The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Taipei established “MOCA Video” to extend its exhibition to public space outside the museum in order to promote the creation and appreciation of video art. In addition to accepting applications from Taiwanese and international artists and curators, the museum also curates and presents themed MOCA Video exhibitions ever so often. The exhibition venues include the large outdoor LED Wall with interactive device on the museum plaza and the R9 TV corridor in the underground street of MRT Zhongshan Station. The two venues have formed a platform for Taiwanese and international artists to publish their creative ideas, through which contemporary media art and video aesthetics are showcased. Together, they serve as an annual, non-stop visual feast from MOCA, Taipei.
Ma Chao entered the exhibition with his work The Image of Virtuality. In order to present the details of his work, the R9 TV corridor at MRT Zhongshan Station will also showcase images of his work divided in five sections and synchronously displayed on five televisions. These images are like cell slices under a microscope, allowing the public to appreciate the work up-close as these images gradually transform from abstract elements into animated forms.
Wassily Kandinsky’s abstract painting, Colourful Ensemble, is the starting point of the creation of The Image of Virtuality. This work uses modern technology to represent the aesthetics of traditional painting, and explores the relationship between abstract painting and digital video through the concept of redesign. The artist hopes to create a dialogue with the master through this approach and to discover how abstract art could emit a new force of life in the digital era. In the world constructed through The Image of Virtuality, one sees how the infiniteness of life is emphasized.
The title, The Image of Virtuality, refers to the appearance of nothingness. It seems a contradictory theme to depict the appearance of nothingness since not it should not possess any. However, even nothingness might be something that is alive, which is the idea this work aims to convey. Through this attempt of a new way of thinking, it is hoped that more imagination is infused into traditional painting, providing different perspectives to understand the work so that traditional painting could convey artists’ understanding and ideas while retaining its characteristics. ----- Ma Chao