Sugar once occupied large areas of land and paper boats remind us of childhood games whilst having a transitional meaning (movement from one space to another).
The whole exhibition is in effect about finding a new land, in much the same way Cheng Cheng-kung landed in Taiwan, and this relates specifically to the relationship between time and space.
The individual cubes of sugar are built into a structure that reminds one of both a fortress and a maze. The fortress perhaps symbolizes a city wall or Tainan, whilst the maze through a series of connected patterns extends infinitely. As visitors enter the maze a series of memories are triggered.
The artist uses paper folded into boats to remember, and as part of a vigorous search for clues. In addition, the process involved in creating the boats or the act of lining them up as if in an old canal, is a way of supplementing memories, symbolizing the loss of memory and a strong desire to restore what has been lost.
Arranging paper boats along a street is, in and of itself, an act of will and determination, repeating the same act ad infinitum. At unsuitable times it becomes an act of absurdity. By arranging the boats a series of actions are constantly repeated. Each act of repetition becomes part of the past, though the phenomena and condition of repetition continue to exist. As time is repeated in this way space also changes, and time and space are of course the basic latitude and longitude framework that underpin human existence.