Asia

Yao Jui-Chung

Long Long Live

2013

Long Long Live, 2013 (video still)

Long Long Live by Yao Jui-Chung takes the viewer to the setting of the Oasis Villa on Green Island, once a reform and re-education prison to house political prisoners during Taiwan’s martial law period. In black and white, Yao depicts the historical site as an eerie abandoned compound. Reflecting on the centenary of the HsinHai Revolution and the end of the Cold War, Yao questions the existence of an ever lasting dynasty or “transcendental Rules of History.” The soundtrack features a sole voice reverberating through loudspeakers. Someone is repeatedly shouting long live from the Hall of the Eternally Living Chiang Kai-shek, a building in Chiang Kai-shek’s former residence in Yang Mingshan. As the camera pans out, the scene is revealed to be from a broadcast on an old television set in an empty cafeteria, where bowls and plates are set perfectly on tables. The multiple layers of embedded media structures examine the legacy of propaganda machines of yesteryear and their echoes in contemporary culture.

Yao Jui-chung specializes in photography, installation art, and art theory. The themes of his works are varied, but most importantly they examine the absurdity of the human condition. Having lived through Taiwan’s turbulent political and social changes, Yao often explores issues of history and society, especially those surrounding the political status of Taiwan and an ambiguous collective consciousness. His video Long, Long Live, filmed at the Oasis Villa in Green Island, once a reform and re-education prison to house political prisoners during Taiwan’s marshal law period, examines history through reviewing Taiwan’s historical identity and revealing political conspiracies.

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Yao Jui-Chung Long Long Live

Yao Jui-Chung

Long Long Live