Virgin Land 處女地 Tempered glass floor, Ultraviolet Light tube, Neon lamp, Raw material of cinchona tree, Tonic water, Multi-channel video ( 15'25" ) / 強化玻璃地板、紫外線燈管、霓虹燈管、金雞納樹原材、奎寧水、多頻道錄像 Size Variable / 視場地尺寸而定 2019 ( Installation view of Asian Art Biennial, Taichung, 2019 ) Taiwan’s colonial period under Japanese rule witnessed its largest scaled introduction of, and experimentation on, tropical plants. Taiwan’s geographic location, climate and ecological environment made the island an ideal habitat for the Anopheles mosquitoes known for spreading malaria. In the course of their colonial conquest, European colonizers discovered that certain groups of indigenous South American people used cinchona tree barks to treat malaria. Before the emergence of technology for the production of artificial vaccines, quinine extracted from cinchona trees was the only form of treatment and preventive measure against malaria. Quinine thus provided colonizers with protection for them to venture further into new territories of primal forests and tropical islands. All of a sudden, islands with the threat of dangerous diseases became treasure vaults for the pharmaceutical industry, as cinchona trees and botany were turned into an alternative imperial weaponry, with which the process of colonization could be extended, and transformed more thoroughly into profit-making territories. Virgin Land is conceived of as a stage in the form of a pop-up bar. Scattered on the floor and emitting fluorescent light are glass tubes filled with a concoction of gin and quinine. As cure, the meaning of quinine is multivalent. In a way, coloniality is like a virus sieving through our veins and bones, permeating through our consciousness. 日治時期是台灣史上最大規模的熱帶植物引進與試驗階段,臺灣由於地理位置、氣候、生態環境的因素,亦是瘧蚊的理想繁殖地,歐洲在過去的殖民過程,發現南美原住民以金雞納樹皮來治療瘧疾。於是金雞納樹提煉的奎寧成為人工疫苗發明前,防瘧的唯一解藥。奎寧的功效為殖民者提供了深入熱帶島嶼的新機會,昔日的瘴癘之島一躍成為製造藥品的寶庫,金雞納樹與植物學成為另類的帝國武器,讓殖民地成為有利可圖的新領土。〈處女地〉以一座臨時性的酒吧為舞台,地板上散落的玻璃管透著螢光,管內裝填琴酒與奎寧混合成的液體,奎寧作為「解藥」帶有多重含義,殖民性亦如同病毒,深入血液、骨髓,深藏在我們意識之中。