Puzzle
M+
Oct 24 - ongoing

Puzzle is a new work commissioned by M+. It is a program that places interlocking graphical tiles, accompanied by circular dialogues, endlessly in a browser. The work is intrinsically bilingual and its single interactive feature is a language toggle that permits different views of the situation. The situation travels forward and backward in time, accumulating a picture that enables one to glimpse the forces that govern certain beliefs and breakdowns.

Inspired by role-playing video games, Ryan Kuo’s Puzzle rebuilds conversations from his personal history as a first-generation Taiwanese American growing up in rural America. In looping, disembodied encounters, themes of diaspora emerge. Chinese values such as Confucian patriarchy and filial piety encounter American idealism and self-preservation. Instead of viewing these as opposing forces, Kuo attempts to piece them together across the barriers of memory and language.

Puzzle is durational and is intended for desktop and even larger displays. Access the project here.

The work was co-curated by Kate Gu and Kerry Doran. Translation by Yuling Zhong. Web development by Tommy Martinez.

10.24.22