Hsu Chia-Wei’s video installation engages with the history of a tiny island off the coast of Matsu, which is situated in the Taiwan Strait. During the Qing Dynasty, the island was the site of a tiny temple. When Chiang Kai-Shek retreated to Taiwan, the temple was dismantled and relocated to a larger neighbouring island, and a bunker was constructed in its place.

At present, the bunker is a ruin and ownership of the island has been transferred again to the proprietors of the original temple. The island is also under the commandment of a local god called the ” Marshal Tie Jia,” a frog deity. This deity originated from a temple located on Wu-Yi Mountain in China, which was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, at which point the deity migrated to Matsu.

In Hsu’s work, the island is used as a stage. Employing the cinematographic device of the “green screen” – a generic background that is replaced in the post-production process with any other background image – Hsu places a fictional version of the original tiny temple on the island. Slowly, the camera zooms out and reveals that green screen on the island. This scenography forms the backdrop of a performance in which a local senior citizen sings a form of folk opera found only in the south of Fujian Province, recounting the experience of WWII. He is the last person capable of performing the opera, which has a long tradition and was known to be Marshal Tie Jia ‘s favourite pastime, but which has now fallen into oblivion.

許家維的錄像裝置新作所表陳的主軸環繞在一座小島，該島位於台灣海峽上的馬祖外海。此作涉及這島嶼的歷史。在清朝，這座島上有間小廟。當蔣介石撤退到台灣後，小廟被拆解遷移至鄰近一作更大的島嶼，其原址上則建造了一座碉堡。現在，碉堡荒廢頹圮，島嶼的所有權也再度被轉讓到原本的廟方手上。這座島嶼受當地一位青蛙神明「鐵甲元帥」管轄。祂原本駐紮在中國五夷山上的廟中。當文化大革命毀了那座廟後，祂就被流放到了馬祖。

在許家維的作品中，這座島嶼被當作是舞台。藝術家運用電影製作的「綠幕」技術（一種拍攝期間使用的替代背景，而後在後製過程中以其他背景合成取代），將虛擬的小廟重新放回島上，卻隨著攝影機緩緩地拉遠而揭露這蒙太奇手法，讓設置在島上的綠幕一目了然。如此的寫景手法構成了一項表演場景，其中，一位當地的老人唱著流傳於福建南方的民俗歌謠。據說，這是鐵甲元帥在閒暇之餘最喜歡聽的曲目，只是現在已經被眾人遺忘了，而這老人是碩果僅存的傳述者。