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Wu Mali

Taiwan

旗津本事: 旗津的帝國滋味 (Cijin Pún-Su: Cijin’s Taste of Empires), 2022

Singapore Biennale 2022 Commission

旗津本事: 旗津的帝國滋味 (Cijin Pún-Sū: Cijin’s Taste of Empires) is a field study and performative project presented as a film. The project showcases the stories of Cijin residents who immigrated to the Cijin District over time and from different cities and countries. The Cijin District is a predominantly coastal district of Kaohsiung City in Taiwan and covers several islands including the Cijin island and the islands in the South China Sea. The stories of the residents are gathered through interviews, interpreted and then performed by Wu Mali’s graduate students at her Cijin Kitchen, a kitchen space of a former navy dormitory located in Cijin District of Kaohsiung City. Food is the central focus of the project, and through its preparation and consumption, these stories are embodied and shared. Community regeneration and cultural transmission are thus intertwined with artistic performance and social practice within the project.

BIO
Wu Mali
(b. 1957) is a socially engaged Taiwanese curator, installation and conceptual artist. She is a professor at the Graduate Institute of Transdisciplinary Art at the National Kaohsiung Normal University (NKNU). Focusing on the quotidian act of food consumption, Wu utilises cooking, eating, tasting and sharing as heuristic tools to examine processes of social change brought about by colonialism, Cold War and globalisation. Her art has moved away from their origins in formal aesthetics, to look for connections between art and society. The artist treats her art-making process as a form of social critique, typically situating her work within existing social movements and collaborating with existing organisations. She currently lives and works in Kaohsiung.



RESOURCES

Educational Resource | Artist Folio



INFORMATION

  • 旗津本事: 旗津的帝國滋味 (Cijin Pún-Su: Cijin’s Taste of Empires). 2022. Video, single channel, sound, 18 min.

Wu Mali ’s Programmes & Events

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NUS Student Exchange Programme to Kaohsiung, Taiwan
NUS Student Exchange Programme to Kaohsiung, Taiwan
  • Wu Mali

As part of SB2022 Artist Wu Mali's work, five selected Art History students from the National University of Singapore (NUS) participated in a one-week immersion at Cijin Island, Kaohsiung, in Taiwan. The exchange between NUS students and Wu's students from National Kaohsiung Normal University will cumulate in a one-day public programme titled What is Taste? in Singapore on food & migration.

Practice TuckshopMon, 2 Jan 2023 - 12:00 am
What is Taste? by Wu Mali
What is Taste? by Wu Mali
  • Wu Mali

What is taste? Behind each bite is a complex and flavourful story.

 

More than just the sensory experience of what is sweet, sour, bitter, salty and spicy, or an expression of personal, cultural or ethnic preferences, taste reveals the nature of the places, customs, beliefs, and even social and economic structures that contribute to its manifestation.

When people move across lands and seas - as a consequence of wars, globalisation or for survival - their tastes and preferences travel with them to these new and distant places. By preserving gastronomic traditions and customs, immigrants retain a connection to their hometowns. At the same time, one could then say that in savouring these migrated cuisines one partakes of another’s expression of homesickness!

 

Popiah is a dish that can be found across different cultural settings. Can we tell where you are from by your tastebuds? Come take a bite and discover with us. Join us in exploring the histories and travels of this dish that is common amongst us, and share with us your own recipes and stories.

Practice TuckshopSat, 14 Jan 2023 - 03:00 pm