Ni Hao
NI Hao centers his work on the seemingly ordinary object of “socks,” collected and resin-cast from real transactions within Taiwan’s anonymous online marketplaces. Through these worn garments and the accompanying videos of putting them on and taking them off, the artist reveals subtle layers of intimacy, desire, and bodily economies embedded in everyday life.
The socks become material traces of labor, eroticism, discipline, and commodification, guiding viewers into a space suspended between the real and the performed. By engaging sellers of diverse genders, ages, and social backgrounds, NI Hao constructs a portrait of contemporary Taiwan that is both complex and plural. In reframing these humble objects, the installation expresses a personal urge to look closer, at the subtle systems and gestures beneath everyday life.
2F, No.67
The Bloom That Holds Her Shadow, 2025, Two pairs of worn polyester and cotton socks purchased from a Taiwanese trans woman who identified herself as two sisters, contacted via Instagram following an open call on Threads to the foot-fetish community; wood, beam-splitting glass, lights, and other mixed media; and a video monitor displaying two consecutive videos of both sisters wearing and removing the socks in her residence. Sculpture dimensions: approx. 97 × 68 × 57.5 cm, Monitor dimensions: 35.5 × 23 cm, Video duration: 4 min 36 sec, Courtesy of the artist, Commissioned by Taipei Biennial 2025.
