With support from the Cultural Division of the Taipei Representative Office in Germany, Taiwanese artist Chang En-man (張恩滿) will present her work "Floating system for Snails (蝸牛的漂浮系統)” at the Fulda river as part of the 15th edition of Documenta, the famed quinquennial exhibition that will take place in a German city of Kassel from June 18 through Sep. 25.
"Floating system for Snails" is one of her series of works based on "giant African snail," which echoes the issue of colonialism from the perspective of the Indigenous Paiwan people of Taiwan.
According to the description on Documenta's website, Chang recreates the boathouse and waiting room of the Bootsverleih Ahoi (boat rental Ahoi) from painted glass in the shape of mulberry leaves and sets it afloat on the river Fulda. The waiting room contains an archival display examining the collection of snails. Secondly, the "Project Invasion" investigates themes including colonial history, industry and economics, and food cultures. Working with research collaborators Tsou Ting (鄒婷) and Wang Han-fang (王韓芳), Chang has distributed QR codes throughout the Documenta Fifteen sites as a sort of invasion in itself.
The Cultural Division of the Taipei Representative Office in Germany said that the preview of the exhibition "Floating system for Snails" has garnered much attention. It was highlighted by Monopol, a German art magazine, as one of the must-see exhibits at this year's Documenta exhibition. In addition, it was also featured in a five-minute segment of the television program "ttt (titel, thesen, temperamente)" on Das Erste, which is a national television network in Germany.
Founded in 1955, Documenta is one of the most important international events dedicated to contemporary art. Chang is the third Taiwanese artist to be invited to the exhibition after Richard Lin (林壽宇) and Tseng Yu-chin (曾御欽) participated in the 3rd and 12th editions of Documenta, respectively.