Born 1983, Taichung City, Taiwan
Lives and works in Taipei City, Taiwan

Chia-Wei Hsu’s engaging and humorous video and installation works combine deep, historical research with novel arrangements of contemporary consumer technology, including smartphone footage, drone photography and live Google searches. Taiwan’s complex history of colonialism serves as their backdrop, with a particular focus on the formation of national and cultural identity.

Since 2018, the artist has used animals as a device for investigating the shaping of the political landscape of Asia. His works have included a comedic lecture-performance about ‘panda diplomacy’ within and beyond East Asia, and a sensitive study of a rare species of bat living in an abandoned Japanese fuel plant in Taiwan. Samurai and Deer 2019, Stones and Elephants 2019 and Black and White – Malayan Tapir 2018 capture historical narratives involving the Dutch and British East India companies and the political and economic rivalries that have intersected with various species. Hsu’s approachable, information-packed works are inflected by current urgencies, as great powers once again vie for sovereignty and spheres of influence within the region.