Relationship Crisis Hotline

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The Relationship Crisis Hotline is a project I started a few years back which was prompted by a devastating breakup that felt like being burnt alive in a fiery plane crash while simultaneously tumbling in a tornado. Since the experience was so acute and long lasting, I wanted to turn it into 'art.' Research showed that on average, it takes women 2 years to overcome a serious breakup - that sure is a lot of wasted time and energy.

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The project deals directly with Taiwan’s society and its alarming suicide rate, which is speculated as one suicide every 2 1/2 hours. I handed out business cards with my actual phone number that told people if they felt like dying from a breakup to call me and I would then go to 'console and comfort' the caller, and even try to prevent their suicide.

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In Relational Aesthetics, the relationship between artist and viewer were rather feel-good entertainments such as eating Rikrit Tiravanija's green curry in a gallery or receiving massages, gifts, etc from other artists. But there was no pain. I wondered, could pain be part of a relational aesthetic experience?

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In addition to my personal counseling services, I exhibited the project 3 times and in 3 vastly different ways.

1. A 2 meter long pillow in a tent outside a gallery. Public airing for private pain.

2. As a counseler's office in a glass encased room with sofas, desk, info and tissues.

3. Only the business card itself installed on top of a plinth in a gallery.

Just as suicide is a very difficult topic to discuss and to understand, so is the dematerialization of art. Here the form matches the content. This action blurs the boundary between real life (and death) and the cultural practice of artmaking. This is an art project about the deepest of emotional pains. But it is also an art project that cannot be seen as there are really no visual elements to it such as video, painting or sculpture. Pain can't really be visualized.

The work also tries to push the boundaries of what an art project can be. Can art be passed around like a business card? Can an art idea pass verbally from one person to another? And ultimately, can art – even art in its most conceptual form – be a lifesaver?

I had also hoped to bring the taboo discussion of suicide into the public domain and under the media spotlight. Knowledge is power.