“Refresh, Sacrifice, New Hygiene, Infection, Clean, Robot, Air, Housekeeping, www.agentbong.com, Cigarette, Dyson, Modern People” (2017) is a new commission by Taiwanese conceptual artist Chou Yu-Cheng (b. 1976). A graduate from l’École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, and the research programme La Seine, Chou has gained international recognition for his dialectical interplay between the source and results of his creations.

Through sculpture, performance and recital, this installation conceptually and formally explores the modern evolution of hygiene, offering the audience a multi-layered interpretation. A raised stage is dotted by a cluster of mammoth tableware sculptures linked to an app that serves as a platform for cleaning services. On stage, a mechanical cleaning robot playfully hovers across the stage suggesting a ‘division of labor’ between human and machines, while another actor poetically recites a product description in front of the modern sculptures, the totality of which creates a theatre of daily life.

In so doing Chou creates a sculptural nod to the app ‘Agentbong’ – a reservation platform for cleaning services – a reference that is heightened by the presence of a mechanical cleaning robot that playfully hovers across the stage. Through this juxtaposition Chou suggests a ‘division of labour’ between human and machines. Further referencing the relationship between man and mechanics is a performer, who presented as a salesperson, recites a poem – the prose, however, is a product description that has been wittily rewritten by a poet. 

Ultimately, “Refresh, Sacrifice, New Hygiene, Infection, Clean, Robot, Air, Housekeeping, www.agentbong.com, Cigarette, Dyson, Modern People” (2017) presents a total theatricality of daily life. In a pointed yet aesthetic and entertaining manner, Chou examines the underlying operations of daily systems and the communications between private and public spheres. How the relations between domesticity and corporations are shifting, how ritual and traditions are replaced, altered, perhaps even rendered redundant. As the title of the work suggests, Chou points to an element of cyclicality or a new wave, a fresh set of dynamics that can be observed within the most private and mundane of quarters, ones which ultimately serve as portals for situating our positions in contemporary life.

Chou Yu-Cheng is a highly acclaimed artist who lives and works in Taipei. Recent solo shows include Edouard Malingue Gallery, Shanghai; Taipei Fine Art Museum, Taipei; Kaohsiung Fine Art Museum, Kaohsiung; Kuandu Museum, Taipei; Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, Colorado. Group exhibitions include Arko Art Center, Seoul; Asian Art Biennial, Taiwan; Queens Museum, NY; Taipei Biennial, Taipei; Mücsarnok Museum, Budapest; China National Convention Center, Beijing; Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei. Chou held a residency at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien (2016) as well as the Chinese Centre for Contemporary Art (CFCCA), Manchester in 2013 and received the Taipei Art Award, Taiwan in 2012 as well as the Taishin Annual Visual Art Award, Taiwan in 2011. Chou’s work is held in multiple museum collections including the Hong-Gah Museum, Taiwan and CFCCA, UK.