Kechun Qin

The moment human fingertips lifted from the ground, upright walking became a privilege rather than a mere posture. The liberated hands could now be used to create tools for defense and hunting. The pupils’ gazes shifted from a level view to a downward perspective, a physical change that also translated into an awareness that overlooked other species. The spine, situated at the center of the human body, acts like a covert ruler, measuring the scale of evolution and supporting the illusion of being “human-centric.” Thus, humans stand, placing themselves far above all other creatures. Following this profound gestural revolution came the imagination and manipulation of non-human animals (the Others), turning them into livestock and companions, as their wildness was rewritten as docility. Their bodies became resources to be medicated and refined, transforming into instruments for milk and nutritious meat production. They became basic knowledge and research data, linking humanity’s ever-expanding and illusory colonial territories.

Discussions and attempts to understand often struggle to escape the limitations of human centrism. Trapped in a persistent ethical dilemma, we find it difficult to navigate the unequal power dynamics that confine us. As the urgency of environmental and ecological issues intensifies, a question repeatedly emerges: Is it possible for us to construct a relatively equal multi-species world? Can we, with greater humility and introspection, relearn how to coexist with the Others? This fourth issue does not offer answers; instead, it comprises reflections and imaginations, as most contributors have long-standing experiences with or ongoing research on non-human animals. Through observation, education, painting, writing, and image-making, they seek to loosen the existing “ethical relationships” and “orderly rules.” Returning to the interior of the body, each vertebra of the spine accumulates traces of human transitions and memories that have yet to dissipate. However, the spine has never fully completed its evolution; its flaws are evident, and the hidden pain it causes always accompanies the body. Perhaps it is this persistent pain that continually reminds us that suffering, which may seem unrelated to us, can be perceived anew from the fissure of spines. By stepping into the bodies of Others, to feel and acknowledge them, a slow exchange occurs that reopens our imagination and generates a relationship that has yet to be named.

Contributors:  Eva Koťátková, Hsu Che-Yu and Chen Wan-Yin, Victoria Soyan Peemot, Sha Shuang, Liz Pui Yee Chee, Robert Zhao Renhui, Qindi Hu, Chuangbin Chen, Lei Zhu, Wantanee Siripattananuntakul, Boria Sax, Candice Lin and Justin Torres
Assistant Editor: Jierui Ou
Designer: Can Yang

Much in our life at this moment is often marked by an absence of clarity. Many have experienced a malaise and come to know its persistence. We seem to have become used to stasis and theoretical discussions, lingering in silence and hoping from time to time for something extraordinary to happen. Yet it might also have been a blessing; an opportunity to free ourselves from overarching narratives, to direct our attention to the individual, the local, and to subjects that have long been part of our own lives—a more agile, intuitive mindset.

The third issue of te magazine took shape in this context, and chose to confront experiences of “plight”—plight of the persecuted, of the artists, of the forgotten, and of those living with colonial legacies. How might we, as individuals, transmute plights in order to learn to live in this world? If each piece in this issue can be said to propose a mode of healing, the aim is not only about specific pathologies, but rather to recommend adjustments and defenses in moments of crisis. While writing on the plights of others, the authors also look inward for the roots of questions that they have long harbored about their own experiences. As introduced by Jacques Lacan, the theory of “the mirror stage” refers to children's initial awareness of their own existence. As adults, we continue to grapple with the process of self-discovery and understanding, at times feeling trapped deeply in the “mirror.”

This issue’s theme, Mirroring represents a continuous exploration of the self. On the one hand, these pieces document the processes of setbacks, negating, questioning and reconciling; on the other, delineate the self through the other, a process discernible in several jointly-authored pieces in this issue, where a special connection and sense of fellowship formed through dialogue, correspondence, and collaborative research. In Siddhartha, Hermann Hesse described how the protagonist's worldview was shaped through seeking and struggle, and we hear in it an echo of the inspiration behind this issue of te: “But now, his liberated eyes stayed on this side, he saw and became aware of the visible, sought to be at home in this world, did not search for the true essence, did not aim at a world beyond.” (Siddhartha by H. Hesse, translated by Hilda Rosner, Bantam Books,1971)

Contributors: Guadalupe Maravilla, Lucía Hinojosa Gaxiola, Kader Attia, Lee Kai Chung, Shen Jun, Gantala Press, Peng Jen-Yu, Chang Yuchen, Chris Zhongtian Yuan, Chu Yun, Chen Zhe, Lieko Shiga

There cannot be more possibilities and layers of complexity embodied in food throughout human development. On one hand, it constructed a system that assembles taste, cultural memory and historical movements; on the other hand, the correlation between food and geography provides a hidden motivation to examine human behaviours and social transformation.

This inaugural issue of te magazine adopts Ye Wuji's "The Lost Society" as the central theme. The term "lost" means ephemeral silence and enfeeblement rather than disappearance and extinction. This means that many cultures only dissipated temporarily, and some are metamorphised. Food happens to witness this transition, and the word "society" refers to a collective destiny. In this issue, we invited 13 creative practitioners of different disciplines — to bring in and reflect upon their respective expertise, knowledge system and research trajectories from and in anthropology, sociology, and contemporary art — to explore food as a multi-faceted intricacy, at the same time reconstruct the relationship between food and geography.

Contributors:  Mary-Jean Chan, Cao Yu, Cooking Sections, Tang Han & Zhou Xiaopeng, Wolfgang Tillmans, Felix Ho Yuen Chan, Yia Vang, Alvin Luong, Ye Wuji, Elia Nurvista, Gu Tao