MONO X: Children on the edge of itchy-tectonics : Taiwanese New Experimental Films. ACE HOTEL - LIBERTY HALL, Doors at 1:30 PM, Screening at 2 PM With Mono No Aware X, The Other Cinema presents the programme “Children on the edge of itchy-tectonics : Taiwanese New Experimental Films.” This programme is a collection of the younger generation of Taiwanese experimental films, which manifest a certain quality not yet named about the place, the generation and the discipline. We connect some of the most active and vivid experimental filmmakers from Taiwan and present their works. Many of these works have been shown in various international platforms separately, through this special occasion it would be the first time they been showcased under the same frame. Locates in the tight corner between geographical and cultural political plate tectonics, the island rides on the eruption dynamics which converges as well as destructs. These millennials filmmakers grow up from the rise and fall of Taiwanese New Wave Cinema, and the dilemmas of the contemporary moving images: forms, media, and institutionalization… While date lines vanishes, cross-national transferring turned common, they emerge from the foundation of transformations, friction and tickling between these gaps are here to stay. Taiwan’s experimental films start to flourish in 1978 for the government founded competition “Golden Harvest Awards for Outstanding Short Films”. Filmmakers consider the award a testing ground for them to further produce feature films, since then experimental films became a genre for younger filmmakers to start their career. Nonetheless when filmmakers have chances to enter into film industry, experimental filmmaking somehow became a past tense activities. A result of which is that experimental film in Taiwan has a fragmental and dim history. In this collection, the filmmakers were born after ‘78, while their understanding of experimental cinema differs from their predecessors. Their works become more visible for various international platforms and festivals start to emerge. We present their works through this special occasion of Mono No Aware X. The Other Cinema is a curators and filmmakers collective based in Taipei and New York, it was founded in 2015 and was originally an on-line film club that shares ideas and interest on films, moving images, video art and all the time-based media arts. In 2016 The Other Cinema Collective starts to organize film screening events and talks in Taiwan, it’s first curatorial project “Every film is an enigma: moving image in the black box and white cube” will be held at Soulangh Cultural Park in May 2017. Ace Hotel New York reinvents the urban hotel for the people who make cities interesting. With a sense of curiosity and respect for the history and culture of New York City, the 12-story hotel lives in a historic, turn-of-the-century building in Midtown Manhattan. The space serves up engaged fashion retail, a Michelin-starred restaurant and eloquent, mischievous and interesting answers to the travel experience. Ace Hotel and MONO NO AWARE have formed a partnership through the series Studio Visits. Studio Visits is a quarterly series inviting hands-on makers to visit the Ace Hotel New York Lobby and interact with the public, sharing basic principles about their practice. This last July Ace welcomed local filmmakers of MONO NO AWARE for an afternoon of camera-less animation on film where participants worked directly on film, creating fun experimental loops to take home. ▶ Programme The Subduction Zone: Our Status Quo, Shake, video, 4’55’’ Located at the subduction zone where the Eurasian Plate converges with the Philippine Sea Plate, the island of Taiwan has developed a unique topography as a result of the downwelling tectonic activity. Similarly, Taiwan’s position at the boundaries of different political forces within the global geography, and the hidden forces exerted by political, economic, cultural, and ideological plates, have shaped its national identity. Taiwan’s unique landscape and geopolitical history serves as a theme for The Subduction Zone by Shake. Comprised of three short films entitled Our Status Quo, Our Story and Our Suite de Danses, the work traces the intersection of the tectonic plates and travel to Taipei’s Tatun Volcanoes; the Yuli to Antun section of the old railway line in Hualian that traverses the Eurasian Plate and Philippine Sea Plate; and to the Jili Badlands in Taitung. In the eyes of a geologist, these locations are ideal textbook examples of plate tectonics; but what Shake contemplates is whether these landscapes enable an imagining of the political struggles that have taken place on this island. How does an individual find a resting place within the conflicts of divergent social structures, political systems, and ideological modes? How can the status of the self be reimagined and the story of the self be told?
