｜EXHIBITION

Empire's Borders I & Military Court and Prison

Artist’s Statement

Chen Chieh-Jen, Military Court and Prison, 2007-2008, Video Installation (35mm transferred to DVD, color, sound, 62 minutes 22 seconds, single-channel, continuous projection)

"Here" was a place of imprisonment for dissidents during the cold war and martial law, a theater where the state's violence was staged.

After the brutal performances of repression ended, " Neoliberalism" gained legitimacy in its exploitation, and the "prison without walls" was completed...

The old walls were demolished to give us a monument to the "past", allowing us to turn a blind eye to the new walls of the "present".

But the performance is not over, the forgotten will return, the obscured will write themselves, and the erased bodies will collide again...

Chen Chieh-Jen, Empire's Borders I, 2008-2009, Video Installation (35mm transferred to DVD, color, sound, 26 minutes 50 seconds, single-channel, continuous projection)

"There", under the guise of national sovereignty and counter-terrorism, in interview rooms where carrying audio-visual and communication devices is prohibited, when isolated interviewees are humiliated by interviewers...

"The Empire" says that all this is "not true." "The Empire's" supporters say it is "legitimate under the law," and "The Empire's" agents say that the protest "harms Taiwan-U.S. relations."

When the "scene" is blocked and the "voice" is silenced...

That is why we create our "discourse space" on the Internet, in the arts, not for "visa purposes," but to turn events that cannot be documented into documented events, and to remove the " Empire Consciousness" that seeks to domesticate us.

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｜m Space｜

｜Chen Chieh-Jen──1996──2008｜