The Trail of Breathing

In 2017, the National Taichung Theater launched the Micro Theatre Project to encourage emerging artists in the Taichung area to realize their creative ideas. In 2019, the program was renamed the NTT Emerging Artists Project, broadening its scope to select artists and creative teams from central Taiwan with distinctive artistic visions. Under the theme “Visual Imagery—IMAGE,” participating artists were invited to develop works in response to the Theater’s existing spaces. “The Trail of Breathing—CHANG Yung-Ta” was one of the exhibitions selected for the program and was presented at the Tutu Gallery of the National Taichung Theater from November 2 to 24.

As the world undergoes rapid digitalization and becomes increasingly intelligent, the visible technological landscape of the city is giving way to an invisible realm of computation. The many streams of information interwoven throughout the urban environment resemble layers hidden from sight, collectively shaping the conditions and appearance of the world around us. Phenomena once understood and connections once established through bodily perception are becoming increasingly inadequate for navigating this new reality.

With the assistance of technology and miniature sensing devices, artist CHANG Yung-Ta seeks to enter a digital world formed by vast arrays of microsensors, computational processes, and data-driven control—a realm beyond the reach of the human senses—and to investigate the phenomena represented by the data concealed within it. Chang’s practice has long explored the relationships among the surrounding environment, bodily perception, and conscious awareness through the translation of data. In recent years, he has developed a particular interest in the measurement and collection of data. For him, the most creative moment in reading data lies in the processes of interpretation and transformation: the moment when invisible information is given perceptible form.

The data collected for The Trail of Breathing concerns carbon dioxide. The concept originated from the distinctive architecture of the National Taichung Theater, whose fluid spaces resemble an evolving ecological network. Chang approaches the Tutu Gallery as an air chamber enclosed within an organism or cell.

Upon entering the exhibition, visitors encounter two light-based kinetic installations standing on opposite sides of the space. Gas sensors installed within the gallery detect the concentration of carbon dioxide produced by the breathing of visitors. The resulting data is transmitted to a computer, where software calculates fluctuations in concentration and uses them to regulate the speed at which light moves through the installations in real time. Visitors appear to inhabit the interior of a cell, exchanging gases with the surrounding space, while their breathing generates an organic rhythm within the mechanically constructed kinetic devices.

Visually, beams of light spill through the openings in the installations and slowly extend into the fog-filled gallery, forming multiple shifting planes of light across the air and walls. The installations themselves resemble organisms with multiple tentacles from a science-fiction film, repeatedly reaching through light to touch the entire volume of the space.

“The Trail of Breathing” represents CHANG Yung-Ta’s experiment with and imagining of the invisible layers embedded within the contemporary city. By transforming digital data into conditions accessible to bodily perception, the work creates an environment in which vision, sound, touch, and space resonate with one another, inviting visitors to open their senses and participate through their bodies.

This project was supported by the National Taichung Theater.

2017年，臺中國家歌劇院啟動「微劇場計畫」，鼓勵臺中地區的新銳藝術家實踐創意。2019年，「微劇場計畫」更名為「新藝計畫」，擴大培育藍圖，甄選中臺灣地區具獨特創作理念的藝術創作者和團隊，以「視覺意象－IMAGE」為主題，期待藝術家從歌劇院的既有空間發想；「呼吸的路徑－張永達」即為其中一檔展覽，自11月2日至11月24日在臺中國家歌劇院凸凸廳展出。

在世界快速數位化與智慧化的發展下，城市面貌由可見的技術景觀轉換進入不可見的運算世界，交疊在城市之中的各種訊息彷彿一層層隱藏不可見的Layer，形成我們周圍的樣貌和狀態，過去依賴身體感官所認知的現象以及建立的連結變得逐漸無法應對。藝術家張永達意圖透過科技與微感測裝置的輔助，進入由巨量微感測運算與數據調控所形成的數位世界－一個身體感官所無法觸及（無所感）的世界，探知數據資料背後所代表的現象。張永達以往的創作關注的即是透過資料數據的轉譯，探索周遭環境、身體感官與意識認知之間的關係，近年熱衷數據（Data）的測量與採集，對他而言，閱讀數據最具創造力的時刻，莫過於詮釋與轉換的程序，也就是讓不可見的訊息具象化的過程。

本展作品《呼吸的路徑》數據採集對象為二氧化碳，創作想法源自臺中國家歌劇院這座特殊的建築體，流動的空間仿若衍生中的生態網絡，張永達將凸凸廳視為一座被包覆在有機體／細胞當中的氣室，進入展場即看見兩座光動力裝置分別矗立於空間兩側，由空間中裝設的氣體感測器偵測現場觀眾呼吸所產生的二氧化碳濃度，將得到的數據傳送至電腦，透過程式運算出濃度變化的差異，即時調控裝置光線移動的速度，彷彿觀眾正身在細胞當中與空間進行著氣體交換，並為機械感的動力裝置創造生物呼吸般的韻律節奏；在視覺感官上，光束透過裝置隙縫中溢出，緩慢地蔓延到充滿煙霧的空間，在空氣與牆面形成多個動態光束切面，裝置本身彷彿科幻電影中具有多重觸手的生物體，以光線為介質反覆地觸碰整個空間容積。

作品《呼吸的路徑》是藝術家張永達對於再現城市中不可見Layer的實驗與想像，將數位資料轉換為身體感官可觸及的狀態，營造一個視覺、聽覺、觸覺及空間相互共鳴的場域，邀請人們打開感官並以其身體參與其中。

本作品計劃獲臺中國家歌劇院贊助。