Chen Chieh-Jen

Born 1960, Taoyuan, Taiwan. Lives in Taipei, Taiwan

In Chen Chieh-Jen’s poignant film Factory, we watch, in unflinching close-up, as an elderly Taiwanese woman, her eyesight ruined from years of sewing in a textile factory, struggles for over two minutes to thread her needle. The film creates beautiful, almost abstract visual images, but it’s also a moving depiction of the lives of real people: Chen uses the local and the individual to show us the often harsh realities of global economics. Chen’s new film for International 06 follows the fortunes of one ship and its cargo, revealing in the process a truly global story of workers’ solidarity that begins in Liverpool’s docks and ends all the way back in his own homeland, Taiwan.

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2006 Factory, Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague, Czech Republic

2005 Chen Chieh-jen, La Fábrica Galería, Madrid, Spain

2004 Lingchi – Echoes of a Historical Photograph, Claudio Poleschi Arte Contemporanea, Lucca, Italy

2001 Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris, France

1998 Revolt in the Soul & Body II, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

Selected Group Exhibitions

2006 Fever Variations, Gwangju Biennale 2006, Gwangju, South Korea
Zones of Contact, Biennale of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Biennial Cuvée, O.K Centre for Contemporary Art, Linz, Austria

2005 Parallel Realities – Asian Art Now, The 3rd Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale 2005, Fukuoka, Japan
The Experience of Art, 48th Venice Biennale, Italian Pavilion, Venice, Italy
Interruption and Dislocation, Lisboa Photo 2005, Lisbon, Portugal

2004 Do You Believe in Reality?, 2004 Taipei Biennial, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
Techniques of the Visible, 2004 Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
New Zealand Community Trust Art & Industry Urban Arts Biennial 04, Christchurch, New Zealand
Histories: Eyelids and Lips, Photo España 2004, Antigua Fábrica de Tabacos, Madrid, Spain

2002 Great Theatre of the World, 2002 Taipei Biennial, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

2001 Translated Acts, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany; Queens Museum of Art, New York, USA

2000 The 31st Rencontres Internationale de la Photographie, Abbaye de Montmajour, Arles, France
The Mind on the Edge (of the New Centres), Photo España 2000, Circulo de Bellas Artes, Madrid, Spain
Sharing Exoticisms, 5th Lyon Biennial of Contemporary Art, Halle Tony Garnier, Lyon, France
Man & Space – Art & Human Rights, Gwangju Biennale 2000, Gwangju, South Korea

1999 International Photography Biennale, Centro de la Imagen, Mexico City, Mexico
Close to Open, 48th Venice Biennale, Taiwan Pavilion, Venice, Italy

1998 Routes, Routes, Routes, Routes, Routes, Routes, Routes, 24th Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Site of Desire, 1998 Taipei Biennial, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

Award

2000 The Special Prize, Gwangju Biennale 2000, Gwangju, South Korea