10 Questions with LIU ENTUNG

LIU ENTUNG was born in 1995 in Taipei, Taiwan. As an interdisciplinary artist, ENTUNG’s works explore the intersection of multiple fields: visual art, performance, and technology with various methods like paintings, photography, performances, installations, videos, and sounds. She received a BFA in Multimedia Art at Taipei National University of the Arts in 2018 and a MPS in Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University in 2022.

LIU was one of the ten winners of the BBA 2022 photography prize by BBA Gallery and a selected artist for the Vision of Future NFT art collection by Saatchi Art. Her works have been exhibited at La Galerie du Génie de la Bastille in Paris, France (2022), Arena Berlin during Berlin Photo Week in Berlin, Germany (2022), The Other Art Fair in Los Angeles (2022), and The East Village Art Collection in New York (2022). LIU has performed at Treasure Hill Artist Village (2020), Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts (2019), and Fuzhong15 Animation and Story Gallery (2019) in Taipei, Taiwan. Her upcoming event is <Die Digitale Dusseldorf> in Germany. Currently, she is living in NYC and shooting the series <Too Bright To Be Painful>.

liuentung.com | @liu_entung

ARTIST STATEMENT

ENTUNG's work is a transparent mirror, which reveals the absurd moments of daily life, and its reflection overlays the invisible issues under the new technology fantasy. Her creative process often begins with observing and feeling, and then she will build an intensive connection between the body and space. With both visual art and performance background, LIU cares about how body gestures influence the angle of eyesight and how it affects people's awareness.

Besides one-person performances, she is also exploring participatory theater. The artist believes 'Daily life is a theater, and the theater is life.' Participation is a compelling method to unfold static social structure and reimage the existing world. Through her art practice, LIU hopes to show the relationships between identification, technology, nature, and life through her works.

I Am Where I Am - Week 5-1, Performance Art, Photograph, Digital File, 2021 © LIU ENTUNG

INTERVIEW

First of all, introduce yourself to our readers. What is your background, and how did you start getting involved with art?

Hi! My name is ENTUNG LIU. I was born in Taipei and currently reside in New York. My work focuses on the intersection of visual art, performance art, and technology. I obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Multimedia Art from Taipei National University of the Arts and a Master of Professional Studies in Interactive Telecommunications Program from New York University.
As a child, I enjoyed reading manga novels belonging to my father. Even if the content was difficult to comprehend, I thoroughly appreciated the black-and-white line world. My earliest desire to produce something was as a manga artist. As I grew older, I took dance classes with the Could Gate Dance Company, and from my junior to senior year of high school, I focused on classical paintings in Art Talent Class. Despite the repetition of the training, I appreciated the small friction felt when a pencil hits paper.
The pivotal moment occurred during college. When I became familiar with contemporary art theories, my art practice shifted from being materials-driven to concept-driven. I began to explore performance art, photography, video, and installations, as well as new media art. I spent most of my time after college learning Butoh Dance, performing, and preparing to study overseas. I picked ITP, a program that mixes art and technology, for my master's degree because it fostered the development of interdisciplinary projects.

You work across different disciplines and have a background in performance and visual art. How did this dual background help you shape the artist you are today?

Diverse disciplines and media are similar to different languages that can communicate the same concept but look, sound, and feel distinct. This may produce conflicts, as the focus of the two areas may differ in some instances, but it helps me identify the boundary. When exhibiting a picture in a theater or performing a set of dance movements in a museum, many reflective moments will occur. I enjoy overcoming limitations and drawing inspiration from them.
However, I generally believe that the fundamental concepts of all art categories are comparable and interchangeable. I can be a performer who is concerned with metaphors, visual presentation, and show documentation. I can also be a visual artist who is conscious of sensory sensations, bodily motions, and audience interactions. My participation in the ITP program broadened my perspective. I met individuals from all backgrounds, but we were still able to talk, interact, and learn from one another. As an artist, my first priority is always the idea, which is the goal, and the second step is the method.

