Le vent souffle où il veut

At the start of 2021, in the middle of confinement, I met LIN Chi-Wei on Clubhouse, a voice messaging application. The same year, I moved to the countryside and became the neighbor of TIAN Dexi, a long-time friend.

LIN and TIAN like to collect things, old musical customs for the first, and worn objects for the second. The two artists bring together the elements found, assemble them, coordinate them, recompose them, and transform them.

LIN offers performances that interact with the public, around ancient musical customs. Through performance, LIN invites people to enter into energetic and cosmic resonance. The poetic appears at the end of the rhythmic and mathematical score.

TIAN takes time to feel the space and the objects. In a poetic spirit, he tries to find the intimate relationship between recycled elements, reanimating them, that is to say giving them back their anima, their breath. Energy travels through time and space.

LIN and TIAN are hermits who hide in the countryside or in the workshop. They are inspired by nature and everyday life. They follow their poetic instincts. The sound of the wind traces the dialogue between the two artists who let themselves be carried away by an uncertain future. The wind blows where it winds, our future is very unpredictable. We have to listen to the wind, feel it to know where we are going. The wind is the first sign of what is going to happen. Words and artifacts give rise to the sound of time.

—— Joseph CUI

LIN Chi-Wei

Born in Taipei,1971, Lin Chi-Wei is a transdisciplinary artist who has received academic training in French literature, cultural anthropology and media art. Since the early 90s, Lin has been involved in the Taiwanese counter-cultural scene, he was
founding member of the noise band Z.S.L.O. and was responsible for the programming of various alternative art festivals. At the same period, Lin explored the realms of religious music and art through intense field research (notably temple sculpture and taoist ritual). These experiences ,combined with his practices in noise performance and electronic music composition ,brought forth critical perspectives toward comtemporary art practices. Since 2004, Lin initiated the “Tape Music” series, or the later-called IDCM (Interhuman Dynamic Coordinated Models) , as a response to the subjects he pursued along the years , They are synchronous protocols which allow the individual autonomy in the forming of collective intelligence ,that leads to complex sound works.

Lin’s 350 page book: ”Beyond Sound Art – The Avant Garde, Sound Machine and the Modernity of Hearing” was published in 2012 ,in which he denied the term “Sound Art” ,and provided a holistic view blurring the boundary between human culture and technology.

Lin’s art works were shown in various biennales and museums including Tate Modern , Pompidou Center, PSA Shanghai along with other non-art sites such as local community, private residence, public school, factory, church, temple, bar and live house in different countries around the world. Lin Chiwei lives and works in Shanghai, Taipei and Paris.

TIAN Dexi

Born in 1979 in Shandong, China. Diploma from the Shandong School of Fine Arts and the École Nationale Supérieure d’Arts de Paris-Cergy. Poetry and nature are at the heart of his artistic work. For him, art is present everywhere in life. With his alchemist’s hand, he brings together the worn objects he has collected, transforming them into a new existence, filled with humor, intensity, mystery and a slight eroticism.

Overview of the exhibition