The Mountain Algorithms

2024.8.17 2PM Opening

2024.8.18 2-5:30PM Artist Talk, hosted by Yen Yi Lee, Esther Lu

The Mountain Algorithms unfolds the physical dimensions of time and geography, juxtaposing the wisdom of nature with artificial intelligence to create several compasses for understanding future ecological thinking and practices. The exhibition endeavors to redefine “ecological art" by examining how we can enhance and expand our sensory awareness, create organic processes and cooperative uses between natural and artificial technologies, and place greater emphasis on spiritual and cultural ecological thinking. 

It also explores learning different rhythms and metabolic schemes, building ecological communities, cycles, and relationships, and how art can navigate the complex, unstable, and seemingly disintegrating network relationships to transform ecology into an alliance, a culture, and a force. Artists from Asia and Latin America propose various methodologies that lean towards ecofeminism—questioning the multiple domination of nature by anthropocentrism and capitalism. This deliberate sampling allows us to consciously reflect on the historical processes and environmental changes from various uneven decolonization contexts, presenting plural and diverse worldviews. 

ARTWORKS

01

Oscar Santillán

Treelemma 

2022-24

Satellite data, real time generative code, 4K video projection (no sound), and LCD screen. 

Welcoming us to this exhibition is Treelemma, an installation that blends artificial intelligence with ecology to mirror ecological devastation in real time. When satellites detect a forest fire, the Treelemma  AI system instantaneously generates a poem for the dying forest. These poems are translated into digital animations, projected on a screen as a continuous narrative of environmental loss. Each new poem marks a distinct fire event, memorialized alongside its location and date on a small LCD screen next to the projection. Treelemma  functions as a poignant chronicle of our climate challenges, offering an imaginative viewpoint free from over-moralizing, and advocating for an inclusive ecological framework that seamlessly melds “natural" and “artificial” realms in a perpetual dance of begetting and burning.

02

Luo Jr-Shin

Can Sludge Hold the Memories of Its Passage, If Stones Can Capture the Echoes of Their Fractures?

2024

Fired sewage sludge is applied to a tunnel-like structure made of plywood, hardware, plaster, wire mesh, gauze, and various objects (with added quality improvers: oyster shell powder, volcanic clay, and plant ash).

The main entrance installation of the exhibition takes an abstract departure from a sewer tunnel, creating a strong sense of physical pressure and spatial displacement. Sludge cakes collected from a sewage treatment plant are fired and ground to create the inner coating of this sculpture. This sculpture ingests and expels daily human waste, magnifying and examining the necessary cyclical transformation created by eating and excreting. At the same time, the artist boldly adopts the stance of an alchemist, directly transforming discarded filth into art, proposing pathways for material regeneration and value creation. This process guides the audience to explore the psychological realms of darkness, filth, and confinement.

03

Huang Ding Yun, Henry Tan 

Sleep is a Little Death, Rest is a Little Growth

2024

Interactive wearable sculpture made of printed, woven, knitted fabrics, breath and temperature sensors, LED lights, speaker

Inspired by the role of fungi in the natural world as converters of life and death and communicators, Sleep is a Little Death, Rest is a Little Growth delves into the intriguing states of death, sleep, and rest. The artists investigate how animals in hibernation maintain silent connections and networks within nature, inviting the audience to engage in performative rest practices in the gallery space. Individuals are invited to put on wearable sensory sculptures, fashioned to resemble dead wood and mycelium. This immersive experience allows participants to embody alternative physical postures and extend sensory perceptions, to ultimately tune their minds and bodies to various abstract cues.

04

Nicole L’Huillier 

La Orejona (XS)

2023

Sonic sculpture made of: Silicone, MDF, microcontroller, computer, electronics, and amplifier.

La Orejona is a vibrational membrane microphone that interacts with phenomena such as sound waves in the air, caresses from the wind, tremors from the ground, and oscillations induced by touch from both human and non-human entities. Unlike typical microphones that isolate signals, La Orejona blends them into a collective, inseparable noise—a dense mix of convoluted sound. Acting as a microphone of noise, it explores unintelligible poetics rather than precise measurement. By intentionally confusing signals, it challenges rigid paradigms, encouraging us to reinterpret relational dynamics and narratives. This approach invites attention to alternative codes, deepening our connection to vibrational realities. It fosters collective improvisation in diverse environments, embracing interactions with audiences, spaces, local sounds, natural elements, and unseen forces.

