Yu-Chuan Tseng
Ph.D., Institute of Applied Arts, National Chiao Tung University
Assistant Professor, Department of Public Relations and Advertising, Shih Hsin University
President, Taiwan Women’s Art Association (WAA)
Supervisor, Taipei Digital Art Foundation
Tseng Yu-chuan obtained her PhD from the Graduate Institute of Applied Art, National Chiao Tung University. She specializes in research on innovation and theory in interactive digital art, with a PhD thesis entitled The Characteristics of Contemporary Interactive Digital Art. Tseng adopts Martin Heidegger’s (1889 - 1976) philosophy of technology, with its perspectives on objects, tools, and the essence of human nature, as her conceptual framework. She draws on Heidegger’s theories on human control as her theoretical foundation; while tracing the course of historical development to understand the origins, principles of, and discourse related to interactive digital art, and to reassess various aspects of the history of art, including art and technology, post-90s digital art in the West, and digital art in Taiwan. With this as a basis, Tseng identifies three central characteristics of interactive digital artwork that reflect Heidegger’s theories on human control. For example, interactive digital artwork comprises: programs, code, and execution; is random, automated, and is a derivative of the real thing; and contains logic, procedures, and a system.
Tseng began creating digital artwork in 1998. Starting from 2002, she adopted an interactive online format to produce interactive art. In 2003, Tseng began to ponder the status of the existence of humans in the digital age. Through a series of works, she explored this digital system – built of technology – which brings together the lifestyle, lives, and existence of the masses. In 2002, Tseng’s work was presented in a solo exhibition (“Let’s Make ART”) at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. This was the first ever art musuem exhibition in Taiwan to employ instantaneous Web-based interaction. In 2005 and 2006, Tseng’s respective works “Immersing ME” and “Flow” were selected for presentation at the ACM Multimedia International Symposium. In 2007, Tseng was honored for a series of works called “Who”, receiving a special grant for innovation in art and technology from the National Arts and Culture Foundation. She then showcased this series of works at exhibitions held during May and July, 2008, at the Taipei Hong-gah Museum and the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts respectively. In 2008, the works “Flowerman” and “All Ways – O’s Chatroom” were selected to be presented at the International Symposium on Electronic Arts, ISEA. In 2008, Tseng’s artwork “Flow” was published in the form of a written thesis in the international journal “Leonardo”.
In 2010, Tseng took part in the Taiwan Digital Art “Pulse Stream” Plan, serving as the organizer of the Plan’s first exhibition, held at the Taipei Digital Arts Center and entitled “The First Phase: A Digital Art Exhibition on the Body, Gender, and Technology”. In 2011, she helped to organize the “Photon+ 2011 International Techno Art Exhibition of New Taipei City”, which discussed the transmission of meaning through particles of information composed primarily of light. In the same year, Tseng hosted an interactive theater performance called “Dinner of Luciérnaga”, which was produced as part of an art and technology cross-discipline initiative held by the ROC Council for Cultural Affairs (now the Ministry of Culture). In 2012, the Department of Cultural Affairs, Taipei City Government, commissioned Tseng to research and publish the book Life Dialogues – Chen Cheng-po and Paul Tien-shen (published by the Paul Tien-Shen Memorial Museum). Subsequently, Tseng participated in the Leonardo Digital Art Initiative. Later in 2012, she coordinated an exhibition for the Taiwan Women’s Art Association (WAA) entitled “Sensoria – New Media Art by Taiwanese Women Artists”. She also traveled to Japan to participate in the 2012 ACM International Conference on Multimedia, where she delivered a presentation on the theater production initiative “Dinner of Luciérnaga”. In 2013, Tseng was invited to hold a solo exhibition in Beijing, Beihang Art Gallery,Beihang University. As the first digital exhibition, Tseng’s art works brought a new version and experience to the professors and students.