Siao-Pai, 1999

Hong Kong 2016
Siao-Pai

Chi-Wen Gallery

Video/Film
Single-channel Video, Colour, Sound, Dog Cage, Monitor, DVD Player, 30min 51sec
0
Siao-Pai is a sub-project of Peng’s Eyeball Displacement Project launched in 1999. The widespread usage of surveillance camera at that time attracted his attention, due to the fact that they can be used in the space where a human body cannot reach. Such a quality forms a solid visual foundation for non-anthropocentric ethics. Siao-Pai is a video sculpture developed from a documentary film. The artist installed a surveillance camera on the stray dog Siao-Pai saved by his aunt. The camera recorded what the dog saw in its living surroundings and the exhibition venue. Then the documentary is screened in a loop on the TV installed in a stainless cage. The image sways with the dog’s movement, from which we witness the mutual affections between the pet and its owner as well as the adventure in the urban jungle that is different from the quotidian existence of human beings.

Peng Hung-Chih (b.1969) currently lives and works in Taipei and Beijing. The work of Peng Hung-Chih spans installation, video, painting and sculpture, incorporating elements of art, religion and humanity as a way to explore contemporary culture and reflect upon history. In his early works, dogs are the recurring themes and play a crucial role in the conceptualizations of a spiritual world. In the series of works entitled Canine Monk, Peng’s dog literally steps in the artist’s place as the creator, writing texts from religious scriptures on the wall. The most trusted companion of human beings is elevated to a performing subject, therefore replacing its human counterpart. Using different mediums and unique subjects to convey various artistic concepts, Peng forms an artistic style imbued with personal aesthetic properties. Peng has also participated in major international group shows such as the 2nd Fukuoka Triennale, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan (2002), the 10th International Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul (2007), In Between - Asian Video Art Weekend, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2008) and Moving Image in China 1988 - 2011, Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai (2011).