《TAIPEI TIMES》MOCA show spotlights art that challenges boundaries

By Jonathan Chin / Staff writer, with CNA

A Taiwanese artist has created an installation piece that takes away people’s cellphones to encourage them to reflect on their relationship with technology.

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Cheng Hsien-yu’s （鄭先喻） Discharge What You Charged — which consists of cube-like lidded apparatuses on plinths arranged around a display space — is part of “Transistor,” a special exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art （MOCA） in Taipei.

When a viewer places their phone on one of the apparatuses, its lid closes and locks the phone up for 15 to 20 minutes before opening again, revealing it almost completely out of battery, Cheng wrote in his Web site.

The exibition’s organizers sought to encourage artists to create without feeling bound by conventions, and support one another through inspiration and collaboration, Hong Foundation chairman Royce Hong （洪裕鈞） told a news event on Friday, the exhibition’s opening day.

The exhibition, which showcases 11 contemporary artists, has a special focus on works that challenge boundaries, reflect broadly on modern issues and demonstrate a spirit of originality, MOCA director Loh Li-chen （駱麗真） said.

While most of the 23 creations have been displayed before, five pieces debuted at the show, she added.

The new pieces include Hung Yu-chun’s （洪裕鈞） The Instant of Change （創變瞬態）, which features a deconstructed and suspended Xing Mobility Miss R electric supercar prototype, Loh said.

The other pieces that debuted at MOCA are creations by Hsu Chia-wei （許家維）, Chang Shuo-yin （張碩尹） and James Ming-hsueh Lee （李明學）.

The exhibition also showcases Habitat, a collaborative piece by Cheng and Chang Ting-tong （張碩尹） that is comprised of a high-temperature box containing 8,000 mosquitoes that fed on the blood of the artists and a video game that electrocutes the insects when it is played.

Another piece featured is Liu Yu’s （劉玗） If Narratives Are a Deluge, a multimedia creation that uses video and installation art to explore a flood myth that is part of the traditions of 254 ethnic groups speaking 84 different languages.

The exhibition is to run until Oct. 23.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES