Commentary

What is Belief? /Ching yue Roan

Yoon-jin Park compared religious belief, which is influential at the bottom of Taiwanese society, with 7-ELEVEN, which is also prevalent in Taiwan. He also made a connection between religious belief and Chen-Ming Wang, whose outstanding 19 wins in 2007 as a New York Yankees pitcher has made him a hero in Taiwan.
With disposable paper cups, he fixed a giant collage of Chen-Ming Wang while attaching the inspiring slogan ‘Go 20!’ to it, and put it by the busy Ding-zhou Road. The visually provocative totem naturally reminds us of the numerous giant figures erected in the city during the authoritarian age. Has Chen-Ming Wang, the sports hero, replaced the former political heroes and become the savior of our time?
And is the disposable cups secretly mocking that even such hero is fleeting and unreliable?
Or is Yoon-jin Park’s work subtly hinting that belief – the confused and ironic phenomenon of our age – is blind though necessary? Is he questioning humans’ ability to truly know what they believe in at current environment and time? Or is he pondering whether 7-ELEVEN, which is penetrating at the bottom of the society, can play a role similar to belief – such as being influential to the trend of power and culture?
This piece of work does not really answer any questions. Instead, it casts a heavy question to us: What do we believe in? And what do we eventually need to believe in?