Pei-Yao Chang
Pei-Yao Chang is a media artist, researcher, and novice freediver based between London and Taiwan.
Her practice explores space, materiality, and embodied experience, informed by both the gravitational pull of land and the weightless state of freediving. Through an ongoing interest in sensation, movement, and perception, she engages with the notion of embodied cognition.
Working across drawing, lens-based media, installation, and material experimentation with clay, ash, and glaze, she responds to specific spatial contexts. Her practice examines how we perceive and relate to both the physical and ephemeral qualities of our surroundings—attending to subtle shifts in sensation, material transformation, and the emergence of forms in a continuous state of becoming.
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Pei-Yao Chang 是一位往返於倫敦與台灣之間的媒體藝術家、研究者與自由潛水初學者。她的創作實踐探索空間、物質性與身體經驗，並受到陸地重力牽引與自由潛水失重狀態的雙重影響。透過對感知、移動與知覺的持續關注，她的創作進一步回應「體現認知（embodied cognition）」的概念。
她的創作橫跨繪畫、影像媒介、裝置以及以陶土、灰燼與釉料為核心的材料實驗，並經常回應特定場域的空間脈絡。她的實踐關注我們如何感知並理解周遭環境中既具體又稍縱即逝的特質，細膩地探究感官經驗的微小變化、材料轉化的過程，以及形態在持續生成狀態中的浮現。
Tree Guard
2021
Inflatable sculpture, film
400 x 260 cm, 2 minutes 17 seconds
I am interested in space – and the movement of people and objects within space. There is a certain magic to it. It is as if you are inventing an order of things. I believe there is a secret relationship between space, objects, and perceptible and imperceptible movements. [1]
Inspired by Isamu Noguchi's quote and his practice, Sculpting Space, my work Tree Guard is an analog protector temporarily situated in an urban green space to investigate, experiment, and document the interaction between humans and non-humans such as dogs and wind in a London city park.
How do residents or dogs respond when they meet a large air-filled artefact in their pathway? Does it become a barrier? Alternatively, does it help guard trees in order to “survive” in a city?
[1] "From Lamps to Playgrounds, Isamu Noguchi Believed Sculpture Should Be Omnipresent", Itsnicethat.Com, 2021 <https://www.itsnicethat.com/features/isamu-noguchi-art-131221> [Accessed 30 May 2022].
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《Tree Guard》
2021
充氣雕塑、錄像
400 × 260 公分，2 分 17 秒「我對空間，以及人在空間中與物件移動的方式感到著迷。其中帶有某種魔力，彷彿你正在創造一種事物的秩序。我相信空間、物件，以及可感知與不可感知的移動之間，存在著一種隱密的關係。」 [1]
受到 Isamu Noguchi 的引言及其「Sculpting Space」創作實踐啟發，《Tree Guard》是一件暫時置於都市綠地中的「擬態式裝置」。作品藉由介入倫敦城市公園中的公共空間，研究、實驗並紀錄人類與非人類——例如狗與風——之間的互動關係。
當居民或狗在路徑中遇見這件大型充氣物件時，會產生什麼反應？它會成為一種阻礙嗎？或者，它是否能成為守護樹木、幫助樹木在城市中「生存」的裝置？
A Figure, Figures II
2022
soil and compost
variable dimensions
A Figure, Figures II is a series of temporary sculptures reproduced from soil and compost. Developed as an extension of A Figure, Figures, the work also forms part of A Reconciliation, an artistic research project that examines human / non-human relationships within a legal context. Presented at the Royal College of Art Graduate Show 2022, Battersea South campus, the work functions both as a data visualization and a pun.
The title draws on the polysemous meanings of the word “figure,” referring simultaneously to “shape” and “monetary value.” Based on one of the visual amenity valuation tools, The Helliwell System, the work deconstructs and transforms methods used to assign value to trees. In contrast to the flat Risographs in A Figure, Figures, the three-dimensional organic textures of these sculptures seek to extend another possibility for contextualizing non-human perspectives.
This body of work aspires to reveal the evaluative processes embedded within systems of monetary valuation, while provoking reflection on the limitations of how humans assess the value of a tree.
