In this era of information explosion, our technological progress and success are unquestionable; yet, we have gradually overlooked a fundamental factor that influences a nation’s growth: the birthrate.
While countries pursue constant advancement, this issue is increasingly neglected. However, national growth is intrinsically linked to fertility. A declining birthrate signifies a gradual decrease in national productivity. Although the effects may not be immediate, the consequences of a low birthrate inevitably surface over time.
While many countries have begun to prioritize this issue, the public response to government policies has fallen far short of expectations. Many still believe that the declining birthrate does not pose a significant crisis, responding with indifference and causing government initiatives to falter.
If these outcomes could be directly experienced through art, it might foster a deeper understanding of the consequences of a declining birthrate.
Such an experience would allow viewers to see which events lead to specific results and anticipate future changes, potentially providing a warning effect that heightens public awareness of the crisis.
The objective is to utilize artistic space as a means to remind the public of, and provoke reflection on, the importance of this critical contemporary issue.
By arranging data within a white exhibition space, the information merges with the environment, allowing viewers to become fully immersed. Data with minimal variation is placed toward the back to optimize the visual effect, while a pillar representing Taiwan is positioned at the very front to draw visitors into the space.
Once data is transformed into an artwork and shaped into a space, it ceases to be a collection of indifferent figures on paper or screens; it becomes a tangible object for human experience. Compared to intangible data, physical data deepens the viewer’s perception and contemplation. Walking into a “forest of data” allows one to truly experience the reality of data surrounding them, as the data directly dictates the spatial effects.
If current birthrates were the same as those in the past, the viewer’s spatial experience would be akin to entering a healthy forest, where every pillar appears solid and stable.
However, the spatial experience reflected by modern society is fragile and unstable. This experience is used to remind the public that our current state is precarious and tottering.
Compared to mere paintings or graphic representations, the physicalization and transformation of data leave a more profound impression. Space is a state that can be felt directly through the senses, whereas charts often fail to convey the urgency of a situation.
This is the reason for three-dimensionalizing the data. Compared to visual changes alone, the direct experience of space—whether oppressive or spacious, stable or fragile—is more profound, as these are qualities understood through spatial perception.
Relying on such intuitive realization to contemplate abstract future events strengthens a person’s connection to and recognition of the issue. By using different scales of spatial forms, viewers can experience the gravity of the situation directly, moving beyond the limitations of two-dimensional charts.
