Based in Tainan, Taiwan Chen Yu-Jung is a sound and intermedia artist focussing on contemporary composition, experimental improvisation, and mixed media. Through the translation of sound narrative, his works induce the intermediary state of the human body in time and space. At the same time, he opens up the body’s perceptual experience as a system connecting inner emotions with outer space. Most of Chen’s recent artworks spring from the space, individual emotion and the psychological experiences involved in such. Currently, he focuses on the interaction of visual and sound associated with nature. As a usual material in creating, “light” constructs the context and axis of his works, corresponding the relationship focusing on time and space. He extends the interpretation of light to the relationship between the viewer’s body and memory.

Chen has held solo exhibitions and taken part in residency programs in Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Korea, and Taiwan in recent years. His works range widely from site-specific installations, sound, and interactive multimedia. In 2022, he received the Giga-Hertz Production Award from ZKM, Germany, Work of Merit in the category of Image and New Media of Nanying Award, and Next Art Tainan Award.

Through images, sound, and installations, Chen intends to respond to the memories of Formosa during the 39-year rule of the Dutch East India Company 400 years ago. Based on the technologies of 3D point cloud scanning and audio transcriber for documents, which have been repetitively extracted and stored, he will attempt to re-define the segments of history while reconstructing the space of historic sites and envisioning its future. The intervention of technology in this project corresponds to the boundary of the body and the expansion of senses. Both Fort Provintia and Fort Zeelandia are deconstructed as abstract lines in space and reproduced by AI algorithms as a digital interpretation of the legacy of Tainan. This digital interpretation will also correlate with reality and imaginary as well as the process of reasoning between original architecture and the space calculated by AI.

“I plan to continue to expand the materials generated through point clouds and AI calculations in Taiwan and use the concept of “relics” for this creation. I want to use many on-site scanning and sound collections as the presentation materials for the final live interactive real-time electronic and video performances. Through the investigation and scanning of images and audio data in Taiwan and the Netherlands, they are re-transformed and combined with live improvisation instrumental performance and real-time videos for dialogue.”

This residency is supported by Cultural Affairs Bureau, Tainan City Government and Siao-Long Cultural Park