Language is a Virus

hen Yin-Ju & James T. Hong, Hsu Che-Yu, Nathan Pohio, Shannon Te Ao,
and Teng Chao-Ming.

You know? I don't believe there's such
a thing as TV. I mean –
They just keep showing you
The same pictures over and over.
And when they talk they just make sounds
That more or less synch up
With their lips.
That's what I think!

(Laurie Anderson, Language is a Virus [From Outer Space], 1986)

The significance of a narrative is not only what is shared through its contents, but what it reveals about the writer and reader, or the orator and listener. Both the storyteller and audience are culturally determined to craft a narrative's meaning through its form; for all stories are motivated by shared values built into language and custom. ‘Language is a Virus’ presents the practices of five artists who employ and explore techniques of repetition and iteration to exploit slippages in narrative structures and forms, especially in relation to electronic communication technologies.

The notion that “Language is a virus” comes from William S. Burroughs’ Nova Trilogy of novels (1961 - 68) and his essay The Electronic Revolution (1970). In these works Burroughs explores the idea that our written methods of communication contain an embedded linguistic code that influences the way in which we interact, thereby affecting the creation and reification of power relations. Burroughs believed that the only way to disrupt this system was through the 'cut-up' – a method of linguistic collage-like juxtaposition which could re-vitalise the revolutionary potential of words. It is at the nexus of contemporary identity formation and alternative, often subversive, modes of storytelling that the framework for this exhibition exists.

The exhibition is itself an iteration – a cut-up – of a previous exhibition: ‘These Stories Began Before We Arrived’, co-curated with Charlotte Huddleston and Bruce E.Phillips, which took place in Taipei in February 2015. The generative position of ‘These Stories…’ was the shared Austronesian heritage of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Taiwan via language and genealogical descent, and included artists who examined the post-colonial development of these island-based identities. This iteration at the Ilam Campus Gallery draws on these themes and includes three of the original artists: Nathan Pohio, Shannon Te Ao, and Teng Chao-Ming and invites two new Taiwanese artists, Chen Yin-Ju and Hsu Che-Yu in what is hoped to be an ongoing and evolving exchange.

I would like to acknowledge the Asia New Zealand Foundation and Creative New Zealand for their initial support of the 2014 Curator Tour which lead to the opportunity to exhibit in Taipei, as well as The New Zealand Commerce and Industry Office in Taipei who were integral in realising ‘These Stories Began Before We Arrived’. I would also like to acknowledge co-curators Charlotte Huddleston and Bruce E. Phillips who have continued to contribute and support the development of this project.