Page 38 - WTP Vol. XI #2

The Office of Arcana
“The starting point for these works connected certain historical and contempo- rary military developments with the history of arcane thought in the UK.
Bringing together these two areas of disparate knowledge began as a way to ques- tion those (including the artist) who can be seduced into believing they know the way things are. As the ideas developed, the speculative connections revealed themselves to be based on historical events, or maybe on the single fact that, with a collection of fragmented facts, connections can always be made.”
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These photographs are details of the model interiors that formed part of the overall Office of Arcana installation, exhibited at MoCA Taipei in 2022. Each interior is made from painted plywood, cardboard. Overall dimensions of each interior 37'' x 32'' x 39''
(photographs by Ray Kiang)
“The sense of the haunted land- scape of the UK fed into the
ideas, together with the recognition of similar places in Taiwan, places where structures could be the ruins of an unspecified future. The once derided literature of science fiction now seems to catch the present state with greater clarity than those who stated we were at the end of history (though in a way maybe we are). The land is haunted by what might have been.”