filmmaker’s comatose father.
Seesaw Seen is being held at Wolong 29 (臥龍29, blog.roodo.com/wolong29), a relatively new venue perfectly suited for the exhibit.
Formerly a dormitory for teachers at National Taipei University of Education (國立台北教育大學), the venue’s buildings were converted into studios four years ago after professors and students in the school’s Department of Cultural Industry felt it was a waste to leave the Japanese colonial-period houses vacant after their tenants moved out. A group called 29 Team (29團隊), made up mostly of students from the cultural industry department, began to officially run the venue last October.
The walls inside the two dormitory houses that are now Wolong 29 were torn down to create an area for exhibitions and a space for music shows.
“Wolong 29 is free and open to everyone. But we have to say no to heavy metal bands because there are still people living here. They’re elderly and need peace and quiet,” says sophomore Chuang Tzu-hsuan (莊子萱), who helps manage the venue.
A series of unplugged music performances titled 29°C Summer Festival is also taking place at the venue through Sunday. The lineup includes Cheshire Cat (柴郡貓), woody woody, and Hsiao-ying (小應) of the Clippers (夾子小應). Shows begin at 5:30pm.
Wolong 29 is located at 29, Ln 136, Heping E Rd Sec 2, Taipei City (台北市和平東路二段136巷29號). For inquiries on scheduling events at the venue, go to blog.roodo.com/wolong29/archives/10973953.html.
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