A Daily Theater #4, Performance Art, Photograph, Digital File, 2022 © LIU ENTUNG
Daily life is a theater, and everything can be performative. According to the idea, <A Daily Theater> aims to blur the boundary between reality and performance. In <A Daily Theater>, the artist replaces performers, lines, and settings with participants, instructions, and a subway station in real life. The performance invites participants to explore Lafayette Avenue Station in Brooklyn, and they receive instructions via mobile phones during the process. There are three acts/stages in the performance, and its duration is around 60 minutes.
Stage 1 - Strangers: Participants arrive at the station and start to explore the space. They are strangers to commuters, other participants, and the site.
Stage 2 - Janitors: Participants receive instructions that lead them to leave the platform with mops, and they follow the instructions to clean the floor like a group of janitors. At the end of Stage 2, participants will have a partner from the opposite platform.
Stage 3 - Imitators: Participants turn back to the platform while imitating their partners' movements until they leave the station.
The architecture of Lafayette Avenue Station is symmetric, and there is a long hallway between Manhattan-bound and Brooklyn-bound platforms. The structure is like a mirror, and travelers who come from different directions are one another's reflections. Also, how people perceive the world is highly related to specific angles they are at, so the artist hopes to make participants aware of the angle shifting physically by adding some movements, which include laying down, facing walls, and imitating partners, into the instructions. As a hustle and bustle city, New York subway stations are usually transitions rather than destinations. However, <A Daily Theater> aims to be a pause note in daily life, and participants will be more sensitive to the static society and come up with new imaginations of the world after this brief stay.

A Daily Theater #6, Performance Art, Photograph, Digital File, 2022 © LIU ENTUNG

What key experiences, both personal and artistic, had a long-lasting influence on your practice?

When I was a child with memories, the world seemed odd and silly, and I could not comprehend the actions of grownups. I could act like a good student and meet others' expectations, but I always felt like I was wearing a mask. The outside world was a theater, and I was an actor. The only genuine moments occurred when I confronted pure, blank white paper. On the night of my eighteenth birthday, I slept on the grass of a tourist site instead of returning home. The location was bustling with people during the day, but terribly quiet and empty at night; upon seeing the dark sky, I felt the curtain was finally dropping.
According to the experience, I realized that my life was an immersive drama, and I tried to capture the real moments through art. Ironically, performance art became a way for me to remove my mask, and the absurd and unusual behaviors were a way to oppose the stagnant environment. I hope that my art can show the darkness of society, much like a theater's backstage, and allow people to identify the line between real life and drama. Although Plato may believe that artists attempt to create illusions via their artwork, I believe that the world itself is an illusion. Through my artwork, I intend to expose the truth and poke fun at the world of disguises.

You define your work as a transparent mirror. Could you elaborate more on this concept?

According to my conception, "Transparent" implies that the contemporary world's geography, environment, and challenges are seen through art. "Mirror" indicates the viewer's identity. "Transparent" and "Mirror" appear to be two contrasting concepts. One is traversing, while the other is reflecting. I intended to create an impossible scenario so that people would reconsider this notion. It is a magic trick, and the secret is that the viewer's perspective alternates.
If the audience stops at a particular point, they can only see one of two things: the objects behind the mirror or their reflections. However, if they continue to move, they will notice that two outcomes are always occurring, and the brains of the viewers will automatically generate the illusion that combines the two outcomes. Similar to the concept of animation, the motion is created using several still images. In the case of the transparent mirror, however, observers must move independently. I hope that my work can reveal unknown landscapes from a variety of perspectives and that individuals can relate the art to their own experiences. In the end, my work will be a catalyst that pushes individuals to reflect, interact, and make adjustments.

You are currently in New York City to work on the series Too Bright To Be Painful. For this series, you explore parks around the series and analyze their colors. How is the city helping you in developing this work?

