Atmospheres of Influence/ Hyperpolyglots – Jiali, Taiwan
Ismael de Anda III – Hyperpolyglots
As an exchange with the Los Angeles based artist collective, Durden and Ray, Soulangh Cultural Park presents Atmospheres of Influence by Ismael de Anda III and Valerie Wilcox.
De Anda’s mixed-media installation, Hyperpolyglots, utilizes a range of painted wall silhouettes, signifying the shadowy marking and passage of time, as a consideration of Tainan’s 400-year history. His designs incorporate painted written phrases in multiple languages that have been used throughout Tainan’s history, including Taiwanese, Mandarin, Japanese, Dutch, and Spanish, that are also written in reverse and upside down, to explore how the evolution of regional languages and translations combine and shift as they shape the understanding, communication, and local identity within a community. De Anda also uses painted silhouettes of local icons such as the Sword Lion of Anping, Milkfish Boy, Koxinga, the Phoenix, as well as projected mutant shadows, cast onto the walls, emanating from rotating spot-lit sculptures, utilizing juxtaposed local souvenir statuettes.
Structures in Time, chopstick sculpture by Valerie Wilcox on the left
Structures in Time II, illuminated papier-mâché sculpture by Valerie Wilcox on the left
