Beyond the Scene

Young Art- Understanding the World Through Art

The Co-learning Project features an art education workshop for children in elementary school grades 2-6. The program includes Discussion Classes, which use stories and creative activities to explore contemporary issues Exhibition Classes, which take participants directly to exhibition venues for an open-ended artistic experience.

Beyond the Scene

When you recount a past event, you might pour all your energy into the narrative, adding vivid gestures to recreate the scene. You hope to make the other person feel as if they were right there, to truly empathize. But can the scene ever be fully recreated? Or can we only say, "I've restored 90% of the scene," or "the restoration rate is about 70%"? If so, where does the missing, un-restored percentage go? Or is it that every time we reconstruct an event, the result isn't a restoration of the original scene, but rather a transportation of everyone into slightly different situations?

As children, it's perhaps easier to grasp this concept. Games like jigsaw puzzles, LEGOs, pretend play, and group activities often start with a "model" that guides children to mimic shapes and simulate life. Through this, their actions gradually become tied to values, and their minds find a sense of belonging.

The 2025 Young Art exhibition, with its annual theme of "Art and Identity," brings together two shows: "Thomas Demand: Tongue-tied History" and "Catastrophe Theory: A Solo Exhibition by Hsu Che-Yu." Using the "models" from these two artists, we explore why history is so fractured and stuttering. The body acts as a simulator, building one scene after another, but where do these personal fragments ultimately lead us?

Finally, we will collectively "model" Ken Liu's story, The Paper Menagerie, to bring together history, memory, disaster, body, and spirit. You'll discover that the missing percentage has been filled—and that is your own unique scene, the very intersection of your identity!

---

HSU YA-LI

Instructor, Planner, and Main Visual Artist

HSU YA-LI is a children's literature and art educator and creator. In her teaching, she excels at using interactive games to explore ideas and spark creativity. She also uses lively storytelling and discussions to guide children toward a concrete understanding and reflection on various topics. Her published works include the prose/illustrated books Something's Weird with This World, and the children's books Journey to the Monster Kingdom: Unleash Your Desire for Words and Awaken Your Creativity, Troubles in the Monster Kingdom, Reading Classics, Playing Games: Cultivating Literary Skills, and The Chef and His Apprentices. She is also one of the individuals in charge of "Pin Wen Yi: Literature and Art in Games."