An inconspicuous cactus is displayed in the window of Tsai-JuWus studio, with not much else to be seen of the fascinating little shop. She shares the space with a fellow artist with an admirable collection of various curious objects.
The walls are covered with her artwork, the table with smaller sketches and in the corner an art installation is hung that resembles a cloud demonstrating motion in space. Tsai-Ju studied at the University of Applied Art in Vienna whereas her relationship to art already developed in her school days in Taiwan. Back then she took pictures of everyday situations with her analog camera and developed them in her dark room. She participated in the opening ceremony of Stones of Remembrance.
About transience and change
Tsai-Ju commemorates a grocer who once was established in Westbahnstrasse 39. Like many, the owner was expropriated. Her studio holds an old-fashioned refrigerator that works not with electricity but by filling it with ice. The ice-box that Tsai-Ju obtained from a clearance company was part of her art installation. On one hand she points out the profession of the former grocers and on the other hand transience and change. Line ice in the ice-box, time also melts and the good and the evil are always subject to change.
From Taiwan to Burgenland
Tsai-Ju took part in an exchange programme and arrived from Taiwan to Burgenland, Austria. She stayed there for a year, then decided to study in Vienna and thus her biography is also full of change, which is one of th
e topics of Stones of Remembrance.
Art for the sake of art
When Tsai-Ju starts to draw, she usually has no aim but just lets things happen. Long streaks, winding forms mainly in black and white. Art for the sake of art as a valve to express oneself. Originally she had planned to draw with chalk on the path in front of the grocery store but that seemed to be too simple after all. She wanted to challenge herself to transport the importance of Stones of Remembrance. Tsai-Ju read a text accompanying her art installation. Find more information about the artist at zaiw.tumblr.com. All information about Stones of Remembrance can be found on the website steinedererinnerung.at.
