Department of Cultural Affairs

In response to the impactful waves and hidden currents of #MeToo, the Interested Persons exhibition has been meticulously crafted over a half-year period to delve into the profound insights offered by this movement. The exhibition posits that, since no one remains unaffected by societal events, everyone is an “interested person”, emphasizing our interconnectedness and shared experiences. Within the complex web of relationships, the exhibition uncovers the profound effects of power dynamics, exploring, responding to, and seeking to redress these imbalances through three core themes.

[Exploration]

Guiding viewers to explore their bodies and emotions to establish autonomy and recognize the traces of oppressive power 

Chun-Yuan Hung’s (洪鈞元) “Reconciliation” (和解) presents portraits of interested persons, delving into their presence in front of the camera as a form of resistance and contemplating how the gaze of lenses serves as a form of advocacy and depiction.

The “A Letter to Daughter” team, led by Jun-honn Kao (高俊宏), collaborated to create “A Letter to Daughter” (給女兒的一封信), exploring Taiwan’s #MeToo-related events and responses and analyzing their power dynamics. Simultaneously, they examine how people of different generations can discuss such sensitive issues.

Val Lee’s (李奧森) “Sudden Disappearance of Context” (突然消失的情境) adopts a transparent visual vocabulary to directly address power extremes, presenting scenarios such as the military-industrial complex under the U.S.–Mexico geopolitical relationship, collusion between police and local forces with impunity, border problems, and misogyny.

[Response]

Offering a simulated safe space where participants can experiment with and assess the effectiveness of various potential responses

TransA PLAY’s (跨藝) “Self Amusement Park” (賽爾弗遊樂園) provides a range of games that simulate different life scenarios, spanning explorations of the body and external interactions, defending against sexual violence, and recognizing and reversing power dynamics.

Xiang Ni’s (倪祥) “Work Stoppage” (停工) grants humor a special authority, putting the high and mighty on pause, and allowing the justice anticipated by the #MeToo movement— manifesting through ostracism, cancelling, snubbing, and low ratings—a chance to pause and catch its breath.

[Repair]

We aim to heal ourselves and others, seeking training and support to improve our physical, mental, and environmental well-being for future generations

Hsin-Ning Tsou (鄒欣寧) and Jun-Honn Kao’s (高俊宏) “Your Tree Ally” (你的樹盟友) seeks partners to become each other’s “significant others,” fostering a deeper connection with trees, nurturing empathy, and expanding communication spaces, allowing unspoken thoughts to gradually find voice.

The Women’s Self-Representatives collective (女性自我代表團), led by Chien-Chung Liao (廖建忠), collaboratively created the space work “Everyday Learning Cinema” (日常學 電影院). Drawing inspiration from the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the collective focuses on disadvantaged women and women of different ages, marital status, and education levels. This cinema is filled with collective memories from daily life, showcases curated films, engages in practices such as participant appearances, spatial ideation, film selection, viewing, discussion, visual storytelling, seeing and being seen, and meticulously identifying power dynamics.

Through these efforts, the Interested Persons exhibition creates meaningful contexts, embraces opportunities, reimagines individual and societal roles, and fosters empathy for all interested persons

▍Interested Persons

Duration: June 1–September 8

Location: Main Exhibition Areas 1, second floor, MOCA Taipei (Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei)