The Third Space
(artistic research book)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/fd67ccaf4a7ff4e50139e82538608279311e829e7dc6b043f24462da0092dcc5/Screenshot-2022-01-18-at-16.43.57.png)
Third Space is the concept developed by Homi Bhabha to describe the hybrid cultural identity which emerges from the interweaving elements of different cultures. Bhabha posits hybridity as a liminal or in-between space, where the ‘cutting edge of translation and negotiations’ occurs (Bhabha 1996). During the process of this artistic research, I realised that all the segments in my works are a journey in the third-space, where my native culture and memories meet with my experience of Western culture. They collide and merge with each other, while I examine with a magnifying glass the Western culture with one hand and examine my past with a monocular with my other hand. I navigate in this space to find answers to questions of who am I and where is home to which I could return?
This book is made with the intention to be a gift for my children. Besides being an extensive research on Diaspora theory, it is also a collection of the stories about my family’s history: how they found the small island called Xi-Yu- Ping, on their way immigrating to Taiwan and the Dutch colonization in Taiwan. Each chapter is named by an object I used to make a work. The readers can experience the link between my work, personal stories and sociology studies. It is a thorough overview of my reflections (in the past few years) on the displacement, the trauma, and the past. Now I feel I can close a chapter and continue to fulfil my curiosity with further exploration in how my status of displacement can lead to cultural exchanges, a dynamic Third Space, or eventually deterritorialization.
Author: Linhuei Chen
Book designer: Tilius Sodeika
︎︎︎Video Documentation