Yuan Goang-Ming: Everyday War

A leading video artist offers a dreamlike look at an increasingly unsettling world.

The personal becomes universal in recent work by pioneering Taiwanese artist Yuan Goang-Ming (b. Taipei, 1965), whose starkly poetic videos and installations examine the fragmented and surreal nature of contemporary life.

Yuan's work trains an unblinking, glacially cool digital gaze on poignant scenes of global and domestic unease. From the eerie stillness of empty streets during Taiwan's annual air raid drills to the chaotic aftermath of an explosion detonated in his own living room, the artist captures moments that resonate with current living conditions worldwide.

Featuring numerous works that debuted in Yuan's critically acclaimed exhibition representing Taiwan at the 60th Venice Biennale, this large-scale exhibition in the Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang Pavilion is the artist's first North American solo show. The exhibition is curated by Abby Chen, curator of contemporary art at the Asian Art Museum and curator of Yuan's celebrated Biennale presentation.

"The generational anxiety of this artist known as the 'father of Taiwanese video art' offers a timely message," says Chen. "As Yuan strives to locate a sense of home and belonging, his visions of an unstable world convey a relatable yearning for safety and peace."



Image Credit: Everyday War, 2024, by Yuan Goang-Ming (b. Taipei, 1965). Single-channel video with sound; 10:33 min. © Yuan Goang-Ming. Courtesy of the artist.