Taiwanese artist Shygong has co-opted Taiwanese pop culture elements, as well as, local religious customs in his Fu-de Temple Series (2000). In this series, the artist created a large electronic game station where godlike presidential candidates' sculptures were presented. The sculptures had neon lights paralleling street side temples. The series was presented in the evening through a packed night market in Taipei during the second presidential election in Taiwan. People were invited to make a prayer in front of these sculptures and donate 50 Taiwan Dollars into the game station. If the viewer decided to participate, their donation would start the machine flashing. This action again paralleled what a viewer would anticipated when they donated money in a street-side temple. This series specifically recited local customs and daily activities into a subverted art performance and game. Through its unique placement within the night market, the work was experienced by a wider audience who typically would not experience such an art installation or attend a gallery event. For people who understood Taiwanese political and religious development, Shygong's work resonated with layered meaning. The work both represented a sculptural entity but held specific visual metaphors, implicating the piece in both relation to local humor and commenting directly on the transition of the Taiwanese political relationship to the arts from its recent historical past.

Another artist I invited to participate in this project, Tsui Kuang-Yu, represents a younger Taiwanese generation and as a result his work also comments differently on local concerns. This younger generation of Taiwanese artists which Tsui Kuang-Yu comes from, is less interested in political ideology, comment, and the reflection of these concepts in resultant artwork. Instead, younger practicing artists today are interested in expressing individual subjectivity/introspection to 21st century lifestyles and urban development. Tsui Kuang-Yu on occasion will still adopt cultural motifs/local histories in his work, although these elements appear more as an appendage rather than as a focus to the work. I found that these working strategies and differences between these two artists could hardly be summed up in a formal internet database model, where content is listed in a hierarchal manner and through limited informational schemes (i.e. artist bio and portfolio).

Given these concerns about local nuances being lost through limited information structures offered currently on-line, I see there is more that needs to be accomplished than just translation, reconfiguration and distribution of current artistic data. I feel the need for a model that could serve as a platform for dialectic exchange or as I will term -- a flying carpet-is needed. A well designed 'flying carpet' model could inform and change the airscape where contemporary art resides. For Taiwan a solid 'carpet' could ground the development of the region, acting as both a local guide and cultural purveyor. The 'flying carpet' analogy presents also a strong visual metaphor, alluding to people travelling or sitting cozy sitting in conversation with others while obtaining an overview on an area and its placement in time. Through such exchanges, the visitor would leave better versed. Such interactions would then pave the way for more in-depth conversations and continued exchanges later between participating parties.

I believe the 'flying carpet model' can take full flight by being presented on-line through a digital database or web portal, including a discussion board, a section of critical articles and writings, exhibition reviews, gallery links, contact info for local alternative spaces, art publishers, curators, journalists and etc. This online flying carpet model shall truly cross-culturally connect people.

In fact, I found the experience of working on the Digital Vision Project with Sylvia Grace Borda has achieved some of these proposed goals. The process of delivering a web based interview informed and benefited both the interviewees and interviewers about each other's local histories and cultures. The resulting dialectic and exchange opened new roads of access to key cultural purveyors in each community. This dialogue has, will and continue to catalyze and produce cross-culture exchanges and valuable conversations now and into the future. With the finalised content being launched online as an exhibition form, I am sure this will open new opportunities and greater dialogues. I do invite you to communicate and share new avenues of experience with Taiwanese colleagues as has the experience in the Digital Visions site allowed for.

Lastly the need of a 'Flying Carpet model' or online web portal for contemporary Taiwanese art produced from within the country will not only increase our own visibility but I feel it shall further adjust the biased relationship or one way communication model that the West has imported in interpreting our local aesthetic traditions, cultural viewpoints and perspectives on the Island. I hope this model could offer a more active means for Taiwanese artists to undertake international exchanges while contextualizing local practices.