F/EEL

F/EEL doesn’t just impart scientific knowledge or the life history of the European eel in a didactic manner, nor does it merely discuss the relationship of non-human life forms with the Anthropocene using contemporary visual art aesthetics. Instead, it invites participants to ‘feel the eel’ through an alternative tactile installation, allowing intricate and often hard-to-articulate ecological issues to have a space for free communication. Although participants experience a “discomfort” vastly different from their daily existence, it is precisely this discomfort that leaves a lasting impression, prompting continuous digestion and reflection. This may even lead to the reorganization and representation of the topic, enabling a more diverse medium of discussion for issues concerning non-human entities like eels. LO Sheng-wen and CHEN Yi-fei’s F/EEL starts with a relatable question, “Life may be hard for us, but what about the life of an eel?” Through an impactful experience transformed by the languages of art, science, and design, it momentarily pulls participants out of their human-centric comfort zones. This prompts the possibility of establishing deeper connections with eels and their ecology, moving towards the practice of a new world of cohabitation and coexistence.

LO Sheng-wen was born in Kaohsiung and currently lives in the Netherlands. He focuses on the relationship between non-human beings and society, emphasizing audience participation and direct experience. He was a resident artist at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam from 2019 to 2021 and collaborated with the Embassy of the North Sea in the Netherlands, working on the F/EEL escape room and the Manifesta 15 European Biennial in 2024.

CHEN Yi-fei, originally from Taipei, holds a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design and a Master’s degree in Social Design from the Design Academy Eindhoven in the Netherlands. Her early creations focused on reflecting on capitalism and product design, using humor or satire to question the inevitability of societal norms. Through continuous exploration and introspection, her creative themes gradually shifted to her inner experiences, cross-cultural identity, and generational anxieties. Her works often involve complex installations that demonstrate the interactive relationship between the individual’s inner world and the external environment or repurpose existing objects to offer observations on current world situations. She has exhibited her works in the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Spain, Dubai, Taiwan, and other places, and is currently a Europe-based artist.