Writer: So your story does have a happy ending.
Adult Pi Patel: Well, that's up to you.
– Life of Pi
An“open ending” refers to a story without a definitive conclusion, a path leading to an unknown destination. It leaves the literary or dramatic text in suspense, granting the viewer freedom to interpret. This way, the story is not merely a pre-imposed answer template in the traditional viewing experience but rather a two-way dialogue between the viewer and the creator. Just like at the end of Life of Pi, where director Ang Lee posed the question through the protagonist Pi to the writer/viewer beyond the screen: “Which story do you prefer?”
Since last fall, TFAM has been transforming its underground space from a traditional “white cube” gallery into a unique art cinema. Through cross-disciplinary curatorial collaborations, we have invited prominent visual artists and filmmakers from Asia and Europe to curate a “mini-film festival” featuring a selection of rare single-channel video works. These include seldom-seen video art, short films, documentaries, art films, experimental films, and animated shorts. Unlike mainstream narrative feature films, these works often lack specific plot direction or strong emotional rendering. Instead, they offer open-ended reflections on contemporary issues and explore various experimental cinematic techniques.
An Open Ending: TFAM Screening Project seeks to expand upon the familiar cinematic/dramatic concept of an “open ending” by presenting a variety of themes and film lists combinations throughout the exhibition period to open up more imaginations and possibilities. This“openness” not only encourages viewers to form their own interpretations but also deconstructs traditional cinematic forms, pays homage to alternative film movements, and challenges conventional definitions of art. In this space, directors and artists craft the narrative, while viewers are invited to define the conclusion.
Hybrid Moving Images
Screening Date：2025. 6.28－9.28
Curators: Feng Hsin, Huei-Yin Chen
Nowadays, when looking at the imagery before your eyes, can you clearly point out how it is made?
Before the birth of images, people depicted the world through observation of the reality and manifestation of their mind. The invention of photography has witnessed how optical and chemical methods can capture an image, and transform the way of making art. From photography to cinema, video, to new media, the presentation of imagery has exemplified multiple ways of seeing, and their traces of being intervened and manipulated. In an age of image overload, images can be constantly generated and fabricated through information flow, algorithm, or editing tracks. When AI-generated visuals co-exist with analog and digital images, the idea of a man with a moving camera may align with an operator who creates scenes or captures images through virtual tools. The boundaries of image-making have already been blurred. This program attempts to explore how the evolution of technologies and techniques have not only transformed the texture and presentation of imagery, but also affected our perspective and experiences of viewing, so as to re-access and re-imagine our understanding of the world.
Hybrid #1 Sensory Distortion:
LIU Cherlyn Hsing-Hsin｜SEA 404
WU Chi-Yu｜Hominins
KIM Heecheon｜Deep in the Forking Tanks
Hybrid #2 Agency:
Charmaine POH｜Good Morning Young Body
eobchae｜The Ones Who Left on Luges
Total Refusal｜Hardly Working
Lawrence LEK｜Geomancer
Hybrid #3 Framing & Imaging:
SATO Ryotaro｜Hand Arm Vibration
YAN Wai-yin｜Localized Blindness
LIU Cherlyn Hsing-Hsin｜S/Z Rye Green Berry
SO Yo Hen｜Hua-Shan-Qiang
Hybrid #4 Re-editing:
Haig AIVAZIAN｜All of Your Stars Are but Dust on My Shoes
Forensic Architecture｜Cloud Studies
Tuned In & Turn On
Screening Date：2025. 6.28－9.28
Curators: Huei-Yin Chen, Feng Hsin
As a prescribed behavior of spectatorship, the gazes of the audience often anticipate the presence of images on the screen, reminiscent of a sense of collective yearning. This program attempts to question and disturb such scenarios by re-situating the oft-marginalized presence of music and soundscape as the primary driving force of the narrative, and reimagining the relationship between what we see and hear.
From an atypical “music film,” a daily soundscape of the in-between states in time and space, a fictional double entity of sound narrative that complicates our understanding of the present, to a pure form of audio-visual experimentation, this program evokes multiple ways of listening and seeing that constantly shape our sensory experiences. The linkage of music, language, text, voice-over and soundscape may bring forth a complexity of situation, even the betrayal between image and sound, or the collapse of imagery, as to rebuild an alternative sensory experience through the mechanism of spectatorship.
Nicolas HUMBERT, Werner PENZEL｜Step Across the Border
Tuned #1 Derek Jarman:
Derek JARMAN｜My Very Beautiful Movie
Derek JARMAN｜Blue
Tuned #2 Marguerite Duras:
Marguerite DURAS｜Caesarea
Marguerite DURAS｜Negative Hands
Marguerite DURAS｜The Atlantic Man
Tuned #3 Time & Space:
LEE Kit｜“Oh, I buried you today”
IM Cheol-min｜B-ing B-ing
TAN Pin Pin｜In Time to Come
Tuned #4-A Vibration:
Sriwhana SPONG｜A hook but no fish
Deborah STRATMAN｜Hacked Circuit
MURATA Takeshi｜Monster Movie
Ericka BECKMAN｜Tension Building
Tuned #4-B Vibration:
Sriwhana SPONG｜A hook but no fish
MURATA Takeshi｜Monster Movie
Ericka BECKMAN｜Tension Building
Telcosystems｜Vexed