space in between

source: e-flux

I seek to discuss the issues about the definition of human body and the relationship between individual body and external surroundings in my artworks. As Maurice Merleau-Ponty describes: ”The human body inhabits in space; moreover, it itself is an expressive space.” Body movement is not like playing a musical instrument. Playing a musical instrument is more like using an object detaching from us. However, by creating movement in body, we are also having conversations with it, by which we try to hurdle and define our surroundings. Which means that not only are our behaviors in daily life related to the time and space or culture and society, they are also connected with the conditions and experiences of our body.

I have tried to construct an apparatus that allows my body to extend into space. By using apparatus and movement, I am able to construct an interactive space. How I move and what I install are important for this work. I believe that it will be a great experience for me this time as have got the opportunity to communicate with the inhabitants. This will help me to extend my cultural understanding and help me to shape the work.
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source: laboralcentrodearteorg

The Taiwanese artist Ya-Wen Fu will be presenting this Thursday, November 13, at LABoral Space-in-between, an interactive multimedia installation and performance that is the result of her two-month production residency at the Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial. With this work, Ya-Wen Fu explores how the social context conditions and limits our body, our conscience and our behaviour.

In Space-in-between, sixty stainless steel hoops hang from the centre of the Plato connected to four sides of the truss of the hall through springs and linen ropes. The swinging movement of the body of the artist results in the movement of the structure and the ropes, generating forces and tensions that change the shape of the hoops.

In order to increase the power of the body and the external elasticity, Ya-Wen Fu has elaborated a cloth with calf-skin leather mouldings that minimise the air gap between body and clothing. This airtight adjustment enables the body to take full advantage of its own strength. By using movement detectors and contact microphones she is able to emphasise the dialogue stablished between the body movement and the space installation by means of sounds captured on site.

Ya-Wen Fu’s residency at LABoral is part of the agreement between Centro de Arte de Gijón and the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (NTMOFA). With this installation-performance the artist explores the limitations that the social context imposes on the human body and behaviour. The 60 iron hoops of the piece are like the interwoven structures of the social system. The connection between the hoops and body is a metaphor for the fact that we can’t escape the society. Through the body movements as well as the mutual constraints and pulls between the installation and the body, Ya-Wen Fu is trying to find the body and bodily consciousness that’s no longer limited by society. At the same time, Ya-Wen Fu intends to show the struggle of the body against reality and its difference to the imagined.

Even though our behavior is like the bodily acts designed under the social system, the body is not merely a product of the society. According to Ya-Wen Fu, when the body is detached from the societal gaze, when it possesses not just the role of a narrator, when it doesn’t just represent a shape with meaning, when the body, including all the social system imposed on it, becomes visible, when it is finally exhausted by the endless pulling and pushing, maybe that’s when we can find a route of escape in all the despair”.

Ya-Wen Fu (Yunlin, Taiwan, 1980) graduated at the National Tainan Girls’ Senior High School in 1999 and completed studies of Fine Arts at the National Taiwan University of Arts in 2003. She has a diploma and a bachelors degree in Media Arts by the HGB Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig, Germany; and Meisterschüler of media arts HGB. Between 2005 and 2006 she worked as software designer at the private art school Von Erlenbach Kunstschule, in Berlin, and at Titanic Magazine in Berlin as animator in 2007. Her works have been exhibited in Berlin, Leipzig, Wiesbaden, Hamburg and Taiwan between 2008 and 2014. In 2011 she joined the art association tamtamART as director where she carries out numerous curating projects.
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source: laboralcentrodearteorg

Within this piece, 60 stainless steel hoops hang in the center of the space of the Plat0, connected to the four sides of the truss of the space through the extension via springs and linen ropes. The rolling of the artist’s body would cause the movement of the structure and the ropes changing the shape of the steel hoops.

In order to increase the inner strength of the body and the external flexibility, Ya-Wen Fu has created special clothing using calf leather molding, which reduces the gap between body and clothes. This tight fit enables the body to make use of its maximal strength. Trough the use of motion detectors and contact microphones she emphasizes the dialogue between body movements and spatial installation across the sounds caught on location.

Ya-Wen’s stage at Plataforma 0. Production Centre is part of an agreement between the Centro de Arte of Gijón and the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (NTMOFA). What she would like to explore with the installation performance is how the social system affects and limits our bodies, consciousness and behavior. The 60 stainless steel hoops of the piece are like the interwoven structures of the social system. The connection between the hoops and body is a metaphor for the fact that we can’t escape the society. By the body movements as well as the mutual constraint and pulls between the installation and the body, she tries to find the body and bodily consciousness that’s no longer limited by society.
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source: laboralcentrodearteorg

Ya-Wen Fu will develop this residence at LABoral within agreement between the LABoral Centro de Arte of Gijón and National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (NTMOFA).

Ya-Wen Fu will work at LABoral on her interactive performance space-in-between. Her stage at Plataforma 0. Production Centre is also part of an agreement between the Centro de Arte of Gijón and the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (NTMOFA).

In space-in-between the artist will construct an apparatus that allows her body to extend into space. By using this tool and the movement of her body, she will be able to construct an interactive space. How she moves and what she installs are important for this work. During her residency, Ya-Wen Fu will investigate about the opportunity to communicate with the inhabitants of Gijón, issue what will help her to extend her cultural understanding and to shape the work.

Ya-Wen Fu seek to discuss the issues about the definition of human body and the relationship between individual body and external surroundings in my artworks.
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.
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.
.
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source: laboralcentrodearteorg

Ya-Wen Fu se graduó en el National Tainan Girls’ Senior High School en 1999 y se licenció en bellas artes en la National Taiwan University of Arts en 2003. Tiene una diplomatura y una licenciatura en Media Arts, de la HGB Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig, Alemania; y Meisterschüler of media arts HGB.

Entre 2005 y 2006 trabajó como diseñadora de software de la escuela de arte privada Von Erlenbach Kunstschule, en Berlín, y en Titanic Magazine en Berlín como animadora en 2007. Sus obras se han expuesto en Berlín, Leipzig, Wiesbaden, Hamburgo y Taiwan entre 2008 y 2014. Desde 2011, entra a formar parte de la asociación artística tamtamART como directora donde desarrolla numerosas experiencias de comisariado.