The Yilan County Government on Wednesday apologized after photographing and displaying a sculptor’s work upside down.
Artist Ou Li-ting (歐立婷) discovered the mistake when she attended the opening of this year’s Yilan Awards exhibition on Saturday last week.
Her piece, a 3D sculpture titled Between VI (之間VI), was honored as a special selection.
.Photo: Tsai Yun-jung, Taipei Times
However, Ou wrote on Facebook that she was dismayed to discover that her piece was displayed upside down.
She immediately contacted staff to correct the mistake, but then found that the photographs of her piece in the exhibition catalog were also incorrect, she wrote.
When she went on stage to accept the award, the image displayed on the screen was still upside down, she said.
Photo courtesy of Ou Li-ting
“Was it wrong throughout the entire selection process?” she asked.
Ou said she found that this was indeed the case, even though her application form clearly showed the piece displayed properly from multiple angles and it was shipped with photographs.
“How can such a serious mistake have been made?” she asked. “If there are questions about how a work should be displayed, shouldn’t they check with the artist?”
“Such arbitrary placement is disrespectful to the artist and not only distorts the meaning, but damages their rights,” she said.
She contacted the Yilan Cultural Affairs Bureau to fix the problem, but posted about it online because “if I didn’t fix this publicly, I would be tacitly allowing this kind of thing to continue,” Ou wrote.
The bureau said it was “deeply sorry” and was working to correct the catalog after already fixing the display.
The installer was a new hire, it said, adding that future exhibitions would be installed by experienced professionals.
The bureau also contacted the lead judge, Sung Hsi-te (宋璽德), who said that the 3D artworks were judged in person from many angles, as well as from the artist’s submitted material.
As such, the way it was displayed had no influence on the decision, Sung said.
In a statement made on behalf of Ou, Mumu Gallery manager Chang Yi-wen (張怡文) said that correct installation shows respect for an artist and their creation.
This never should have happened, especially as Ou provided guidance on the correct way to display her work, Chang said.
Hopefully by publicly discussing the incident, the awards committee and bureau would adopt a more professional process, she added.
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