Through performance, installation and imagery, “Taipei Robot Man” explores the relationship between digital technology and traditional craftsmanship. During his period as artist-in-residence on Treasure Hill, Ting-tong Chang visited various recycling stations in Taipei and learned electronic repair techniques from onsite technicians. These “technicians” are a significant part of the electronic industry. They are a group of technological craftspeople. Although lacking professional training and equipment, these amateurs dismantle electronic waste using folk wisdom, endowing broken home appliances with new life.

By collaborating with these electronic repair technicians, “Taipei Robot Man” explored the relationship between craftsmanship and technology by tracing the lifespan of technology products, from their production through to consumption and finally disposal. This project endowed these disposed digital products with new value and thus provided them with the possibility of being re-produced and re-used.

Ting-Tong Chang combined learned-craftsman knowledge and collected-electronic waste to create this project. These mechanical installations danced, waved and illuminated with the vibration of sound. There is a sense of practicality in his visual language. It is interactive and develops into a platform, a field of noise.