Finding Pathways to TemahahoiAnchi Lin (Ciwas Tahos)

Artworks
Three people lean close to a ceramic wind instrument; each is blowing on a mouthpiece.

A multimedia installation that bridges online and physical spaces to conjure a place safe from heteronormativity.

In the Atayal oral story, Temahahoi is a fluid location hidden deep in the mountains. It is a base of resistance – only women live in Temahahoi. As keepers of traditional knowledges and powers, these women communicate with bees, sustain themselves on smoke and steam and are impregnated by the wind.

Finding Pathways to Temahahoi is artist Anchi Lin (Ciwas Tahos)’s endeavour to connect her queer and Atayal identities. Using the motifs of bees and wind, which is also the presence of spirit in the Atayal worldview, Ciwas creates a portal to claim a self-determined queer space.

Featuring projected video works, performance, bespoke ceramic instruments and a mind map inspired by tracking wild bees through the mountains of Taiwan, Finding Pathways to Temahahoi blends the traditional and the contemporary to address ideas of identity, community and belonging.

Finding Pathways to Temahahoi

  • DATES

    • Installation
      FRI 30 August – SAT 28 September
      MON - FRI, 10:30 – 16:30 (AEST)
      SAT, 11:00 – 16:00 (AEST)

      Durational Performance
      SAT 31 August, 13:30 – 15:30 (AEST)
      SAT 7 September, 13:30 – 15:30 (AEST)

  • Duration

    Durational Performance 2 hours

  • LOCATION

    • Arts House, 521 Queensberry Street, North Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

  • Booking Information

    Installation
    Free (no booking required)

    Durational Performance
    Free (registration available via Arts House website)

  • Content Warnings

    Finding Pathways to Temahahoi includes video footage with scenes of nudity. The durational performance includes partial nudity.

A multimedia installation that bridges online and physical spaces to conjure a place safe from heteronormativity.

Temahahoi is a rarely told oral story of the Atayal community which speaks of women living together deep in the mountains who can communicate with bees. In this creation, Ciwas invokes the space of Temahahoi through her queer lens by combining video work, digital art, drawing, sculpture, sound and performance to weave together a hybrid installation piece.

In response to ancestral land loss, the artist seeks to create a fluid live space drawn from the coded virtual land to invoke queer connections and expand the connection to land. A large canvas stamped with ink by the artist’s belly signifies the rebirthing space of Temahahoi. An intricate map traces where to find the wild bees in the mountains. To relocate the space of Temahahoi through sound, live coding echoes the presence of this forgotten place alongside the queer performative sound emitted from homemade multi-mouth ceramic instruments, which summon its queer presence.

The durational performance unfolds over two hours, with live performance by Anchi Lin (Ciwas Tahos), Natalie Tso, and Kori Miles alongside live-coding sound by Fetle Wondimu. This is a response to the cyberland of Temahahoi, expanding knowledge and connections beyond the soil and into the cloud.

My Land, Glitched Me

  • DATES

    • FRI 30 August – SUN 29 September
      Available On Demand

  • Duration

    Spiral time
  • A ceramic wind instrument with three mouthpieces.
    Click to enter Temahahoi - A place in the deep mountain

My Land, Glitched Me is an evolving Net Art project rooted in Ciwas’s desire to connect with her ancestral land in the mountains, aiming to create a queer cultural landscape. Inspired by Net Art, it utilizes cross-software open-source coding to build an online cloud space at https://raxal-mu.glitch.me (raxal mu – “”my land”” in the Atayal plngawan language).

Participants are invited to contribute their audio stories and soundscapes, forming a rich tapestry that informs the Cyber Mountain. This cyber land, unbounded by physical constraints, serves as a base for resisting heteronormativity by archiving diverse stories and soundscapes from various individuals. The project is a continuous journey, expanding its cultural knowledge and queer connections beyond the soil into the cloud. Through this cyber mountain, Ciwas and story contributors create a dynamic and inclusive space fosters a deeper connection to both the ancestral and the Internet realms.

Acknowledgement of Country
Arts House, Campbelltown Arts Centre and Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the lands we live and work on, the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung, Dharawal, and Whadjuk Noongar peoples. We extend our respects to their Elders past and present. We extend this acknowledgment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander audiences and communities, and First Nations peoples globally.