Charwei Tsai Water, Earth and Air by scci.org

Charwei Tsai Water, Earth and Air

Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation

in partnership with Queensland Art Gallery Gallery of Modern Art

Contents

9 Preface Tony Ellwood 11 Introduction Gene Sherman 17 Water, Earth, Air Suhanya Raffel 25 Charwei Tsai interviewed by Tony Brown 33

Colour Plates

List of Works

Text Translations and Excerpts

Artist’s Biography

Artist’s Bibliography

Contributors

Acknowledgements

Preface Tony Ellwood Director Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art

I am delighted that the Queensland Art Gallery (QAG) has again collaborated with Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation (SCAF) in presenting ‘Water, Earth and Air’, a solo exhibition of work by young Taiwanese artist Charwei Tsai. This is the second project developed jointly by SCAF and QAG and follows ‘The view from elsewhere’, which opened in Sydney in March this year before moving to the Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane in August. This latest project presents Charwei Tsai’s work to Australian audiences for the first time. In planning the next stage of our partnership, we all felt certain that Tsai was the ideal artist to introduce the ‘6th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’ (APT6) to followers and supporters in Sydney; her expansive, poignant and fresh practice will be one of the star attractions in Brisbane later this year. The Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art is the most significant international platform for the exhibition of contemporary art of our region. It continues to premiere artists and an extraordinary range of emerging creative practices. Accordingly, Charwei Tsai is an artist whose public practice only began in 2005. Since then she has produced a body of work which is always thoughtful and often exquisite. It extends through installation, performance, photography, video, poetry and publishing, all of which are included in the exhibition she has developed for SCAF. Her practice draws on an interest in and study of Buddhism, in particular the ideas of transience and impermanence. Through her use of organic materials, Tsai distils the world into intimate and quiet gestures that lead her audience to contemplate the infinite and the immutable cycles of life and death. ‘Charwei Tsai: Water, Earth and Air’ is co-curated by the artist, Suhanya Raffel, Curatorial Manager, Asian & Pacific Art, QAG, and SCAF. My sincere thanks to Charwei and Suhanya for extending the work they were doing together for APT6 in such an imaginative and meaningful way. As always, I am immensely grateful to Gene Sherman and her team at SCAF for the opportunities provided by their interest in QAG and its programmes. Long may it continue.

Introduction Dr Gene Sherman Chairman, Executive Director Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation

‘Charwei Tsai: Water, Earth and Air’ at Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation (SCAF) represents the Foundation’s second partnership with the Queensland Art Gallery (QAG) – clearly Australia’s most significant art museum where contemporary art from the Asia-Pacific region is concerned. The Gallery’s regional focus was first foregrounded in 1993 when a significant body of work was collected and researched in preparation for the first Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art. The initial Brisbane–Sydney collaboration centred on Asian film and launched SCAF’s second year of operation in 2009. The exhibition ‘The view from elsewhere’1 comprised short artist-created films historically framed by Nam June Paik and Yoko Ono’s seminal work and featured, inter alios, midgeneration and younger artists from China, Japan, Korea, India, Lebanon, Thailand, Iran and Israel. This ongoing collaboration serves as testimony to a harmonious and productive public museum / private foundation partnership. Competition is generally less productive than collaboration. Two entities can of course spur each other on to a better performance. Within the context of visual art exhibitions, however, especially those involving contemporary art, winner–loser outcomes do not necessarily create the best environment for the artists involved or for the viewing public, whose strong preference must be for depth of experience and interpretation within manageable temporal, spatial and geographical frameworks. SCAF looks to collaborate wherever appropriate, not only because it is a relatively small, privately funded and recently founded institution2 but also because the Foundation’s development is predicated on the notion of sharing. The idea of combining strengths and expanding possibilities is intrinsic to the genesis and unfolding of this particular family-supported venture. Charwei Tsai’s presence in Sydney follows the Foundation’s first sixteen months of operation, during which five projects and seven publications3 were realised.

Three male artists – Ai Weiwei (China),4 Jonathan Jones (Australia)5 and Jitish Kallat (India)6 – created monumental installations in keeping with the Foundation’s philosophy of offering selected artists the opportunity to dream and to realise projects on a grand scale, unfettered by commercial considerations and supported by scholarly, visually compelling publications. In addition, the worlds of film and architecture were explored via ‘The view from elsewhere’ and an extraordinary architectural intervention by SANAA principals Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa.7 Apart from a number of filmmakers and artists in ‘The view from elsewhere’, however, Sejima had thus far been the only woman featured in the programme. The solution to this gender imbalance presented itself readily: amplify the successful and smooth-running partnership with QAG by selecting an aesthetically compelling and emerging woman artist. With the guidance of the Gallery’s highly respected and experienced Curatorial Manager of Asian & Pacific Art, Suhanya Raffel, meetings took place in Brisbane, lists were scrutinised and visuals pored over. Charwei Tsai’s work captured attention from the outset. Her sensibility was clearly quiet; the work had a feminine presence, a delicacy and modesty that would situate the project in contrast to earlier large-scale SCAF installations. Text is clearly central to her practice and serves as a link to personal continuing deep interest in the impact and significance of the written word. With Suhanya Raffel’s encouragement and invaluable assistance, contact was made and a meeting organised in London earlier this year. Intrigued by the work, Brian Sherman unusually elected to join myself and the artist in what turned out to be a threehour long fascinating exchange of ideas, ranging from animal suffering through to Buddhist philosophy, our respective mixed heritages, overlapping key relationships with many artists and art world colleagues – including Chinese-born artist Cai Guo-Qiang – and of course the artist’s past work and growing practice. We embraced Lovely Daze, Tsai’s impeccably designed and produced biannual publication, which gathers and artfully arranges text and visuals from senior artists and young creative friends. A Sherman visual arts residency in Sydney was unanimously agreed upon and a fruitful email dialogue on the shape of the project began

between the artist, co-curator Suhanya Raffel, SCAF senior staff Amanda Henry and Dolla Merrillees, and National and International Art Adviser Anna Waldmann. We are honoured to be working again with QAG and deeply appreciative of the willingness to share ideas and experience on the part of the Gallery’s inspirational Director Tony Ellwood, co-Deputy Director extraordinaire Lynne Seear, and highly respected curator Suhanya Raffel. We could not imagine a more warm-hearted and creative working relationship than that which we have had with artist Charwei Tsai who, though young in years, is open in spirit. She brings new perspectives and a fresh vision to our ongoing SCAF programme. Endnotes 1. ‘The view from elsewhere’, 19 March – 13 June 2009; exhibition catalogue published. 2. SCAF was launched in 2008. From 1986 to 2007, Sherman Galleries nurtured and managed twenty-seven established, mid-career and emerging artists. 3. In addition to the catalogues accompanying the five exhibitions, SCAF published two volumes in its forum series: Terry Smith (ed.), Contemporary Art + Philanthropy: Public Spaces/Private Funding, 2007, and Nicholas Jose (ed.), Contemporary Art + Philanthropy – Private Foundations: Asia-Pacific Focus, 2009. 4. ‘Under Construction’, SCAF, 1 May – 26 July 2008; Campbelltown Arts Centre, 2 May – 29 June 2008; exhibition catalogue published. 5. ‘untitled (the tyranny of distance)’, 14 August – 11 October 2008; exhibition catalogue published. 6. ‘Jitish Kallat: Aquasaurus’, 25 October – 20 December 2008; exhibition catalogue published. 7. ‘Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA’, 3 July – 26 September 2009; exhibition catalogue published; presentation by Ryue Nishizawa, 2 July 2009; Kazuyo Sejima and Yuko Hasegawa in conversation with Margaret Throsby, 15 August 2009.

