A Hatched Dream

空間絕對
2024年7月5日
讀畢需時 4 分鐘

Curator｜TSAI Ping-Ju, LI Kuei-Pi

Artists｜Center of Contemporary Art-Tbilisi, Lim Sokchanlina, Mukaddas Mijit, Uisenma Borchu, CHEN Chun-Yu, LU Wei

Date｜2023.11.15 (Wed.) - 2023.12.24 (Sun.)

Opening｜2023.11.25 (Sat.) 15 : 00

Guest ｜2023.11.25 (Sat.) 15 : 30

Curatorial Statement

A Hatched Dream

The title of the exhibition "Hatching Dream" is taken from the "Eagle-backed Dog" (鷹背狗) in Compendium of Material Medica (本草綱目): in “Division of Animals．Livestock．Dog” (本草綱目．獸部．畜類．狗), it is recorded that “the eagle-backed dog is found in Liaodong. It is said that the eagle laid three eggs, from which one hatched a hawk, one an eagle, and another one a dog. It is unheard that a beast was born from a bird’s egg and raised by the bird.” Born from the eagle’s egg, “the dog is no different from other dogs. Its back and tail are covered in feathers. It follows the shadow of its mother, and never misses a prey.” The “Division of Birds． Woodland Birds．Hawk” (本草綱目．禽部．林禽類．鵰) also quotes An Embassy to the West (西域記) by Liu Yu (劉郁), and states that “the spotted eagle laid three eggs, and from one of them a dog hatched with short, gray fur, and looks just like normal dogs. However, its back and tail are covered with feathers. It follows the shadow of its mother, and never misses a prey. It is called eagle-backed dog.” In “Annals of Emperor Muzong” (遼史．穆宗本紀) of History of Liao (遼史), it is recorded that the politician Yelv Talie (耶律撻烈) found a dog in an eagle’s nest, and presented the dog to Yelv Jing (耶律璟, Emperor Muzong) as a gift. In the past, the territory of the Liao dynasty (also known as the Khitan Empire) included Mongolia and also parts of China. The ancient Turkish text translated by Robert Dankoff, a professor and historian of the Ottoman Empire at the University of Chicago, mentions a canine breed called “Baraq”. According to the text, the last two eggs laid by the vulture, one hatched a chick, and the other into a dog.

According to the archives left over from the 10th century to the present day, this mammal creature, which defies biology but is born in an egg shell, is like a mythical creature that continues to appear in the fables (also allegories) of Central Asia and East Asia. The modern life model transplanted from the West, coupled with the development of local nationalism and the new world formed by globalized business networks, make it possible to re-create the connection with the hometown and rebuild the local living space. Tradition means security and the past (comfortable) way of living, but this does not mean that people stop looking forwar to return to the past/tradition; People relocate for many reasons, with economic incentive being the main driving force behind them moving away from their homeland.

With the monopoly of capital, the country uses resources more efficiently and accelerates the transformation of labor force to obtain profits. A new form of nationalist discourse will also be born from this process: a system in which labor value and individuals become more closely connected become a tool to consolidate the stable development of the regime. In 2018, the "Human Community of Destiny" was officially incorporated into the Chinese Constitution. China has also cited this concept extensively in the transnational economic cooperation projects they lead, such as the Belt and Road Initiative. However, with the implementation of a huge number of infrastructure projects, various doubts have also been raised, which has triggered intensive discussions in recent years.

In fact, we cannot easily terminate or break away from the capitalist structure, nor can we stop the collusion between capitalism and the regime and move forward hand in hand. The law of supply and demand in economics means that the opportunity cost of crony capitalism working together is likely to be much lower than insisting on pursuing certain strategies or rashly joining an unfamiliar market. The integration of democracy and capitalism is not easy. On the contrary, the combination of authoritarian/authoritarian regimes and capitalism seemingly can maximize the utility of labor and production processes. This will be a multiple-choice question that the current world must deal with, if it is not a yes-or-no question.

The exhibition is constructed by curators and artists with extensive on-the-ground field research, as well as many artists an groups who currently inhabit in areas that are deeply affected by projects from the BRI. Borrowing the story of the eagled-born dog as the title of the exhibition, allegory as our methodology/common grounds regenerates the imaginative relics from past imperial history which collectively woven by ethnic groups still moving between hallucination. This process re-condenses and amplifies the noise caused by the displacement of these regional plates due to the progress of the BRI, shockingly colliding the world system.