Republic of Rubber Tape

Fang Wei-wen was born and raised in Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of the Sultanate of Brunei. He moved to Taiwan at the age of 18 to obtain his art education. While trained as a painter, his more recent works utilise quotidian objects as a means of channelling personal memories, and expressing an abiding
sense of cultural dislocation.

Republic of Rubber Tape is a long structure constructed from wood and bamboo, and resembling a piece of scaffolding. It is interspersed with bridges, plastic containers, raffia string and other packing materials, and features a miniature house. The structure recalls the artist’s childhood home in Bandar: Kampong Ayer, or water village. Kampong Ayer is built entirely of wooden stilt houses and connecting walkways, and is one of the oldest surviving communities of its type in the world. Tape surrounds the installation, in an outline that recalls the shapes and silhouettes of countries as they are commonly depicted in maps. The artist remarks: “Here, the borderline created by the length of the rubber tape refers to a realm that only exists when it is recognized by others. The wooden structure is an evocation of my childhood, spent in a land far away from my present home. The Republic of Rubber Tape is a mythical kingdom conjured out of my imagination, memories and personal experiences.”