Water, Earth, Air Suhanya Raffel Curatorial Manager, Asian & Pacific Art Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art

It was blacker than olives the night I left. As I ran past the palaces, oddly joyful, it began to rain. What a notion it is, after all – these small shapes! I would get lost counting them. Who first thought of it? How did he describe it to the others? Out on the sea it is raining too. It beats on no one. Anne Carson1

The happiness of the circle puts an end to the all vertical happiness of the gods who take advantage of the distance they have from the earth. Francis Alÿs2

A rider goes by, but his dust of passing hangs in the air. Look down this road through the particles into infinity. Rumi3

‘Water’, ‘earth’ and ‘air’ describe, in the simplest terms, our world. Charwei Tsai chose these words for the title of her exhibition because, together, they are the touchstones for her practice. She explores these three vast elements through intimate gestures. It is her way of sensing the world. Born in Taipei, Taiwan in 1980, Charwei Tsai attended the local elementary school until fourth grade, when she was transferred to the Taipei American School so that her education would be conducted in English. Her family prospered, like many others who were involved with the economic boom years of the 1980s and 1990s in Taiwan, and in 1990 she was sent to Pebble Beach in California, United States, as a boarder to finish her schooling. However, despite her formal education being very much United

14 Previous spread Day 2 – Meat Map, 2008 Performance, installation at Gallery Sora/Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo, Japan Black ink on raw meat Image courtesy the artist and Gallery Sora/Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

States-based, the connection with her Taiwanese culture and home continued.

catalyst for her curiosity. When she subsequently moved to New York in 2002 to search for work, Tsai volunteered at Tibet House. While archiving a repatriation collection containing Buddhist art, statues and prayer tools, she began to learn more about Buddhism.6 Tsai had just graduated from Rhode Island School of Design, where she studied courses in fine arts, industrial design, landscape architecture and architectural history. The courses were deliberately cross-disciplinary and, importantly, included travel to Arizona where she visited the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture in Taliesin West and James Turrell’s Roden Crater project.7 These varied experiences brought into focus concepts about art, nature, sustainability and spirituality to form the seed bed from which her practice has sprung.

Outside of my studies, I was very attached to my Taiwanese upbringing. My family still lived in Taiwan, so I would go home every summer and winter and bring back local music, films, books, and even food. Most of my close friends in high school were Taiwanese who shared a similar background, so I never felt a need to assimilate with Americans and was quite at ease with mixed cultures. Perhaps this is why, even after all these years of living abroad, some of my works are still rooted in Asian references.4 The earliest work in this exhibition, Tofu Mantra, 2005, marks the beginning of Tsai’s practice and is part of the ongoing Mantra series, in which the artist uses brush and ink or felt-tipped pen to write the Heart Sutra (262 characters in Chinese) onto a multitude of surfaces. Initially these were organic materials, such as a slab of tofu, the petals of an iris, mushrooms, a lemon, olive trees, lotus leaves and the skins of frogs. Recently, however, she has expanded this practice by using mirrors, so that the sky, clouds, sea, sand and earth are captured as reflections on which the sutra reverberates. Sea Mantra, Earth Mantra, both 2009, and Sky Mantra, 2008, are glorious poetic works that vibrate with the joy of the Heart Sutra. The Heart Sutra (prajnaparamita in Sanskrit) is a key Buddhist text that describes the concept of emptiness, an idea that is central to Buddhist philosophy, and the transient relationship between the individual and the universe. It is one of the most popular and widely known Buddhist mantras. Briefly, it describes the experience of the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (also known as the Bodhisattva of compassion) reaching towards enlightenment through meditation. The experience leads to the profound understanding that all is ‘emptiness’ or ‘void’ and offers solace to those with this insight.5 Thus, the text captures the Buddhist wisdom that the inescapable flow of time – the cycles of growth, decay, rebirth and release – leads to the realisation of the impermanence of existence. Charwei Tsai claims that it was a Tibetan friend she met during her college years in the early 2000s who ignited her interest in Buddhism. Although they did not discuss religion or politics particularly, his presence was sufficient to act as the

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My interest in Buddhism is intertwined with my practice in art. For me, art and spirituality are inseparable. Through art, I am able to reach a purer state of consciousness that I cannot do through the chaos of daily life. However, I do not consider myself religious as my appreciation of the religion is merely based on a philosophical approach … In any case, my exposure to Buddhism and to contemporary art in New York around that time led me to start the Mantra series.8

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She learned the Heart Sutra by memory as a child in Taipei even though her family is not especially devout. It is only as an adult that she has explored the possibilities of using the sutra to germinate an art practice. My family is not particularly religious, so it is curious, even to me, how I became attracted to the scripture at a young age. I used to recite it when I was scared, or simply to calm the mind. The application of the text evolves through different stages of my life and I am still examining it.9 For Tsai, the sutra in the Mantra series functions on several levels. It draws on the philosophical principles of the void; the works are literal examples of impermanence since they capture life’s flux through growth and decay; the sutra is a doorway or aperture through which art-making and its performance elements such as writing are framed, so the temporal aspects of doing, waiting and seeing are manifest; and lastly, the artworks reveal a strong calligraphic element.

I always try to concentrate on the meaning of the text and the relationship to the material when I make the works. Most of the materials I write on have their own natural texture, so I try to follow the texture with my brushstrokes. This is one of the reasons why I choose to write mostly in Chinese, because the characters are legible left to right, right to left, up to down.10 The practice of learning to write Chinese characters becomes, by extension, the practice of calligraphy. Indeed, historically in China, where the East Asian calligraphic tradition originated, calligraphy was defined as the practice of writing clearly. The aesthetic value is only perceived in its rendering and over time this act has been refined into an art form through the work of scholar artists. Even in an age when pictures are painted by robots, I cannot give up that extremely imprecise instrument, the brush … The scholars of East Asia have thought with the brush for centuries, using it for both writing and painting. The object before the eyes and the image in the mind are all constructed of points and lines, and expressed in rhythm with the rising and falling of breath. Lee Ufan11 A Dedication to Saint Ursula and Baptism, both 2009, were site-specific works conceived for the Church of Saint-Séverin in Paris in June 2009 as a dedication to the Catholic Saint Ursula.12 Tsai used as her text The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World13 by American literary theorist and cultural critic Elaine Scarry. Using fragments of sentences from this seminal monograph on pain, Tsai inscribed each petal in English and scattered them around the vaults and antechambers in the church that housed bone relics. The swathes of coloured petals surrounded and settled onto the stone pediments, altars and glass cases, transforming this sacred space through colour, scent and the strangeness of the dedication, as if the air had rained flowers with incomplete messages.14 The fascinating symbolism of plants has a long, culturally specific history. The literature on the rose is vast. Thought to have originated in Persia and been brought to the West by Alexander the Great, the abundant variety of this plant ensures that there are several indigenous species across many parts of the world. The rose has long been cited in both literature and visual art, especially

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in the West where it is most often associated with perfection, Eros, paradise and martyrdom. In A Dictionary of Symbols, Juan Eduardo Cirlot describes the artistic deployment of symbols as ‘an expression that is continuous, flowing, casual and in direct relation between the inspiration and the final representation, which is both the means and the end of the expressive process’.15 For the Singapore Biennale in September 2006, Tsai created Lotus Mantra I and Lotus Mantra II as site-specific works at Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple, a local Buddhist temple. Here she has revisited and remade them to be presented in an exhibition context. The works were her first intervention at a place of worship. In Lotus Mantra I she wrote the Heart Sutra on a number of lotus buds and placed them as an offering alongside those of members of the congregation who came to pray and meditate. Over time the buds steadily decayed and became desiccated husks. In Lotus Mantra II she wrote the sutra on the leaves of a living lotus plant growing in a pot at the entrance to the temple. The leaves expanded and multiplied over time. In Buddhism the lotus is imbued with myriad meanings that include the state of Buddhahood, purity, enlightenment, wisdom and, in Tantric Buddhism, the feminine principle. The context of the temple ensured that its congregation would view the plant with the sutra, recognise the mantra, and understand the symbolism of the lotus. In both these installations, the exchange between viewers and artworks took place through the prism of a place of worship. Tsai’s deep interest in observing and interacting with ideas of spirituality is enacted through her art. Like music, which is intangible while moving through the body, her art heightens, sharpens and focuses the mind on the senses and, through them, draws awareness to the profound and simple logic of the transitory. In her projects Tsai has used a number of other texts that are not always directly about the spiritual. In the 2008 exhibition ‘7 Ideas in 7 Days’, made for the construction site of Gallery Sora in Tokyo, two of the seven works used text. For 7 Ideas in 7 Days – Day 4 – Hermit Crabs she wrote a set of political statements in Chinese on the shells of hermit crabs and then watched the crabs swap and change shells. For Day 5 she created a miniature forest and on the leaves of this tiny jungle she wrote the love songs and poems composed by the sixth Dalai Lama (1683–1706). This work is revisited here in A Dedication to the Sixth Dalai Lama (1683–1706), 2009.

