Exhibitionist—Chen Jun-Yu solo exhibition

Artist｜ Chen Jun-Yu

Duration｜2025.01.08(Wed.)-02.23(Sun.)

Opening｜2025.01.12(Sun.) 15:00

Forum｜2025.01.12(Sun.) 15:30

Guest｜ Shen Bo-Cheng

▛ Exhibition Statement ▜

My journey in performance art began when I was 19 years old. Almost ten years have passed since then. Over the course of this decade, I have worn countless costumes and taken on various roles through my performances. Starting with nude performances, I gradually layered more and more clothing over time. Yet, paradoxically, the more I wore, the more naked I felt. These costumes, remnants of past performances, now sit scattered in corners of my home—some hanging prominently on walls, others gathering dust. The more I look at them, the more I see myself in them—my very own "Emperor's New Clothes."

In this solo exhibition, I aim to revisit and explore fragments of my past through archives, documents, and ephemeral moments. I attempt to process and articulate the times when I wore these "clothes"—moments where roles concealed yet simultaneously exposed me.

In 2020, a friend proposed creating a documentary centered on me. Nearly five years have passed since filming began, during which the director's lens has captured a spectrum of my life's moments. For this exhibition, I requested all the raw, unedited footage from the director and began piecing together fragments of my past from my own perspective. In this process of confronting myself, I found that I resembled a tailor—constantly weaving my own "Emperor's New Clothes."

This is a garment that, once worn, reveals utter nakedness. This sense of exposure echoes my understanding of performance art over the years—“to place oneself in a position of complete vulnerability, where nothing can be hidden.” True to the English title, Exhibitionist, this exhibition seeks to present an unvarnished, bare essence.

In my daily life, I seem different from the performance artist Chen Jun-Yu. The Chen Jun-Yu outside of art appears less angry, more gentle. Through weaving this "Emperor's New Clothes," I hope to merge the different facets of myself into one garment. This, then, is the goal and vision of my solo exhibition, as well as the final challenge I have set for myself before completing my master's degree.

主辦單位｜絕對空間

展覽補助｜臺南市政府文化局

空間營運補助｜國藝會