She Says, Her Story: Q&A with Curator Yu-Chuan TSENG

Artist, curator, and academic, Yu-Chuan TSENG is a pioneer digital artist who has been pondering the status of human existence in the digital age since 1998. She is currently the Professor of the Department of Public Relations and Advertising, Shih Hsin University and Chairperson of the Taiwan Information Design, Art, Technology, Education Association. Many significant media art exhibitions have featured her works, including the Taipei Fine Art Museum, the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, ACM MM 2006 – Art Gallery of LASALLE-SIA, Singapore, DOX, Center for Contemporary Art in Prague in the Czech Republic, TAAC Tribeca/ E.Tay/R Gallery in NYC, ICA Gallery 1 in Singapore, as well as important net art exhibitions such as Digital Vision 2005 in the Java Museum and Mobile Image Capture in the New Century. 

She Says, Her Story is on view at Hillyer from November 5 – December 19, 2021.

Your professional career encompasses digital culture, gender studies, and curation. What led you to pursue a career as a digital artist and how does that work inform your role as curator?

In 1992, I went to NYU and took the course “computer art.” It was my first time to learn about art and technology. At that time, there were 3D images and interactive films shown in the Guggenheim Museum and Galleries.

I am very surprised by the vision and concept. After I came back to Taiwan in 1996, I worked in the Internet Company as an UX designer for website and CD titles. I learned that digital and internet technology will affect our lives. Around 1998, I began my career as a digital artist. And in 2002, I enrolled in the Ph.D. program to learn more about digital art. After I got my Ph.D. degree, professor Pey Chwen LIN asked me to be one of the curators in the exhibition Taiwan Digital Art Center. (Professor Pey Chwen LIN is a well-known digital artist who won the 2019 Florence Biennale “New Media Art Category” First Prize.) At that time, there were few curators who focused on the digital art. In 2013, as the chairperson of Taiwan Women’s Art Association, I began to do women’s subjects in curation.

Prior to Her Story, you curated an exhibition titled Being Here as Me which also featured women artists from Taiwan. How is Her Story similar and/or different from Being Here?

Being Here as Me was more focused on how the female artists built up their identity through artistic creation. How do female artists establish their own subjectivity through creation in various life matters and daily house works? They observe the relationship between themselves and their living environment, as well as gender identity issues. Her Story is about female gaze. Also, there are many male artists who discuss their relationship with father, mother, and gay companion, and they got invited to show in Museum. But, there are many female artists who discuss their relationship with mother, grandmother, father, and lesbian companion, however few of them got invited to show in Museum.

The partnership between International Arts and Artists was integral to making the exhibition possible. What is your relationship with TECRO and how did you get involved?

In 2018 David Furchgott, IA&A’s President, came to Taipei at the invitation of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of China (Taiwan).  He brought Dr. Jack Rasmussen, the director and curator of the American University Museum at the Katzan Arts Center, with him.  Their official tour  was arranged to visit many museums, art centers, and galleries. The exhibition was organized by Taipei Art District (TAD). Its members are mainly Dazhi and Neihu area galleries. We had a great talk. After they came back to DC, Jack provided me with the opportunity to curate the exhibition Being Here as Me in the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center. And then David also provided me with the opportunity to curate the exhibition She Says, Her Story. Taiwan Academy plays a great role as a bridge to contact, coordinate, and communicate to make the exhibition happen successfully.

You’ve had an impressive career as a curator and digital artist. What are your plans for the future?

I will continue my career as a curator and digital artist. We have many outstanding digital artists and female artists. Their works discuss the issues of Taiwanese society, geography, society, and life, as well as environmental issues, digital surveillance, and digital capitalism. I wish that I have more opportunities to present Taiwanese artists to the world. Also my work discusses the state of existence and consciousness of people in the digital environment. I will continue the subject to explore the themes of digital existence, especially in the so-called Metaverse era.

To learn more about Yu-Chuan TSENG, visit her website.