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The fey absurdity and joy in these works pays homage to the great diva of performance art, Yoko Ono. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s Ono made an influential contribution to the history of fluxus and performance, developed as a suite of actions, films and videos works, of which the following instruction is an example: Scream. 1. against the wind 2. against the wall 3. against the sky Yoko Ono, autumn 1961 Often composed as haiku-like verse that combines imagery, actions and sounds, Yoko Ono’s scores are also poetry. The performance aspects of Tsai’s works recall the spirit of Ono’s practice since she too calls on the imagination and interpretation of her audience. The open-ended process is an essential element of Tsai’s practice: the notion of continuity and sustainability depends as much on the ongoing nature of existence as it does on the fact of its impermanence. This paradox, the philosophical connection between states of impermanence and sustainability, is at the heart of Tsai’s art-making. In Melting Ice, Circle, Gutter, Numbers and Ice Explorations, all 2009, Tsai uses ice to celebrate the dynamic form of change. Numbers, Ice Explorations, Gutter and Melting Ice use mirror and ice to represent infinity – in as much as this is possible – through reflections of sky and air. As Rumi’s verse at the beginning of this essay reveals, it is the particles of dust suspended in the air that give form to the unending path of infinity. Similarly, the Japanese Zen tradition of ‘Enso’ reveals, in the form of the circle drawn with brush and ink, the world of the spirit that is without beginning or end. The Zen circle of enlightenment reflects the transforming experience: perfectly empty yet completely full, finite yet infinite. When Tsai created Circle – recording herself using brush and ink to draw a circle on a large block of ice and documenting the perfect black circle gradually melting as the ice changes from its solid state to liquid – she was unaware of this tradition. Yet on learning about it she was completely at ease with the knowledge that it existed. The logic of arriving at expressive points in the journey of encounter and discovery as an artist necessarily leads to numerous places already known. It is the uniqueness of these encounters, for each of us, artist or not, that reveals the truly wondrous fact of infinite possibility.

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Endnotes 1. Canadian poet: Anne Carson, ‘Short Talk on Rain’, in Plainwater, Vintage Contemporary Edition, New York, 2000, p. 39. 2. Belgian artist living and working in Mexico City: Francis Alÿs, excerpt from History of Architecture Thesis, University of Venice, Venice, 1985, cited in Revolutions – Forms That Turn, exhibition catalogue, Biennale of Sydney, curated by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Thames & Hudson, 2008, p. 80. 3. Thirteenth century Persian poet and philosopher: ‘Three Quatrains’, in Coleman Barks (trans.), The Essential Rumi, HarperSanFrancisco, 2004, p. 320. 4. Charwei Tsai interviewed by Tina Lai, 28 June 2009, <http://www.tinalai-id.com>, viewed 7 August 2009. 5. The sutra goes on to elaborate on the five expressions of life: matter, sensation, volition, perception and consciousness. In Buddhism the way to enlightenment is to relinquish all attachment to these phenomena, since desire and attachment lead to suffering. To alleviate suffering one must understand and accept the impermanent character of matter, whereby nothing possesses any essential enduring identity. ‘Emptiness’ is a state that is wanted or sought out. It does not have the negative Western connotations of alienation, loneliness and despair. 6. ‘The collection at Tibet House that I was archiving was composed mostly of religious objects like tangkas, Bodhisattva statues and prayer tools. Through working there I had a chance to see the process of making the Tibetan sand mandala, to attend meditation sessions, lectures by the Dalai Lama and other important practitioners, as well as having access to their library with mainly books on Tibetan art, religion and politics. Through archiving the tangkas, I also learned to distinguish between different deities and their representations, and certain religious symbols. I volunteered there for two years.’ Email from Charwei Tsai to the author, 20 August 2009. 7. Taliesin West was the great modernist architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s winter home in the desert from 1937 until his death in 1959. It is now the main campus of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture and houses the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. The Roden Crater project is artist James Turrell’s most ambitious project to date. It was begun in 1972 and is yet to be completed. Central to Turrell’s practice is his investigation into light. The project is being constructed in a dormant volcano in the Painted Desert of Northern Arizona. Turrell is transforming the crater into a purpose-built complex of viewing rooms that will provide people with the opportunity to see the magnificent, ever-changing lightscape created in the sky by the sun, moon, stars and celestial events. 8. Charwei Tsai interviewed by Lesley Ma, 5 April 2009, in Charwei Tsai: Transience, exhibition catalogue, Osage Gallery, Hong Kong, 2009, p. 6. 9. ibid., p. 7. 10. ibid., p. 10. 11. South Korean/Japanese artist: Lee Ufan, Lee Ufan: The Art of Encounter, trans. Stanley N. Anderson, ed. Jean Fisher, Lisson Gallery, London, 2004, p. 25. 12. According to a legend from the tenth century, Ursula was the daughter of a Christian British king and was granted a three-year postponement of an unwanted marriage to a pagan prince. With ten ladies in waiting, each attended by a thousand maidens, she embarked on a voyage across the North Sea, sailed up the Rhine to Basle, Switzerland, and then went to Rome. On their way back, in about 451 BC, they were all massacred by pagan Germans at Cologne when Ursula refused to marry their chieftain. The legend is most likely a fiction, but what is true is that a senator rebuilt a basilica in Cologne, probably at the beginning of the fourth century, to honour a group of virgins who had been martyred at Cologne. They were evidently venerated enough to have had a church built in their honour, but who they were and how many of them there were, is unknown. From these meagre facts, the legend of Ursula grew and developed. (Paraphrased from <http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=325>, viewed 17 August 2009.) 13. Oxford University Press, New York, 1985. 14. Tsai’s decision to use this particular text was in part due to the way Scarry discusses pain; torture in particular. The first chapter in her book analyses the linguistic expression of pain, including the perceptual aspects of describing pain and the extremely intangible notion of understanding the pain of others. Scarry looks to literature and art in her analysis and has been a professor of English literature. The Church of Saint-Séverin also contains bone relics, which are revered across many cultures as both potent symbols of the transience of life and powerful reminders of holiness, purity of spirit and ancestral respect. This project was initiated following Tsai’s participation in the exhibition ‘Traces du Sacré’ at the Centre Pompidou (2008). 14. Juan Eduardo Cirlot, ‘Symbol and Allegory – Symbol and Artistic Expression’, in A Dictionary of Symbols, Routledge, London, 1984, p. xliii.

