Lee Tzu-Tung is a conceptual artist and curator from Taiwan. They ask “How marginalized communities queer up the current ownership and sovereignty regime?”, and deployed the open-source spirit, decentralized tools, and participatory methods through their projects.
Connecting anthropological field research, political concern, and economic activism, their works focus on how one can survive, manipulate, and regain autonomy through their identities, with special attention on the hegemony of Chinese Sino-centrism, colonial trauma, and Indigeneity in Taiwan's contemporary world. They surf between performances, web art, installations, fictional and experimental films, and play along the borders of art, academia, and politics. Tzu Tung experiments with how art as a method can test and decolonize the contemporary form of art, technology, and authority.
Politically, Tzu Tung organized monthly conferences Café Philo Chicago (2016-2018), participated in NGO Overseas Taiwanese for Democracy, and edited the bilingual political magazine NewBloom. They are also the leader and visual designer for a rally of 200 people Anti-Black Box Education(2016), 40 cities broad rally Equality of Same-Sex Marriage (2016), and the organizer of the Indigenous protest Passage of Time (2016).
Furthermore, Tzu-Tung has curated serval cross-disciplinary events, Tzu-Tung is part of a panel committee for art and political roundtable in the 2017 North American Taiwan Study Association, served as the Jury Committee Taiwan International Ethnographic Film Festival, and the curator of an art and anthropology exhibition, Sensefield. Tzu Tung is currently the founder of Tinyverse NPO, which facilitates transdisciplinary, collaborative art projects, and holds a series of Hackathon for Artists events in Taiwan.
CONCEPTUAL ARTIST,
POLITICAL ACTIVIST,
NEW MEDIA ANTHROPOLOGIST.
AWARDS & GRANTS
2022 ACT Gallery Micro-Grant, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
2021 Transmediale Fellowship, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
2021 CAMIT Scholarship, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
2019 <City Flip-Flop: Stained> Annual Exhibition, Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab, exhibition nominated in Taishin Art Award
2019 <Relocating Divinity: Being an Atheistic Theist>Waley Art Gallery, Taipei, exhibition nominated in Taishin Art Award
2019 Global Fellowship(on behalf of Tinyverse and ARThon community), DWeb Camp.
2019 Visual Art Grant, National Culture and Arts Foundation.
2017 Experimental Film Grant, National Culture and Arts Foundation.
2016 Special Selection, GagaOOLala Queer Film Festival.
2014 The New Artist Society Full Merit Scholarship, School of Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC).
2010 First Prize Winner, National Taiwan University’s Film Festival.
2009 First Prize Winner, National Taiwan University’s Film Festival.
2008 Sophomore Literature Prize, National Taiwan University.
PRESS COVERAGE
2023.03 <Sea Change> by Zhang Yuan on Outland Art
2023.01 <Lee Tzu-Tung on Post-Colonial Blockchain Futures> by Simmon Denny on Seed Phrase Podcast
2023.01 <Art and Resistance in Taiwan> by Victoria Ferran on BBC Radio 4 [brief]
2022.11 <OD SKUPNEGA DO WTF-JEV> on Radio Študent
2021.05 <ANTART FieldWorks #12: Lee Tzu-Tung> on AntArt Podcast
2021.04 <Bionic Cryptocurrency, Better Understanding of HIV, and the Potential of Blockchain in Conversation with Lee Tzu-Tung> by Wu Jianru on Times Museum Podcast
2020.11 <Politics in Contemporary Taiwanese Art> by Lo Yi-Chun and Jane Ingram Allen on Women Eco Artist Dialogue
2020.01 <Lee Tzu-Tung: Taiwan's political artist> on BBC Cultural Frontline
2019.11 <Positive Coin> reported by Taiwan 9 main television news channels: CTITV, SETN, CTV, TVBS, TTV, FTV, USTV, CTS, and EBC.
2019.10 <Positive Coin> reported by digital press EToday and Taiwan Comedian Xuan Xuan
2019.09 <GhostKeepers> reported by the Ministry of Culture news
2018.01 Daybreak Project <Interview: Lee Tzu Tung>
2016.01 <Appendectomy Project Reaches Its Goal: Passing the New Voting Law>, by Lin Gin Tong, Liberty Times Newspaper, 2016/1/18
2016.01 <Taiwanese Artists Overseas Supporting Appendectomy Project >, by Su Fun Her, Liberty Times Newspaper, 2015/1/10
2015.12 <Lee Tzu Tung, a political artist in the New Media field> by Brian Hioe, New Bloom Online Magazine, 2015/12/13
2009.07 Hearing the diminishing DDGP through her Film>, by Lee Min-Tsone, Cue Magazine, 2009 July, Issue 1
EDUCATION
2023 Master of Science, Art, Culture, and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Boston USA.
2017 Master in Fine Art in Film, Video, New Media and Animation, School of Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). Chicago USA.
