In contrast to the usual understanding of an exhibition having one curator and multiple artists, this exhibition featured oddly, 3 curators and one artist. Un-words exhibition began with the invitation by curator Chin Ya-chun to the other two curators Yu-Wei and Su Hui-yu to participate in the solo exhibition of Tung Fu-chi in VT Artsalon. Exhibition started from an email conversation to the other two Curators. Within this email, curator, artist, works of art became a constant stream of conversation.

Tung Fu-chi, born 1975, graduated from the Graduate Institute of Plastic Arts, Tainan National University of The Arts. Featuring in his solo exhibition titled Un-words are past and new video works, which together highlights a specific element - sound within the video. Within his works, we can see the artist talking or singing in an unusually enunciated manner, the video footage is then digitally edited to play in reverse, then will the viewers will realize what was being said or sung in earlier parts of the video. Through the technique of reversing the image and sound that is played back, artists disassemble the components of enunciation and speech, making an unique reverse speech and body language technique, returning the unverifiable content of speech into an act of listening to sound, also allow the viewers to review the significant but often forgotten relationship between sound and speech.

For this exhibition, the three curators also made a promotional video titled Singing in Reverse where the curators attempt to mimic the reverse speech technique the artist used within his works. In the video three curators are singing the same nursery rhymes at the same time the continuous written conversations through mail between the three curators formed the core structure of the curatorial concept, each of their writings provide a different perspective for the relationship between the exhibition, the works and curating the exhibition. Worth highlighting is curator Chin Ya-chun mentioned in her curating statement, “in the exhibition, everything you see comes from the artist” in other words, in an exhibition the curator’s works are actually outside the exhibition area, so considering the works curator created as an art works, Chin Ya-chun suggests, and the artist agreed, that the three curators can choose an work each as the present for participating in this exhibition.

Chin Ya-chun attempt to edit the production and creation process of an exhibition to create a new way of viewing and producing, using the model she created to break our stereotypical view of exhibition and redesign the relationship of curator and artist, paving out a variety of new paths and possibilities.

courtesy of VT Art Salon