Charwei Tsai interviewed by Tony Brown Director, Programme La Seine École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, Paris 22 August 2009

Tony Brown (in Beijing): How is your Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation (SCAF) exhibition different from your other exhibitions? Is this your first show in Australia? Charwei Tsai (in Taipei): My 2009 show at Osage Gallery in Hong Kong, ‘Charwei Tsai: Transience’, was based on my interpretation of the Buddhist perspective on the ephemeral. I also worked with some social-political contexts regarding national identity. Having grown up in Taiwan, the topics of religion and nationalism are very much rooted in my personal history. However, for the exhibition at SCAF, I would like to shift the focus towards nature. The transition has to do with certain realisations that I am coming to. After travelling extensively in the past few years and living on different continents, I have become less attached to my cultural identity and more interested in the relationship that we as human beings have with our natural environment. Also, through my studies in Buddhism, I am discovering how its philosophy is intertwined with the understanding of nature. This is the first time I have exhibited in Australia, and it is timely because, as we all know, the continent is known for the breadth of its landscape and the preservation of nature. Do you feel that working with Gene and Brian Sherman has affected how you are thinking about the exhibition? The personal chemistry that I feel with Gene and Brian is another major component of what distinguishes this exhibition from the previous ones. I met them during a time when I was considering more and more how ethics play a role in the life and work of an artist, and in the life of a person in general. I was beginning to be more conscious of the message that I convey to an audience through my artwork, the materials that I use, and whether or not ethics should play a role in art. Through our encounter, I learned about the two foundations they run, SCAF and Voiceless, the latter touching some of the major issues that I am facing with my practice regarding the type of materials that I have used and

the former being the platform from which I can express these concerns. I also admire their approach very much. When they first saw a work in which I used animal products, I felt like they were trying to educate me rather than judge me or exclude me from their mission. I remember Gene telling me that everyone has to start somewhere and that they became conscious of these issues through their daughter. I felt very encouraged by her words and still do. You have used animals in your work. How do you feel about that now? I have thought a lot about the use of animals and animal products in my work, especially after meeting Brian and Gene. Since then I have refrained from using any live animals. It’s interesting that, coming from a Chinese cultural background, I saw the animals less as living beings and more as food. Also, being part of a generation that picks up food in supermarkets where the suffering of the animals is strategically disguised by careful packaging, I did not have the right awareness regarding this issue. I struggled a lot working on the video for Fish Project, 2008, in which I write on a living fish, even though the fish was freed afterwards. Once again, I came up with the idea without thinking about the fish as a living being. Then when it came to the actual writing part, I was shaking and had a hard time justifying the act. I stopped eating meat for a month after the project and have reduced meat consumption since. You have also worked with pig blood. How would that differ today? If someone asked me to make that project, Blood Map, 2009,1 or Meat Map, 2008,2 using slices of raw meat, I would most likely say ‘no’. I would consider more carefully what I am sacrificing and weigh that against what I am trying to accomplish. Using live animals would be a definite ‘no’. In general, I am trying to consume less in my work and life – based on a general concern for the planet and consumerism. That is a big weight to carry as an artist and a person. If we want to survive longer on this planet, we have to make these choices. I was raised in big cities that are very removed from nature, so now I am exploring that aspect, which was missing from my earlier life. But Asia is in a big consuming boom and that is where you are from. Does this phenomenon affect your artwork?

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Well, actually I grew up in Taiwan, which is quite different from China and India. We became industrialised earlier, so we are now at a stage where people are very much concerned about the environmental impacts of industrialisation on the planet and on people’s quality of life. Also, we have a lot of natural disasters, such as typhoons, that cause massive mudslides and floods, so people do try to be more careful and not overdevelop as much as they have in the past. Geographically, there is a large mountain range across the middle of the country, which is hard to access, so many natural resources have been preserved that way. Recently I have been spending more time back in Taiwan, travelling around the north-east coast, drawing inspiration from the fertile land and producing new work from the experience. How do you see yourself differing from the hippies or the new age generation? They were very idealistic. There is a hippie in me [laughs], but I think we come from different generations facing different threats. The way forward is not necessarily to produce more stuff or newer stuff, but to learn how to live in peace with each other and with our environment. I really don’t think that this way of thinking is idealistic; in fact, it’s very practical. But we do not seem able to learn this. Do you see your art helping people to understand how we should live? At this stage of my practice, I can’t say that I am capable of making any major changes. I am just expressing my thoughts and learning to take on certain positions through the process. So you see those changes happening in yourself first? Yes, exactly. I am in a transitioning period, working more outdoors with landscapes and more spontaneously with the flux of nature. In my recent work I have tried to keep a balance between accident and control, nature and culture, so that one is not imposing on the other. For example, I was in the mountains near Taipei the other day for a site visit to make a new work, Earth Mantra, which is similar to Sky Mantra, 2008. Instead of writing on a mirror reflecting the changes in the sky, the mirror will reflect the changes in the surrounding mountains. I thought about how the movements in mountains are different from those in the sky and water. Then about how the wind moves the clouds, how that forms rain, how the rain nourishes the earth and how all these elements are interconnected. I realised that there is no intrinsic value – no

[pp. 76–79; 58–61]

good and bad – in nature; things just live and die and live again. Then, I started to recognise that this is the Buddhist philosophy of emptiness, the relativity of all living beings to their conditions. And I think this also touches on the concept of karma – the cause and effect of the universe – which is more than just a reward and punish system. How will this manifest in your new works? I don’t know yet, but usually whatever I am thinking about in my life tends to show up in my artwork. I work in reverse: instead of doing a tonne of research before making an artwork, I just go ahead and make the work then the meanings come to me upon reflection. I feel that sometimes when I do too much research certain spontaneity is lost and the work becomes too predictable. Do you see yourself as a product of nature or of culture? One more than the other? I am still trying to see how our culture and its moral system fit into the structure of nature, which is without morals. With our human intellect, it is difficult to view death as just part of the natural cycle of life without any meanings attached. This is especially hard when the death or harm is caused by other human beings. I think the main contradiction between nature and culture lies in how death is accepted. Perhaps this is why Tibetan monks devote their whole life to trying to understand it and I am doing so in my own ways. [laughs] Do you see yourself as contradictory? I don’t think contradiction is a bad thing, I am not a politician. Life is contradictory and chaotic. You are Taiwanese, as distinct from Chinese. What does this distinction mean for you? The fundamental difference lies in the psyche of the Taiwanese people, which is the result of the changes to the governing system during the past sixty years. I grew up in Taiwan after martial law was lifted. As chaotic as the politics can be in a young democratic country, we have established freedom of speech, the freedom to vote, freedom of faith, freedom to travel, and freedom to access any public information. As a democratic society, we do not use violence against minorities and we respect the basic human rights of all citizens. For me, this is less of a nationalistic issue and more of a fundamental issue regarding human existence. I hope we are not cut off as you are currently in Beijing!

Culturally, I can’t say that the way we flourished in the 1980s and 1990s (with film directors like Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Tsai Ming-Liang and Ang Lee, dance groups like Cloud Gate, and artists like Tehching Hsieh) was necessarily due to the rising democracy; rather, it might have had more to do with our complex emotions about our history and identity and the need to express those in art and literature. The freedom to do so simply provided greater access to that expression. What makes Taiwanese contemporary culture unique is that our lineage from traditional Chinese culture has not been interrupted by the Cultural Revolution or colonisation by Western countries. Actually, I find this topic more interesting than the one most people ask about: the East/ West comparison. Yes, I have avoided that. Let’s change direction. You have commented on the way men do things, like making works bigger to show dominance. Do you have a female approach to art? Yes, I try to cultivate the subjectivity of my work. I used to feel insecure about my approach to art because most of my decisions are based on sensibility. I cannot articulate exactly what it is that I am trying to achieve, what message I am trying to convey, what direction my practice is heading in. For me, all these speculations come after the work has been completed. However, I now realise that these questions are based on a system of thought that trains people to objectify art. I know that is not how I work. In fact, I find that the stronger parts of my work lie in its unpredictability, messiness and spontaneity. I use text in my work to show the origins of my inspiration, but not to explain the concept of the work. In many cases, I actually take the text out of context and find my own relationship to it. For example, when I write the Heart Sutra, I am not simply using the ephemeral quality of the work to explain the text; rather, I am using that quality to explore my own understanding of the text. Nothing is definitive in this way. I guess this could be considered a more feminine approach. Is passion important to you? Of course! It drives my life! As a child I was always ‘disobedient’, as the Taiwanese like to call it. I am only good at what I like to do; otherwise I become a stubborn troublemaker. For example, with Lovely Daze, a magazine that I publish biannually in limited editions, the only thing

