Artwork
《高老闆的風獅爺》
Boss Gao's Wind Lion God
Stone Clay, Acrylic, Ink, Pastel, Mirror
Size approx. 26 x 32x 30cm
Size approx. 26 x 32x 30cm
#風獅爺 #城市認知 #視覺實驗
Artist
Peter Wong W. W.
Independent creator specializing in product design and development, graphic and installation design, illustration, and art.
Peter has brought his work to Tainan for exhibitions such as Picking Up Small Pieces of Dreams: A Slow Motion Adventure and Make a Wish. He also created the healing series The Flu, addressing depression through sculptures and installations exhibited in Taipei and Kaohsiung.
Apart from illustration & painting, Peter also embraces sculptures and installations as mediums, actively participating in and curating art exhibitions and events. He aims to inspire others with the power of dreams and life, infusing positive energy into communities and daily living through diverse artistic creations.
Artist's Statement
Boss Gao’s Wind Lion God is an installation exploring how social media shapes our perception of Tainan. The mirrors bisect the Wind Lion God, presenting “the city’s image on social media” alongside “the physical object before us,” forcing viewers to switch constantly between them.
The work reveals the gap between travelers’ idealized city and reality, questioning whether we “missee Tainan” or “see the city wrongly.” When you stand before the mirrors, you’re not just viewing Tainan—you see how media manipulates your cognition of it.
The piece reminds us that every like and share reinforces a specific urban narrative while excluding others, inviting reflection on accepting a more real, multifaceted Tainan and taking responsibility for our gaze.
Creation Concept
This work is a visual experiment in “gazing at Tainan through social media.”
The mirror installation concretizes the city’s viewing process through stark contrast: standing before it, viewers aren’t just “looking” at Tainan — they’re forced to realize they’ve already entered reality carrying an algorithm-, post-, and filter-generated version of the city.
The mirror bisects the Wind Lion God into “the platform half” and “the physical half.” As viewers move, their shifting gaze constantly recomposes the image: sometimes seeing an Emoji-covered half-body duplicated into a whole figure; other times only the terracotta lion body reflected, as if social media noise has been muted. This misalignment mirrors travelers’ psychological oscillation between imagination and on-site reality.
The work isn’t about “influencer vs. local” binaries, but how “representation” rewrites our collective urban memory. Social platform images pre-shape journeys; these filter- and echo-effect-processed templates gradually replace real experiences, becoming a “supposed consensus” city version. Dense stacks of Emojis and notifications reference this emotionalized, quantified gaze—a city translated into rateable, likable, collectible code.
Who exactly “missees”—the city, or the viewer themselves?
The mirror doesn’t reflect Tainan—it reflects every viewer standing before it. When images appear simultaneously on both platform and physical sides, you become inseparable: your sense of the city is already a hybrid of platform and on-site experience.
*Boss Gao’s Wind Lion God* doesn’t question Tainan itself, but “viewing” as a practice. When we replace feeling with curated images, block out urban gaps and shadows with edits and captions, distortion becomes silently accepted. The work positions viewers as “accomplices”—every like, check-in, and share reinforces one urban narrative while excluding others.
Pausing before the mirror, you might ask yourself:
Will you still only photograph “viral-worthy” scenery?
Or let a slower, less photogenic Tainan linger in your memory?
The work doesn’t reject social media—it reminds us: between “misseeing Tainan” and “Tainan being misseen,” a third choice exists—
learning to recognize our gaze and take responsibility for it.
