‘What is in the Name?’ with Aparupa, Larissa & Lucia Postcard Stand Installation & Interview Collages Audio
2023 Group Exhibition EXCHANGING PROTECTION Transcultural Collaboration Program Share Campus C-Lab Taipei-Taiwan
An Orchid is not just a flower but a projection of layers of claims, imagination, and violence within and through time. Defined by a name, by categorization, by narratives, it becomes a symbol for things it may not have given its consent to. Name-giving is an act of claiming. Not only regarding objects, plants, and living beings but also regarding geographical territories. The act of name-giving often reflects forceful assimilation, imposition of authority and dominion, and erasure of intrinsic identity for the import of a new one.
“What’s in my Name?” looks at the process of how the Orchid was named, classified, and categorized and its evolution into a symbol for an island of the people, originally called Pongso No Tao, now officially carrying the name of the Orchid - Lanyu / Orchid Island. Since the orchid was named and categorized it was also being held in the greenhouse, where logics of protection unfolded. Furthermore, the careful dissection of the process of naming within this work deals with narrations that try to stabilize and protect implemented systems of power.
Conceived by Aparupa Saha, Anh Phuong, Larissa Platz, and Lucia Salomé Gränicher this work contains two components - a postcard stand with postcards, and an audio piece playing a collage of interviewed voices talking about the flower, the island, and the naming of both. The postcard stands as the visual element is symbolic of an outside view, a fragmented tourist gaze upon a place while the audio piece through its raw conversational character gives an inside glimpse into the complex Taiwanese identity.
Document by lovely Tings, Aparupa and me.
See more
“What’s in my Name?” looks at the process of how the Orchid was named, classified, and categorized and its evolution into a symbol for an island of the people, originally called Pongso No Tao, now officially carrying the name of the Orchid - Lanyu / Orchid Island. Since the orchid was named and categorized it was also being held in the greenhouse, where logics of protection unfolded. Furthermore, the careful dissection of the process of naming within this work deals with narrations that try to stabilize and protect implemented systems of power.
Conceived by Aparupa Saha, Anh Phuong, Larissa Platz, and Lucia Salomé Gränicher this work contains two components - a postcard stand with postcards, and an audio piece playing a collage of interviewed voices talking about the flower, the island, and the naming of both. The postcard stands as the visual element is symbolic of an outside view, a fragmented tourist gaze upon a place while the audio piece through its raw conversational character gives an inside glimpse into the complex Taiwanese identity.
Document by lovely Tings, Aparupa and me.
See more
The working methods chosen involved research, listening to people's voices, and a careful rearrangement of the many fragmented narratives related to Orchids and the Orchid Island. The group learned how to peel back layers of narratives to connect with a subject matter and present it with a bouquet of different facets while being aware of the unreachability of grasping the whole picture and thus making this exact contradiction the core of the artwork itself.
The Postcard Stand
The Interview Audio
My sincere appreciation to the amazing people from the group
Larissa Platz, studying curatorial practices, at Zürcher Hochschule der Künste, Zurich | Lucia Granicher, studying dramaturgy, at Zürcher Hochschule der Künste, Zurich | Aparupa Saha, studying Design Communication, at LaSalle College of the Arts, Singapore.