Exhibition：Les échos du silence / Echoes of Silence

Dates：2025.05.16-07.27

Venue：Institut d'art contemporain de Villeurbanne (IAC) 

Chang Yung-Ta is adept at observing subtle changes in daily life, often-overlooked physical phenomena, and sounds. Through his works involving sound, light, and kinetic installations, he explores natural events and physical signals that typically escape our perception. In Echoes of Silence, Chang draws upon data such as cosmic rays, ambient background radiation, and the flow of rivers, transforming them through algorithms and sonic devices into perceptible audiovisual experiences. The exhibition space unfolds like a silent pathway, guiding viewers into an immersive, microscopic journey of interaction with air, energy, and sound.

The works presented in this exhibition continue the artist’s long-standing exploration of “invisible elements,” a focus that traces back to his residency in Japan in 2010, where he observed and reflected on background radiation in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Chang Yung-Ta regards these intangible signals as collaborators in his creative process, transforming unseen phenomena and energies into visible forms, allowing nature and technology to actively participate in the act of creation.

Scientific instruments such as Geiger-Müller counters and chemical substances appear in the works, with their physical reactions and sounds forming integral components of the installations. In some cases, natural data is used to sculpt the work—for instance, in the installation scape.unseen–model T, a propeller hidden within a central cylinder generates a vortex, causing black glass beads to collide with marble, mimicking the erosive action of water and sediment on a riverbed. Notably, the strength of the water flow within the device is not determined by the artist, but driven by actual flow data from the Liwu River in Taiwan’s Taroko Gorge.

Curators Sarah Caillet and Martin Guinard remarked that Chang Yung-Ta’s works invite viewers to reconsider how we perceive our surroundings—especially in today’s information-saturated and sensory-fatigued society—by returning to the essence of perception through subtle shifts in sound and energy.

Echoes of Silence was supported by Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture under the Cultural Black Tide Program, and co-organized with the collaboration of the French Ministry of Culture and the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regional Government, among other institutions. Throughout the exhibition period, a series of guided tours and public programs were held to encourage participation from audiences of all ages. This exhibition marked not only an important solo presentation of Chang Yung-Ta’s work in Europe, but also highlighted the depth of Taiwan’s contemporary art in exploring the intersections of nature, technology, and human perception on the international stage.