Hyper Wave

Interview by Fanny Bauguil (linking teacher at VIDEOFORMES)

• How would you describe this installation? What can you see? What can you hear? What can you do there?

The Accelerated Accident is an immersive sculpture.

In the exhibition space, visitors first encounter a hand-crafted sculptural helmet. Standing alone, it resembles the remnant of an exploration mission. This helmet is also a tool: it contains a virtual reality device. When visitors put it on, they feel as though they are diving beneath the surface, into a vast underground reservoir filled with liquid.

In this digital world, strange, otherworldly forms appear, resembling imaginary creatures, floating slowly through a dark and silent space.

The visitor cannot control what they see. They observe, they wait, and let themselves be carried along by this slow exploration, like a diver discovering an abandoned place, somewhere between reality and imagination.

• What is it about?

The work explores themes of progress, memory and accident.

It draws inspiration from the old underground oil tanks in Hsinchu, industrial relics linked to a large factory built during the Second World War by the Japanese army. This factory was part of a vast military complex designed to produce fuel and materials needed for aircraft and war machinery.

At the time, these tanks and facilities were seen as symbols of modernity, industrial power and technological efficiency. Today, they lie abandoned and unused, yet they continue to bear the traces of their history: they serve as a reminder of a period when technology was synonymous with strength and progress, but also with conflict and collective responsibility. 

 In the work, these former sites become mysterious, almost living spaces that invite us to reflect on our relationship with technology, industry and progress.

• What happens when the systems we have created become too complex, too fast, or ultimately slip beyond our control?

The Accelerated Accident highlights this tension: between the promise of a better future driven by technology, and the fragility of human systems, which can become unpredictable, difficult to govern or to understand.

• Is this the first time this installation has been shown to the public? Could you tell us a little about the process of creating the work to arrive at this result?

Yes, this installation is being shown to the public for the first time in this form. The project grew out of a previous piece, which involved the creation of a submarine that explored the past and future of the city of Taipei.

The helmet in The Accelerated Accident is an extension of this research: it is a tool for observing hidden places and for ‘diving’ into their history, but also into the possible futures they suggest.

The work developed from a research project: visits to abandoned industrial sites, observation of the locations, and the collection of stories and historical data.

Using these real-world elements, we created a virtual environment, transforming the old reservoirs into an imaginary and immersive world.

This installation is an initial version of the project, destined to evolve and transform in the future, as research and presentations progress.

• Which artists (across all disciplines) or, more generally, which artistic forms inspire your creative process, and, if applicable, what references are you alluding to in this installation?

Our work is inspired by the narratives and worlds of science fiction, found in books, films and video games. These stories help us to imagine unknown worlds, strange technologies and possible futures.

We also draw inspiration from Taiwan’s industrial history, its factories, infrastructure and abandoned sites, which tell the story of the rapid transformations of the land and society.

Finally, for this work in particular, certain visual forms draw on medieval imagery, notably the beaked masks used during plague epidemics. Both protective and unsettling, these masks symbolise a way of coming into contact with an invisible danger whilst protecting oneself from it.

They echo the central idea of The Accelerated Accident: seeking to draw closer to a subject whilst keeping it at a distance.

• What difficulties, constraints and challenges did you face during its creation?

One of the first challenges was gaining access to the sites. The underground reservoirs that inspired the work are not normally open to the public. Being granted exceptional access to them was a pivotal moment.

Another challenge was both technical and artistic: we wanted the helmet to be both a sculpture and a virtual reality device. We had to work out how to integrate the VR system into a handmade helmet without compromising its sculptural appearance or the visitor’s comfort.

• Could you give us one or more website addresses where we can view your work?

https://hyperwave.tw 

https://www.instagram.com/hyperwave.tw

• A few keywords that would describe your installation well?

Virtual reality – Industrial memory – Diving – Invisible landscapes – Waiting

• A few words about your artistic journey? At what point in your life did you become interested in digital art? Are you able to make a living from your creative work?

Hyper Wave is a collective of artists and curators based in Taiwan. It consists of five people, each with different specialisms, ranging from research to sculpture and digital arts. We also work individually, and sometimes together to create joint works, such as The Accelerated Accident.

Our collective is not limited to artistic creation: we also run an exhibition space in central Taipei, as well as an artist residency programme in eastern Taiwan, where we host artists and develop research and creative projects.