05

Tania Candiani

Tidal Choreography

2023

Two-channel video installation, stereo sound. 24’ 20’’

Inspired by the rhythmic pulse of Glin village and the tidal rhythms of the nearby Shannon Estuary, Tania Candiani immerses herself in the daily ritual of local swimmers, who journey to the water at high tide. Tidal Choreography intricately weaves together aerial and underwater footage, capturing moments at both high and low tide, alongside field recordings and traditional Irish melodies. Collaborating with local artists, the project integrates music, spoken word, and physical performance. Culminating in a poignant finale, the artist is joined by over fifty swimmers from the community, enriching the film with diverse perspectives and experiences. This multifaceted approach reveals intricate patterns, shifts in perspective, and insights into the ecological tapestry of Glin and its tidal landscape.

06

Wu Chi-Yu

Stories of Celluloid: Terra Nullius Data

2024

Single-channel video installation, 12’ 30’’ and archive 

Stories of Celluloid: Terra Nullius Data is an essay film in four chapters that explores the evolving relationship between media history, technology, and the natural world in the age of AI image generation.  This chapter, Terra Nullius Data, expresses the lost nostalgia and connection for the natural environment from a digitally native perspective. In the 20th century  during the Japanese colonial period, Taiwan's camphor tree industry thrived as camphor was an essential ingredient in celluloid which was used to make film. Once synthetic camphor was invented, demand for the raw material and thus  the camphor forestry industry both declined. Today's media development trends are transitioning from analog to digital and further propelled by AI technology. When looking back raises the question: where will our relationship with nature be headed next? This project examines the intricate connection between Taiwan's forests and international media theory. The Mountain Algorithms exhibition debuts this one chapter from Stories of Celluloid and several accompanying archival documents, demonstrating the generative digital forest and the data dynamics behind the imagery.

07

Chitti Kasemkitvatana

Kala Ensemble

2024

Multimedia installation with two-channel video installation, bamboo sculpture and wall text “The universe is not locally real” in Chinese, English and Thai

Driven by an enduring curiosity about the nature of space, time, and matter in the universe, Chitti Kasemkitvatana investigates  these mysteries through the lenses of philosophy, Buddhism, astronomy, and physics, responding with a fluid artistic language. The video depicts various ancient deities of time from different civilizations in northern Thailand, India, China, and Tibet, symbolizing the cyclical nature of time through a process of particle transformation. Traditional bamboo sculptures from the highlands of northern Thailand represent spatial forms. Meanwhile, recent breakthroughs in quantum physics are conveyed textually, illustrating how matter lacks specific properties until observed. This multimedia installation elegantly presents a unique perspective on “spacetimemattering”, suggesting the observable universe can reveal itself to us at our situated moment.

08

Rngrang Hungul

The Woman Carrying the Prey

2023

Documentary, Single channel video, 69’

Text, Messages woven from the film The Woman Carrying the Prey

Posak Jodian

2023

In this documentary, the director Rngrang Hungul tells the story of her mother, Heydi Mijung, the only female hunter in the Truku tribe. Heydi defies traditional gender norms while adhering to the ancestral teachings of Gaya. She embodies a rich repository of indigenous hunting culture and ecological knowledge. Her hunter's role extends beyond catching animals to feed the family; Heydi is also a meticulous observer and guardian. Her life story is intricately connected to her family's hunting ground, preserving the life rhythms and natural knowledge of various plants and animals in the surrounding mountain area in Hualien. Her movements and footprints unfold much of the reciprocal wisdom of symbiosis culture.

09

Patricia Domínguez

Matrix Vegetal

2021–22

Multimedia Installation with 4K video, 21'12''

Matrix Vegetal is a botanical science fiction video installation that aims to reconnect communication with the more-than-human world, presenting visions and wisdom from the plant universe. Combining experimental ethnobotany, South American quantum philosophy, and organic technologies, it challenges perception and explores plant and spiritual realms. Patricia Domínguez draws from her apprenticeship with Amador Aniceto, a revered healer in Peru, known as the "General Physician of the Flora and Fauna of the Universe." Inspired by his mystical insights, she embarked on a journey to disconnect from the digital realm and connect with the vegetal matrix. This installation poetically reveals our interconnectedness with planetary consciousness and non-human languages. For this edition of Matrix Vegetal, the artist created a dreaming station where visitors can lie down to receive the guidance of Brugmansia flowers, or Angel Trumpets, which are part of the nightshade family Solanaceae, and known for their powers to drive dreams.

10

Angela Su

Cosmic Call

2019

Single-channel video installation, 12' 43"

Cosmic Call is commissioned by Wellcome Trust.