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《A Figure, Figures II》
2022
土壤與堆肥
尺寸可變《A Figure, Figures II》是一系列以土壤與堆肥再製而成的暫時性雕塑作品，延伸自《A Figure, Figures》，並作為藝術研究計畫《A Reconciliation》中，關於法律脈絡下人類／非人類關係探討的其中一項延伸創作。作品同時作為一種資料視覺化與文字雙關，並於 2022 年英國皇家藝術學院（Royal College of Art）Battersea South 校區畢業展展出。
作品標題援引 figure 一詞的多重意涵，既可指涉「形態／形象」，亦可代表「數值／金額」。作品因而從樹木景觀價值評估工具之一——「Helliwell System」——出發，對其進行解構與轉化。相較於《A Figure, Figures》中平面的 Risograph 印刷，這件作品透過具有有機質地的三維形式，進一步開展另一種脈絡化非人類視角的可能性。
這組作品試圖揭示以貨幣價值為基礎的評估機制，同時促使我們重新思考：人類用以衡量樹木價值的方法，究竟存在著哪些限制。
Tree Guard functions as a preface to the larger research project A Reconciliation (2021–2022), which investigates the tensions between human and non-human relationships within the legal framework of Tree Preservation Orders (TPOs) in the UK. Through an inflatable sculpture and film temporarily installed in a London urban park, the artist documents interactions among residents, dogs, wind, and trees. Inspired by Isamu Noguchi’s idea of “Sculpting Space,” the work treats sculpture as a spatial and behavioral experiment: the object may operate simultaneously as a barrier, protector, and mediator between humans and trees. The project questions how urban environments shape non-human existence and perception.
‘A Figure, Figures II’ extends the earlier work A Figure, Figures by transforming data visualization into temporary sculptures made from soil and compost. The title plays on the dual meaning of “figure” as both form and monetary value, referencing the Helliwell System used to assess tree amenity value. By translating numerical evaluation into fragile organic forms, the artist critiques anthropocentric systems that reduce trees to economic measurements. The work proposes an alternative framework for imagining value from a non-human perspective.
Research Approach / Method
The artist combines:
artistic research
site-specific intervention
legal archive investigation
material experimentation
data visualization
Through multimedia installation, archival materials, sculpture, and organic matter, the research rethinks ecological ethics and explores more intimate relationships between humans and urban trees.
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Tree Guard 作為整體研究計畫《A Reconciliation》（2021–2022）的前言，探討英國都市樹木保護制度（Tree Preservation Orders, TPO）中，人類與非人類之間的權力、邊界與情感關係。作品以充氣雕塑與錄像形式，暫時介入倫敦城市綠地，觀察居民、狗、風與樹木之間的互動。藝術家受到 Isamu Noguchi「Sculpting Space」概念啟發，將雕塑視為一種空間實驗：既可能成為阻礙，也可能成為保護樹木的臨時裝置。作品透過行為觀察與現場介入，重新思考都市空間中的非人類視角。
‘A Figure, Figures II’ 延伸自《A Figure, Figures》，以土壤與堆肥製作暫時性雕塑，重新詮釋樹木估值系統「The Helliwell System」，並作為藝術研究計畫《A Reconciliation》（2021–2022）中，關於法律脈絡下人類／非人類關係探討的其中一項延伸創作。作品利用 “figure” 一詞同時具有「形體」與「數值」的雙重意義，批判人類以貨幣化方式衡量樹木價值的限制。藝術家透過有機材料、資料視覺化與雕塑轉譯，試圖建立一種更貼近非人類感知的觀看方式，並揭示法律與環境評估背後的權力機制。
Research Approach / Method（研究方法）
藝術家的研究方法結合：
artistic research（藝術研究）
site-specific intervention（場域介入）
legal archive investigation（法律檔案研究）
material experimentation（材料實驗）
data visualization（資料視覺化）
透過多媒體裝置、檔案材料、雕塑與有機物質，研究不只是分析法律制度，也試圖建立人類與樹木之間更具情感與倫理性的連結。
