The Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab (C-LAB) 2026 Annual Exhibition, WE Are Becoming, kicks off on May 8 and runs through August 16. The exhibition features 29 cross-media works by artists from 9 countries representing Taiwan, the United States, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Lithuania, and Peru. Audiences are invited to explore this ever-evolving cultural field and reflect on the role of art in contemporary society and the possibilities it opens up.
Interweaving Contemporary Dialogues at a Historical Site
Located in the heart of Taipei, the C-LAB campus carries layered memories of Japanese colonial-era industrial research and Cold War geopolitics. Rather than serving as a static container of history, it continues to operate as a generative site. With “Becoming” as its core concept, the curatorial team moves away from fixed cultural identities toward a state of ongoing flux and reconfiguration. History never arrives all at once; it lingers and unfolds through architectural fissures and spatial residues. Here, the “we” of the past and the “we” of the present converge in a shared gaze: What are we becoming now, and what else might we become?
The "Chorus" Methodology for a New Arrangement of History
The exhibition adopts "Chorus as Methodology" to recompose historical narratives, giving voice to artworks and images that were previously silenced or overlooked. The force of imagery reflows to transform into a space where contemporary values and perspectives intertwine. Although we do not share the same historical experiences, we collectively bear the debts of war and ecological catastrophes. In today's world of intensified global exchange and entrenched geopolitics, the exhibition resists reducing “we” to a singular consensus. Instead, it constructs a polyphonic matrix in which diverse regional experiences become vital resources for reimagining our collective identity.
On the Collectiveness and Participatory Aspects of the Chorus
The exhibition unfolds across three C-LAB venues: Art Space I, Art Space II, and Art Space III, extending dialogue throughout the site. Voices once subdued in post-war art histories are addressed in the works.
In the case of LI Shih-Chiao’s Chorus, the photography of PENG Ruei-Lin, and the Japanese war paintings revisited by Hikaru FUJII, voices hushed through canonical shifts are invoked. Leo LIU’s Missing Teeth Piano functions as a relational object that summons both the chorus and artistic infrastructure. Chihhung LIU’s The Shear transforms the venue into an active interface, inviting viewers to recalibrate their reading of history. AU Sow Yee and CHEN Yow-Ruu(Her Lab Space) reflect on the manipulation of history and time from the perspective of hero figures found in the national film archives. Ascending the historical stairway to the second floor of Art Space I, HSU Jung’s Save a Dying Bird? unveils a cross-species look at the displacement, translation, and domestication of animals within different social systems. The works of HONG Jin-Hwon, Posak Jodian, and Poyuan JUAN further immerse audiences in synesthetic experiences, prompting a reexamination of the inherent collectiveness and participatory nature of the chorus.
Corporeal Resilience and Fragility Made Manifest
Works in Art Space II and Art Space III further reveal the global Cold War situation of the 1970s and the impact of U.S. military bases in Asia. Tehching HSIEH’s Changes: 1969-1973, created during a time of cultural isolation, mirrors the social resistance found in the works of CHEN Lai-Hsing. HSU Che-Yu and CHEN Wan-Yin’s Accelerator traces colonial scientific infrastructure and its links to secret weapons research during the Cold War. Jimmy Shy and CHANG Yu retrace Hong Kong stories through Asian sailor tattoos. HO Rui An engages in a dialectical exploration of “intelligence” across Singapore, global cities, smart cities, and smart nations. Vietnamese artist TUAN Mami uses plants as a "living archive" within collaborative community practices. CHEN Shiau-Peng’s New Taipei (The Territory Map): A Distance of Ten Years explores the desires and relationships between artists and institutions. The exhibition concludes with works by Inhwa YEOM, YoungEun KIM, Emilija ŠKARNULYTĖ, and Ana Teresa BARBOZA, which use notation, cross-species perspectives, and mythological creatures to remind us that future possibilities can only unfold by introducing "non-we" elements into the choral matrix.
Art as a Generative Force for History
Reflecting on how the two World Wars of the twentieth century profoundly reshaped global order and human perception, art has never been merely a footnote to history, but an active force in its making. From the emancipatory claims of Abstract Expressionism to the decolonial explorations of artists across Asia and the Global South; from ecological reflections, migrant worker dialogues, and institutional critique to speculative imaginaries shaped by AI, these practices converge to form a plural cultural field. Within the exhibition, audiences are invited to move freely, traversing multiple narratives and modes of perception, and to inhabit an interstitial space that invites dwelling, reclining, and wandering.
WE Are Becoming is more than an exhibition; it is an invitation to reposition art from a supplementary cultural role to a vital infrastructure that sustains social imagination and public discourse. In doing so, it furthers C-LAB’s mission as a cultural hub to continually recalibrate and expand the meaning of “we.” For the full program, please visit the official website: https://clab.org.tw/en/events/we-are-becoming/
Please refer to the media kit for more information：