Madeleine Moment: The Technology of Memory and Sentiment Part II

▍Madeleine Moment: The Technology of Memory and Sentiment Exhibition Series

After the opening of Madeleine Moment: The Technology of Memory and Sentiment Part I: Huang Po-Chih solo exhibition—Seven People Crossing the Sea at TheCube Project Space, the curatorial team will present part II in the series at the Vital Space in Taichung. The Live Forever Foundation and TheCube Project Space co-organize the exhibition Madeleine Moment: The Technology of Memory and Sentiment Part II (hereafter referred to as Madeleine Moment Pt. II), presenting artists: Tarek Atoui (Beirut), Chiu Ming-Chin, Jao Chia-En, Lee Kit (Hong Kong), and Heidi Voet (Brussels).

It is scheduled to be on view from 3 July to 29 Oct 2023. A talk event is going to accompany this exhibition in mid-September, at Vital Space. (detail information TBA.)

Madeleine Moment: The Technology of Memory and Sentiment is a research-based curatorial project that TheCube Project Space has undertaken since 2022. Madeleine Moment proceeds in three phases over a two-year period. The first phase comprised a series of thematic forums with a star-studded lineup of lecturers who outlined multi-dimensional thinking approaches from different perspectives such as medicine, philosophy, humanities, arts, and history of technology. At the end of 2022, TheCube staged the four-day Sonic Shaman—TheCube Forum Music Festival underpinned by performance and sound experiences. Launched in 2023, the third phase presents an eponymous international exhibition featuring nine artists from Taiwan and abroad.

▍Curatorial Statement

The title and the conception of Madeleine Moment make a direct allusion to À la recherche du temps perdu, a masterpiece of stream of consciousness by Marcel Proust. In this novel, the taste of a madeleine dipped in black tea evokes not only the protagonist’s deep awareness but also his memories and sentiments that do not emerge through rational “recalling” in his daily life. Based on this story, psychologists had already coined the term “Proust Moment” or “Proust Effect” to describe the process of such involuntary evocation of memories and sentiments. It is noteworthy that the fashionableness of the shell-shaped cake had much to do with the prevalence of metal baking molds and the growing popularity of cookbooks in Europe (roughly between the 18th and 19th centuries). The theme and the conception of Madeleine Moment appropriate the “Proust Moment” and shift the focus from the literal aspect of a perceiving subject back onto the “media (objects)” that evoke memories and sentiments.

Therefore, Madeleine Moment seeks to penetrate into the “Proust Effect,” insofar as to reveal that the implantation and representation of memories, as well as the emergence and transmission of sentiments are bound up with the hidden “invokum/operations of perception.” It is probably thanks to the collective empathy developed through the madeleine that the famous plot in À la recherche du temps perdu has many resonances for the readers in different places and times. From the perspective of medium/technology, the intermediary of “mold-based baking” and “printing” affords the rapid and massive production of this dessert in similar shape and taste wherever it is, which makes it a source of power for “perceptual transmission” in the modern world. It on the one hand creates private experiences for individuals, and on the other hand forges collective cognition about things for a generation. Recognizable though, the role of medium/technology therein is often concealed and ignored. Treating this thread of thinking as the point of departure, Madeleine Moment explores the technology and the politics of the construction of contemporary perception and identity.

▍About Artists

Tarek Atoui

Pulses in 11, 2020, Commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation. Courtesy of the artist. Photo by Omar Rasheed.

Lives and works in Paris, France.

Tarek Atoui is an artist and composer born in Beirut. His work stems from performance and looks into how sound can be perceived with sensory organs other than the ear, how sound acts as a catalyst for human interaction, and how it relates to social, historical, or spatial parameters. The point of departure for his works is usually extensive anthropological, ethnological, musicological, or technical research, which results in the realization of instruments, listening rooms, performances, or workshops. 

Atoui has presented his work internationally at the Sharjah Biennial in the United Arab Emirates (2009 and 2013); dOCUMENTA 13 in Kassel, Germany (2012); the 8th Berlin Biennial (2014); Tate Modern, London (2016); CCA NTU, Singapore (2017); Garage Moscow (2018); the 58th International Art Exhibition of la Biennale di Venezia (2019), the Okayama Art Summit 2019, The Sharjah Art Foundation (2020), The Fridericianum (2020), Pinault Collection (2021), Tabakalera (2021), The Austin Contemporary, Flag Art Foundation, Serralves Foundation, and Mudam (2022).  He was appointed co-artistic director of STEIM studios in 2007 and of the Bergen Assembly, a triennial for contemporary art in Norway in 2016. He is the recipient of the Suzanne Deal Booth / FLAG Art Foundation Prize 2020. 

Lives and works in Tainan.

Born in Tainan in 1963, Chiu Ming-Chin is a phonograph restoration specialist who used to be in charge of the maintenance and repair of radar systems at the Air Tactical Control Wing. He is now running Roy’s Café in Yongkang District, Tainan, where he shares his large collection of phonographs and shellac records with the public. Around 20 years ago, he serendipitously bought a 78rpm record, which prompted him to begin a self-teaching process of antique phonograph restoration in order to play this record. Over the past six years, Chiu developed a technique for reproducing shellac discs and recording music on them, which made him one of the few experts who master this technique in the world, and thereby attracted many music aficionados from home and abroad (e.g., Japan and the United States) to learn from or collaborate with him. In addition to delivering lectures in music-related departments, he often holds workshops at his own Café, teaching the technique of reproducing 78rpm shellac records.

A Topper, 2021, Courtesy of the artist. Photo credit: Clemens Radauer.

Lives and works in Taiwan.

