In 2008, I contributed to Taipei Biennial with a site-specific intervention among Shijhou Tribe. In collaboration with inhabitants and a support group of the tribe, I have constructed a banner that claimed: “WE WILL WIN”. The banner ‘spoke’ from the ground up to the heights where the power elites conduct planning and surveillance of their contemporary cities. The intervention sat at the center of contested plans to dismantle housing for the purpose of “improving the quality of life” in a larger operation of “urban renewal”.

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In 2010, I was invited again to participate in the Taipei Biennial and rework on the project, I decided to conduct a survey that explored the impact of the “WE WILL WIN” intervention and the implications of critical practice. And in collaboration with interns I organized a radio program which was broadcasted daily through the PA system of the museum. 

 

The format of the survey was appropriated from market research methods. In the first section, I investigated the general idea of how art is perceived. In the second section, the questions relate specifically to the work, and explore what exactly the work accomplished in the perception of several.

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The survey addressed four groups that have a direct interaction with the art world: 1)decision makers/managers, 2) curators/artists, 3) audience and 4) staff/interns. The aim was to test perceptions of the WE WILL WIN intervention, and at the same time disclose the different agendas within the culture industry. For Manifesta Journal 16, readers will find excerpts from the book which included resulting data and an analysis text. The surveys would have achieved their purpose if they could make a modest contribution to on-going discussions around the role of art in the context of governmental power.

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We Will Win Survey should be considered along the lines of work, such as TersYön Feasibility Research (2011) and Art Facts (2012), where I used ethnographic research methods as they are derived by market or public opinion research and consultancy companies to serve corporations, institutions and companies.