Chia-Ling Kuo
Past Artist In Residence
2007

Chia-Ling Kuo is a video artist who constantly observes body actions. The artist states that the body can speak for us in an awkward moment when the words just will not come. The body is private, because we cannot share the experience of living in someone else’s skin. Others cannot feel one’s pain; it is only felt by the one inflicted. Images of bodies in motion present in her art are samples of common action. During her residency at 18th Street Art Center (2007), she explored inter-cultural communication through use of language and the body. The main point of all this observational footage is this: although errors in spoken conversation do occur, the original intention can be revealed in the details of the “behavior transcript” of the actors’ body language. For the video piece “Eat,” (2006) she collaborated with Lai Pei to create a double channel video. Two screens show two women eating a bowl of noodles with chopsticks, side-by-side. “A Mind of Skin Touch,” (2005) is a double channel video setting for performance: one screen is a close-up of the back of knees, and the other is blurred footage of the elbows of passersby. This piece tangibly conveys the experience of walking through a crowded place. A recent piece, “Red Lip,” (2006) served as the video setting for live performance, and shows the artist’s mouth pronouncing words close up.