Born in Taoyuan, Taiwan in 1980, graduated from the Taipei National University of the Arts in 2011. In his multi-disciplinary practice, Huang Po-Chih focuses on exploring issues related to production, agriculture, manufacturing, and consumption, and from there undertakes criticism on a socio-economic level. His publication The Blue Skin: My Mother’s Story, relating the trajectory of his mother’s working life, from farm to factory and back to farm again, and encompassing the evolution of the Taiwanese economy, including the offshoring of the clothing industry. His continuously project Five Hundred Lemon Trees was turned into a fundraising platform, utilizing the resources of the art world to develop an agricultural brand. It also drew family members, local farmers and consumers into the narrative, producing a new set of community relationships, which in turn became an indispensable part of the evolution of the work. Huang’s work has been featured in many museums and biennials, such as Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Shanghai Rockbund Art Museum, The Fukuoka Art Museum, CHAT, mumok, Taipei Biennale, and Busan Biennale.
Five Hundred Lemon Trees is an unprofessional artist-run farming brand that has been unable to successfully penetrate the market, and has transformed the limited resources of art and cultural exhibitions at home and abroad in a guerrilla-style to farm, brew, and write. The various recipes for good and bad alcohol are derived from the experience of the planning process. The Mezcal (C) Rush wine was inspired by a car accident during a journey to Oaxaca, Mexico; What flashed before my eyes was the image of the Katjadrepan family’s Dream-Inspired Millet Wine in Taitung shattered by the impact in the car. I hope the fruity aroma, accompanied by the scattering of the glass, was just a hallucination created by a glass of Dream-Inspired Millet Wine. After recovering from the shock, I waited for assistance and the police and ambulance to arrive. My Mexican companion, who was afraid of inspection, calmly swallowed his hidden drug, walked into a restaurant down the street, and drank three consecutive shots, I was in a daze with my hands shaking, my soul seemingly back in midair.
