Snow White Silver 白雪銀

Snow White Silver, 2014
Aluminum cans, handmade boxes on pedestals
Dimension variable

Canned beverages are mass-produced industrial products that have gained global popularity. Manufacturers decorate their cans with various patterns and colors, and once joyfully consumed, these objects are reduced to metal waste. What kind of landscape has industrialization truly brought us? Standardized technologies and machinery, relentless extraction of natural resources, and the constant dumping of waste. The enduring contradiction lies in how individual thought becomes insignificant within institutional structures; nature and modern human life are, at their core, fundamentally at odds.

After more than a century of development, the raw material of drink cans has been continuously refined. Today’s aluminum cans are adorned with dazzling designs and come in countless forms. Yet, does any trace of history remain within them? I use canned beverages as a metaphor for industrialization—collecting varieties from different regions and, through engraving, stripping away their colors to reveal the black, white, and gray text beneath. Behind the glamorous exterior lies the original industrial face of the product, along with the pungent scent of rust—now resurfaced.

When confronted again with these transformed objects, you might find they resemble “things” more than ever before. And have you ever considered whether the fine metallic dust from the surface, when abraded, could seep inside? What’s wrapped within has always teetered on the edge of danger.

罐裝飲料是一種大量生產且風行世界的工業製品，不同廠商均在其產品的外觀上添加各樣的圖案及顏色，人們歡愉地飲用過後，就已淪為金屬廢料。工業化帶來的到底是怎樣的光景？統一的技術、機械；持續地開發自然資源以及傾倒廢料。當中永恆的矛盾是，個體思想在體制化的結構下並不重要；自然與人類的現代生活又本質地相違背。

經過多於一個世紀的發展，飲品罐原生物料的感覺不斷被加以雕琢，就如目下鋁罐被粉飾得美侖美奐，亦有著各種模樣。然而，歷史的足跡是否還藏於內？我藉罐裝飲料作為對工業種種的引申，收集了不同地方出產的各式種類，透過雕刻，將色彩磨滅並保留著那黑白灰色的文字。霓裳背後隱藏的原始工業化製品面貌，還有鐵鏽的濃烈氣味，因此同時被重新顯露出來。

當再面對著這些已改變外相的製品，你也許會認為它比以往更像一件物品。還有，想過罐面磨擦時細緻的金屬粉末可有進到內裡的可能嗎？被包裹著的，其實一直在危險的邊緣上。