Biography
TAITAITAITAI is an artist based in Chicago and New York with roots in other parts of the US (California,) Taiwan, and Latin America. She makes installations that can be or are activated in movement performance. Her artist first name TAITAI comes from the colloquial Mandarin reference of a matriarch who earns her status in society by throwing killer parties, taking care of the household and possibly raising descendents. Her last name TAITAI alludes to the excess of being "too much" of the Chinese adverb tai「太」used in instances like the sun, excessively bright/positive「 太陽」。
TAITAI obtained her BA in dance and psychology at Washington University, and Certificate in contemporary dance performance at the Peridance Capezio Center. She has furthered her movement training with other dance (American Dance Festival), yoga asana (Iyengar), and fitness (Strongman) modalities. While trying to figure out the correct fit between survival and art making, she trained as a translator in New York University's MS in Translation Studies (Chinese to English.) She sealed her art making education with an MFA program for Visual Arts from the University of Chicago.
Biografía
TAITAITAITAITAI es una artista basada en Chicago y Nueva York, con raices en otras partes de los Estados Unidos (California,) Taiwán, y América Latina. Ella crea instalaciones (esculturas y fotografías) cúales pueden ser o son activadas en performance que involucran movimientos. El primer nombre de artista de TAITAI viene de la referencia coloquial mandarina de una matriarca quién gana su estado en la sociedad organizando fiestas matadoras, cuidando la casa y posiblemente criando descendientes. El apellido de artista de TAITAI alude al exceso de ser "demasiada" del adverbio chino, tai「太」cómo de sol, excesivo en su luminosidad o positivismo 「 太陽」。
TAITAI obtuvo su licenciatura en danza y psicología, y certificado de performance de danza contemporánea en el Centro de Peridance Capezio. Ella ha continuado su entrenamiento del cuerpo con otras técnicas de danza (Festival de American Dance), asana de yoga (Iyengar) y condición física (Strongman). Cuando trató de encontrar la manera correcta de balancear creando arte y la supervivencia, entrenó cómo un traductor en el programa de maestría de ciencias (chino a inglés) en la Universidad de Nueva York. Finalmente, ella selló su educación de artes con una maestría de artes plásticas de la Universidad de Chicago.
Statement
I make perverse dioramas with organic materials in all states of their potential forms to emphasize the malleability, humor, and fragility of the human condition. These perverse dioramas look like alterations on inorganic materials as "structure" where organic materials as "content" can succumb to the elements of time and force. Within them, my goal is to make visible the more invisible forces that shape a person’s choice of identities and circumstances. I am interested in presenting absurdist mechanisms and systems of production, like a ritual machine to “cook” a chicken, myself, in a nude swimsuit, after shedding off three plastic inflatable dinosaur suits, going through a metal cart of skin care ritual “stations” from top to bottom, to comment on the unconscious ways definitions of beauty and belonging become established.
My work stems from performance making as a dancer and fitness/yoga professional in the last fifteen years. Within those, I found myself beginning with a similar position of the untalented, “late start” yet eager and hardworking student and practitioner. I found myself, after establishing some kind of knowledge base within each tradition, hesitant about the closing off that happens when one becomes a professional in a craft. I worried about the exclusion that happens within that. I was curious about the perpetuation of the status quo in performances and classes; what was the goal of all this desire for mastery? Was the type of impact I had a performer when I was more able to replicate familiarly virtuosic shapes, one that helped me provide a nuanced emotional experience with my audiences? What kind of a connection between performer and audience was more equitable and expansive, one that both parties could commune together non verbally, one presenting an idea through rehearsal and editing while the other, using all their senses, immerse in the experience and reflect on the way they move about the world?
Since 2025, I have been interested in creating performative objects and sculptural installations; they are things that change and possibly disappear within the duration of the showing. Similar to how the study of the physical practice of yoga begins on the gross level of the body, I am interested in creating experiences for viewers to examine their body’s relationship to the space around them. I imbue routines and steps within my performances, as a nonverbal way to model behaviors that changes one’s idea of fixed identities and challenge the “manifest destiny” of living things/objects to remain as they are, to be admired and gawked at.
My performance work in the last five years have been modeling self care activities and rituals, from cupping, cleaning, bathing, wax immersion, circuit training and doing Iyengar yoga. They have been the genesis to the sculptural installations I now make with paraffin wax and plastic. I synthesize the actions and textures within a body ritual onto how I treat materials in the studio. I take inspiration from skincare routines. I am seduced by the clarity of steps, changing textures, temperatures, and duration of relating to one’s skin, and ease to reach satisfaction. From the preparatory steps to doing poses in Iyengar yoga, Abraham Maslow’s pyramid towards self-actualization, to Korean skin care routines, procedures are embedded into various philosophies of living. In today’s chaotic and globalized world, steps become a way to establish control and an illusory sense of agency that one’s actions can affect some change, even if it’s just to have softer skin.