that keeps it going is my passion. There is no other reason for it to exist. And actually, even the way I work with most institutions is driven by passion. I am quite fortunate to meet the people that I do in the art world and working with them brings me so much pleasure. Like meeting Suhanya Raffel, who introduced me to Gene and Brian Sherman. I enjoy collaborating with her so much that our exchanges become a big part of my motivation. I am starting to think of my work less and less as a profession and more and more as my life and, when I do so, I become better at what I do. When we first met, you seemed unsure about continuing to be an artist. What has changed? When I first entered the art world I was quite surprised by the way that most art caters to the elite and how removed it can be from the rest of society. However, now I am focused less and less on those aspects and more on the flexibility that I have as an artist. It’s actually one of the most versatile occupations and it has the capacity to infiltrate all aspects of humanity. Traditionally, artists work alone in the studio. Your practice is very different. For example, you collaborate with many others on your magazine and you have said that feedback is very important to you. Yes, the type of work that I make on my own is more introspective than the work for the magazine, which includes coordinating large events and curating. But I guess everyone has two sides to them: one that is more esoteric and another that is more sociable. In the end people often try too hard to separate disciplines; it’s not natural for me. It does not matter so much to me to define art, design, curating or artmaking; all these are based on a more traditional approach to viewing art. It’s natural for most artists to work across disciplines. For example, one of my favourite artists, Jean Cocteau, was a writer, a filmmaker, a playwright, and an artist, and I don’t see any meaning in trying to differentiate between the various disciplines when interpreting his art. Do you see yourself as part of a generation with particular beliefs? I think I am part of the generation of globalisation. My cultural influences are so mixed that it matters to me less and less what comes from where. For example, I read faster in Chinese, write and speak more easily in English. I live between Paris, Taipei and New York, across three continents.

I attend one of the first and most traditional fine art schools of the West, located in France, but I don’t speak French and my work is considered Asian. I watch Japanese soap operas and Bollywood films and listen to Taiwanese pop music. Most of my closest friends are Latin Americans. And physically, people say that I look Native American! However, I don’t think this type of description applies only to me; it applies to many artists of my generation, which is what makes our time an exciting one.

Endnotes 1. Tsai arranged blood cubes to form the official map of China. 2. Tsai wrote the ‘One China’ policy onto the country’s official map made of meat then rolled it up.

Colour Plates

33 Tofu Mantra, 2005 Digital video, 2:00 mins Filmed in New York, United States Images courtesy the artist

34 Iris Mantra, 2005 Installation at Fondation Cartier, Paris, France Black ink on fresh iris 50 x 20 cm Image courtesy the artist

36 Mushroom Mantra, 2005 Proposal for installation at Fondation Cartier, Paris, France Black ink on fresh mushrooms Dimensions variable Image courtesy the artist

38 Frog Mantra, 2005 Black ink on C-type print, plexi on aluminium 90 x 60 cm Image courtesy the artist Photograph: John Netherton

39 Olive Mantra, 2006 Installation at Bratsera Hotel, Hydra, Greece Black ink on 300 cm-tall olive tree Commissioned by Hydra School Project and Dimitrios Antonitsis Image courtesy the artist

41 Lemon Mantra, 2006 Installation at Bratsera Hotel, Hydra, Greece Black ink on lemon and photograph of lemons Dimensions variable Commissioned by Hydra School Project and Dimitrios Antonitsis Images courtesy the artist

43 Lotus Mantra I, 2006 Installation in Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple, Singapore Black ink on fresh lotus flowers, roots and seeds Dimensions variable Images courtesy the artist and Singapore Biennale

45 Lotus Mantra II, 2006 Installation in Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple, Singapore Black ink on fresh lotus plant Dimensions variable Image courtesy the artist

46 Lotus Mantra II, 2006 Installation in Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple, Singapore Black ink on fresh lotus plant Dimensions variable Image courtesy the artist, Singapore Biennale, Zhuang Wubin and Wall Street Journal

49 Tofu Mantra II, 2006 Installation at Tanglin Military Camp, Singapore Black ink on fresh tofu 75 x 100 cm Images courtesy the artist and Singapore Biennale

50 Ă&#x2030;trangĂ¨re, 2007 C-type prints, plexi on aluminium 60 x 75 cm each Images courtesy the artist

51 Fish Project, 2008 Digital video, 2:30 mins Filmed in Paris, France Commissioned by Gilles Stassart Images courtesy the artist

Day 1 – Fish Project Digital video installation, 2:30 mins Video projection and black tent Day 2 – Meat Map Performance, installation Black ink on raw meat Day 3 – Imaginary Exhibition Digital video installation, 2:00 mins Video projection and chairs Day 4 – Hermit Crabs Installation Black ink on hermit crabs, bricks Day 5 – 6th Dalai Lama Installation Black ink on plants Day 6 – Massage Performance Black cloth, towel and radio Day 7 – Burial Ceremony Installation Black ink on bamboo, soil

52 7 Ideas in 7 Days, 2008 Commissioned by Gallery Sora/Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo, Japan Images courtesy the artist and Gallery Sora/Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

53 Day 2 – Meat Map, 2008 Performance, installation at Gallery Sora/Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo, Japan Black ink on raw meat Image courtesy the artist and Gallery Sora/Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

54 Day 4 – Hermit Crabs, 2008 Installation at Gallery Sora/Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo, Japan Black ink on shells of hermit crabs, bricks Image courtesy the artist and Gallery Sora/Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

55 Day 5 – 6th Dalai Lama, 2008 Installation at Gallery Sora/Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo, Japan Black ink on plants Image courtesy the artist and Gallery Sora/Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

57 Sky Mantra, 2008 Digital video, 20:00 mins Filmed in San JosĂŠ, Costa Rica Images courtesy the artist and Federico Herrero

58 Sky Mantra, 2008 Digital video, 20:00 mins Filmed in San JosĂŠ, Costa Rica Image courtesy the artist and Federico Herrero

60 Circle, 2009 Digital video, 0:40 mins Filmed in Paris Commissioned by Fondation Cartier, Paris, France Images courtesy the artist

61 Gutter, 2009 Digital video, 0:40 mins Filmed at LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore Images courtesy the artist

63 Gutter, 2009 Digital video, 0:40 mins Filmed at LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore Image courtesy the artist

65 Ice Explorations, 2009 C-type prints Images courtesy the artist

66 Blood Map, 2009 Performance at Centre Culturel de Taiwan Ă Paris, Paris, France Pig blood cubes Image courtesy the artist and Centre Culturel de Taiwan Ă Paris, Paris, France

69 Baptism, 2009 Digital video, 2:30 mins Filmed at the baptism font of the Church of Saint-SĂŠverin, Paris, France Commissioned by Galerie Saint-SĂŠverin, Paris, France Images courtesy the artist

71 A Dedication to Saint Ursula, 2009 Installation in the Church of Saint-SĂŠverin, Paris, France Black ink on rose petals Commissioned by Galerie Saint-SĂŠverin, Paris, France Images courtesy the artist

72 A Dedication to Saint Ursula, 2009 Installation in the Church of Saint-SĂŠverin, Paris, France Black ink on rose petals Commissioned by Galerie Saint-SĂŠverin, Paris, France Image courtesy the artist

75 Earth Mantra, 2009 Digital video, 20:00 mins Filmed near Taipei, Taiwan Commissioned by Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, Sydney Images courtesy the artist

76 Earth Mantra, 2009 Digital video, 20:00 mins Filmed near Taipei, Taiwan Commissioned by Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, Sydney Image courtesy the artist

List of Works

Unless otherwise indicated all works are courtesy the artist

Tofu Mantra, 2005 Digital video, 2:00 mins Filmed in New York, US Lotus Mantra I, 2006 / 2009 Black ink on fresh lotus flowers, roots and seeds Dimensions variable Originally installed in Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple, Singapore 2009 Sydney work commissioned by Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation Lotus Mantra II, 2006 / 2009 Black ink on fresh lotus plant Dimensions variable Originally installed in Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple, Singapore 2009 Sydney work commissioned by Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation Sky Mantra, 2008 Digital video, 20:00 mins Filmed in San José, Costa Rica Courtesy the artist and Federico Herrero A Dedication to Saint Ursula, 2009 Black ink on fresh rose petals Dimensions variable Originally installed in the Church of Saint-Séverin, Paris, France 2009 Sydney work commissioned by Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation A Dedication to the Sixth Dalai Lama (1683–1706), 2009 Black ink on bonsai Dimensions variable Commissioned by Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation Baptism, 2009 Digital video, 2:30 mins Filmed at the baptism font of the Church of Saint-Séverin, Paris, France Earth Mantra, 2009 Digital video, 20:00 mins Filmed near Taipei, Taiwan Commissioned by Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation Ice Explorations, 2009 C-type prints 2009 Sydney works commissioned by Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation

