Life and Death
During her residency period, she will research the Taiwanese funerary paper sculpture culture, and the relationship between the burning ceremony and the values of society. Her work will draw the lines between inspiration, heaven or hell. The “unknown gifts” project will ask for participators to share their memories or feelings about death, and imagine a gift for themselves if they die. It is about a wish, a place and an illusion of the unknown world. It shows another viewpoint of living and dying. This project is in collaboration with artist Christian Nicolay who will be responding to the sculptural work through sound.
The “unknown gifts” project asked for participators to share their memories or feelings about death, and imagine a gift for themselves if they die, based from the Funerary Paper burning traditions in Taiwan. Ya-chu Kang made these gifts into paper sculptures and presented as an installation using video projections. Christian Nicolay responded to the installation by composing a 19 minute and 25 second soundtrack of what he thought the installation and concept sounded like. His use of consonance and dissonance, melody and chaotic patterns unify the concept to reflect the known and unknown qualities of life and death. All of the sounds are original and were made during the artists Residency Period at Taipei Artists Village in Taipei Taiwan, October 1 to Nov 12, 2010.
Collaboration with Christian Nicolay