Unexploded Bombs

Tay-Jou Lin, Wei-Zhong Feng

2015

04'20''

HD video art(single-channel video projection in loop)

“A petrochemical factory will be set up here. It is only 90 meters away from a school and a kindergarten. This neighborhood would be destroyed if by any chance there is a gas explosion.”

The video begins with the resounding bang of 2015 Tianjin explosions, followed by the upside-down aerial images of southern Taiwan, unveiling the fact that the petrochemical industry impairs people’s living environment. The video also shows the land surrounded by factories, the industrial leviathan, and the false happiness filled with heavy smog. Taking an aerial view at the seemingly unmanned and unapproachable factories, we see the well-ordered reservoir tanks and pipelines lying as fragile as Lego bricks down there. They are so concrete yet illusory, resembling the microcosm of an underground petrochemical kingdom, for which the ultimate fate of corrosion and destruction lies in store.

This video turns industrial complex into horrifying sight, splits the images of factories into alienated abstract codes, and hangs the phallus-like chimneys upside down, making them the drooping, impotent and bizarre totems.

Tay-Jou Lin

Artist Introduction

Tay-Jou Lin earned his master’s degree in film production from Edinburgh Napier University. He teaches as an associate professor in the Department and Graduate School of Visual Communication Design, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology. His works won him various honors and awards such as Golden Harvest Awards (thrice), Taipei Film Awards (twice), the Award of the new-generation’s favorite in Taiwan International Documentary Festival, the Award of the first full-length feature films in Venice International Film Festival, and the Golden Award of Asian Documentaries in Shanghai TV Festival. He is also an environmental activist.

Wei-Zhong Feng

Artist Introduction

Wei-Zhong Feng earned his master’s degree from the Graduate School of Audio-Visual and Animation, Tainan National College of the Arts. He teaches in the Department of Visual Communication Design, Chao Yang University of Technology. He won several prestigious awards for his animations, and his documentaries used to be screened on Taiwan Public Television. He delves into aerial photography and 360-degree video in addition to teaching. He is also an environmental activist.