How did Tani Yutaka, a Japanese intelligence officer in the 1940s, come to be the vengeful bandit Harimau (Malay word for “Tiger”) and fluent in Malay in the public eye? Artist Au Sow Yee delves into this highly influential timeline for the trio of Taiwan, Japan, and Malaysia across the first half of the 20th Century with her Extreme Journey of Perwira and the Calm Sea: In 3 Acts.

Au Sow Yee is a Malaysian artist based in Taipei with a long-term focus on borders in Asia and Southeast Asia. Through mixed media such as videos, installations, sounds, archivess, and performances, Au Sow Yee explores the power dynamics hidden beyond the seen borders, piercing through the historical timelines of 20th-Century Taiwan, Japan, and Malaysia with the Extreme Journey of Perwira and the Calm Sea:In 3 Acts. Au Sow Yee and Chen Yow-Ruu mainly focus on the research and development of the second scene for this project. Inspired by depictions of Malaysian pop culture elements and the post-war era in Show Business Records of the South, Au Sow Yee and Chen Yow-Ruu share bits of their findings through lectures and lecture-performances, outlining a metaphor of “pioneering” unknown lands.