Hsiao-Chu (Julia)
Hsia
夏
小筑
Bright Sugar Hide 細糖藏
2026
Soulangh Cultural Park, Tainan City, Taiwan
2026 New York - Tainan Artistic Dialogues Program: Trio Show Underneath the Sweetest Songs
Curated by Ming Turner and Luchia Meihua Lee.
Partnered with Taiwanese American Arts Council, Flushing, NY, USA.
Officially invited by Cultural Affairs Bureau, Tainan City Government, Tainan City, Taiwan.
Bright Sugar Hide is a multidisciplinary project mixing site-specific installation and performance in the trio exhibition Underneath the Sweetest Songs, curated by Ming Turner and Luchia Meihua Lee, as a part of the 2026 New York - Tainan Artistic Dialogues Program hosted by Soulangh Cultural Park in Tainan, Taiwan, and the Taiwanese American Arts Council in Flushing, NY, USA.
The project brings out the complex history of Taiwan and its critical location to respond to how the mixed-culture environment shapes the shared personality of Taiwanese people throughout time. The work encourages people to look back into the past to ask how people can embrace and merge values from old to new, keeping a safe space for diverse voices while redefining their self-identifications.
The on-site installation is inspired by the shape of sugar scallion 糖蔥, a kind of traditional handmade candy in Taiwan that cooks, melts, and pulls sugar into irregular and shiny hollow tubes.
It is said that sugar scallion became prevalent during the Japanese colonial period in Taiwan, when sugar was an important import. People turned sand-like sugar into long, white sticks like the white part of the scallion, so polices who came to impose sugar wouldn’t notice. Afterwards, sugar scallion remains as a part of the culture as a skill-required treat to make, rather than a kind of candy to hate.
A small piece of sugar brings out the complex history of Taiwan, interacting with visitors from outside the island, as Taiwan has sat at a critical location globally since the old days. After eras dominated by different governments and cultures, people are now experiencing the process of redefining their self-identifications, having conversations to embrace and merge values from old to new. The work encourages people to look back into the past and rethink the meanings behind remaining traditions in different periods, to remember and understand how the island has come this far, and ask what future we are expecting, whilst we have a safe space for diverse voices.
Photo Credit: 臺南市政府文化局 吳太普
The looping 90-second video projected to the floor of the hollow space inside the wooden structure creates an immersive environment with lights at night in Taiwan, forming a calm and safe ambience. Sounds of scooter noises and nightjar 夜鷹 calls are specifically distinctive as Taiwan has the highest scooter density in the world, and the local nightjar, the Savanna Nightjar, is an endemic subspecies that has adapted to urban life. It interprets the cultural personality of Taiwanese, being welcoming to people from day to night and from local to different time zones.
Photo Credit: 臺南市政府文化局 吳太普
The performance reflects the action of passing on cultures, with conversations between the old values and new generations. Plain clothes representing rivers running down and far were combed by hands, interpreting people organizing histories and traditions into new knowledge and skills to be carried on.
Towards the end of the performance, one of the clothes was cropped to demonstrate the traditional packaging of Chinese Medicine. Pieces of square paper were handed over to the audience to follow the movements and instructions. It refers to the idea of disruptive innovation to think about the change of values as time goes by.
The recorded performance was then projected on the plain clothes, which switched its function from a stage to a screen, to complete the full presentation of the project.
Photo Credit: 臺南市政府文化局 吳太普
This partnership with Soulangh Cultural Park, Tainan City, Taiwan, and the Taiwanese American Arts Council, Flushing, NY, USA, was officially invited by the Cultural Affairs Bureau, Tainan City Government, Tainan City, Taiwan. The trio exhibition featured Andrea Coronil, Bipasha Hayat, and Hsiao-Chu (Julia) Hsia.