The iconic New York City postcards typically depict street scenes with buildings, cars, and pedestrians, which is exactly my initial impression of the city. Since I moved here, however, my perspective shifted from that of a visitor to that of a local, and I began to recognize the significance of the city's parks. People like to spend their leisure time relaxing and recharging there because they have the opposite mood to the street scenes. Even though New York is known for its urban lifestyle, the government spends money and makes attempts to preserve the natural environment. However, when we examine park boundaries on a map, it becomes apparent that the parks were created artificially, much like zoos.
In Too Bright To Be Painful, I attempted to convey minor balances between the city and parks, artificiality and nature, and technology and physical sensitivity. I use an iPad to indicate invisible animals in parks, synchronizing the flashing speeds with the average pulse rates of various species. The concept of life becomes a series of numbers, and the weight of life disappears. Due to the close proximity of the filming locations to parks, some of the videos feature people and street sounds as background noise. This is the current scenario we face. To live better, humans need technology and natural habitats, but how to balance them? The world prioritizes the former and neglects the latter, therefore I hope that through my effort, future park visitors will keep environmental concerns in mind.

On the contrary, your previous work, I Am Where I Am, analyzed the impact technology has on our lives, especially concerning our dependency on screens during a global pandemic. Do you find a relation or a continuation between those two series?

Two series explore people's connections with screens, but I Am Where I Am discloses invisible concerns behind screens, whereas Too Bright to Be Painful depicts views in front of screens. The information on the screen of I Am Where I Am is the artist's head, whereas Too Bright To Be Playful consists of flashing colors. They are metaphors for identity loss. The artist lost her identity on the social networking site, and the animals in the city lost theirs.
I had greater influence over "I Am Where I Am" because the filming location was my apartment. I infused the work with several personal experiences and predetermined the themes and situations. Yet, for Too Bright to Be Painful, the external environment had a significant impact on the process, so I spent the majority of my time exploring locations and awaiting favorable weather conditions. In I Am Where I Am, viewers are like observers who examine a person's life and ask questions. The questions are constantly present, but individuals forget about them when remaining in the circumstance. In Too Bright To Be Painful, however, I am the observer searching for animal traces, and viewers become puzzle solvers. Understanding the task requires more steps and effort, and the enjoyable aspect is the thought process rather than the end result. If "I Am Where I Am" is the reflection on your dark screen, "Too Bright to Be Painful" will be the scenery you view when you put down your device.

Too Bright To Be Painful - #FF0000-2, Performance Art, Photograph, Digital File, 2021 © LIU ENTUNG
<Too Bright To Be Painful> started with a question: Could the body sensibility be represented on a bright and smooth screen? To explore the question, the artist chose twelve overly bright colors, which could only exist on digital monitors, and displayed them on an IPad. She then explored the parks in New York City with the IPad. According to the hex color code, the difference in numerical value between each color was equal. But due to the characteristic of light, the color sequence created a unique rhythm in the visual. The colors on the screen were flickering, and it implied the heartbeat rate of different animals.
LIU maintained stable gestures in <Too Bright To Be Painful>, which looked relaxing and comfortable, but it took a lot of effort to keep still. The process became a question to viewers: Can you feel a photo or video even when lying on a bed? How painless can it be to consume information from the Internet and your mobile phones? In this work, the natural scenes were not a background, yet the artist empowered the neglected environments and invisible creatures. They were quiet and small as the body feelings we lost after browsing through bulk information, and the artist hoped to bring them back to the horizon.

Too Bright To Be Painful - #FF0000-2, Performance Art, Photograph, Digital File, 2021 © LIU ENTUNG

Speaking of the global pandemic, how has it impacted your work? Do you find that the changes it brought, for example, the growing number of online opportunities for artists, had a significant impact on your work and its promotion?

