Unstable Grounds

Presented at Liste this year, Unstable Grounds brings together the work of two Taiwanese artists, Teyu Wang and Sara Wu. From different generations, their practices explore space through the body, perception, and the conditions of presence. In this two-person presentation, both artists place the relationship between space, the body, and the object at the centre of their practice, examining how everyday structures shape, regulate, and construct our lived experiences. In their work, the body is not a symbol to be observed but an active agent—continually negotiating spatial conditions, perceptual habits, and accumulated histories.

This duo presentation explores the power dynamics inherent in the nexus of ‘space, body, and perception’, emphasising that space is not a static backdrop to events, but rather a continuously operating form of power. The two artists approach the experiences shaped by spatial structures from distinct perspectives. Wang, through subtle adjustments to scale, distance, and pathways, compels the viewer to physically re-evaluate their interaction with the space; whilst Wu uses the modern home and standardised living as her starting point to illustrate how seemingly neutral spatial orders construct the frameworks of behaviour, labour, and perception.

The exhibition highlights that space is never a passive backdrop but an operative form of power. The structures of built space shape which actions and bodies are deemed acceptable, naturalising certain patterns of behaviour. Yet the body is never fully contained; it adapts, resists, and generates new possibilities. Space is therefore intrinsically political, negotiating visibility, access, and the boundaries of agency whilst leaving room for unanticipated forms of presence.

This line of thinking extends towards broader social space and resonates with the particular position of Taiwan. The artists work within a place whose geopolitical condition is marked by ambiguity—a status that is often suspended in formal discourse yet deeply entangled in global economic, technological, and geopolitical networks. Its presence, though not always explicitly articulated, exerts a quietly persistent influence, occupying a position that shifts between recognition and obscurity. Through the artists’ perceptual strategies, these dynamics become tangible as lived, embodied realities rather than abstract concerns.

Through their respective practices, the artists demonstrate that the spaces of daily life are active sites of production, adjustment, and the continual reinforcement of norms. Unstable Grounds offers a perceptual framework through which the politics of space and the conditions of existence may be reconsidered, allowing the cultural situatedness of this region to be sensed and re-read through artistic experience.