SLow
Karel van Laere’s comes from a theatre and performance art background. He features as a dancer during his public space interventions in which the body has an entirely different ‘role’ than it would typically have on the street. In the video SLow, the artist is mechanically dragged defenceless through the public space of Taipei in Taiwan. Van Laere moves slowly and imperturbably through the urban landscape amid the strict rules by which people live. Clearly, these rules cannot be easily set aside. Van Laere’s action thus amusingly and wonderfully marks the contrast between his still body and its hectic surroundings. The suit he wears bears the scars of this action.
Karel van Laere examined this Asian metropolis through Dutch eyes and made an intervention there. Kuang Yu Tsui from Taiwan inverted this procedure.
Performance: Karel van Laere
Camera: 李少哲
Line producer: 凌瑋隆
Special thanks to: 莊皓巖, 莊陳保, 鄭敬儒, 葉柏青, 孫斌立, 劉錫權, 陳愷璜, 榮工工程公司 關渡施工所, 台北市北投區關渡宮, 台北市關渡國小.宮, 台北市關渡國小.