│EXHIBITION

The Taipei Series was an art project initiated in 2012 and finished in 2016 by Shiau-Peng Chen. All the pieces of this series were presented at two of the artist’s solo exhibitions, respectively titled The Integral Map II: My Taipei and The Integral Map III: My Taipei - The Sequel. Comprising a total of 23 pieces of work, the Taipei Series was divided into 5 sub-series, including My Universities, My Galleries, My Ways, My Parties and Taipei 543.

The Artist’s Taipei Maps

The Taipei Series was based primarily on “maps” of all stripes concerning Taipei. To put it another way, these maps served as the visual components and a source of inspiration for this art project. By virtue of this series, Chen attempted not only to reflect the experience and apprehension she gained from her quotidian existence in Taipei, but also to explore her connections to this city, with particular attention to multiple dimensions such as the school environment, the gallery phenomenon, survival methods and regime change.

Utilizing maps, or, to be more specific, their useful function of navigation, Chen not only grasped the existing environment and known information, but also undertook a voyage into the unknown from which new knowledge can be acquired. Her practice of drawing maps of Taipei indicated her position in this city on the one hand, and helped her reclaim the discursive power over the issues regarding territory, space and gender on the other. As much as the world map we’re reading today, which is no more than the product of a specific cartographic projection (e.g. Gerardus Mercator’s 1595, a world atlas rife with distortion yet has been used extensively to date after modifications and adjustments), the Taipei Series was the outcome of Chen’s own cartographic projection of this city, with which the artist illustrated how she has become the way she is therein.

The Artist’s Social Observation

The reason why Chen came here, her living space, what she cares about, what she did…, namely what Taipei means to her in general, seem to indicate something thematically related to the arts.

Her focus and creative practice, together with the “maps” she drew, were intimately bound up with the features of her background such as age, occupation, interest and training. Treating the objects she followed closely as the point of departure, the artist offered her personal experience-based observation about Taipei with great ingenuity, and addressed it by categorizing the content into 4 topics, including My Universities, My Galleries, My Ways, and My Parties.

• My Universities: This topic concerned the school environment, conveying the artist’s experience of school politics, observation of gender ecology, discoveries of spatial arrangement, and emotional stirring by elapsing time.
• My Galleries: This topic appertained to the ecology of the artistic circles, through which the artist articulated her reflections on galleries, art museums and all other types of art spaces, thereby explicating the phenomena of the artistic circles she observed and grasped.
• My Ways: This topic came up from the artist’s life experience in Taipei, illustrating how she carved out a career as an artist and strived for survival in this city.
• My Parties: This topic touched upon Taiwanese politics. It described the party alternation and the vicissitudes of different political powers on the one hand, and voiced the artist’s concern about Taiwan’s political environment on the other.

By virtue of the aforementioned works created on the basis of her real-life experience, Chen not only laid bare the truth behind the general environment of Taipei, but also responded to her personal need (of artistic pursuits).

The Artist’s Inner Spiritual Journey via Creation

Taking practical advantage of maps as navigation aids, Chen began her exploration of Taipei. Many hours of meticulous research and practice had gone into creating these maps. The artist was gradually aware that what really matters is not simply arriving at the destination indicated on the maps (i.e. completing the works) or how fast she could move toward the destination. Her interaction with all the figures, events and objects she encountered along the way and her own reflection on the entire journey were every bit as important as well.

Chen’s maps of Taipei expressed her innermost thoughts about locations, stories and meanings. These maps charted the trajectory of the artist’s life and practice in this city. By drawing the maps of Taipei, the artist took a stroll down memory lane, managing to vent her feelings about living therein, look into her relations to the city in which she dwells and works, as well as reveal the geographical and psychological realities she saw beyond the façade of Taipei’s urban landscape.

At the age of forty, she leaves no doubt as to her view of the world, be it in terms of sentiment or meaning. Creating these maps was an action as retrospective as introspective. The majority of the pieces in this art project embodied not only Chen’s pursuit of art but also what she learned each step of the way. The viewpoint Chen adopted not only echoed her course of life, but also dropped subtle hints about her relations to Taipei.

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｜SOLO──Shiau-Peng Chen｜