Angela Su’s True Calling 

2019

Single-channel video, 5' 03" 

Having long explored issues of body politics, examining the impact and inspiration of scientific and technological advancements on human culture, Su’s work Cosmic Call focuses on the origins and truths of disease outbreaks, set against the backdrop of Hong Kong's epidemic histories. Through a science fiction narrative aesthetic, the work explores astronomy, medical advancements, and historical documents, incorporating traditional Chinese medicine discourse and ancient cosmological theories to establish a different epistemology of epidemic. This approach reveals multiple belief systems beyond mainstream Western medical narratives. In the video’s conclusion, the artist performs a ritual, injecting herself with different viruses, symbolizing a return of critical inquiry to bodily practice and awakening the connection between our bodies and the universe.

11

Fernanda Barreto

Meters

2019

Embroidery on fabrics, lead, wood

The artist developed this series of work from an extensive study of atmospheric movements, exploring the relationship between human life, civilization, and climate. This set of fabric flags is embroidered with intricate weather forecast symbols and fishing gear weights. These universal patterns representing recurring patterns in air currents, weather fronts, and other meteorological phenomena shape our thoughts and perceptions about climate change in our everyday lives. The origin of the hurricane pattern dates back to pre-Hispanic times when it symbolized the deity in Caribbean culture. The exhibition opens with this set of observational instruments used to forecast upcoming weather.

12

Ya-Chu Kang

Blue Healing

2014

Cotton fabric, cyanotype, cotton thread, wool, marine debris, bamboo, yarn

Kites in the shape of manta rays soar in the air, drawing the viewers' attention both to the sky and the ocean. The artist employs cyanotype exposure techniques and the energy of sunlight to transfer the silhouettes of collected marine debris, plastic fragments, and biological remains onto the fabric of the kites. This work interprets a paradigm of collaboration between human technology and natural forces, vividly depicting the unique beachscapes of the Anthropocene. Through a collage of plastic waste, pollution, and images of death, Blue Healing provokes reflection on the nature of technology and the state of the marine environment.

13

Rice Brewing Sisters Club

Rice Brewing Sisters Production: Our Circular Alliances

2024

Mixed media (rope, paper, screenprint on wall, wood panels)

Single channel video, 50 sec, silent, loop

Agarkit (displayed in the shop): agar-agar, gardenia, roselle, glycerin, sugar, dried pineapple, glass jar, paper, tin box)

Agarkit conceived and designed by Rice Brewing Sisters Production & wingwing.home & haeminhae

Agarkit produced by Esther Lu, Sophie Chen

Video animated by KAY

This work proposes building a community with the ocean,  exploring the alliance between–and the cycles of–ecology and economy. Using locally sourced agar seaweed from Taiwan as the raw material for a DIY bioplastic kit, the project invites participants to create fully plant-based, biodegradable plastic through contact with our skin, microbes, time, and the environment. In addition to making bioplastics for daily use, participants are also encouraged to use their own bodies as sites for decomposition and digestion, consuming and processing the material after use. The Rice Brewing Sisters Club art collective has long focused on ecological issues and community building, contemplating pathways for mutual transformation, dependence, and sustainability among different cross-species groups.

14

Constanza Alarcón Tennen

Sudamericana Tiene Memoria del Aire (South American Plate Has a Memory of the Air) 

2024

Digital HD Video (Stereo), 16’ 30’’

Sudamericana tiene memoria del aire explores a poetic narrative of tectonic plates through a non-scientific lens. Creatively reinterpreting geological concepts, this work reframes the relationship between the Nazca and Sudamericana plates as sensual and erotic, and positions earthquakes as symbols of tension and desire. This interactive work invites movement, touch, gestures, poses, and sounds, metaphorically depicting this geological  interaction rather than simply scientifically illustrating such phenomena. This installation is the second chapter of the Nazca/Sudamericana trilogy, and Constanza Alarcón Tennen focuses on the South American plate, imagining it retaining memories of air due to its role in supporting the Andes Mountains. The video installation features dancers performing movement sequences, footage from various Andean sites, hand-shaped clay whistles, and an original sound composition.

15

Fernanda Barreto

Every Stitch of the Needle

2022

Fabrics

Fernanda Barreto and Dan Sánchez D. Vil

Panza Llena de Sonajas (A Bellyful of Rattles) 

2024

Single-channel HD video (sound), 12’ 34’’

This work expresses the ever-changing tension in the interplay between the human body and the surrounding atmosphere. The artist wears a custom-made costume designed to fully capture the wind’s force, experimenting with its language and translation under various conditions. This costume envelops and deforms the body, allowing it to move with the wind. In this state, the body does not balance on a single axis but rather navigates in multiple directions, evolving into an abstract, multi-cellular organism. Appearing as a solo dance, the artist directs the viewer’s attention to various simultaneous environmental details.

