Attempting to provide fresh angles for the reconsideration of architecture and urban design, "Dark City" highlights the concept "space of time"--or how cities manifest different facets during the day and night. "Most cities are rigid and boring during the day but loosen up when the sun goes down," Kuo explained. "Especially in Taiwan, cities become more charming than they are during the day, thanks to our lively traditional nightlife," such as shopping at markets, having snacks at roadside stalls, or taking a stroll in the hours. People living in subtropical areas tend to enjoy the cooler of night after a day of sunshine harsher than that in higher-latitude Western countries, the professor observed.
Even in subtropical climes, however, architects and urban designers rarely give thought to the meaning of darkness and how it can be used as an element in their work, he noted. Therefore, Liu said, "we plan to represent a combination of possibilities of interaction between time, space and people at night, which constitutes a potential utopia-like space of time. The night can be seen as a primordial state of the day. It is a deconstruction of the daytime urban discipline that contains an endless field of possibilities."
In addition to representing a Taiwanese perspective on contemporary architecture and urban design, the forms adopted in the multiple installations of the "Dark City" project resonate with the official theme of this year's International Architecture Exhibition, "Out There: Architecture Beyond Building." Rather than displaying model edifices, the team members will erect a series of "meaning installations" or "pre-buildings" that restore space to its primordial state as the fertile ground for buildings to arise. The aim is to encourage visitors to experience and converse with space through bodily perception.
In the team's conception, "Dark City" is a space of ambiguity in which images are projected on screens and then reflected at different angles via a series of walls. Team member Kyle Yang's installation, "Dark City, Soft City," juxtaposes a total of 810 unlit fluorescent tubes on the walls with pieces of paper suspended between them. That way, "when people walk by the tubes, they can 'feel' space, as their passage makes the paper vibrate and move," said the architect. Albert Ho aims to create an experience of "in-between-ness" by installing translucent walls and black tinted glass which, in combination, obscure spatial depth and mirror differing shades of grey.
Meanwhile, Kris Yao will set up screens, which show video images on both sides. Some of the images will be prerecorded, while others will be live broadcasts of the "Dark City" project site itself, in which visitors may find themselves as momentary screen stars.
The installation "Signscape," created by Lu Shi-chieh, makes use of black tinted glass to create icons and symbols as imitations of the illumined out-hanging signs so commonly seen in Taiwan. In addition, Victor Su will create a mysterious nighttime atmosphere by using winding lines of fluorescent white and pale pink colors on the wood floor.
To give coherence to the project as a whole, Jay Chiu will integrate his colleagues' works by setting up a long glass wall that passes through the exhibition room. "It will reflect, receive and reinterpret images from the works of my teammates," Chiu said.
"Since the team represents Taiwan in this international arena, we will put emphasis on local perspective while providing good answers to the questions suggested by the biennale theme," Yao said.
After the team returns from Venice, "Dark City" will be presented at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts.
The 11th Venice Biennale of Architecture marks the first time that a Taiwanese team has been selected to showcase its work at the Italian pavilion in the Giardini. "Interbreeding Field," a group of young architectural talents led by Liu Li-huang, will set up their installation "Somewhere Out There" alongside those of 54 other teams invited to display their works in the "Experimental Architecture" section of the art show.
"Since we got the official invitation letter May 29, we've felt just like the Red Leaf little league baseball team," said Liu, referring to the baseball team of Taitung County's Red Leaf Elementary School, which became the pride of Taiwan when it beat Japan's little league champs in 1968.
Since Liu organized this group in 1999 while teaching at the Graduate Institute of Architecture of the Tainan National University of the Arts, he has been determined to challenge architectural conventions. He insists that his students explore the possibilities of different materials in the process of building by their own hands.
In naming themselves "Interbreeding Field," Liu's group intended to accentuate the spontaneous interactions between humans and surrounding objects. Originally, he explained, the word "interbreeding" refers to how a new plant or animal arrival in an established ecosystem survives through interchange and cross-combination with the preexisting life forms to evolve a new biological environment. As applied to architecture, he said, it represents the action of "adding alternatives and heterogeneous elements to the established structure." In Liu's philosophy, architecture is an art of life, and its value lies in reflecting the ever-changing process of perception formation.
Interbreeding Field began to make its mark internationally several years ago. In 2002, the group won the Far Eastern Architecture Design Award, and it was chosen by Taiwan's Council for Cultural Affairs as part of the team that represented the nation at the 2004 Venice Biennale. The group has also displayed its works at multiple venues in Europe and North America.
Earlier this year, the team was commissioned by the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts to create a "Jello Maze" installation in square in front of the Presidential Office in celebration of the Lunar New Year. A total of 7,200 large, translucent plastic kegs were joined to form a zigzagging serpentine wall, which illuminated from within, "transformed the cold, rational political headquarters into a sphere of emotional warmth that both adults and children could enjoy."
This time in Venice, the team will present an installation titled "Somewhere Out There," making use of the same sort of plastic kegs, so commonly seen in daily life in Taiwan. "Taiwan is famous for producing industrial plastic containers, so we thought of using these vessels as an alternative symbol for the island," said Liu in describing his team's inspiration.
The core concept of "Somewhere Out There," according to Liu, is to create a "playful ultra-utopia" in which a never-ending story will be generated by the exhibition goers. The team will improvise variations on the installation as they observe how people interact with the creation. Constantly changing, the artwork is expected to light up people's imaginations about architectural possibilities.
Write to Author at amber@mail.gio.gov.tw