2013 Icelandic and Culture International Course, University of Iceland. Reykjavik, Iceland.
2012 Cour de civilization de la Sorbonne, Sorbonne IV. Paris, France.
2012 Bachelor of Science in Agriculture Economics, National Taiwan University. Taipei, Taiwan.
RESIDENCIES
2023 Delfina Foundation. London, United Kindom.
2023 Anachoresis. Tainan, Taiwan.
2018 Residency Unlimited. New York, USA.
2017 Ce’po Art Center. Hualien, Taiwan.
2016 ArtScape Gilbart Point Residency Artist. Toronto, Canada.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS & SCREENINGS
2023 Group Exhibition, <Co-Becoming(s)>, Museum of National Taipei University of Education, Taiwan.
2023 Group Exhibition, <Hold On For Dear Life>, Sensefield, Taiwan.
2022 Screening, <Writing the Time Lag>, MIT Museum, USA.
2022 Group Exhibition, <Positive Coin>, MIT ACT Gallery, USA.
2022 Group Exhibition, <Time After Time: The Polychronicity in Blockchain>, Hyundai Blue, Beijing, China.
2022 Group Exhibition, <Direct Message>, Artlaban and Mihakgwan, Seoul, South Korea.
2022 Group Exhibition, <Mediating Asia>, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art, Taichung, Taiwan.
2022 Group Exhibition, <Rendering Research>, Transmediale Festival, Berlin, Germany.
2021 Group Exhibition, <Dear Block Chen>, Solid Art Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan.
2021 Group Exhibition, <Lab Kill Lab>, Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab (C-Lab), Taipei, Taiwan.
2021 Group Exhibition, <Cross-Dimensiioin Transmision>, Kaosiung Public Library, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
2020 Online Exhibition, <ANTART> University of Lisbon
2019 Group Exhibition, <Sensefield> Taiwan Association of Visual Ethnography, Bopiliao, Taipei, Taiwan. (also as the curator )
2019 Group Exhibition, <City Flip-Flop: Stained> Annual Exhibition, Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab (C-Lab), Taipei, Taiwan.
2019 Group Exhibition, <Relocating Divinity: Being an Atheistic Theist>Waley Art Gallery, Taipei.
2019 Group Exhibition, <Interminable Prescriptions for the Plague> Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei.
2019 Group Exhibition, <Why did you Come to Taiwan?>. Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei.
2018 Group Exhibition, <The Impossibility of Form>. Cuchifritos Gallery. New York, USA.
2018 Group Exhibition, <Mashes of the Afternoon>. 136 Lawrence Residency. New York, USA.
2018 Solo Exhibition, <Writing the Time Lag>. Ce’po Artist Center. Hualien, Taiwan.
2018 Screening, <Writing the Time Lag>. Indigenous Art Festival. Hualien, Taiwan.
2017 Group Exhibition, <Delicate Failure>. Flux Factory. New York, USA.
2017 Screening, <Taiwan as Practice, Method and Theory>. Stanford University. California, USA.
2016 Group Exhibition, <Waveforms> Tom Robinson Gallery. Chicago, USA.
2012 Group Exhibition, < Pop Art Factory >, Taiwan Visual Art Gallery. Taipei, Taiwan.
2010 Screening, < Director’s Dream>, National Taiwan University Film Festival. Taipei, Taiwan.
2009 Group Exhibition, < Doppelgänger >, Taiwan Visual Art Gallery. Taipei, Taiwan.
SELECTED PUBLIC SPEECH & LECTURES
2023. 05 Panel Talk, <Making and Showing Art in Transitional Spaces>, University of Chicago, USA.
2023. 05 Panel Talk, <Authoritarian Manipulation of History and Human Rights: Xinjian, Taiwan, Ukraine, Russia>, University of Chicago, USA.
2023. 03 Panel Talk, <The Politics of Remembrance>, Mozilla Festival, Amsterdam, Netherland.
2022. 12 Panel Talk, <Hacking the Crystalball>, Eyebeam, New York, USA.
2022. 11 Panel Talk, <Sailing in the Pirate Sea of Art>, Annual Network Society, China.
