Time in Between features urban views from both Taipei and Paris. It documents a compressed 24 hours in these two places with 24 locations and 24 Taiwanese people strolling in Paris. By seamlessly overlaying urban images from the two cities at different hours of the day, 24 hours in the existence of a strange composite zone emerges. The present in the past, the present in the present and the present in the future coexist in temporal simultaneity.
The very moment I have just experienced in Taipei and Paris has gone, vanished and yet the feeling of the past and the future arc at the same time retained within the present. Today’s Taipei is as if yesterday’s Paris, our bodily perception straddles two cities and falls into the unfolding time in between. Carrying our past experience and present perceptions, we head for the future- connecting one point to the next, and on to the next one.
Every hour the video documents 24 Taiwanese people wandering slowly around 24 popular Paris attractions. Their slow movements create a sharp contrast with those of the fast-moving tourists, reflecting the subtle interplay of alienation and belonging one experiences in a foreign land. It depicts their careful consideration regarding their every step and the next steps they will take. They seem to make up some kind of community, but the connections between them seem blurred. This careful deliberation over how to proceed in a changing landscape extends beyond the international status at the current time.