Numbers, 2009 Digital video installation, ice Commissioned by Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation Sea Mantra, 2009 Digital video, 20:00 mins Filmed in Sydney, Australia Commissioned by Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation Tofu Mantra, 2009 Black ink on fresh tofu 75 x 100 cm Commissioned by Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation — Publications Lovely Daze Issue 1: A Day in New York When Nothing Happens, 2005 25 x 19 cm, 46 pages Edition of 500, signed and numbered Contributors: Jesse Alexander, Cory Arcangel, Aaron Bennett, Lynne Chan, Julia Chiang, Brian Crumley, Flavia Da Rin, Juan Donado, Sarah Dubar, Ronald Gerber, Max Gleason, Vicson Guevara, Patrick Henry, Baptiste Ibar, Japanther, Aude Jomini, Danny Kohler, Justin Lowe, Liliane Phung, Bradley Pitts, Cristina Rodriguez, Julian Seidl, Seth Wieder, Jia Zhang Lovely Daze Issue 2: Take a Stroll, 2006 25 x 19 cm, 42 pages Edition of 500, signed and numbered with a small travel journal by Cristina Rodriguez Contributors: Azra Aksamija, Jesse Alexander, Dimitrios Antonitsis, Aaron Bennett,The Bread & PuppetTheater, Alex Dodge, Juan Carlos Donado, Sarah Dunbar, Max Gleason, Butt Johnson, Aude Jomini, Pali Kashi, Ian Kazanowski, Catalina Leon, Mariana Lopez, Zoe Mendelson, Paper Rad, Cristina Rodriguez, Su-Mei Tse, Jordan Wolfson, Andrew Jeffrey Wright, Diego Yturbe Lovely Daze Issue 3: When I Am Alone, Everything is So Surreal, 2006 25 x 19 cm, 52 pages Edition of 500, signed and numbered Contributors: Rita Ackermann, AA Bronson, Santiago Cucullu, Andrea Galvani, N.S. Harsha, Federico Herrero, James Hoff, Jungil Hong, David Kennedy-Cutler, Lee Mingwei, Justin Lowe,

Jean-Lou Majerus, Cristina Rodriguez, Julian Seidl, Eyeam Soreel, Su-Mei Tse Lovely Daze Issue 4: Numbers, 2007 25 x 19 cm, 52 pages Edition of 500, signed and numbered with a CD of music by Crystal Understanding Contributors: Vito Acconci, Cory Arcangel, Hisham Bharoocha, James Burke, Crystal Understanding, Shilpa Gupta, Yoko Ono, Cristina Rodriguez, Fiona Ryan, Max Schumann, Mika Tajima, Joel Tettamanti, Charwei Tsai, Jennifer Wen Ma Lovely Daze Issue 5: Hunters and Gatherers, 2008 25 x 19 cm, 52 pages Edition of 500, signed and numbered with a lucky charm candy by Papabubble Contributors: Hisham Bharoocha, Mark Borthwick, Brian Chippendale, John Giorno, Fritz Haeg, Jungil Hong, Baptiste Ibar, Mateo Lopez, Rosario Lopez Parra, Papabubble, Thiago Rocha Pitta, Cristina Rodriguez, Dana Schutz, Su-Mei Tse, Grigoris Tsolakis Lovely Daze Special Edition: Under Influence, 2008 18 x 18 cm, 44 pages Edition of 300, signed and numbered with a DVD of artists’ videos, postcard, and a sage to burn for good luck Contributors: John Armleder, Cai Guo-Qiang, Andrea Galvani, Butt Johnson, Liliane Phung, Nicolas Pol, Cristina Rodriguez, Virginie Yassef Lovely Daze Special Edition: Rose, 2009 Edition of 500, signed and numbered 20 x 15 cm, 32 pages Contributors: Kelly Carmena, Angela Garcia, Lesley Ma, Cristina Rodriguez, Sabrina Shaffer, Charwei Tsai Lovely Daze Issue 6: A Rose is a Rose is a Rose is a Rose, 2009 25 x 19 cm, 52 pages Edition of 500, signed and numbered Contributors: Angela Garcia, Asun Gonzalez, Shilpa Gupta, Tsering Tashi Gyalthang, Hao Jie, Li-Ling Hsu, Catalina Leon, Liliane Phung, Sita Raiter, Alba Roberts, Gerald Roberts, Cristina Rodriguez, Jennifer Shaffer, Sabrina Shaffer, Charwei Tsai, Agnes Varda

Text Translations and Excerpts

The Heart of Prajna Paramita Sutra translated from Chinese © 1997 Buddhist Text Translation Society, 4951 Bodhi Way, City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, Ukiah, California, 95482, United States, <http://www.bttsonline.org> Mantra series, 2005–09 (ongoing) When Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara was practising the profound Prajna Paramita, he illuminated the five skandhas and saw that they are all empty, and he crossed beyond all suffering and difficulty. Shariputra, form does not differ from emptiness; emptiness does not differ from form. Form itself is emptiness; emptiness itself is form. So too are feeling, cognition, formations, and consciousness. Shariputra, all dharmas are empty of characteristics. They are not produced, not destroyed, not defiled, not pure; and they neither increase nor diminish. Therefore, in emptiness there is no form, feeling, cognition, formations, or consciousness; no eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, or mind; no sights, sounds, smells, tastes, objects of touch, or dharmas; no field of the eyes up to and including no field of mind consciousness; and no ignorance or ending of ignorance, up to and including no old age and death or ending of old age and death. There is no suffering, no accumulating, no extinction, and no Way, and no understanding and no attaining.

Because nothing is attained, the Bodhisattva through reliance on Prajna Paramita is unimpeded in his mind. Because there is no impediment, he is not afraid, and he leaves distorted dreamthinking far behind. Ultimately Nirvana! All Buddhas of the three periods of time attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi through reliance on Prajna Paramita. Therefore know that Prajna Paramita is a great spiritual mantra, a great bright mantra, a supreme mantra, an unequalled mantra. It can remove all suffering; it is genuine and not false. That is why the Mantra of Prajna Paramita was spoken. Recite it like this: Gaté Gaté Paragaté Parasamgaté Bodhi Svaha! — Songs of the Sixth Dalai Lama translated from Tibetan K. Dhondup (trans.), Songs of the Sixth Dalai Lama, Library of Tibetan Works & Archives, Dharamsala, Distt. Kangra, H.P., India, 1981 Courtesy Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, Dharamsala, India A Dedication to the Sixth Dalai Lama (1683–1706), 2009 Each of these poems was written by the Sixth Dalai Lama of Tibet, Tsangyang Gyatso, whose name means ‘Ocean of Melodious Songs’. Instead of following his vows as a monk, he pursued his love for women, wine and poetry. Though his life was short – he was believed to have been assassinated at the age of twenty-three – his lyrics are still popular among Tibetans today. Charwei Tsai Over the eastern hills rises The smiling face of the moon; In my mind forms The smiling face of my beloved –

If only I could wed The one whom I love, Joys of gaining the choicest gem From the ocean’s deepest bed would be mine –

If I could meditate upon the dharma As intensely as I muse on my beloved I would certainly attain enlightenment Surely, in this one lifetime –

To the wings of this eagle The wind and the rocks have been cruel. The sly and scheming ones Have harassed me, always without ceasing –

The garrulous parrot Please stay with your mouth shut. The thrush in the willow grove Has promised to sing a song for me –

She smells sweet of body My sweetheart, the highway queen; Like the worthless white turquoise She was found, to be thrown away –

When my luck was good I hoisted auspicious prayer-flags And the young lady of noble birth Hosted me at her home –

Pink clouds Hide frosts and hailstorms; He who is a half-monk Is a hidden enemy of the dharma –

