Here / There

An interactive art by Esther Jan

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“Memory is redundant: it repeats signs so that the city can begin to exist.”

-- Italo Calvino <Invisible Cities>

 

Here/There is an experimental interactive installation, exploring what “hometown” means and how it shapes the way one perceives the world. Drawing from the artist’s memory of her hometown - Taipei, and her personal discoveries in this foreign city, San Francisco, Here/There depicts a new cityscape that weaves the two cities together, when memories and city lines blur.

 

Viewers can directly interact with the painting by touching elements on the canvas to discover stories tucked beneath them. In the process of mixing distinct differences in architecture, windows, weather, language of the two cities together, the boundaries blur and memories intertwine. Where exactly did the memories come from? Where exactly is “here”, and where exactly is “there”?