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In addition to landscapes, Shake also includes constructions of narrative elements in the film, such as archived historical documents, personal memoire, school activities, and cultural rituals, in the artistic practice of cinematic writing. A Short History of Decay, Lin Shih-Chieh, video, 5’45" History is an interpretation made up of linear signs and symbols. By decontextualizing the signs, images are liberated from this cause-and-effect illusion. To fight against the illusion, let there be glitch. This video is sampled from Assignment Taiwan, a propaganda film made by the US army in the 70s, introducing the colonized history and the establishment of the US military in Taiwan after World War II. End Transmission , Yin-Ju Chen & James T. Hong, video,16’ 40’’ A decoded, alien environmental message, structured as a hypnotic experimental film, forcefully and poetically warns us of their return and the planet’s re-colonization. According to Stephen Hawking, “if aliens ever visit us, the outcome will be much as when Christopher Columbus landed in America, which didn’t turn out well for the Native Americans.” In this case, just who are the natives? Road Movie No. 1, 2'30'' , Road Movie No. 2, 2'18'' 16mm, Ya-Ting Hsu In every journey, how do we keep our images and memory in our mind? I use the quality of different stocks of film by handprocessing, reprinting / rephotographing in JK optical printer and contact printer to mimic the moments flipping into our brand. It might be abstract and washout. It exists in a transformative way rendering by each person's understanding. This melody of the images is the flow of stream of subconsciousness - unique, personal and emotional. Asia Traveler’s Diary, Dooll Chao, Super 8, 3’ Selection of traveler’s diary, personal documenting from Taiwan, Japan. Mostly visiting temples and taking street views, eye catchy scenery, easy activities, roaming. A kind of beat pacing like glancing someone’s past life in a dream. Diary about a broken friend in Ghost Island, funny small protests and music maps. Proxy of Heaven, Tzuan Wu, Super 8, 7’31” Documenting, exploring and collage the touristic images of different religious spaces, in Czech, France, and Taiwan. Passing through these passages of the holy experience, witnessing the “memento mori” and the desire of happiness brings us back to the mundane human world. 1st Tragedy, Kaire Wang, video, 3'45'' It’s a heart-broken dairy for the lost of an 11-months relationship. The love life itself was completely plain and ordinary, which was what exactly made the life afterward hard. It collected those footages taken by the director’s ex, friends, and some selfies as well. Femme Monster Museum: Mary, Mary & Mary, Lin Mao, video, 7'45 "To be a motherkind, you would either become a saint or a monster eventually." This film was shot by digital 8mm toy camera(Harinezumi). It explores the suspending part of our fate. Three actors and the three characters they performed are all twisted with each others - it becomes a puzzle. While unconsciousness / memories/ experiences are all rewritten on their changing faces. The women express each part of daily affects when the authenticity and dramatic-ness all seem to belong to all, but no one can actually own. Reflect , HSU Tsen-chu, 16mm, 3'30 This film is about the changes in time, light and reflection that I have observed in the place where I live. The intimacy comes not only from this personal space and the subtle things that happen in it, but also from my direct involvement making this piece in every aspect – shooting, hand-processing and editing. In the latter process, I seek to break down the original rhythms of individual shots and look for visual resonances among them – patterns, shapes, color tones – in order to discover and exploit hidden implications weaving into a fresh visual fabric. This is hand-processed film. Sugar Jar – Our Life Is Sweeter Than Honey ,Dooll Chao, Super 8, 5’ Sugar Jar - a underground record label in Beijing 798 Art district got brutally shut down in silent. Their so romantic slogan was: “Our Life Is Sweeter Than Honey”. Sugar Jar introduced her “Zuoxiao Zuzhou at Di'anmen”’s album cover, a photo of Ai Weiwei’s wife showing her underpants in front of Mao at Tiananmen Square. They had some good stuff, prohibit underground films, magazines, books, and tones of music, best music in China. By the time Ai Wiewei got richer and bigger, dressed up himself as a fat Eunuch, Sugar Jar already left China for a long time, exile to northern Europe. Their staff is now living a simple life with his family at Oslo Norway; he is still friend with those from the simple sweet life in Beijing.
