If This Ain't Ai, Don't Make Me Bi.｜401｜Ni Hsiang｜Get off work on time

[The script of this episode] What do you see in the work before you? This is a working space set up by the artist in the public area of the lobby, inspired by a desk found in museum storage. Here, you are invited to use material left over from past exhibitions to make your own artwork. Take a trip down memory lane, and recall what it felt like to make art by hand as a child. The works created by participants are then placed in Vending Machine, an artwork located outside Gallery 4A, where they are sold as souvenirs. In this process, the viewer becomes more than just a viewer, but a maker and co-creator. When another visitor purchases one of these works, they are, in effect, paying for someone else’s fruits of labor. What, then, is carried away: a beautiful memory, or a lingering grudge? There is always a fine line between the two. In our experience of travel, souvenirs often stand for objects that preserve beautiful memories. By transforming the form of souvenirs, the artist asks: do we live in mementos of sorrow, or in memories of difficult times? Due to the limitations of the museum system, the proceeds from this transformation of artistic labor and economic value will not change the current overwork of art administrators or participating artists. What it can do, however, is act as a temporary lifeline for this Bi (sad) art industry, allowing us to see the long-standing structural overexploitation in the field. ---------- If this ain’t Ai, don’t make me Bi. 2026.01.17-04.12 ｜Artists｜ Ciou Zih-yen, Ni Hsiang, Feng Chih-ming, Chien Chih-feng ｜More Information｜https://ntcart.museum/en/exhibition_content.aspx?id=H2512001