After I completed my master’s degree abroad and returned to Taiwan in 2006, I remember trying to find a balance between living, working, and creating art. Since then, I have gained a lot of experience and developed various ideas through working for different theater groups, teaching, and participating in the production of many cultural and commercial projects. My heavy workload and abundance of design projects became a hindrance in creating art. I began to crave for a period of time in which I could focus wholeheartedly on art and start again from the beginning. Fortunately, I was selected by the Council for the Cultural Affairs to participate in a six-month residency program at Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, France. During the residency, I not only saw a variety of exhibitions and performances, but I also produced of three short films. Among these short films, The Vanishing Films was nominated for the Best Short Film at the Taipei Film Festival in 2009.

One of the most important aspects of participating in an artist residency is the provision of time and space for ‘resting.’ It is only through resting peacefully that an artist is able to reflect, think, create, and produce. Additionally, cross-cultural and multicultural encounters and exchanges are key elements conducive to the development of ideas in a residency program.

I will be participating in a residency program at Akiyoshidai International Art Village in January of 2014. Reflecting on the residency report that I wrote in 2008, I recognize the function of a ‘shelter’ that a residency site has for artists and professionals working in the art field. It is a shelter that can temporarily help one distance oneself from reality. Needless to say, however, different types of residencies and different statuses that residency programs set for themselves affect a participant’s experience.