Yama, the mirror of my karma Residing in the realm of death, You must judge and grant justice. Here, while alive, I had no justice —

Longing for the landlord’s daughter Blossoming in youthful beauty Is like pining for peaches Ripening on the high peach trees Sleepless I am Because I am in love; Fatigue and frustration overwhelm When day brings not my beloved to me –

Your sweet smile is To steal away my young heart. If your love for me is true, Promise me so From the depths of your heart –

Like the rising moon of the third day My beloved is dressed is pure and white, But on the full moon of the fifteenth day Take an oath of meeting as pure and bright –

The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World by Elaine Scarry Oxford University Press, New York, 1985, page 27

Even the stars in the sky Can be measured by astrology. Her body can be caressed, But not so fathomed Her deep inner longing –

A Dedication to Saint Ursula, 2009

Spring flowers fade in the fall; It is not for the turquoise bees to mourn. I and my sweetheart are fated to part; It is not for us to cry – Frost gathers on the glistening flowers And then the cold north wind blows. The frost and the wind must have come To drive the bees away from the flowers – I have hoisted prayer-flags For the good luck of my beloved. Forest keeper, Ajo Shelngo, Do not trample her good luck flags – I incline myself To the teachings of my lama But my heart secretly escapes To the thoughts of my sweetheart – Even if meditated upon, The face of my lama comes not to me, But again and again comes to me The smiling face of my beloved –

When the gem was mine I cared not, and ignored its value. Now that the gem is lost to others, Melancholy overwhelms me As its pure worth dawns on me My sweetheart who truly loved me Has been stolen to wed another. I am sick with longing sorrow And frustration emaciates my frail body – In my dreams often I see my lost beloved; A soothsayer I must seek To search for her soon for me – If the maiden will live forever The wine will flow evermore. The tavern is my haven; With wine I am content – My beloved from childhood Seems to be of the wolf’s race; Even after many nights together She tries to escape, Like the wolves, to the hills –

Sweetheart awaiting me in my bed Yielding tenderly her sweet soft body, Has she come to cheat me And disrobe me of my virtues? – Peacocks from eastern India, Parrot from the depths of Kongpo, Though born in separate countries Finally come together In the holy land of Lhasa – People gossip about me. I am sorry for what I have done; I have taken three thin steps And landed myself in the tavern of my mistress – In the short walk of this life We have had our share of joy. Let us hope to meet again In the youth of our next life –

Nowhere is the sadistic potential of a language built on agency so visible as in torture. While torture contains language, specific human words and sounds, it is itself a language, an objectification, an acting out. Real pain, agonizing pain, is inflicted on a person; but torture, which contains specific acts of inflicting pain, is also itself a demonstration and magnification of the felt experience of pain. In the very processes it uses to produce pain within the body of the prisoner, it bestows visibility on the structure and enormity of what is usually private and incommunicable, contained within the boundaries of the sufferer’s body. It then goes on to deny, to falsify, the reality of the very thing it has itself objectified by a perceptual shift which converts the vision of suffering into the wholly illusory but, to the torturers and the regime they represent, wholly convincing spectacle of power. The physical pain is so contestably real that it seems to confer its quality of ‘incontestable reality’ on that power that has brought it into being. It is, of course, precisely because the reality of that power is so highly contestable, the regime so unstable, that torture is being used.

Artist Biography

Selected Bibliography

1980 Born in Taiwan Lives and works in Paris, France 1998–2002 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Industrial Design and Certificate in Art & Architecture History, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, US 2007 Artist-in-residence, Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris, Paris, France 2009–10 Programme La Seine, École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, Paris, France — Solo Exhibitions 2009 Charwei Tsai: Water, Earth and Air, Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, Sydney, Australia Galleria Casas Riegner, Bogotá, Colombia Baptism, Church of Saint-Séverin, Paris, France Charwei Tsai: Transience, Osage Gallery, Hong Kong, China 2008 7 Ideas in 7 Days, Gallery Sora/Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo, Japan Hydra School Project, CIGE Fair, Beijing, China — Group Exhibitions 2009 6th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT6), Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia Art Taipei 2009, Taipei, Taiwan Beauty Underfoot, Smack Mellon, New York, US Art HK 09: Hong Kong International Art Fair, Osage Gallery, Hong Kong, China Taïwanpics.doc, Galeries d’exposition, École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, Paris, France THE LALA, LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore Circle (online project), Fondation Cartier, Paris, France

2008 NADA Art Fair, Gallery Sora, Miami, US Nature Fragile, Le Cabinet Deyrolle, Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Paris, France Traces du Sacré, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France 2007 How Far Would You Go for Love? (online project), Fondation Cartier, Paris, France Étrangère, Le Transversal, Restaurant du Musée d’Art, Contemporain du Val-de-Marne, Paris, France Thermocline of Art: New Asian Waves, ZKM (Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie), Karlsruhe, Germany Destroy Athen’s Biennale, Bettina Boutique, Athens, Greece Animamix Biennial, Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai, Shanghai, China 21 Cities at Once Performed, Conflux Festival, New York, US Frolic: Humor and Mischief in New Taiwanese Art, travelling exhibition, 2X13 Gallery, Tenri Cultural Institute Gallery and Taipei Gallery, Taipei Cultural Center, New York, US EAT/ART, Monkey Town, New York, US 2006 Belief, Singapore Biennale, Singapore Summer Hot, Taipei Cultural Center, New York, US PostER, Hydra High School, Hydra Island, Greece 2005 J’en Rêve, Fondation Cartier, Paris, France — Prizes and Awards 2007 First place (jury and public votes), Public Art Competition, National Chung Cheng University, Chia-yi, Taiwan 2001 Award for Collaborative Efforts, Industrial Designer’s Society of America (IDSA) Conference, Providence, Rhode Island, US —

Independent Publication: Lovely Daze In addition to her art practice, Tsai publishes, designs and edits Lovely Daze, a contemporary art periodical. Performances are curated and organised for the launch of each new issue. 2009 Issue 6: A Rose is a Rose is a Rose is a Rose, launch at Fourth New York Art Book Fair, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, New York, US Special Edition: Rose, launch at Zine’s Mate: Tokyo Art Book Fair, Tokyo, Japan Special Edition: Under Influence, launch at Osage Gallery, Hong Kong, China 2008 Special Edition: Under Influence, launch at Third New York Art Book Fair, Phillips de Pury & Company, New York, US; Utrecht, Tokyo, Japan ‘Artist’s Magazines’, exhibition, Art Basel, Basel, Switzerland Issue 5: Hunters and Gatherers, launch at New Jerseyy, Basel, Switzerland; exhibition and launch in collaboration with Ekovaruhuset, The Gabarron Foundation, Carriage House Center for the Arts, New York, US ‘Lovely Daze’, exhibition, About Glamour Gallery, Brooklyn, US 2007 Issue 4: Numbers, launch at Second New York Art Book Fair, Dia Art Foundation, New York, US ‘Espaces Cartographiques’, exhibition, Fondation des Etats-Unis, Paris, France 2006 Issue 3: When I Am Alone, Everything Is So Surreal, launch at Whitney Museum at Altria, New York, US Issue 2: Take a Stroll, launch at New Museum, New York, US ‘Lovely Daze’, exhibition, First New York Art Book Fair, New York, US ‘MEGAZINES’, exhibition, Visionaire, New York, US 2005 Issue 1: A Day in New York When Nothing Happens, launch at Printed Matter Inc., New York, US

