non-syntax Experimental Image

non-syntax |

non-syntax is a curatorial collective founded in 2019 by curators Jin Qiuyu and Hsu Chun-Yi, based between Taipei and Tokyo, focusing on the contemporary experimental practices of the moving image. The term “non-syntax” refers to the events that occur within writing itself—where the syntactical rules of characters are suspended, allowing creative potential to emerge in a vacuum of meaning. Centered on experimental moving-image exhibitions, non-syntax has developed diverse formats such as video exhibitions, thematic screenings, and workshop series, opening up discussions on the possibilities of the moving image. In recent years, they have collaborated with museums, film festivals, and art spaces across Asia, while also pursuing independent research into questions of image, visual culture, and media. non-syntax seeks to connect cross-regional practices, reorganize existing media and categories, and generate dialogue within the gaps and dissonances of the moving image.

Now entering its fifth year, non-syntax continues to push the boundaries of exhibition-making, seeking images that transcend predetermined classifications, communities, and identities. In a time when modes of human perception, artistic production, and knowledge systems have all undergone dramatic change, we are compelled to re-examine the ways in which people describe, perceive, and record the everyday.

In this context, we propose to construct a temporary, provisional micro-archive that brings together the themes of the past five years. The participating moving-image artists of non-syntax have persistently resisted the grand narratives shaped by meticulous, real-time data and dominant perspectives. Instead, their works adopt fragile, unstable methods and media, pointing to the occurrence of events through gestures that are minimal, elusive, or unspeakable. At this five-year mark, we aim to gather works that respond to the concept of “non-syntax” itself, while also revisiting our past practices in order to spark yet another space for dialogue.