The Exhibition Starts on the Stairs

Before the main room of 《腐・殖》 appears, a pale body hangs over the landing at NGSC in Taoyuan. It bends into a loop that does not close. Stitched cloth is marked with brown and red; rib-like sections show through one side. A smaller circular fiber work hangs on the wall opposite it.

Both are by Hou Guan-Ting. Inside, dozens of pale, snail-like bodies gather into a hanging column, with smaller fiber objects placed on plinths and tables around it. A photograph made during installation shows Hou seated beside the large work, handling its repeated parts one by one.

Hou's wider practice begins with dead animals found on the road. In a 2025 interview, he spoke about fur, bone, blood, soil, texture and smell changing after death, and about using embroidery and patchwork to bring those bodies into slow contact with his hands. His fabric forms enlarge or isolate parts of animal remains, rebuilding them with colored thread and soft material. The current works leave their seams and exposed structures visible, and repeat the pale forms across the installation.

Across the room, TSHI Ukhiam's figures remain flat against painted fields. One reclining body stretches over dark color and bright green. A smaller Hou work sits on a yellow plinth beside it, against the same blue wall.

TSHI's The Double Life of Véronique begins with a still from Krzysztof Kieślowski's film. A figure turns inside blocks of green, purple, blue and orange. TSHI describes Véronique as sensing another world and relates the colors to secrecy, feeling and innocence.

Another 2026 painting is titled Saving all my love for you (Whitney Houston). Its face looks forward through blue, orange, pink, red and brown.

In the exhibition title, 腐 can mean rot or decay; 殖 can mean reproduction, proliferation, cultivation or colonization. Hou's soft forms accumulate and appear injured. TSHI's figures move from film and music into paint.