The Taiwanese artist Jao Chia-En was born in 1976. He received a BA degree from the Taipei National University of the Arts in 2000 and then moved to Paris, where he studied in the École Nationale Supérieur des Beaux-Arts from 2001 and earned Dipôme National Supérieur d’Arts Plastiques in 2004. After one year he moved to London and started the MFA in Fine Art at Goldsmiths College, graduating in 2007. Since then, he has participated in numbered exhibitions including New Work UK: Trust Yourself (London, 2007), The Future Can Wait (London, 2007, 2008), Multiple Intimacy (Istanbul, 2007), Calypso (Bilbao, 2008), Perpetuum Mobile (London, 2008), Dwelling place (Tapei, 2008), Taiwanpics.doc (Paris, 2009), You Are The Horse I Would Never Ride (Tapei, 2009), Taipei Biennal (Taipei, 2010), Taiwan calling – Phantom of Liberty (Budapest 2010), etc.

Jao Chia-En’s practice is a set of experiments that deal with the issues of identity, borders, shared experience, and the power relationship between different aesthetic and political regimes. In his works, he often juxtaposes heterogeneous elements in order to form critical positions which cut off from rigid social structure to question the value system constructed by individuals, societies, and histories.

Drowned Out by Inhaling, 2023, Courtesy of the artist

Born in 1978 in Hong Kong, Lee Kit lives and works in Taiwan.

Recent solo exhibitions include Hong-gah Museum, Taipei, Taiwan (2023), Kuandu Museum of Art, Taipei, Taiwan (2022), West, Den Haag, the Netherland (2021), Art Sonje Centre, Seoul, Korea (2019), Hara Museum, Tokyo, Japan (2018), Casa Masaccio, San Giovanni Valdarno, Italy (2018), OCAT, Shenzhen, China (2018), TheCube Project Space, Taipei, Taiwan (2017), S.M.A.K., Ghent, Belgium (2016); Walker Art Centre, Minneapolis, U.S.A. (2016), Shiseido Gallery, Tokyo (2015), and the 55th Venice Biennale, Italy (2013), Shanghai Minsheng Museum of Art (2012), Western Front, Vancouver, Canada (2011), Para/Site, Hong Kong (2007), among others.

Group shows include Kunstverein in Hamburg, Germany (2021); Lyon Biennial, France (2019); Honolulu Biennial, Hawaii (2019); Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France (2017); Kathmandu Triennale, Nepal (2017); National Gallery in Prague, Czech Republic (2016); Sharjah Biennial, UAE (2015); Ural Industrial Biennial, Yekaterinburg, Russia (2015); Staatliche Kunsthalle, Baden-Baden, Germany (2014); Bonnefanten Museum, Maastrich, Netherlands (2014); Rockbund Museum, Shanghai, China (2013); MoMA, New York, U.S.A. (2012); New Museum, New York, U.S.A. (2012), among others.

Heidi Voet

Unconscious as We Cross (Endless House), 2019-ongoing, Courtesy of the artist.

Lives and works in Taipei and Brussels.

The multidisciplinary practice of Heidi Voet is concerned with the place of an individual in contemporary societies, and locating this within cultural, historical, and universal narratives. The interconnectivity of these elements is evoked in her practice through the use of everyday objects which are placed in large-scale installations, sculptures, and performances, creating links between the singular object or individual, and larger entities.

Informed by her transcultural experience of both residing in Europe and Asia, mass-produced objects are remade, copied, or crafted, as a way to convey the distribution of cultural legacies, value systems, and time. With a humorous and playful approach, Heidi Voet builds layered images which expose the properties of today’s material culture while challenging fixed systems of power embedded within.

Heidi Voet had recent solo exhibitions in BANK Shanghai (CN, 2012), Project Fulfill Art Space Taipei (TW, 2020); Sint-Lukas gallery Brussels (B, 2018). She participated in group exhibitions as Beaufort21 Triennale (B, 2021); Unfolding: Fabric of our Life, CHAT, Center for Heritage, Art and Textile Hong Kong (HK, 2019); PLAY, Kortrijk (B, 2018); How Beautiful it is and easily it can be broken, S.M.A.K. Ghent (B, 2017); Why not ask again? 11th Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai (CN, 2016); The Morality Reflex, CAC Center for Contemporary Art Vilnius (LT, 2016); and Un-Scene, Wiels Brussels (B, 2008)

▍About the Live Forever Foundation

Founded in 2012, the Live Forever Foundation is dedicated to the promotion of sustainable ecology, cross-age exchange, as well as arts and humanities. It has regularly organized various events such as lectures, exhibitions, and charity sponsorships that are expected to clearly communicate the missions of the foundation, namely protecting lives on the earth, raising ecological awareness, and cultivating artistic aesthetics. Via the praxis and perpetuation of the foundation’s philosophy, we have endeavored to expand aesthetic and ecological inquiries in contemporary society, deepen philosophical cogitations on contemporary issues, and encourage meaningful dialogues between contemporary generations. Treating the foundation as the main axis, we are actively engaging the sectors of industry, academia, and art in the cause of establishing a humanistic style of creative aesthetics with concerted efforts.

▍About TheCube Project Space

TheCube Project Space is an independent art space dedicated to the research, production, and presentation of contemporary art. Since its opening in April 2010, TheCube has carried out a wide range of programs from curatorial projects and public forums to screenings and performances in addition to international and interdisciplinary collaborations.

TheCube’s objective is fourfold: to explore local culture in depth; to connect people from diverse backgrounds; to forge long-term relationships with cultural practitioners; and to promote cultural exchange between Taiwan and the international community. Up till 2022, TheCube has organized more than fifty exhibitions and presented research on sound cultures in the form of publications, archival websites, and online radio. It is one of the few independent art spaces in Taipei capable of organizing quality international exhibitions and events on a non-profit basis.