Title: Stateless People
Performance Duration: 15 minutes
Location: Sensor Studio, New Taipei City, Taiwan
Year: 2025
Description:
A stateless person (without land) enters wearing shell headphones and a barrier cord/life vest, paddling in a washbasin.
Upon reaching a designated spot, they tap shell castanets in rhythm, giving the appearance of a joyful musical performance, though it is actually a form of begging.
They open shells that have been made into coin purses as souvenirs, show them to the audience, and lick the nonexistent flesh inside.
The removed life vest transforms into a snake draped over the shoulders, displayed for tourists to photograph.
They take out a red cloth, some colored paper, and printed flags of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain, Vietnam, Cambodia, Taiwan, China, and unknown countries, then make the chosen flags with the audience onto the red cloth.
Through the headphones says: “The wave is coming!”
They pull the entire arrangement of symbols off in one gesture.
They tear a strip of red cloth to make a belt, cut adhesive pain-relief patches and write “AA”, and paste them on the breasts.
The “A” is then transformed into the symbol of Anarchy—changing from “adultery” into “anarchy.”
They step back into the basin, wave a large flag, and shout.
Audience are asked to push them toward a temporary parking sign (marked “Do Not” is covered), marking the end of the performance.
This work was created for the “Voice of Rolling Tides” contemporary video and new media art exhibition in Taiwan, after exhibiting in Spain. It reflects on the complexities of ethnic identity, concepts of nationhood, and the conflict between Spain and Catalonia, Taiwan and China, through the deconstruction and reconstruction of symbols. I recall the first time I began to understand the meaning of countries and passports: over ten years ago, I witnessed refugees on Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia, leaving an indelible impression. These refugees, exiled since the Vietnam War, have lived for generations on the water, without land or nationality. Beyond fishing, they survive by entertaining tourists or begging. Many very young children paddle small vessels alone, displaying amphibious creatures in the lake for tourists to photograph. I will never forget the snake on one child’s shoulders, which seemed to serve as his only life vest while drifting on the vast waters. Compared to people with nations, his situation appeared closer to the snakes, turtles, and crocodiles of the lake. This performance is an attempt to make the conditions of refugees visible.
Symbolic Transformations in the Work:
- Using a red cloth, a washbasin, and rope found on-site, the work overlays the refugees of Tonle Sap Lake in post-Vietnam Cambodia with the snake goddesses of Crete (Minoan civilization), Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, and Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People.
- Audience choose and creates existing or imaginary flags, which are then suddenly overturned.
- The “A” on the covered nipple is changed into the symbol of Anarchy, transforming the female body from being disciplined and policed under “adultery” into “anarchy.”
- Audience are asked to push the performer to a temporary parking sign, marked “Do Not Park at All Times,” where they “park” to conclude the piece.
The title of this piece is borrowed from the 2005 book, A Man Without a Country, by Kurt Vonnegut.
Video by Yen-Chiao Huang, Jia-Ling Chung
Photo by Nelson In
作品名稱: 沒有國家的人
行為長度:15分鐘
地點:掀牆工作室，新北市，台灣
年代:2025
內容簡述:
沒有國家(土地)的人戴著貝殼耳機穿著圍繩／救生衣划著澡盆出場
到定點，拍殼響板節奏，好像歡樂的音樂表演其實是乞食
打開已被做成零錢包賣給觀光客的殼給大家看，舔一下裡面不存在的肉
脫下的救生衣變成肩上的蛇展示給觀光客拍照
拿出紅布、色紙、與印有加泰隆尼亞、巴塞隆納、西班牙、越南、柬埔寨、台灣、中國，以及？等國旗，隨機和現場人選擇剪排在紅布上
聽耳機說：浪來了！
一扯把剛剛排的符號全都甩掉
撕一條紅布當腰帶
剪酸痛貼布畫AA貼乳房上
再將A改成Anarchy(無政府主義)的符號
從adultery變成anarchy
走進盆子揮舞大旗吶喊
請現場的人將我推去臨時停車(禁止被遮住)的牌子結束
這件作品，是受“Vioce of Rolling Tides”台灣當代錄影帶與新媒體藝術西班牙返國特展邀約所創作的行為。思考人們在西班牙與加泰隆尼亞、台灣與中國間的民族認同、國家概念、和真實生活的困境，對符號進行拆解與重構。我回憶初次稍微具體明白國家和護照意義的經驗:十幾年前我在柬埔寨目睹洞里薩湖上的難民，留下至今難以抹滅的印象。該湖上的難民是越戰後流亡至今，世代生活在水上、沒有土地、沒有國籍的一群人。除了捕魚外，靠娛樂觀光客和乞討維生。有很多年紀很小的孩子一個人划著可以乘坐的任何容器展示著湖裡的兩棲類供觀光客拍照。我永遠記得那條孩子肩上的蛇好像是他漂流汪洋之上唯一的救生衣，那時他的處境比起跟有國家的人對照之下，跟湖上的蛇、龜、鱷魚似乎還更相近。我藉這個發表的機會也讓難民的處境被看見。
作品中的符號轉換與象徵：
1.藉由操弄一張紅布與臉盆，加上現場找到的圍繩，將越戰後在柬埔寨境內洞里薩湖上的難民與克里特（邁諾安）文明的「蛇女神」、Sandro Botticelli的「維納斯的誕生」、Eugène Delacroix的「自由引導人民」重疊。
2.讓在場的人選擇與製作現有或想像的國旗，然後突然就全部推翻
3.將遮蔽的乳房上的Ａ改成Anarchy的符號，從禁錮規訓女體的紅字adultery(姦淫)變成anarchy(無政府主義)
4.請現場的人將我推到有(禁止被遮蔽)因此我決定可以臨時停車的標誌處停泊
這件作品命名來自馮內果2005年出版的小說《A Man Without a Country》
影片拍攝: 黃彥超、鍾佳陵
平面拍攝: 應學堂
