Are You Working Now?

In 2004, the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (NTMoFA) embarked on the plan to promote techno art, and for the past 20 years, the museum has presented various techno art projects, inviting international techno art institutions, curators, and artists to work together to curate exhibitions that feature techno art to support the promotion and presentation of innovative creative works. Through various themes, the exhibitions explore the various cultural issues in the age of technology, including medicine, ecology, politics, science, philosophy, and religion. Last year’s “Mediating Asia” was presented with religious and philosophical undertones, and for this year, the museum has invited British curator Mike Stubbs and Taiwanese curator Ming Turner to put together an exhibition themed “Are You Working Now?” exploring the relationship between concepts such as time capital, labour, leisure, entertainment, and economic systems, in people’s lives. 

The exhibition is co-curated by British curator Mike Stubbs and Taiwanese curator Ming Turner and invites 13 (groups of) artists across eight countries (including the UK, Taiwan, France, Japan, and Germany) to join in contemplating “What is work?” or “Why work?.” The three sub-categories of the exhibition, “Coal mining to data mining,” “Self-exploitation,” and “Clocking off,” trace the developmental trajectory of the attention economy from individual bodily labour to the capital economy, and then to big data and digital media. 

Curator Mike Stubbs is also an artist who has dedicated many years of interdisciplinary research and creative practices to investigating issues such as power, technology, work, and identity in forms including images, performances, and new media installations. Stubbs was the CEO/director of FACT Liverpool and a Professor of Art, Media and Curating at Liverpool John Moores University. Co-curator Ming Turner is an Associate Professor at the National Cheng Kung University Institute of Creative Industries Design, the Director of Visual and Performance Arts at the National Cheng Kung University Art Centre, and the President of the 11th Taiwan Women’s Art Association. Turner has organized over 30 contemporary art exhibitions, and research interests include contemporary visual culture, post-colonialism theories, and new media and techno art, specializing in fields including technology, gender, and the body. 

This exhibition will be on view at the NTMoFA from August 12. The 13 (groups of) artists include Harun Farocki, Tehching Hsieh, Maurice Benayoun, Hito Steyerl, John Gerrard, Tzu-Ning WU, Ryoichi Kurokawa, Yi Chen, I-Ting Hou, Simon Denny, Rosie Gibbens, Molleindustria, and Your Bros. Filmmaking Group CO. The exhibition presents diverse works, and apart from discussing cutting-edge issues such as NFT and digital mining, the displays also delve into topics such as the digital economy, the history of home OEM, cross-national capital and the movement of labour, material industry chain, and profit exchange structure while focusing on the primal spirituality of bodily labour, delving deep into the essence of labour through the different thinking and aspects of creativity. Further information on the exhibition and educational events, such as the exhibition workshop and tour guide, will be announced on the NTMoFA official website and Facebook page. 

Curators: Mike Stubbs and Ming Turner

NTMoFA: Jay Chun-Chieh Lai, T +886-4-23723552 #302

Media contacts: May Yan, T +886-4-23723552 #123