The "space" or "scenography" in the project is something completely established by the relational.
To define the spatial as ”the relational”, that is, this means understanding space not just as a static setting, but as something that emerges from the object, within the object, or is revealed through the object—particularly through the repeated actions centered around it.
So, whether the intimacy of the sewing, what is a button and more than a button, the network of connections, everything established in the project are defiined, established by "relations", between the individual--individual, the object--the individual, and object--object.
As the maker of the project, I became aware of the“ I—we—it”, (the maker)—(the social)—(the object) aspect of my work.
As a young Taiwanese maker navigating the complexity and tensions of ethnic, cultural, and political identity, the act of re-membering becomes urgent
— a way of making unmediated culture in the present tense, rooted in the relational. From the button, to the hand that sews, to the network stitched by this project, this is a journey of discovering togetherness through personhood.
“We reclaim ourselves by re-membering. We become eachother by re-membering.”
To borrow certain points and perspectives from French theorist Guy Debord wrote, in The Society of the Spectacle (1967),
"All that once was directly lived has become mere representation."
Following this perspective, "Niu Kou" is to re-value, re-define the object "button" in the present tense created by the network formed by the participants and this peice .
With these questions, I'm trying to open up the perception of a button.
It is to use the button, the physicality and meaning of it, as a portal, a lens, to see ourselves through the buttons.
For me, the scenography of this project is the act of setting the frame, it is to give the participants/spectators a position.
The "spatial" in this scene is heavily defined and connected back as "the relational",
because one being exist, therefore space emerges, this includes "the frame/portal/lens".
In the earlier stage of the project, the previous of positioning buttons as an entity is a way of framing, providing a lens. It also touches on "re-valueing", yet in the later stage, while hoping to leaning more emphesis of what a button can be, I start asking participants to fill the blank for the sentence "A button is like____."
" A button is like a bridge."
"A button is like holding hands."
"A button is like glue."
"A button is like jewelry for the shirt."
"A button is like ......"
With this question, buttons emerged as a concept—both personal and communal—for the individuals participating in the project.
As a result, the process of meaning-making expands: it is not only me, the maker, who shapes a new value in the present, but also the network of participants, whose contributions become integral to the work.
"If a button were an entity of its own, with a consciousness and a mind—
The one closest to your heart would follow you wherever you go.
It would see what you see, hear what you hear, being so near your body,
it would also listen to your heartbeat, feel your warmth.
It doesn’t just fasten two panels of fabric together;
perhaps it also holds things within itself.
And now, as we take it out—like a tape or a recording—
what do you think it will remember? What will it have held onto, silently, all this time?"
