｜Ze and Zir｜
今年受邀參與韓國 Asia Culture Center 的展覽《Solidarity as Spore》，主題為各種形式的愛（Love: in all its forms and inclusivity) 。2019年，台灣成為亞洲第一個同性婚姻合法化的國家，同一年，Ze 與 Zir 在 2019 年正式收錄於牛津英語辭典，將特指單一性別的 He or she 取代成中性的代名詞。作品也類比成華文的「也」，取下「他」或者「她」的性別部首符號，作為這次創作的核心理念。
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二元社會性別是所有性別問題的根源，當人們選擇成為伴侶、選擇衣著、選擇以一種特定形象生活時，捨棄掉性別的標籤就可以超脫目前所有的問題，我們不需要透過刻板印象來建立自我價值，自己可以隨意建立個人識別象徵而不需要參考模範，滿足任何有限的想像空間。
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作品呈現三幅動態視覺系列稿，同時在垂直並排的三面螢幕重複播放，它們各自擁有不同的主題。打破性別刻板印象，沒有男孩應該要做什麼，女孩應該要做什麼，呈現更自由的性別氣質與性向。女人不用一定要穿高跟鞋，男人也可以喜歡化妝。
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最後，一個彩色的玻璃球穿梭在各個畫面中，打破界線劃破三個螢幕的彩色玻璃球，劃破時間與空間。
｜Sydney Sie / Zen Yun Zon,
｜Ze and Zir, 2020. Three-channel
｜video, color, silent, 2 min.
｜Commissioned by Asia Culture
｜Center; courtesy of the artist.
｜Special Thanks: 親愛的 Aaron Nieh (✾♛‿♛) 聶永真 Aaron Nieh / Elise Chen
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If there were no genders, it should not cause any troubles to say “ze has loved cars since childhood”, “ze dreams to become a ballet dancer”, or “ze loves zir deeply and wants to spend zir life with zir”.
Gender binary is the source of all gender troubles. If people could choose to become partners, how to dress and how to present themselves in life without gender labels, then we no longer need to establish self-value by conforming to gender stereotypes. An individual could build a personal image freely without referring to gender roles and instead according to their unlimited imagination.
Taiwan became the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage in 2019. In the same year, the Oxford English Dictionary update included gender-neutral third-person pronouns Ze and Zir. With a similar spirit, we experiment with removing the radicals of Chinese characters “他(he)”/“她(she)”, reinventing the character “也” as the potential gender-neutral pronoun and using it as the core concept of this creative project.
The work consists of three moving posters, which will be displayed in loop on three aligned, vertical screens, each with a different theme. We incorporate elements of gender stereotypes in these images while seeking to break the traditional gender framework through a visual dynamic, as well as to discover more freedom in gender expression. There is no “should”; women don’t need to wear heels and men can enjoy putting on makeup.
Lastly, a colorful glass ball travels through the images on the screens, metaphorically crossing the boundaries of time and space.
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● Solidarity as Spore
● Dates: May 14–October 25, 2020 (opening May 13)
● Venue: Asia Culture Center (https://new.acc.go.kr), Gwangju, South Korea
● Organized by: Asia Culture Institute (http://aci-k.kr) and Asia Culture Canter
● Artistic director: Kim Sung Won
● Contributing curators: Bojana Piškur, Vali Mahlouji, Museo de la Solidaridad
Salvador Allende, Sulki and Min, Goto Tetsuya, Kim Seong Hee, and Seo Dongjin
● Overarching theme: history of Non-Aligned Movement and its relevance to the
contemporary artistic practice in Asia
Section Participants
● Bae Minkee (Seoul, South Korea)
● Gideon Jamie (Singapore)
● So Hashizume (Tokyo, Japan)
● Saki Ho (Hong Kong, China)
● Hong Eunjoo (Seoul, South Korea)
● Sueh Li (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
● Scarlett Xin Meng (Shanghai, China)
● Rikako Nagashima (Tokyo, Japan)
● Nguyen Giang (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)
● Januar Rianto (Jakarta, Indonesia)
● Shin In-ah (Seoul, South Korea)
● Sydney Sie and Zen Yun Zon (Taipei, Taiwan)
● Yui Takada (Tokyo, Japan)
