Bill Goes on Vacation
Chen Wan-Jen
陳萬仁
Production date
2008
Object Detail
Media
single-channel video (colour, silent)
Measurements
7 min 36 sec
Notes
On an animated azure blue ocean, against a backdrop of unmoving white clouds in a bright blue sky and a cut-out desert island featuring the obligatory three palm trees, the same ships plough back and forth, travelling improbably close to the tiny island. A holiday fantasy or a dreary repetition? The landscape imitates Microsoft wallpaper, an indication that a virtual vacation may be all that’s on offer. Chen says: ‘The video “Bill Goes on Vacation” is an imitation of Microsoft’s default wallpaper. Often I find my work similar to a screensaver of some sort: events happen in an enclosed loop—narratives have been eliminated and thus the image is revealed as purely what it is. The materials are cropped from the most commonplace scenes in daily life, in a meta-fictional and indifferent manner.’ Re-arranged in a form of digital collage, the familiar becomes strange.
Accession number
2011.016