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Yi-Ren (the person of whom I think), Tzu-An Wu, double channel Super 8 to video, 13'45'' Yi-Ren (can be vaguely translated to “the person of whom I think”) is a collaged love letter made of various sources. Such as my super8 mm diaries, karaoke videos, and found-footage from Kang-Chien Chiu (1940-2013)’s films, and poems. It is also an act of homage and a queer reading of Chiu. Reassemble, manipulate the materials, and melt the ready-made and the personal into one. Or, maybe the personal emotions and experiences are actually all borrowed from someone and somewhere… As the line “my moans have a bit of Hollywood in them” suggests, our emotions would not exist without acting, or movies we have seen. Cotton Sugar, HSU Tsen-chu, 16mm, 3'30'' By working with film as a medium, I have discovered a way to implement my interest in weaving both concepts and materials; integrating different elements into one work. In this piece, I covered the film with cotton and tinted it with dyes. The textures of cotton adhered to the film create a new layer; the original emulsion and the added textures coexist, cover and uncover each other at the same time. The differentials of color tones, the positive and negative footage, and the alternations of abstract and recognizable imagery introduce a dialogue about the possibilities of opposite characters. This is hand-processed film. The UnnamedⅡ, HUANG YA-LI, 35mm, 14' This film is constructed upon the visual poetry between what you hear and see, and a sensual fluidity that is not based on the cause and effect relationship. It casts away the practicalities and the functionalities commonly defined in real-world objects by returning things to their raw state, and guiding the viewer’s awareness to the finer details, while intertwining layers of poetic imagery. Support By National Culture and Arts Foundation, Taiwan. Croatia 25 FPS Internationa Experimental Film & Video Festival, 2010 Sometime in Nowhere, Lin Shih-Chieh, 16mm. 5’ A place creates its own imaginary space. The phantom of its past life transforms itself into the mystic resonance; the history remains forgotten. Shot at Pico Canyon Oilfield, the first commercially successful oil-well in western United State, now abandoned. Fairy Ball X, Lin Mao, video, 12'31'' The discreet Baozhu is a fairy of pearl, a beautiful goddess. Those People who follow her yet start to hate and being hostile to each other. This film is a loveletter to the love rival, with an aim to conceptionalize love rival –bringing love rival from one’s counterpart to her or his inner self and uncontrollable unconsciousness. Love rival is like a part of her, as the best neighbor and the most authentic herself: “We hate someone was all because we hate he or she has something that we also have; we are not triggered by something we do not have.” They Are There But I Am Not, Ye Mimi, 16mm, 6’55’' We experience a lot of poems as a record of real life. Through the specific Taiwanese backdrop, the poetry film illustrates a series of moments to approach the concept of time, which is not as concrete as we are taught. As a poet, the filmmaker presents her ideas on the nature of reality, existence, what is there and what is not there. ▶ Artists Dooll Chao Born in Taipei, based in Brooklyn since 2012. Her experimental diary films, a collage of montage using all kinds of materials; such as 35mm stills, 16mm, super 8, digital cameras, cell phones or anything surrender by a stranger, foreigner, unfamiliar friend. Self-analyzing with stream of consciousness editing her mind responds to family, dream, political and religious thoughts. Her films have been screened in festivals in Taiwan, UK, France, Belgium, Korea, China and Macau. HSU Tsen-chu was born in Tainan. She is an experimental filmmaker who loves film as material. She obtained a BS in Atomic Science from National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan and an MFA in Film from San Francisco Art Institute in the United States. Huang Ya-Li is an independent filmmaker in Taiwan, and is interested in the linkage between and extension of images and sounds.In recent years, he has been involved in documentaries concerning Taiwan during these Japanese colonial period, and hopes to explore the possibility of interpreting reality in the form of documentaries through historical research and examination, and also reflect on the relationship between Taiwan, Asia, and the world. His experimental works include The Unnamed (2010).
