Although discussions about the pandemic are gradually winding down, the social syndromes that predated the virus have not dissipated alongside the physical evidence of COVID-19. In other words, the various impacts of the rapidly shifting media environment on individual consciousness and behavior persist. The fear that once spread through the fog of excessive information still permeates our social lives, like the phantom of a monster looming in the dark mist. Similarly, issues such as armed conflicts, ideological clashes, rising nationalism continue to generate information and imagery that cloud our judgments in discerning what is true or false, driving us to temporarily settle on a speculative truth orhide in a certain group. But still, the underlying problems remain painfully unsolved.

The title of the exhibition, “When the Monster is Speaking”, draws inspiration from the renowned science fiction Frankenstein written by English author Mary Shelley in 1818. Since the last century, several film adaptations of futurist science fictions have depicted this manmade, overwhelmingly powerful, cobbled-together monster who seeks humanistic feelings as a character evoking our strong sympathy. Each version of the adaptation, though all in the style of a Gothic parody, repeats the technological anxieties peculiar to its respective time. The word “monster” finds its etymological origin in the Latin term “monstrare,” which can be literally translated as “to reveal” or “to display.” Monsters, while taking form through visual representation, often reflect human fears and materialize into embodied anxieties of their times. They are not only presented through all sorts of mediums, but also embodies the form of media: Frankenstein opened Pandora’s box in the 19th century; King Kong and Godzilla were born from imagination and ambition of the Western adventurous tradition towards exotic worlds; game series like the Resident Evil are rife with monsters bred by interactive media; La Bête, with the assistance of artificial intelligence, tries to deprive humans of their inherent sense of crisis and other emotions that hinder their productivity. Monsters—this primordial image of the collective unconscious—become the coordinates with which we can correctly posit ourselves. The transformation of their images then represents the constant refreshing of our own self-identification.

Italian Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci famously observed, “The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters.” Time has rendered once groundbreaking or appalling experiments part of modern science and technology. However, the imaginations about monsters and worries towards the unknown still persist in our lives, gathering into mists of lores and lies. Today’s “monsters” manifest as concrete demonstrations, reflecting unseen phenomena, hidden connections, as well as the rift between reality and the limits of our knowledge. Meanwhile, the sound it emits around the unknown grows increasingly elusive.