2022. 11 Panel Talk, <Sailing in the Pirate Sea of Art>, Akisoma, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
2022. 08 Artist Talk, <Forkonomy()>, Against Dragon Light, Seoul, South Korea.
2022. 03 Panel Talk, <Art of Refusal in Taiwan>, Transmediale, Berlin, German.
2021. 12 Artist Talk, <Dear Block Chen>, Solid Art Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan.
2020. 03 Artist Talk, <Writinng the Time Lag> , ANTART,, Lisbon, Portugal.
2019. 12 Lecture, <Identity>. Talkan University. Taipei, Taiwan.
2019. 4 Speech, <Film Equality>. Fembook. Taipei, Taiwan.
2019. 3 Speech, <ARThon>. Open Culture Network for Humanity and Arts. Taipei, Taiwan.
2019. 2 Lecture, <Intersectionality of Gender>. National Chengchi University. Taipei, Taiwan.
2018. 12 Speech, <Art as Decolonizing Method>. Tafalong Kapah. Hualien, Taiwan.
2018. 12 Speech, <Art as Decolonizing Method>. Cafe Philo. Taipei, Taiwan.
2018. 10 Lecture, <#GhostKeepers>. Parsons School of Design. New York, USA.
2018. 10 Field Trip Lecture, <#GhostKeepers>. The Evergreen Middle School for Urban Exploration. New York, USA.
2018. 10 Field Trip Lecture, <#GhostKeepers>. Pratt Institute. New York, USA.
2018. 01 Artist Talk, < Constructing the Contemporary Epistemological Justice through Art Practice >. ETAT Art Forum. Taipei, Taiwan.
2018. 01 Public Lecture, < Constructing the Contemporary Epistemological Justice through Art Practice >. Taipei Contemporary Art Center. Taipei, Taiwan.
2017. 11 Artist Talk, < Occupy the Politics of Art >. Returning to the Island of South: Performance Art Festival. Hualien, Taiwan.
2016. 11 Lecture, <Art and Politics in Taiwan>. School of Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago, USA.
2016. 06 Artist Talk, <Occupy the Politics of Art - Translation>. North American Taiwanese Studies Association at University of Toronto. Toronto, Canada.
2016. 03 Public Lecture, <Branding for Congressman>. Island Forward group class at University of Michigan. Michigan, USA.
2016. 02 Speech, <A year after SunFlower Revolution>. Café Philo at Chicago. Chicago, USA.
2016. 02 Grad Artist Talk, <Occupy the Politics of Art>. School of Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago, USA.
2016. 01 Speech, <Branding for Congressman>. Café Philo at New York. New York, USA.
2015. 11 Artist Talk, <Occupy the Art Circle>. ETAT Art Forum. Taipei, Taiwan
2015. 11 Speech, <Always a queer in Cannes Festival>. Women Make Waves Film Festival Taiwan. DanSui, Taiwan.
2014. 07 Public Lecture, <Participatory Video>. Tibet World. Dharamsala, India
ACADEMICAL PRESENTATTION & PUBLICATION
2022. 08 Online publication, <How to buy/own one milliliter of the South China Sea? >, ExhibitX, ACM.
2022. 07 Online Article, <Sailing in the Pirate Sea of Art >, From Commmons to NFTs, Makery.
2019. 07 Conference Paper, <Revisit: Participatory Art as Commoning Practice >, International Convention of Asian Studies, Leiden University
2019. 02 Online Columns, <Creating a Utopia on the Margin of Empires>, Film Taiwan.
2017. 11 Conference Paper, < Political and Epistemological Justice in the Practice of Decolonizing Taiwanese Contemporary Art>. America Anthropological Association
2017. 05 Book, <Translation>. Joan Flasch Artist Book Collection
2016. 06 Conference Paper, <For A New Nation-State Sovereignty, Taiwan’s Indigenous Independency>. North American Taiwanese Studies Association, University of Toronto, Canada
2016. 04 Conference Paper, <Decolonizing Art School: Learning from Indigenous Activists Movement>. Going Off (Shore) A Learning Symposium, Chicago, USA
2016. 08 Online Columns, < Occupation of Ketagalan Boulevard as an Act of Transcending Laws>. New Bloom magazine
2016. 01 Online Columns, < Land fight in Hualien>. New Bloom magazine
2015. 11 Online Columns, <Taiwan’s indigenous Independency against Xi-Ma meeting>. News Lens Online Newspaper
2015. 10 Online Columns, < The Transformation of Chinese Landscape Painting >. New Bloom magazine