bamboo and rattan 'trap' by cheng tsung feng catches people like fish

taiwanese young artist cheng tsung feng sets a huge fish trap at the entrance to the taipei museum of contemporary art. being 9 meter high, the installation explores various cultures through the fishing tool — the artist claims that the appearance of a trap speaks for what’s behind the piece.

all images © sheng da tsai

usually made of bamboo and rattan, the fish traps common for lots of ancient cultures vary in shape and size which depend on different factors, such as materials that are available in the environment, kinds of prey, and aesthetics of each ethnic group. meanwhile, feng’s team has found out that the production thinking and modeling methods are frequently very similar.

after the research on the approach to the trap-making has been done, the artist has collected the facts and created one complete installation which would represent the techniques from all over the world and be an ideal whole as a result. as feng explains, in his installation, the museum represents the trap itself, while the fish flocks are replaced with the crowds of people. 

video by feng, cheng-tsung

project info:

dates: from may 19th to july 22nd 2018

location: taipei museum of contemporary art 

material: bamboo, rattan, steel

dimension: 20m x 8.5m x 9m

photographer: sheng da tsai