Wu Chuan-lun (吳權倫), an artist-in-residence at Bethanien Art Gallery in Berlin, will showcase his works featuring German Shepherds from different regions at the German gallery from April 14 through May 7.
"Schäferhund” will explore the relationship between dogs, politics, and culture through sketches of different shepherd breeds and acrylic glasses printed with flags of the breed's origins. It will also arrange English alphabet letters at corners of the venue to present the word "domestic.”
Wu noted that he has always been interested in observing animals from the perspective of politics. During his residency in Berlin, his studies on the German Shepherd made him realize that these dogs not only herd sheep, guard flocks, and rescue people, but were also trained for military purposes during World War I.
The working dog gained repute for its intelligence and people started to keep and breed German Shepherds around the world. They were also given different names in different countries.
Taiwan Representative to Germany Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉) visited the exhibition on April 14 with Bethanien Artistic Director Christoph Tannert of Bethanien and featured artist Wu.
Tannert praised Wu's works for its creativity, and exchanged ideas with Representative Shieh. He also explained how the art gallery operates and how its artist-in-residence program works.
In addition to Wu's sketches, porcelain shepherd figurines shipped from Taiwan's pottery capital Yingge will be displayed at the center of the exhibition to highlight the successful cultural export of the shepherd breeds to Taiwan, which peaked in the 1960s when the TV series "Lassie” was released.
‘Wu Chuan-lun: Schäferhund'