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Yao Jui-Chung is an indefatigable engine of the Taiwan art scene. No other singular figure can be seen to match his level of intensity or proliferation. Shortly after finishing his compulsory military service in 1997 the artist represented Taiwan at the Venice Biennale with Territory Takeover. A publisher of more than a dozen books, Yao also teaches art at Taipei National University of the Arts, curates exhibitions and is the co-founder of independent gallery VT Artsalon. He was recently described by the magazine Taiwan Panorama (Vol.36, No. 4, April 2011) as "the most representative figure in the realm of Taiwanese contemporary art." - Ron Hanson for Afterall.

In Conversation

Yao Jui-Chung will speak of his experiences living through the transition from authoritarian rule in in the 1980s, and how the accompanying economic restructuring and political reform impacted upon the cultural landscape in Taiwan.

New arts policies initiated the founding of art departments, museums and cultural events, with many Taiwanese returning from overseas with new ideas and eager to reinterpret historical and mythological grand narratives. Yao was one of a group of artists and curators born in the '60s and '70s who were involved in a series of guerrilla-like art performances and interventions, and who formed a loose association called ‘Very Temple’.

Through various incarnations the now VT ArtSalon continues to support contemporary art that exists outside of the mainstream via exhibitions, publications, international networks and exchanges.

Yao will speak about his desire for contemporary art in Taiwan to continue to be both impetus for, and documentation of, social change.

Yao Jui-Chung is in residence in Perth for the month of August as part of an exchange program between Kuandu Fine Art Museum (at the Taipei National University of the Arts) and Turner Galleries in Perth.

Artist Biography

Yao Jui-Chung was born in 1969 in Taipei. He graduated from The National Institute of The Arts (Taipei National University of the Arts) with a degree in Art Theory. In 1997, he represented Taiwan in “Facing Faces-Taiwan” at the Venice Biennale and took part in the International Triennale of Contemporary Art Yokohama in 2005, APT6 (2009) and Taipei biennial (2010). Closer to home, he was included in the prestigious 2017 Sydney Biennale. He has also participated in numerous other large international exhibitions. Apart from working in the fields of theatre and film, he has taught art history, wrote art criticism and curated exhibitions.

Yao Jui-Chung specialises in photography, installation and painting. The themes of his works are varied, but examine the absurdity of the human condition.

Yao appropriates masterpieces from Chinese art history and transforms them by inserting his personal history or real stories to subvert the grand narratives. Yao intends to usurp so called orthodoxy with his recreated landscapes.

Over the past 20 years Yao has also been assembling large collections of his black and white photography, covering themes of industry, religious idols, architecture and military bases. An ongoing project documents the abandoned public structures across Taiwan, built purely on politicians’ campaign promises with little or no regard for their actual use, the buildings have been called ‘mosquito houses’ as the insects are often their only inhabitants. Yao’s artworks question and contest Taiwan’s complex political and historical past. Through participatory projects, Yao has also engaged in collective action, using his work to draw attention to present-day social issues surrounding the politics of space and problems resulting from misguided government policies.

Image: Jui-Chung YAO, Sanjhih Township, Taipei County, Taiwan (detail), 2008 from “Beyond Humanity”

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