《咖啡奇諾 —— 珍貴的東西是多麼的缺席》以「身」的脈絡為切入點，探索「缺席的身體／身份」，呈現太認真對於在墨西哥逐漸消逝的中國咖啡館的觀察與想像。

自上世紀以來，由當地華人經營的咖啡館，在1950年代風靡一時，全天候為城裡的工人和學生提供價格實惠的餐點。作為特定時空背景下的異國情調場所，這些飲食空間曾被視為指標性的移民文化，並在當地社會的集體記憶中塑造了一個獨特的社群地景。

展覽取徑於電影場景的解構式佈局，並佐以年代風化的力道作為腳本。在這個主客缺席的無人劇場中，調度出席間靜物的疏離。以記憶與抵抗為提問，隱含在場域的，是那些史敘中不被提及或消失的離散身影，以及往來於歷史與記憶中的時間張力。

藝術家｜太認真

​ 臺灣藝術家，郭柏俞、佘文瑛自 2015 年開始以太認真作為雙人共同的創作，近年工作、生活於台灣與歐洲兩地。2024年為法國巴黎西帖國際藝術村駐村藝術家、文化部扶植青年藝術計畫得主。過去曾獲文化部選送文化相關人才出訪計畫進駐德國貝塔寧藝術村。在結合田野踏查與視覺藝術的工作中，他們將藝術作為與當地社群建立對話、講述故事、文化交流與學習的方法。作品曾在台北當代藝術館、高雄市立美術館、嘉義市立美術館、空總C-Lab等藝術機構展出。

​策展人｜彭若瑩

​ 臺灣獨立策展人，目前居住在墨西哥城，並經營非營利藝術空間 Vernacular Institute。她的實踐跨越了策展、編輯和電影的界限，以拓展線性敘事之外的可能性。曾策劃展覽發表於Deluge Contemporary Art，加拿大（2021）、ARIEL，哥本哈根，丹麥（2020）、台北當代藝術中心等。

照片由藝術家提供，攝影：狐色影像製作。

Café de Chino – How Dear Things Are Absent presents Working Hard's observation of the fading of Chinese cafés in Mexico and how their persona and identity are disappearing within society.

Over the past century, these Chinese-operated cafes, established by pioneer immigrants, offered affordable meals to workers and students around the clock. Reaching their peak in the 1950s, these local hubs became deeply ingrained in collective memory as recognisable intercultural dining spaces.

The spatial choreography of the exhibition is structured around the idea of a deconstructed film set, staged as a café, with the passage of time serving as its scripted narrative. In this unmanned scenario of absent hosts and guests, a sense of alienation is orchestrated through the still life arrangement. Conceptualised through themes of memory and resistance, this scenographic composition captures the lingering echoes of forgotten or overlooked diasporas and their histories, creating a mise-en-scène that reflects the chronological tension in weathered memory.

Artist

Working Hard is a Taiwanese artist duo by She Wen-Ying and Kuo Po-Yu since 2015, currently living and working between Taiwan and Europe. In 2024, they were in the artist residency at the Cité internationale des arts in Paris and were recipients of the Ministry of Culture’s Young Artists Development Program. They were previously selected for the Ministry of Culture’s Talent Exchange Program, which led them to a residency at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Germany. Combining field research with visual art, their work seeks to engage with local communities through storytelling, cultural exchange, and learning. Their work has been exhibited at institutions such as the Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Chiayi Art Museum, and C-Lab in Taipei.

Curator

Jo Ying Peng is a Taiwanese independent curator currently based in Mexico City and runs Vernacular Institute. Her practice ranges across curatorial, editorial, and cinematic boundaries to expand possibilities beyond linear narratives. She has curated exhibitions at SOMA, Berlin (2024), MARCO museum, Monterrey (2023), Deluge Contemporary Art, Vancouver (2021), ARIEL, Copenhagen, Copenhagen (2020), and Taipei Contemporary Art Center, among others.

Courtesy of Artist, photo by Whose Image Studio