Collateral, Venice
Yuan Goang-Ming
Everyday War
Taiwan in VeniceSirens, explosive blast, sudden pounding, and a slow-tempo anthem, are the sound from different artworks about an air raid drill, a civil disobedience movement, and different settings inside of an imagined home. Is this a site of allegory reflecting the past and present? Or a prophecy of the human future told through an exhibition? It’s probably both to Yuan Goang-Ming, the artist born, raised, and living with his family in Taiwan. This solo presentation encompasses the artist’s work from 2014 to now. Together they convey both personal and collective’s ever longing inquiry of home in an era when conflict and fragility are the norm: What’s survival? What’s living? What’s peace? What’s safety? What’s freedom? What’s poetic? Directly hear and see the voice of this Taiwan artist about what these all mean to him, in "Everyday War" with "Foreigner Everywhere" at the Biennale Arte 2024. Yuan Goang-Ming (b. 1965, Taipei) graduated from the Department of Fine Arts, National Taiwan Academy of Arts (now National Taiwan University of Arts) in 1989. In 1993, he was awarded the DAAD Germany Exchange Scholarship, and next year went to research on media art at the Institute for New Media in Frankfurt, Germany. He received his master’s degree in media art from the now Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design (Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung, Karlsruhe, Germany) in 1997. Yuan’s active commitment to video art has made him one of the pioneering new media artists in Taiwan since the 90s. He works across various, ranging from single-channel videos, computerized interactive installations, installation-based video projections, to prints created with digital media. Through these forms, he has consistently explored and unfolded the possibilities of video and media art.