“When Can We Have the Ability to Produce our Very First Domestic Car on Our
Own? “
︎ 2015
︎ installation, furm, documentary
︎ Relationship Studio
︎ Tamsui, Taiwan
This work is a part of “Relationship Studio Project”,
co-worker Chiang Ming-Chun, introduction write by LI Kuei-Pi.
“Made in Taiwan?” has become mere a classical teasing line in the old movie Fatal Attraction since Taiwan played no longer the role as “a world factory”. More and more Taiwan firms has been moving to South-East Asia for cheaper labor, which in turn forcing part of Taiwanese manufacturing laborers to be faced with the unemployment problem.
Within this project, I had an interview with one of those technicians losing their jobs due to the offshoring. His oral history has helped me backtrack the cultural identity problem embedded within Taiwan’s self-position as a OEM industry country. The question that “When can we have the ability to produce our very first domestic car on our own?” is to address a truth which this technician has realized after all these years of working for Taiwan’s manufacturing industy. He was enlighted by a television commercial and realized: “high-end technology is always under the hold of developed countries” and that Taiwan firms only have the manufacturing competence for the OEM tasks. The question also alludes to the situation developing countries are faced that their cultures have long come off as an OEM firm for the developed countries.
Eventually this technician managed to startup a workshop, providing technical assistance to artists by applying his own manufacturing experience. At the exhibition in name of this project, I’ve invited this technician to share his personal working history; at same time, his working profiles and the miniature of his workshop were on display at the exhibition site.
excerpt from former partner Li Kuei-Pi’s website.
