2019-2021 Yu-Ching Wang Solo Exhibition, New York
2019-2021 王俞晴個展，紐約
2022 / 01 / 29 Sat. - 2022 / 03 / 20 Sun.
16:00 - 21:00
Venue: MoCA Plaza LED TV Wall
地點: 台北當代藝術館廣場電視牆
Every creation is like a serendipitous encounter with art that takes place unexpectedly. –– Yu-Ching Wang
This exhibition features Yu-Ching Wang’s works created based on her various encounters in New York from 2019 to 2021. With a series of observations, explorations and actions, she documents these intriguing experiences with images.
<Neighbors> is about her unexpected encounters with her “neighbors,” whom she has never met. The studio was located on the seventh floor of an industrial building for food production (Pfizer building) in New York. When the artist moved into the studio, she discovered two fist-sized holes that went all the way through the studio’s concrete floor, allowing her to see the space downstairs. She began sending specific objects to indirectly deliver messages, engaging her “neighbors” in interactions. Wang and her “neighbors” had never talked or interacted face to face. However, through the peculiar spatial structure, she was able to connect two groups of people who had nothing in common whatsoever in society, dissolving barriers of languages, cultures, races, and social identities. With simple human actions, she has established an unusual but real relationship.
The series, entitled Breathing in New York, is inspired by three seemingly unrelated but concurrent events that happened to the artist in New York: 1. The plastic bag ban issued by the State Government of New York in March 2020, which demanded that supermarkets could no longer provide plastic bags to their customers; 2. In the same month, the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in New York, forcing people to start living with masks; 3. The third is Wang’s personal experience of racial discrimination. She was walking on the streets of Manhattan with her mask on, and two white men shouted, “Chinese, Mask,” at her. The experience inspired her to cover her entire head; then, perhaps people would not be able to recognize her.
「每一次的創作都像是與藝術的巧遇，總是毫無預警地發生。」——王俞晴
此次展覽的作品為藝術家王俞晴在2019年至2021年於紐約當地生活的各種奇遇，她進行一連串的觀察、探索和行動，並以影像的形式紀錄下這些奇妙的經驗歷程。
作品《鄰居》是關於她和她從未見過的「鄰居」的偶遇。藝術家所在的工作室位於紐約一棟食品工業大樓（Pfizer building）的七樓，當她剛搬進工作室時，發現地板上有兩個拳頭大小的孔洞，孔洞貫穿工作室地板的水泥結構，因此她可透過這兩個洞看到樓下的空間環境。她藉由傳遞特定的物件，間接地傳遞信息，和她的「鄰居」 進行互動。她和她的「鄰居」從未面對面地直接交談和接觸，卻因特異的空間結構，她將原本在社會上毫無交集的兩群人口，以奇異的方式連結起來，打破語言、文化、種族、社會身分的隔閡，以人類純粹的行為，建立起一段異常卻真實的關係。
Breathing in New York系列創作來自於三個看似毫無關聯卻同時發生於藝術家在紐約生活所經歷的事件：1. 2020年三月，紐約州政府發布塑膠袋禁令，超市不能再提供塑膠袋給顧客； 2. COVID-19 在同一個月份於紐約爆發疫情，人們開始與口罩共存；3. 則是來自她的個人經歷，當時她戴著口罩走在曼哈頓的街上，有兩位白人男性對著她喊「Chinese, Mask」。因此她想，若她遮蓋住了她的頭，或許別人就認不出她的身分了。