Yao Jui-Chung’s Phantom of History is a video documentary depicting the artist goose-stepping around the Cihu Sculpture Park in Taoyuan. Yao’s surrounding environment – a vast collection of Chiang Kai-Shek statues – and ridiculous stride are as ironical as his physical isolation and the incongruity of history. When Chiang Kai-Shek passed away in 1975, approximately 50,000 statues of his likeness were erected at elementary schools, high schools, universities, government institutions, public infrastructures and military facilities in his honor. After martial law was abolished in 1987, many were defaced and thrown away. The Daxi township in Cihu collected over one hundred discarded statues and stored them in Daxi Park, the site of Chiang Kai-Shek’s mausoleum. Yao’s demeanor and resemblance to Chiang personify a statue come to life; the artist’s behavior underscoring the greater absurdity of his context.

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