On September 11, 2001, a day that shocked the world, the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in Manhattan, New York, collapsed after being struck by airplanes. The towering symbols of human civilization, along with their tangible and intangible assets, vanished in a matter of hours, consumed by flames and dust, reduced to a pile of ashes and rubble.
This art project originated from a batch of goods discovered by artist Chiu Chen-Hong in a processing factory in Taiwan. These goods consist of approximately 500 sets of Western tableware made from solid wood and marble. They were originally manufactured by Taiwanese marble and woodworking factories and were intended for export to the shopping mall of the Twin Towers in New York in 2001. However, following the events of 9/11, the shopping mall located within the World Trade Center also closed down, leaving these goods stored in the warehouse of the factory. It wasn't until a fortuitous encounter in 2015 that Chiu Chen-Hong discovered these products that had been kept in storage for fourteen years. With the limited information available on the goods, he visited the original manufacturers, processing factories, and transportation companies, piecing together the original production line and gradually developing the direction for this series of works.
In the art project titled "The Dust of Time," the artist views the physical entities of these goods as elements of transitional events. Through the use of equal amounts of materials and their physical properties such as minerals, wood, metal, light, smell, and volume, the artist interprets the relationship and significance of Taiwan's contract manufacturing industry within the global economic system. For example, in the exhibit "The Weight of Spirit," Chiu Chen-Hong uses the materials originally used in the production of the goods (marble, pine wood, and stainless steel) and creates works with them in the same proportions as their weight in the 500 sets of goods. By doing so, he attempts to retrace the production process in a different form and showcases it in the space. Additionally, he slices into the context of global terrorist attacks in recent years, transforming the materials' properties and origins such as plants, minerals, and biological activities into alternative power dynamics related to territories, borders, and economies.
In the artwork "Douglas Fir," the artist uses the tree species used in the production of the goods as the basis for the sculpting on self-made concrete panels, representing both the delineation of topography and another layer of description for species and regions. In the photography work "8:46," named after the time, the image depicts tableware, bread, and fruits and vegetables, evoking the imagery of a pleasant breakfast with gentle light falling upon them. However, the title alludes to the tragic moment of the 9/11 events at 8:46 am. In "Ash 1367," two horizontal beams of mysterious light in a darkroom serve as the visual focal point. The floating flour dust in the space, illuminated by the beams, interacts with the light, suggesting both the beams projected at the former World Trade Center site after 9/11 and intending to lead viewers to reflect on whether, as time passes, history gradually transitions into a state of emptiness.