Chen Chieh-Jen (TW) | The Route

SYNOPSIS

In 1995, five hundred dock workers in Liverpool were fired for refusing to cross a picket line, triggering the Dockers' quarrel of the 1990s. In protest, when the Neptune Jade (cargo ship) set sail from England, dock workers across the globe refused to allow the ship to dock and unload its freight – first at Oakland CA., then Vancouver, Canada and then Yokahoma and Kobe, Japan. Eventually then the ship sailed towards the Port of Kaohsiung, Taiwan where it was disbanded and sold. Neptune Jade stands as a significant event in the struggle amongst dock workers towards international solidarity. In The Route, Chen represents history by mixing archive film footage with contemporary imagery of a picket line staged by Dockers at Port of Kaohsiung.
The film creates a strong correlation between employees in Liverpool and Taiwan (Chen’s origin) recalling the famous claim 'The world is our picket line'.

ARTIST’S BIOGRAPHY

Chen Chieh-jen has reached international visibility, after participating, among others, in the Bienal de São Paulo (1998), Venice Biennale (1999), Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume in Paris (2001), and Taipei Biennial (2002). During the 1980s and early 1990s, before and after martial law was lifted in Taiwan, he was active in performance art. In 2000 he was awarded the Special Prize at the Gwangju Biennale in Korea.

FILMOGRAPHY

• The Route, 2006, 14'50''
• On Going, 2006, 30'00''
• Bade Area, 2005, 30'00''
• Factory, 2003, 30'50''
• Lingchi-Echoes of a Historical Photograph,
  2002, 22'34''