Making sense of absence

Abstract

Based on Tsai Ming-liang's cinematic portrayals of cities, I argue for consideration and appreciation of artistic devices in our thinking and writing on cities. Specifically, I look into four types of absence the Taiwanese director engages with: absence of movement, absence of speech, absence of home and absence of infrastructure. Tsai depicts absence by extrapolating what seem to be inherent elements of an urban situation or an urban setting thus disrupting their taken-for-grantedness. Tsai's multi-layered preoccupation with the notion of absence and the visual language he develops to talk about it may be inspiring for urban researchers, especially those among us working with visual methods. After introducing his work and elaborating on its urban contexts, I will investigate Tsai Ming-liang's use of absence as a method of inquiring into various aspects of urban life, particularly those involving interactions with infrastructure. In the spirit of interdisciplinary and inclusive thinking promoted by City, I will conclude by reiterating the validity of cinema—among other arts—as a tool for critical reflection on cities.

Key words:

• Tsai Ming-liang
• Taipei
• cinema
• absence
• infrastructure
• visual methods

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Claude Wang of Homegreen Films for his help with obtaining the images included in this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Tsai Ming-liang's filmography

Stray Dogs/Jiao you. Dir. Tsai Ming-liang. Taiwan/France, 2013.

I Don't Want to Sleep Alone/Hei yan quan. Dir. Tsai Ming-liang. Malaysia/China/Taiwan/Austria/France, 2006.

The Wayward Cloud/Tian bian yi duo yun. Dir. Tsai Ming-liang. Taiwan/France, 2005.

Goodbye, Dragon Inn/Bu san. Dir. Tsai Ming-liang. Taiwan, 2003.

The Skywalk is Gone/Tian qiao bu jian le. Dir. Tsai Ming-liang. Taiwan/France, 2002.

What Time is it There?/Ni na bian ji dian. Dir. Tsai Ming-liang. Taiwan/France, 2001.

The Hole/Dong. Dir. Tsai Ming-liang. Taiwan/France, 1998.

The River/He liu. Dir. Tsai Ming-liang. Taiwan, 1997.

Vive l'Amour/Ai qing wan sui. Dir. Tsai Ming-liang. Taiwan, 1994.

Rebels of the Neon God/Cing shao nian nuo jha. Dir. Tsai Ming-liang. Taiwan, 1992.

Notes

1 In a statement included in ‘Stray Dogs Press Kit’ (2013, n.p.), Tsai Ming-liang explains what inspired him to have Lee Kang-sheng play a human billboard: ‘Ten years ago, I saw a man on the streets of Taipei, holding up a sign to advertise tour packages. I was astonished by the sight and filled with questions as I observed him at the traffic light. How long was he going to stand there? How much will he earn? Where does he go if he needs the toilet? Will he run into his friends and relatives? Will he be ashamed if he sees them? What is on his mind? He is like a telephone pole or a wall or a tree. No one notices him, and he doesn't care. Soon afterwards, this industry mushroomed, and human billboards could be seen everywhere, holding up signs that advertised real estate. More and more people had lost their jobs and taken up this new profession of holding up signboards for real estate companies. It was as if their time had become worthless. … The people who work as human billboards are given a ten-minute break every fifty minutes, during which they can drink or visit the washroom. They work eight hours a day holding up a signboard, and are not allowed to do anything else during their shift. I have seen some of them muttering to themselves, but I could never make out what they were saying.’

2 The mural is based on an 1871 work by the English photographer John Thomson depicting a Taiwanese landscape. The artist who painted the mural, Kao Jun Honn, admitted later that he had no intention of exhibiting his work, but rather hoped that people would encounter it by chance, just as Tsai Ming-liang did (‘Stray Dogs Press Kit,' 2013, n.p.).

3 See the discussion on the HBO television show The Wire in City 14 (5) and 14 (6).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Agata A. Lisiak

Agata Lisiak is a postdoctoral researcher at Humboldt University's Institute of Social Sciences and a lecturer at Bard College Berlin. Email: [email protected]