REBORN TREE

Plastic installation

Interested in the relationship between animate entities and inanimate objects, Taiwanese artist Chuang Chih-Wei infuses living organisms with the power of machines. After taking artist residency in Japan, Chuang began contemplating the cycle of time and the flow of life in his Reborn Tree Series.

Inspired by “ikebana” (the Japanese art of flower arrangement), which a master told him brought new life to flowers through death, Chuang decided to explore whether he could revitalize an organic form with an inorganic device. The result is a plant that moves like a puppet, rigged with wires and a motor.

The work alludes to both Chinese and Christian creation myths, in which gods conjure human beings from dirt. However, by using electricity and petroleum, rather than divine magic, to instill life to an inanimate object, Chuang memorably updates these ancient myths for the contemporary industrialized era.

This creative project extends exploration of the link between biological and non-biological materials, further observing how external manmade forces guide living things. For this installation, artist arranged for motors to move lines suspended on the plants, manipulating them like puppets, creating slow, refined movements. Through movement crudely imitating life, created by machine operation and changing of time, it gradually expresses a warped elegance both cruel and sad.