16

Su Yu Hsin

Particular Waters

2023

Single-channel video installation, HD color (sound), 18’ 38’’, loop

4 dummy wafers presented with 3D-printed holders, 30cm diameter, imprinted ocean satellite imagery, black and white

Yellow translucent polycarbonate sheets with wood structure, dimension variable

Spring of Chemistry 

2023

Single-channel video, HD (no sound), black and white, 1’ 03’’, loop

Hydrosocial Cycle of TSMC 

2023/2024

Vinyl and digital print on adhesive transparent film, dimension variable

Taiwan's semiconductor industry, revered as the island’s "guardian mountain" by locals, has an immense yet little-known reliance on water resources. The production process of thin slices of silicon, known as wafers demands vast quantities of water whose required purity levels surpass those required for human consumption. Taiwan's unique environmental conditions and the impact of climate change actually introduce variables that may affect production stability even more than geopolitical factors. This intricate dynamic has sparked the interest of the artist who has been following hydrofeminist pathways. Through this narrative film, Su Yu Hsin explores TSMC's water network in the Hsinchu region, unraveling the layered and complex human geography intertwined with it. In her artful depiction, water emerges not merely as a physical resource but as a carrier of emotional memory and cultural significance.

17

lololo

CultivatingSteps

2024

4K video, speakers

The artists chose the most enclosed staircase space in the exhibition for this site-specific sound installation, which aims to engage the audience in the repetitive act of going up and down the stairs, to inspire reflections on the simple act of stair climbing and the many metaphors that arise from this activity. Climbing stairs is a basic act of training in wushu culture, at the same time, from a computer science perspective, the action of climbing stairs is governed by the Fibonacci sequence. Guided by a deconstructed wushu soundscape inspired by the sequence of fibonacci, the artists seek to enrich the sensory attributes of the site and transform an ordinary activity into a conscious movement filled with introspection and meditation.

18

Wang Yung-An

Skin Archaeology: Ghost Variables

2024

Two-channel video installation, HD Color (Sound), 13’ 59’’

The artist raises a question: Does AI have skin? As the human body and the computational world become increasingly intertwined, how do we distinguish between personal perception and the blurred boundaries of collective data? Moreover, if human sensory experiences are not properly integrated or represented in the digital realm, they may lose their significance and be overlooked or left untranslated, becoming "ghost variables" in the computational world—forgotten and irrelevant. This term denotes elements in a program that have no computational function, vividly capturing the feedback sensation humans experience when communicating with computers. Drawing from neuroscience studies on touch, the artist utilizes neuroimaging from affective touch experiments and dance imagery to explore and depict the digitized states of the body and emotions in various human-machine interfaces.

19

Jason Wee

Quora Fora A Rehearsal

2021-ongoing

Printed fabric, sound installation and poetry book In Short, Future Now

Composers: Li-Chuan Chong, Aran O’Grady, Khris Nung

Design: Quck Zhong Yi

Singers: Wilson Goh, Wei Yi, Ong Kok Leong, John Rae Cortes, Lim Ming Boon, Scoring The Word quartet.

In 2021, Singaporean artist Jason Wee published the science fiction poetry book In Short, Future Now, envisioning the future of Asian geopolitics in haiku form. This poem describes how the flooded Asian archipelago negotiates new pandemics and surveillance in a post-authoritarian era. The political metaphors within the poem are developed into a libretto for Quora Fora: A Rehearsal, an ongoing opera project with a musical arrangement that deliberately blurs the libretto. Audiences are left unsure whether the intense collective chorus represents exhausted homogeneity or a new form of authority. Exhibited alongside the opera are images and text on colorful banners, serving as archives of future Asia, and questioning the forms and symbolic meanings of democracy.

20

lololol

BreathCultivating

2021

4K video, monitor, exciter

The artists Xia Lin and Sheryl Cheung of lololol collected 66 distinct breathing sounds, transforming them into an encrypted file displayed on a motorized screen. This installation translates the frequency of breaths into electronic data and physical vibrations. Drawing from a diverse array of sources—humans, primates, computer simulations, and internet memes—the work expands our understanding of respiration and gaseous alchemy. Integrating their interest in Tai Chi, traditional Chinese medicine, and contemporary technology, the artists explore the practice of breath regulation as a means to connect digital and physical realms. This work seeks to harmonize and balance interactions between human and non-human entities, offering a meditative connection in everyday life.