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The Pursuit of what was (2008), etc. His first feature-length documentary Le Moulin was selected in International Film Festival Rotterdam, 2016. Kaire Wang is born in Taipei and graduated in sociology/film studies. With some press and marketing work experiences in film festivals, she wants to explore the possibilities of movie production, promotion, and business. Lin Mao bases in Sanchungpo,Taipei , graduated from institute of sociology, National Tsing Hua University. Co-founder of Post-motherism magazine. She used to work in phone game industry, was an actor, scrip writer, stylist, art designer and NEET. Now she is the owner of (cold cool zen), a space where she creates and collects products, making videos and paintings. Making Friends through: obstructionn@gmail.com ; instagram: sta_linmao Lin Shih-Chieh is an artist and filmmaker whose work focuses on the theme of memory, psychogeography, and the reconstruction of histories. He earned his MFA in Film and Video from California Institute of the Arts, where he found a bridge across visual arts and experimental cinema. He currently works on projects attempting to picture contemporary Taiwan in the postcolonial context. Shake In Taiwan, Shake studied and made film. In France, Shake discovered the expansive nature of cinema. Shake’s artistic practice appropriates film techniques and other artistic vocabularies, in an attempt to recreate a cinematic experience through such forms as installation, performance and events, to explore and encourage viewers to reinterpret the scenario constructs to the images and sounds that surround us. After graduating from l’École Nationale Supérieure d’Arts Paris-Cergy in 2011, Shake has continued to explore the possibilities of experimental film in residencies and exhibitions in Thailand and France. Tzu-An Wu is a Taiwanese experimental filmmaker and artist based in New York. Through filmmaking, he explores the intersections and uncertainty between social narratives, the construction of the selfhood, and cinema. He holds a BA in Gender and Cultural Studies from National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan and an MA in Media Studies from The New School, New York. His works have been shown worldwide, including BFI Flare (London), International Film Festival Rotterdam (Netherland), CROSSROADS (San Francico), Xposed International Queer Film Festival(Berlin), Golden Harvest Film Festival (Taiwan), MixNYC (New York), He was awarded the jury prize at Festival of Different and Experimental Cinema (Paris). Besides of these, he is also a member of the cinema collective <The Other Cinema> and the co-founder of countercultural zine group < Post-Motherism> Ya-Ting Hsu received an MFA degree from the FVNM department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2009. For her, making art is not only about creating but about rediscovering things that matter, as well. Filmmaking allows her to rediscover the world from an artist’s point of view. The processes associated with creating works of art allow her to rediscover the world frame by frame. Hsu makes documentary, narrative and experimental films. She embraces all the possibilities that filmmaking has to offer. Yin-Ju Chen and James T. Hong are an interdisciplinary art team, producing installations, performances, and film and video works. They have exhibited in the Pompidou Center in Paris and Riena Sofia Museum in Madrid and shown films in the San Francisco International Film Festival, Rotterdam Film Festival and International Documentary Festival, Amsterdam. They are best known for experimental documentaries portray some of histories deepest ironies in a style that is highly watchable and often funny, despite the grave overtones of their larger message. Ye Mimi is a Taiwanese poet and filmmaker. A graduate of the MFA Creative Writing Department at Dong Hwa University and the MFA Film Department at School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she is the author of three volumes of poetry and has internationally exhibited several of her poetry films. Through collaging her words and images, she improvises a new landscape trying to erase the border between poetry and image making. Most recently, a bilingual chapbook of her poems was published by Anomalous Press under the title His Days Go by the Way Her Years
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