ZHANG XU Zhan   張徐展 

    2026.09.11- 09.13 

​Termite Feeding Show

白蟻餵食秀

Termite feeding show 白蟻餵食秀

2024

This piece contains 2 single channel , color, sound videos  本作品含兩支單頻彩色、有聲錄像

。Round projection 圓型投影：5'19"

。16:9 projection 16:9 投影：14'44"

 Edition: 3/6  US$2,000  ex VAT

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Climate crisis, energy disasters, the fantasy of the Anthropocene, and a sci-fi fable of insect diets.

To adapt to sereve ecological changes brought about by climate change, "termites" have shifted their dietary habits, turning their attention to artificial cables as a new food source. 

In the damp, shadowy ant tunnels, insect restaurants feature musicians playing cooking melodies while butchers handle the food (meat portions), showcasing their culinary skills with cable-based dishes. 

This serves both as a sacrificial offering to the gods of ecology and an act of revenge against humanity. 

Is this a fable of insects imagining a future diet in the face of climate disaster, or a reality show where ant-men in disguise savor on humans through a feeding spectacle?

氣候危機、能源災害、人類世的幻想曲、昆蟲飲食生存的科幻寓言。

白蟻為適應生態的驟變，迫使得飲食習慣開始改變，將目光轉向人造電纜線成為新的飲食對象。

幽暗蟻道裡的潮濕蟲餐廳，樂手正彈奏著烹煮的樂曲，劊子手正處理著料理(肉票)，大展纜線三吃的廚藝。

一樁替生態之神進行的獻祭，也是向人類報復的行刑。

這是一則昆蟲對氣候災難想像的未來飲食寓言夢，還是一樁穿著蟻人裝啖飲人類的實境餵食秀。

"AT5″ Animal Story Series

​AT5-動物故事系列

"AT5″ Animal Story Series    ​AT5-動物故事系列

2020

Single channel animated video installation

單頻道動畫錄像裝置、彩色、有聲

Duration 片長 7'00"

 Edition:  1/2 AP

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The Arne-Thompson classification system was developed by European anthropologists to classify folktales by type. The system integrates similar folktales and fairytales from all over the world into an index, resembling a dictionary for stories. Zhang Xu Zhan’s “Animal Story series” references the ‘river crossing’ tale, where a cunning animal is portrayed in a pond setting. The animals change as locals circulate variations of the tale reflecting their different regions, however in essence, the motif of the story remains the same.

When Zhang Xu Zhan was invited to participate in the 2020 Yokohama Triennale, the curators Raqs Media Collective visited his studio and discussed the themes in his Animal Story series, the first of which primarily focused on ‘the mousedeer crossing the river’ story from Indonesia as the core text. They discussed a similar situation where folktales surrounding the Ganges River in India are spread to different regions around the world, where different versions of these narratives symbolize the process of localization and the connection between multiple different roles with an original source. For the Yokohama Triennale, Zhang Xu Zhan proposed to expand the link between Taiwan and Indonesia to a broader scope of Asian folktales.

“AT5” extends the concept of ‘similar situations’ and ‘different regional animals’ within the folktale taxonomy, incorporating three animal pairings: ‘mousedeer and crocodile’, ‘rabbit and crab’ and ‘rat and buffalo’. The three contexts are combined with ‘Yi-Zhen’, a traditional Taiwanese folk dance religious procession, where the dancer’s twisting movements are performed using animal costumes. The scenes in the work are set to an interchanging rhythm of Taiwanese lion dance drums and traditional Indonesian gamelan instruments. Each pair of animals perform the same role, where the clever mousedeer, rabbit, and rat outwits the crocodile, crab and ox, to cross a river. Through their similarities and differences the work explores the exchanges and intermingling process of cultural flow.

A particular ‘match cut’ editing method is used to randomly select chapter fragments under the control of computer, connecting story plots and carrying out real-time mixing and exchange. The emphasis is not on depicting the folktale itself, but to interweave the stories within the motif, giving shape to the branching of similar folktales that may appear in the corners of the world. AT5 explores our right to reinterpretation in a flowing and changing cultural landscape, the connection between locality and the world, and cultural universality.

阿恩-湯普森分類系統由歐洲人類學家開發，用於按類型對民間故事進行分類。這個系統將世界各地類似的民間故事和童話故事整合到一個索引中，類似於故事詞典。張徐展的《動物故事》系列作品取材自「動物過河」的故事，講述了一隻體型嬌小的動物機智渡河故事。隨著各地流傳的故事版本不同，故事中的動物也會有所變化，反映出不同地區的文化差異，但故事的主軸始終如一。

當張徐展受邀參加2020橫濱三年展時，策展人Raqs Media Collective參觀了他的工作室，並討論了他的動物故事系列的主題，第一個”AT58”主要集中在印度尼西亞的“鼠鹿過河”的故事。策展人跟藝術家分享了類似的情況：即印度恒河周圍的民間故事傳播到世界各地的不同地區，這些敘事的不同版本像徵著本地化過程以及多個不同角色與原始來源之間的聯繫。因此，在2020年橫濱三年展的作品，藝術家提議將台灣與印度尼西亞的聯繫擴大到更廣泛的亞洲民間故事。

《AT5》根據分類法的其中一個分類子題 （動物故事一聰明的狐狸），擴展了民間故事分類學中的“相似情況”和“不同地域動物”的概念，加入了三個動物配對：“老鼠和鱷魚”、“兔子和螃蟹”以及“鼠和水牛”。這三種組合與台灣傳統民間舞蹈遊行“藝陣”相結合，舞者身穿動物服裝表演。作品中的場景設置及配樂用台灣舞獅鼓和印尼傳統甘美朗樂器的交替。每對動物都扮演相同的角色，聰明的老鼠鹿、兔子和老鼠智勝鱷魚、螃蟹和牛來渡河。作品通過它們的異同，探索了文化流動的交流與交融過程。

特別要提的一點是，藝術家透過剪輯手法match cut*（匹配剪輯），在展覽時，是以亂數的方式將資料庫裡拍攝好的影像隨機重組，循環播放，強調不斷的在這類型情境裡，創造一個在AT5類型故事裡的世界迴圈，不斷的拼裝變化，悠遊在不同版本之中的循環錄像。

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