Ting-Tong Chang's BODO installation at Taipei Fine Arts Museum critiques toxic masculinity in Taiwan's military

Ting-Tong Chang's interactive installation BODO (2023) confronts the violent culture of Taiwan's mandatory military service through an immersive choose-your-own-adventure narrative. Presented at Taipei Fine Arts Museum from March 11 to June 4, the work features a nameless young conscript whose journey on a remote island explores themes of masculinity, sexuality, and domination. Inspired by Huang Ming-Chuan's 1993 hallucinatory film about Taiwanese militarism and Chang's personal conscription memories, the installation employs interactive technologies and theatrical elements. Audience members navigate branching storylines with outcomes ranging from lonely death to queer fugitive status, all set against clifflike set pieces evoking volcanic terrain. The work examines how Taiwan's geopolitical precarity—stemming from the Chinese Nationalist government's 1949 retreat and ongoing threat from the People's Republic of China—fosters a toxic masculinity that normalizes savagery. BODO's narratives include graphic hazing rituals and erotic fantasies, narrated in detached voiceover, suggesting military service as a traumatic yet honest reflection of young men's frustrations. The term 'Bodo' means 'treasure island' in Taiwanese Minnan dialect, a common moniker for Taiwan. Chang's most ambitious project to date blends site-specific installation with interactive technology to satirize contemporary Taiwanese sociopolitics.