In 2020, during the peak of the pandemic, I moved to New York and attended online classes. During that time, everything was new to me: the environment, the people, the lessons, and the screen, which had a sudden impact on my life. I spoke with classmates and teachers via screens and was only able to recognize their heads. I created the I Am Where I Am series because I spent most of my time in the apartment, holding the screen while eating, on the bed, or even in the bathroom, as outdoor activities were risky. Interestingly, remote working became a benefit rather than a drawback, and despite the decline of the pandemic, people continue to rely on screens.
In terms of online opportunities, I do think they have increased. I've also taken part in online performances, exhibitions, and interviews. I believe that virtual and physical content have distinct characteristics: The former can be easy to consume and simply shared with worldwide audiences. The latter can display more details and textures in the space environment. Due to digital cameras, fast internet, and social platforms, artwork digitalization is already a common idea before the epidemic, but it is undoubtedly an accelerator for the overall art industry. Currently, digital documentation is the norm, therefore the question may be, why record? I believe that both virtual and real presentations have potential and individuality, and it is enjoyable to experiment with both. I am also interested in technological advancements and our future interactions with art.

You are currently working on a new series. Do you have any exhibitions planned in the near future?

In November, works from the series I Am Where I Am will participate in a group exhibition. The curator is the Berlin, Germany-based BBA Gallery. Check it out if you are in Germany! I will continue to add new dates, venues, and events to my Instagram. Take care not to miss out!

I Am Where I Am - Week6-2, Performance Art, Photograph, Digital File, 2021 © LIU ENTUNG
<I Am Where I Am> is a series of performative actions with staged photographs and videos made in 2021. The work questions the definition of a person’s existence in the new media era and shows how people heavily rely on technology, especially during a severe pandemic. The artist shot the whole series within her house and uploaded it on Instagram weekly. Each week had a topic related to an aspect of daily life like food, bathroom, and sleeping..., and the process lasted for sixteen weeks.
The screen is a crucial metaphor in work. People use it to receive and send data every day, and it is hard to live without it. The screen becomes a distorted window to observe others and a filtered mirror to reflect on oneself. To imply the loss of identity on the social platform, LIU replaces her head with the pictures on screens, and it creates surreal illusions that question the truth behind the digital utopia. <I Am Where I Am> aims to reveal the issues like consumerism to the body, the controls of the algorithm, and the blurry boundary between real life and the digital world.

How about other series or performances? Do you have any exciting news to share with our readers?

In May 2022, I created my first participatory site-specific performance titled A Daily Theater. Everyday life is a stage, and everything can be performed. The concept of "A Daily Theater" is to blur the line between reality and performance. In A Daily Theater, I substitute participants, directions, and an actual subway station for actors, lines, and scenery. The performance asks participants to explore the Lafayette Avenue Station in Brooklyn while receiving directions on their mobile phones. The show consists of three acts/stages and lasts approximately 60 minutes.
The construction of Lafayette Avenue Station is symmetrical, and between the Manhattan-bound and Brooklyn-bound platforms is a lengthy corridor. The building resembles a mirror, and travelers coming from various directions are reflections of one another. In addition, a person's perception of the environment is strongly influenced by the angle at which they are viewing it. Therefore, I intend to make participants physically aware of the angle shift by instructing them to lie down, face walls, and imitate their partners. As New York is a bustling metropolis, subway stops are typically transitions rather than destinations. However, A Daily Theater seeks to be a halt to daily life; after this brief stay, participants will be more alert to the stagnant society and generate new worldviews.

And lastly, what do you hope the future holds for us?

As a pessimistic optimist, I enjoy imagining the worst-case scenarios and convincing myself that everything will improve. It sounds naive and impracticable to say that tomorrow will be better, yet I expect the future to be better. I feel that if we address a problem now, it will be less of an issue tomorrow. The future is the accumulation of countless today, and today is the only day on which we can make decisions. Consequently, I will continue to uncover contemporary topics of vital importance and distribute my work as an invitation to the world backstage.

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