Ladies | WUSIHCHIN

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《Ladies》

Immersive Video Installation, Plastic 3D Printing | Dimensions variable | 2023

LIU YU+WU,SIH-CHIN

Commission by National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art, U-108 Space project

Apr 15 - Jun 25. 2023

U-108 Immersive Technological Application Experimental Space

Liu Yu and Wu Sih Chin, during an interview with a botanist, curiously asked how he identifies plant species when encountering them in the wild. They expected an answer involving floral structures, leaf shapes, or some specialized biological terminology. However, the botanist’s friend simply replied, “By its temperament.”

In the 18th century, Erasmus Darwin (1731–1802), both a naturalist and a poet, wrote a collection of nature-inspired poems titled The Loves of the Plants. The content of these poems was based on the classification system proposed by Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778), which identified plant species through their sexual characteristics. When Linnaeus first introduced his classification system, likening floral structures to human reproductive organs was a highly controversial interpretation. Even more so was the use of overtly sexualized language to describe this system, as it infused botanical traits with human understandings of sexuality. However, this anthropomorphic perspective ultimately laid the foundation for modern plant classification. Even with the later discovery of DNA technology, the results largely validated the Linnaean system.Darwin not only accepted Linnaeus’ classification method but also embraced its sexual metaphors. In The Loves of the Plants, he used meticulous biological observation and personified language to depict the personalities, senses, and desires of plants, often centering women as the narrative subject. His poetry also reflected a certain degree of atheistic thought—human emotions, in his view, were more deeply rooted in physiology rather than theology. This perspective, perhaps unintentionally, positioned humanity within the broader scope of nature itself.

The work Ladies draws inspiration from three poems by Darwin, each featuring a different plant—Mimosa , Arum, and Cuscuta—adapting them into a theatrical script. It explores the ways in which early knowledge systems shaped human perceptions of nature. Rather than revisiting the traditional critique of anthropocentrism, the work seeks to trace the initial cognitive impulses that drive human understanding of the world. The act of “observing / perceiving / understanding” is not merely a passive reception of knowledge but also an introspective, imaginative process—a form of internal production. Knowledge emerges through the interplay between reception and output.Yet, this internal process is difficult to articulate, as it is rooted in subjective experience. Any attempt at communication inevitably becomes a form of translation. The artist contemplates the intersection of this cognitive force with artistic creation, employing themes of sensation, form, and narrative to construct Darwin’s botanical imagination—translating poetry into visual language and transforming imagery and space into immersive environments. This work prompts reflection on how humans perceive. Personification, while often critiqued as a means of imposing human dominance over nature, is also an innate biological instinct that fosters empathy toward all living things.

Production Team

Editing | WU Sih-Chin, LIU Yu Animation | WU Sih-Chin Research Support | WANG Jing-Jing Music / Vocal | CHEN Hsien-Ching

Music / Drums | CHEN Kuan-Fu Music / Piano | LIN Liang-Yu Producer | Nelly YANG Costume | CHEN Kayn-Ken

Model CHEN Po-Yu Vocal Post-Production/ Spatial Mixing | Mothra Productions Voiceover | WANG Jing-Jing, Lori TSENG

Translation | WANG Jing-Jing Documentary | Chang Neng Chen 3D Scanning & Imaging | Long Hao Optical Technology

3D Model Printing | Daddy Studio Special Thanks | HUNG Shih-Hui, CHANG Chi-Shan, TSOU Ting

《Ladies》

沈浸式影像裝置、塑料3D列印 | 尺寸依場地而定 | 2023

劉玗+吳思嶔

本計畫由國立台灣美術館U-108空間計畫委託製作

2023/4/15-6/25

U-108 沈浸式科技應用實驗場域

劉玗與吳思嶔在某次與一位植物學家問訪中，好奇地問道當他在野外看見某種植物時，是依靠什麼樣的經驗或方法來辨試它的種類？原以為得到的回應會是花器、葉形，或是某個專有的生物詞匯。但植物學家友人的回答是：「看它的氣質。」

在十八世紀，身兼博物學家與詩人身份的伊拉斯謨斯．達爾文（Erasmus Darwin，1731-1802）撰寫了一本自然觀察詩集《植物之愛／The loves of the plants》，詩詞的內容奠基於當時卡爾．林奈（Carl Linnaeus，1707 -1778）提出；植物以辨識「性徵」作為分類方法。在林奈的植物分類系統成形之初，將植物的花器比喻成人類的性器官仍是極具爭議的詮釋，更遑論在當時使用高度性化的語言來解釋這套系統，將人類對於性的理解渲染在植物的各種特徵上。但如此擬人的想像卻奠定了今日植物分類系統的基礎，即使後來DNA技術的發現，所驗證的結果仍與林奈系統大致相同。達爾文不僅認同林奈的分類方法，更接受了對性的隱喻，詩集《植物之愛》透過細緻的生物觀察，以擬人的文辭描寫了植物的性格、感官與慾望，並且側重於女性作為主體。詩的內容也映射了達爾文在某種程度上的無神論觀點；人類的情感相較於神學更根植於生理學上，這樣的視角也意外地將人類劃入了自然界的範疇之中。

作品「Ladies」以達爾文書寫的三首詩／三種植物（含羞草、疆南星、菟蕬子）作為改編劇本，尋探在知識系統形成之初，人類如何觀看自然？這樣的內容並非意圖回應人類中心主義的舊問，而是傾向於追溯人類認知世界的某種初始動能，人類在「觀看／感知／理解」的過程中，同時也進行著某種感性的內在生產；想像力的迸發。而知識就在「接收」與「產出」兩種行為並行的同時被建構起來。這種內在生產行為為並不容易被討論，因出於個體的主觀經驗，透過任何形式的傳遞都會淪為某種翻譯。藝術家也思考著這種動能與藝術生產的交會之處，試圖透過感官、形狀與敘事三項主題來形構達爾文的植物想像，將詩詞轉譯成視覺語言，影像與空間轉譯成環境，以展開我們對於「人如何觀看」的思索，「擬人」是一種剝削萬物的意識，但同時也是同理萬物的生物本能。

製作團隊

WU,SIH-CHIN l 吳思嶔

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