Lee Tzu-Tung (Chinese: 李紫彤) is a Taiwanese artist and director who focuses on political issues such as gender, Indigenous rights, the White Terror, and national identity. Her creative works are primarily multimedia-based participatory art projects.[1]

Lee Tzu-Tung
Lee Tzu-Tung
Born
NationalityTaiwan
Alma materMassachusetts Institute of Technology

School of Art Institute of Chicago

National Taiwan University
Occupation(s)Artist, Director
Notable workWave, #GhostKeepers, Writing the Time Lag, Positive Coin, Forkonomy( )
Websitewww.tzutung.com

Biography

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Early career

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During her university years, Lee Tzu Tung collaborated with friends to create "Embrace," which won the First Prize in the 2010 National Taiwan University Film Festival.[2] One of the filming locations was the NTU Building affectionately known as "Dong Dong Guan" (literally, Hole Hole Hall). They captured this artistic film in conjunction with the building's demolition project at the time.

2013 - 2019

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In 2018, sponsored by the Ministry of Culture of Taiwan and in collaboration with the Taipei Cultural Center in New York and Residency Unlimited (RU), Lee Tzu-Tung and Liu Ren-Kai were selected as resident artists for the "2018 Residency Program at Residency Unlimited (RU)." They embarked on a four-month artistic journey in New York, culminating in the presentation of their creative work, "The Impossibility of Form," in September 2018.[3][4][5] The exhibition piece, "#GhostKeepers", is a participatory art that invites individuals to share the underrepresented stories of people who passed away due to political violence. It then gathers a group of "Ghostkeepers"—a group of writers from various corners of the world to create social media avatars of these “ghosts”, simulating the digital resurrection of the spirits. #Ghostkeepers intends to experiment with the process to foster cross-generational, cross-culture empathy.[6][7][8]

The experimental ethnography, "Writing the Time Lag," is a feature film that was initiated in 2014. It was exhibited at MOCA Taipei[9][10] in 2019 and at the Anthropology and the Arts Network (ANTART) at the University of Lisbon in 2020.[11] The film explores issues related the intersection between Indigenous, gender and national identity. During this period, the artist served in various political groups such as the Formosan Association for Public Affairs,[12] New Power Party, Democratic Progressive Party to closely observing their political events. The film also embarked on various artistic experiments. This included challenging gender norms in the film industry, with the entire crew of "Writing the Time Lag" being women or queer. Furthermore, it adopted a participatory filmmaking approach where the interviewees themselves were involved as filmmakers.[13][14]

In 2019, Lee Tzu Tung created a transactional art piece "Positive Coin," which aimed to challenge the AIDS stigma. It analogizes the circulation of disease with currency trading. As “Positive” refers to HIV positive, and how HIV-positive people can bring positive meaning to the disease, the Positive Coin monetary system is designed to promote AIDS identity, and reflect the national disease control and surveillance system. The project also included with an art auction using Positive Coin, while all proceeds were donated to AIDS-related NGOs, including the Persons with HIV/AIDS Rights Advocacy Association of Taiwan (PRAA), Taiwan HivStory Association, and Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline (LGBTQ+) Association.[15]

2019 - Present

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In 2020, Lee Tzu Tung started a project called "Forkonomy()" with Hong Kong artist Winnie Soon. It began as a contract workshop at Taiwan’s C-LAB, in which artists brought together policymakers, scholars, marine life conservators, cultural workers, artists, and activists to consider one question: “How do we buy, own, and mint one milliliter of the South China Sea?” and draft an ownership contract together.[16] The workshop participants then decided that one milliliter of the South China Sea should be co-owned with the set price of 1.61 TWD (New Taiwan Dollars)/ml. As part of the association, each participant agreed to take ecological and economic responsibility for the South China Sea collectively and cooperatively. The project also employs free and open-source software and decentralized protocols.[17]

References

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  1. ^ "Desire Politics X Digital Skin – An interview with Cheang Shulea". Archived from the original on 2020-01-08. Retrieved 2019-03-31.
  2. ^ Lee Ming Tsung (2010). "On the way to cue. - Lee Tzu Tung and Her Partners". Cue. Movie & Lifestyle Magazine (2): 70–75.
  3. ^ "Winners of 2018 Residency Unlimited Grant in NYC".
  4. ^ "Joint art show to feature Taiwan artists serving residency in NYC".
  5. ^ "The Impossibility of Form | artistsallianceinc". Archived from the original on 2020-01-18. Retrieved 2019-03-31.
  6. ^ "Relocating Divinity". Archived from the original on 2023-03-21. Retrieved 2023-11-06.
  7. ^ "Lee Tzu-Tung Artworks 2013-2018". Archived from the original on 2020-09-27. Retrieved 2019-03-31.
  8. ^ Digital Arts. ""From the Gender Politics Images to Digital Souls: A Discussion with Lee Tzu Tung on the Origins of the Work "#Ghostkeepers" and her 'Participatory Video' | Taiwanese Digital Art"". Digital Art. Retrieved 2023-11-06.
  9. ^ "「Why did you come to Taiwan?」Explores Taiwan Through the Eyes of Strangers". Archived from the original on 2021-01-20. Retrieved 2021-02-11.
  10. ^ "God, gold and glory - Taipei Times". www.taipeitimes.com. 2019-08-07. Retrieved 2023-11-06.
  11. ^ "ANTART |LisbonUniversity". Archived from the original on 2021-01-23. Retrieved 2021-02-11.
  12. ^ "Formosan Association for Public Affairs Illinois 2016 Annual Meeting". The Chicago Chinese News. 2016-11-03. Archived from the original on 2019-03-31. Retrieved 2019-03-31.
  13. ^ "Writing the Time Lag (2018), Lee Tzu-Tung". Archived from the original on 2020-09-27. Retrieved 2019-03-31.
  14. ^ Huang, Jin-In (2022-10-26). "【Landscape Talk 2】"Striving for a Distorted Voice": Landscapes Narrated by A Yao and Queer Reflections in "Writing the Time Lag"". ARTouch.com (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Retrieved 2023-11-06.
  15. ^ "New Artistic Exchange Experience "Positive Coin" Offers Support to People Living with HIV/AIDS". ETtoday News. 2019-11-02. Archived from the original on 2021-02-13. Retrieved 2021-02-10.
  16. ^ Zhang, Alice Yuan (2023-03-08). "Sea Change". Outland. Retrieved 2023-11-06.
  17. ^ "How to buy/own/mint one milliliter of the ocean from the South China Sea | ACM Interactions". interactions.acm.org. Retrieved 2023-11-06.
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