Books Wilkins, David G., Schultz, Bernard & Linduff, Kathryn M., Art Past Art Present (6th edn), Prentice Hall, London, 2008 — Exhibition Catalogues 2009 Tsai, Charwei, Charwei Tsai: Transience, Osage Gallery, Hong Kong, China, 2009 Cousseau, Henry-Claude, Taïwanpics.doc – art contemporain taïwanais, Beaux-arts de Paris les editions, Paris, France, 2009 2008 De Broglie, Louis Albert & D’Anthenaise, Claude, Nature Fragile, Beaux-arts de Paris les editions, Paris, France, 2008 De Loisy, Jean, Traces du Sacré, Éditions du Centre Pompidou, Paris, France, 2008 2007 Weibel, Peter & Rhee, Wonil, Thermocline of Art: New Asian Waves, Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern, Germany, 2007 2006 Antonitsis, Dimitrios, PostER, Hydra School Project, Hydra, Greece, 2006 Nanjo, Fumio & Slater, Ben, Belief: Singapore Biennale 2006, Singapore Biennale, Singapore, 2006 2005 Chandès, Hervé, J’en Rêve, Fondation Cartier, Paris, France, 2005 — Articles and Reviews 2009 Lam, Bourree, ‘Review: Transience at Osage Soho’, Time Out Hong Kong, issue 28, 13–26 May 2009 Wong, Jill, ‘Charwei Tsai: the art of change’, C Arts Asian Contemporary Art and Culture, vol. 9, July–August 2009

2008 Almanac 2008, ‘Charwei Tsai’, Art Asia Pacific Almanac 2008, vol. 3, 2008 ‘Au feu les artistes!’, Telerama Sortir, 5–11 November 2008 Cheng, Keith, ‘Between God and man, the eternal mystery’, Artist’s Magazine (Taiwan), July 2008 ‘Five top magazines worth getting in bed with’, Time Out Tel-Aviv, issue 10, 10–17 April 2008 ‘Review: Lovely Daze’, Theme, issue 14, May 2008 2007 Almanac 2007, ‘Charwei Tsai’, Art Asia Pacific Almanac 2007, vol. 2, 2007 ‘Artists on spirituality’, Art Asia Pacific, no. 51, winter, 2007 Campagnola, Sonia, ‘From Singapore to Gwangju’, Flash Art, no. 252, January– February 2007 Heartney, Eleanor, ‘Temples of art’, Art in America, April 2007 2006 Brener, Julie, ‘Bean curd and nothingness’, Art News, vol. 105, no. 10, November 2006 Chow, Clara, ‘Art at your doorstep’, The Straits Times, 24 August 2006 Chow, Clara, ‘The art of tofu’, The Straits Times, 4 September 2006 Lee, Pamela M., ‘Review: 2006 Singapore Biennale’, Art Forum, vol. 25, no. 3, November 2006 Wang, Zhiguang, ‘Charwei Tsai: on Biennale’, Phoenix Lifestyle Magazine, issue 09/10, September 2006 Yee, Blythe, ‘Art attack’, Wall Street Journal Asia, 1–3 September 2006 2005 Darwent, Charles, ‘Tofu – is it the new paint?’, The Independent (UK), 27 July 2005 Davies, Serena, ‘The shock of the beautiful’, The Daily Telegraph (UK), 6 August 2005 ‘Young artists take the center stage at exhibition in Paris’, The China Post, 27 June 2005

Contributors

Dr Gene Sherman is Chair and Executive Director of Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation. She has a specialised knowledge of art, literary theory and French and English literature and spent seventeen years teaching, researching and lecturing at secondary and tertiary levels. As Director of Sherman Galleries (1986–2007) she initiated, negotiated and organised twelve to seventeen exhibitions annually, as well as regional and national touring exhibitions within Australia, and international touring exhibitions through the Asia-Pacific region. Gene and Brian Sherman sponsored for ten years a Master of Fine Arts Administration student at the College of Fine Arts, The University of New South Wales, a studio at Bundanon and a contemporary Australian art-research room at the Schaeffer Fine Arts Library, The University of Sydney. Dr Sherman is on the Board of the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, the Venice Biennale Commissioner’s Council, the Art & Australia Advisory Board, and the AustraliaIsrael Cultural Exchange. In 2003 the French Government honoured Dr Sherman with the award of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for her contribution to culture. In 2008 she received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from The University of Sydney.

Acknowledgements

Suhanya Raffel is Curatorial Manager, Asian & Pacific Art at the Queensland Art Gallery. Since joining the Gallery in 1994, she has been responsible for the development of the Gallery’s contemporary Asian collections, profiling this work through exhibitions, lectures and writing. She was the lead curator for the Queensland Art Gallery’s ‘Andy Warhol’ exhibition (2007–08) and most recently curated ‘The China Project’ (2009), a set of three major exhibitions of contemporary Chinese art. She has been a member of the curatorial team for the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Asian Art (APT) project since 1996 and is the lead curator for this year’s APT6. In 2005 Suhanya Raffel was awarded a Smithsonian Fellowship to undertake research and development of a loans exchange program between the Queensland Art Gallery and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC. She has previously been on the Visual Arts Committee of Asialink, University of Melbourne; was a peer of the Australia Council; served on the board of Art Monthly; and continues to be the Queensland representative of The Asian Art Society of Australia. Suhanya Raffel has degrees in Fine Arts and Museum Studies from the University of Sydney.

Tony Brown is a practising artist who has been teaching at l’École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, Paris, since 1992 and running the école’s Programme La Seine, a programme designed for the specific needs of postgraduate students, since 2002. After training at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax, and Concordia University in Montreal, where he has also taught, he became an Assistant Professor of History and Art Theory, then Assistant and Associate Professor of Multimedia at the University of Ottawa. Over the past decade Tony Brown has developed an approach that might be termed ‘installation sculpture’. His most recent work has shifted direction, dealing with architectural intervention and the production of multiples and video installations. His themes are often borrowed from the cinema, architecture and popular culture. Exhibitions of Tony Brown’s work are held in galleries and museums in France and abroad. His works are also part of numerous private and public collections, including Winnipeg Art Gallery, Manitoba, Canada; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada; Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Puteaux, France; and Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nantes, France.

Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation and Queensland Art Gallery sincerely thank Charwei Tsai and Suhanya Raffel for the immense creativity and thoughtfulness they have brought to this exhibition. Thanks also to Tony Brown for his illuminating interview with Charwei Tsai. We greatly appreciate the support given to this project by Edmund Capon, Director, Art Gallery of New South Wales, and broadcaster Margaret Throsby. Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation thanks our Queensland Art Gallery project partners, Director, Tony Ellwood, and Deputy Director, Curatorial and Collection Development, Lynne Seear, for their generous and collaborative spirit. Thank you to Johnnie Walker, A.R.T., Tokyo, for his wisdom and advice. As always, heartfelt thanks to Brian Sherman for his invaluable ongoing support of SCAF’s programme.

Charwei Tsai: Water, Earth and Air Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation 23 October – 19 December 2009 Co-curated by Charwei Tsai, Suhanya Raffel and Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation Charwei Tsai will be presenting work in ‘The 6th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’ (APT6) at Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art from 5 December 2009 to 5 April 2010. Published by Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation 16–20 Goodhope Street Paddington NSW 2021 ABN 25 122 280 200 www.sherman-scaf.org.au © 2009 Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, authors and artists. This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Inquiries should be addressed to the publisher. National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Author: Raffel, Suhanya, 1962– Title: Charwei Tsai: water, earth and air / Suhanya Raffel, Charwei Tsai, Tony Brown. ISBN: 9780957738263 (pbk.) Subjects: Tsai, Charwei, 1980–Exhibitions. Visual perception–Exhibitions. Other Authors/Contributors: Tsai, Charwei, 1980– Brown, Tony Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation Dewey Number: 709.94074 Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation Chairman, Executive Director Dr Gene Sherman Advisory Board Andrew Cameron, Doug Hall AM, John Kaldor AM, Dr Claire Roberts, Michael Whitworth National and International Art Adviser Anna Waldmann Associate Director Amanda Henry General Manager – Artistic and Educational Programmes Dolla S. Merrillees Programmes Coordinator, Executive Assistant to Gene Sherman Laura Brandon Communications and Events Coordinator Aaron de Souza Editor Fiona Egan Design Mark Gowing Printed in Australia by Southern Colour Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation providing a platform for innovative visual artists primarily from Asia, Australia and the Pacific Rim. All donations over $2 are tax deductible and will support our exhibition, educational, public and artist-in-residence programmes. Cover: Sky Mantra, 2008 Digital video, 20:00 mins Filmed in San José, Costa Rica Image courtesy the artist and Federico Herrero