Thalerhof, 2014 (Duration 7’03”)

“We are children of the past. Commemoration is the only form of immortality we can achieve.” Chang Chien-Chi comes from Taiwan and lives in Austria. He went in search of echoes of the once mighty Austro-Hungarian Empire, which fell apart during the war. He found parades, monuments, graveyards and even descendants of the Habsburg emperor.What made the most powerful impression on him, however, was Thalerhof – an important First World War concentration camp, now located near Graz airport.

Side Chain, 1993-2014 (Duration 6’24”)

"It is not by confining one's neighbour that one is convinced of one's own sanity." — Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Side Chain (1993-2014) is a continuing documentation of Long Fa Temple in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, which was once infamous for its unorthodox and controversial treatment of mentally disabled patients by fastening two patients with a six-foot chain. The practice was abandoned later on but the ties that bind—voluntary and involuntary—continues.

About the artist:

Born in 1961 in Taiwan. Currently based in Graz, Austria, Chang Chien-Chi is fascinated by the human conditions of alienation and connection. He has spent over a decade working in New York’s Chinatown, documenting the lives of immigrants there. These pictures have appeared in National Geographic magazine, as well as the New Yorker, Time and German Geo. The series earned Chang first place in the category “Daily Life Story” from World Press Photo in 1999. That same year, Chang won a grant from the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund for humanistic photography and was awarded the Visa d’Or in magazine photography in Perpignan. He was named the Missouri/NPPA 1999 Magazine Photographer of the Year. He has exhibited at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, The Venice Biennale, and the Sao Paolo Bienal and at the International Center of Photography in New York. Chang is a member of Magnum Photos.

*Image: Side Chain, video still, 單頻道錄像, Duration 6’24”, 1993-2014 © Artist and Chi-Wen Gallery