TAIPEI, Taiwan — Two small lightbulbs hang from five feet of wire, blinking in and out in time with human breath. Magnets fixed to the bulbs draw them together or force them apart at random, echoing the shifting ties between people — or communities.
“I was inspired when I drove by the bridge outside and saw Treasure Hill,” Taiwanese artist Jia-Jhen Syu, whose installation was included in the larger project “The Third Memorial,” shown at the artist residency in April and May, told Hyperallergic.
Set in a small wooded area along the banks of the Xindian River in Taipei City, the Treasure Hill Artist Village began as a settlement founded by retreating soldiers in the 1940s. The former anti-aircraft base and later squatter community has gone through several transformations over the decades. Since 2010, it has taken on its current identity as a kind of “living history,” where descendants of the original residents live alongside artists in residence.
Artist Jia-Jhen Syu standing beside a sculpture he made from used soap at Treasure Hill in April
“Each household has its own story,” Yi-Chen Bai, who was born in Treasure Hill to a Kuomintang foot soldier, said to Hyperallergic. Bai’s father came from China’s Hubei province and was part of the losing side of the Chinese Civil War, which ended with the communist takeover of the Republic of China government and its retreat to Taiwan in 1949.
Some of the Republic soldiers settled in Treasure Hill, which the government regarded as a temporary military camp. Officials initially tried to stop the troops from bringing their families or constructing more permanent buildings on the site, but those efforts did not succeed.
