The relationship between body and space in the urban architectural environment is central to my art composition. Each space has its own unique texture and feel. These include superficial details such as temperature, humidity, and insolation duration.
However, in the visceral layers there exist less readily visible qualities. These include cultural context, architectural style, and a building’s functional purpose. Surrounded by all these conditions, how do bodies interact with these spaces? How does the body feel and live in this urban environment? With these questions in mind, I developed film and photo work with dancers and with performance artists. Through their bodies and their movements, I transformed my observations of their connection between body and space into visual artwork.
As I live and work predominantly in east Asian cities, an essential part of my pieces reflects sightings amidst residences, the living conditions of the urban sprawl, and frenetic movement in these environs. In pursuit of the art, I have continued this exploratory journey by immersing myself into completely different social and urban settings to enrich the perspective of each successive piece. Part of these photos is taken during my art residency in Germany and in United State.
My research starts from the physical details of the selected location: the materials used, the various structures and the style of buildings, from the exterior to the interior. In these spaces, there must be special conditions influencing people’s feelings, behaviors and senses. For example, how are people supposed to move and talk within these neighborhoods? How do our bodies adjust to the atmosphere? From there, I then explore the unique character of each space to find the connection between the individual and the urban environment and to discuss the topic of body, urban and space with a deeper perspective.
About Wei Chang
Wei is a photographer and filmmaker based in Taipei, Taiwan. She works in collaboration with dancers and performance artists. Her essential art practice focus on the connection between body, movement and architectures. Her photographic work has been awarded and published in France and Germany. She is also specialized in dance film, an hybrid art genre of dance and moving image. Her screendance work has been screened in numerous dance film festivals in Belgium, France, Mexico and Hong Kong. Also, she is awarded of the Crossing Borders research grants of Robert Bosch Stiftung, which will support her to photograph the public entertainment architectures in former GDR region in 2021. [Official Website]
