Yeeha formosa

Hongjohn Lin is a versatile Taiwanese artist. He writes, teaches, makes exhibition and organises actions, parties and fashion shows as art. It’s no surprise that he has interest or even admiration for one of the strangest fantasies from our cultural history: A Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa (1704). The book is alleged to have been written by George Psalmanaazaar who even claimed that he was himself a Formosan. In this fantasy Formosa, that was even taken by academics to be true, the Formosans walked around naked with only a silver covering of the genitals. Elephants and camels were used as beasts of burden and every year the firstborn sons were offered to the gods. Formosa, now Taiwan, was the furthest conceivable place on the earth in the early eighteenth century, and that obviously stimulated imagination.
For his project, Lin took the fantasy seriously and designed contemporary variations on the Psalmanaazaar world of thought. Fashion shows with the fantasy garb from the book and other actions were recorded on video and from the images, Lin put together material for his installation. It is partly consciously shrouded in mist in order to present the scenario of this Formosa, be it real or not, in all its vagueness. In various guises, for instance as architect or linguist, the phenomenon of Psalmanaazaar will be put in a contemporary context. (GjZ)