Dormant Volcano - Treasure Hill Village
Sculpture | Fluorescent tubes, metal structure
Treasure Hill Village, Taipei, Taiwan
8 x 1.5 x 1.5 m
2013
Treasure Hill Village, Taipei, Taiwan
8 x 1.5 x 1.5 m
2013
Dormant Volcano is a light sculpture composed of industrial fluorescent tubes, suspended in mid-air at Cross Plaza—a convergence point for pathways within the semi-abandoned Treasure Hill, an early military dependents’ village in Taipei.
This hillside settlement, situated along the bank of the Xindian River, exemplifies a traditional Taiwanese village with narrow, winding passageways linking civilian homes to shared communal spaces. Over the past five decades, the daily life of its residents has gradually transformed, leaving only a few still inhabiting the area. Although small in scale, The New York Times noted in 2006 that Treasure Hill’s cultural landscape—comprising temples and postwar military dependents’ housing—is among Taipei’s most distinctive features.
Dormant Volcano employs fluorescent light fixtures commonly found in local households. Through the medium of light, the work connects with the fading energy of the settlement, symbolizing a latent dynamism quietly brewing atop the hillside—a metaphor for the persistence of vitality beneath apparent stillness.
