Taiwanese: Vessels of Dialogue

2024-Ongoing
Porcelain, Clay, Glazes, Underglaze, Paper, Ash, Raw Lacquer

Supported by the Finnish Cultural Foundation (2026), this exhibition presents an ongoing artistic research project that explores Taiwanese identity, political tension, and the fragility of language through ceramics, moving image, sound, and participatory practices. At the centre of the work is the Anping pot, a traditional vessel that functions as a metaphorical organ of memory. Rather than storing language, it digests, transforms, and reconstitutes it into ceramic surfaces through ash, glaze, and fire.

During participatory exhibitions in 2024–2025 at Aalto University, viewers were invited to write anonymous reflections on identity, belonging, and cross-strait relations. These notes were scanned, layered onto ceramic surfaces, burned into ash, and absorbed into the glaze. What once existed as language survives as stains, cracks, and material traces. The vessels become layered “walls” carrying personal memories, silenced voices, and fragile political dialogues.

The exhibition is conceived as an evolving structure that develops through each presentation. While its core format remains consistent, each iteration accumulates new audience contributions and adapts to its specific spatial and social context. Two upcoming exhibitions are scheduled at Myymälä2 in Helsinki in March 2027 and B-Galleria in Turku in September 2027.

Taiwanese I 2024
Participatory Exhibition
Aalto University

The <Taiwanese I> (2024) exhibition invited audiences to watch a short film and write anonymous reflections on Taiwan–China relations, history, and identity. The handwritten notes are placed in the vessel, becoming part of a collective work in which individual voices begin to merge. Participants were given three types of Taiwanese handmade paper for writing. Each paper carried different textures and fibres, influencing how it interacted with the ceramic process and shaping the three material pathways.

Visitor’s notes (2024)

Transformation

Photos documenting the process of burning, glazing, and inscription, where audience notes are transformed into ceramic surfaces.

Three views of the final vessel, showing layered surfaces from different angles.

Taiwanese II2025
Final Exhibition
Aalto University