Frame of Reference I, 2020
        Frame of Reference II, 2020

Scientists observing the Critical Zone place some tools outdoors in the Taroko Gorge site. They have notably installed near-real-time monitoring networks to investigate how landslides are driven by the weather, and also how landslides affect the climate. Cameras, seismometers, and weather stations replace the body of the observer to see beyond the scale of the human perception system. With video installation work Frame of Reference artist Su Yu-Hsin addresses the question of formatting scalar relations between the field, laboratory and database. What role do images play in the field work of the Critical Zone?

The Artist followed the two groups of scientists from the ;GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences to the outdoor landslide laboratory in Taroko National Park and laboratory in Potsdam, and the NCTU Disaster Prevention and Water Environment Research Center in Wuhe and Wulu.

The network of stations in the catchment of the Liwu river are used to monitor rivers and landslides. How to see? Where to see from? In this infrastructure to see “within,” where is the body of the observer?

Frame of Reference I was produced in cooperation with the ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe and GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences Geomorphology.
Image source: GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences Taroko Project Database, NCTU Disaster Prevention and Water Environment Research Center