Huang Hsin-chien: The Inheritance

The Cornell University Johnson Museum of Art is currently hosting the exhibition, "Huang Hsin-chien: The Inheritance". This exhibition was curated by An-yi Pan, associate professor in the Department of the History of Art and Visual Studies at Cornell, assisted by Ellen Avril, chief curator and curator of Asian art at the Johnson Museum. Major support for the exhibition is provided by the Ministry of Culture, Republic of China (Taiwan).

Huang Hsin-chien’s installation combines everyday objects with real-time video and virtual stereoscopic computer-generated animation to explore memory, dreams, and what lies beneath the surface of consciousness. In a space configured to evoke an interrogation room, visitors will find a display of four objects that once belonged to Huang’s father and that trigger childhood memories of the artist’s past, resonating in the present through his own relationship with his young son. Through these rather mundane objects and seemingly innocuous experiences Huang explores the cross-generational perspective and deep emotional impact of simultaneously being both father and son.

Visitors are invited to investigate the objects and their history from the vantage point of an interrogator. When wearing 3-D glasses, one can see the objects organically evolve in surprising ways that hover between reality and the virtual, decay and rebirth, memory and imagination.

Huang Hsin-chien earned degrees in art and design in the U.S. before becoming an art director for video game companies such as Sony and Sega. He has also been a frequent collaborator with artist Laurie Anderson on projects such as her Puppet Motel. After returning to Taiwan in 2001 he founded Storynest, a studio where he integrates digital technology with traditional art practice. Huang currently teaches in the graduate program of digital content and technologies at National Chengchi University’s College of Communication. His interactive work Shall We Dance, Shanghai? was featured in the Johnson Museum’s 2014 exhibition Jie (Boundaries): Contemporary Art from Taiwan.