Cyano-Collage 064, 2019

The panoramic Cyano-Collage 064 is part of a series of paper works by Taiwanese artist Wu Chi-Tsung. The cyanotype process was invented in the 19th century as a simple way to create blueprints, duplicating engineering drawings – and it was also one of the first ways of creating photographic images. Chi-Tsung employs his own invented process of manipulating light sensitive cyanotype paper to create scenes of jagged mountain peaks that draw the viewer into an imaginary landscape of sublime power. The crushed cyanpaper is exposed to light, then flattened, developed, and the image fixed. In Chi-Tsung’s work, the Prussian blue image subverts the romantic era embrace of the landscape, placing us undeniably in a contemporary context. While it appears at first that these works are reappraisals of Chinese literati painting, what we see in fact is his contemporary interpretation of a traditional practice, bringing to mind the incongruous worlds of early modern industry and natural phenomena.

Access the Audio Guide by Magalí Arriola.

Wu Chi-Tsung (born 1981 in Taipei) received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Taipei National University of the Arts in 2004. He received the top prize of the Taipei Arts Award (2003), was short-listed for the Artes Mundi (2006), received the WRO Media Art Biennale – Award of Critics and Editors of Art Magazines (2013), and was short-listed for the Prudential Eye Awards (2015). He lives and works in Taipei and Berlin.