Corrosive: Inward decay

Inspired by the Chinese animation Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf, this episode showcases a diving competition among the little goats, each eager to score higher. They perform tricks, refine their techniques, and execute spins, landing in the water with precision. In contrast, the lazy goat falls in as if drifting like a leaf. This choice made me reflect on today’s excessive mentality: while we often chase lofty achievements, perhaps a slow dance is an overlooked option in life.

Corrosive: Inward decay
co-curated with Sela Lin

Corrosive: Inward decay examines the excess of everyday culture and its toll on individual and collective well-being. It presents chronic inflammation as a site for dysfunction in both biological and social systems under sustained stress. Through “slow dance,” which is used as a methodology of resistance, the exhibition challenges and unearths the inflammation that pervades contemporary life.

In any body or system, there is a constant cycle of absorption, metabolization, and release. In the human body, this is analogous to food consumption, digestion, and excretion. Similarly, in the realm of knowledge, it reflects the processes of collecting, processing, storing, and distributing information.

Chronic inflammation consequently disrupts this equilibrium. Inflammation occurs as a response to injury, aimed at repair and restoration. However, when the inflammatory response becomes prolonged, it fails to properly respond. This leads to an accumulation of repair cells, producing a dissonance and numbness to the source of the pain.

In our daily lives, chronic inflammation manifests as an excess of information. We are inundated with external stimuli that we must incessantly absorb, leading to sensory overstimulation and an insatiable desire for more. This excess of data overwhelms our capacity to process it, creating an unstable cycle where information accumulates without being released or internalized. As a result, our mental and emotional states become overheated, leading to burnout.

The exhibition offers “slow dance” as a form of response, relief, and rebellion against the chronic inflammation produced by excess, rigidity, and orderliness. The act of dancing with an inflamed body illustrates the choice to confront discomfort rather than avoid it. Instead of merely soothing the discomfort through the immune system’s automatic response, “slow dance” seeks an uncomfortable process of mining the wound to expose the source of pain. While art is often displayed as static and aesthetic agencies, our exhibition explores collective inflammation through disgust, visitor interactivity, performance, and kinetic movement.