The Yellow Snake Is Waiting is a future paradise: All desires can be satisfied here. Plants and incomplete drawings are scattered on the floor through a hallway lit by dark green lights. At the end of the hallway, a mesmerizing hole on the wall reveals dark-blue and purple lights. Past the hole, there is a small pavilion surrounded by more plants, bamboo curtains and LED light tubes. In the center of the pavilion, a fountain spills copious amounts of rice instead of water. The rice repetitively hits a bell hanging beneath a delicate birdcage. There is no bird in the cage, only some well-positioned stones.
Behind the pavilion, a large curtain hangs from the ceiling with neon paint spread across it, creating mountain-like imagery. White smog is released from under the curtain from time to time, creating a blurry haze.
The end of this small adventure lies beyond the curtain. A shallow pond reflects the moving images in the video on the big screen; a mechanical frog floats still. The frog is the only thing that can be called a creature during this journey to a future paradise. The snake suggested by the exhibition title is never shown.
Tzu-Huan Lin, The Yellow Snake Is Waiting, 2015, Installation Shot, Flux Factory New York.
The video begins with visual language used by early computer interfaces. Green text on a black background describes a future built by a system that includes well-calculated and distributed jobs for all people. In this future, no trouble can disturb the order of the world because all desires are opened up by technology and also fulfilled by technology.
The video also discusses The Snakes and The Others. In the Bible, Eve is not immortal after eating the apple. For artist Tzu-Huan Lin, the serpent asking Eve to eat the apple symbolizes desire. The desire to be immortal leads to another story in Chinese history. Emperor Qin seeks a potion to make himself immortal. He sends a team of one hundred virgin boys and girls lead by Fu Hsu on a journey across the ocean to bring back the potion. They all disappear and never return.
The desire to live could be as grandiose as what Emperor Qin wants: to become immortal. Contrarily, it could be as simple as the will to survive like in Life of Pi, in which the main character eats the body of his mother to live. The video concludes with the story of Chinese philosopher Zhuang Zi. He ponders whether he becomes a butterfly in his dream or whether a butterfly becomes him in its dream. The answer is not clear, just as it is unclear if the desires people have are what they really want or what they are taught to want.
Tzu-Huan Lin, The Yellow Snake Is Waiting, 2015, Installation Shot, Flux Factory New York.
Through immersive installation, The Yellow Snake Is Waiting seeks to explore desire. Desire is abstract. But in a world filled with reproduced digital images, our desires are transformed into objects that can be seen and easily put online. Emoji are the extension of our emotions and ghost messages create new emotional issues.
Our desires can be satisfied when we get newer and better products, but are they really necessary? Perhaps, like the idea of water repeated in the video, desires are fluid. They are not fixed and cannot be fixed, even in a future paradise.
Tzu-Huan Lin, The Yellow Snake Is Waiting, 2015, Installation Shot, Flux Factory New York.
