With support from the Taiwan Cultural Center in Tokyo, emerging Taiwanese artist Hsu Che-yu (許哲瑜) presented three of his video productions in Japan for the first time in February this year.
His latest representative video works－"The Making of Crime Scenes (事件現場製造)," "The Unusual Death of a Mallard (一隻綠頭鴨的不尋常死亡)," and "Single Copy (副本人)"－were screened in Japan from Feb. 21 to 25. His works were well-received from all walks of life and attracted the attention of several prominent figures from the arts and cultural sector, including Kaku Nagashima (長島確), vice general director of the Tokyo Festival, and Yoshizaki Kazuhiko (吉崎和彦), curator of Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media, and others.
On Feb. 27, Hsu also participated in a forum launched at the Goethe-Institut Tokyo and debuted a new video production that he co-created with theater consultant Chen Betty (陳佾均). The story began with Hsu returning to his grandmother’s house in Tamsui from abroad. During his self-isolation period at the house, his childhood memories of zoological specimens inspired him to explore the history of animals and zoological specimens around the world and re-examined the relationship between humans and animals from multiple perspectives.
At the forum, he joined a discussion about the possibility of the development of the art festival amidst the pandemic with Anna Wagner, a dramaturg and artistic co-director at the Mousonturm House of Artists, and Chiaki Soma (相馬千秋), a Japanese curator and a program director of the Theatre of the World (French: Theater der Welt) 2023.
Born in 1985, Hsu works as an artist who primarily creates animations, videos, and installations that feature the relations between media and memories.