This study examines the exhibition In the Course of Seven Days (2026) by Taiwanese artist Tsai Pou-ching to analyze the intersection of manual intervention and computational mediation in contemporary visual culture. While photography has increasingly shifted toward data-driven generation, Tsai’s work proposes a unique "re-programming" of the image that begins with physical gesture and culminates in digital synthesis. In the series The Birds of New York, Tsai utilizes paint to “overwrite” the backgrounds of 1960s bird field guides, replacing idealized nature with the harsh urbanity of contemporary New York. This manual act of "editing" scientific archives serves as a “pro-photographic” staging that challenges the visual governance of historical imagery. These hand-painted works are subsequently integrated into a three-channel video installation, where they are reactivated through animation and computational narrative structures. Applying a “four-dimension framework” (Mimetic, Pro-photographic, Enigmatic, and Operational), this paper argues that Tsai’s process reveals the operational logic of the image by treating the historical archive as a script to be modified rather than a static record. By positioning the artist as a “ghostly observer” between manual craft and AI-mediated video, Tsai explores the ethical boundaries of human-animal coexistence. This study demonstrates how virtual photography, even when rooted in physical paint, can serve as a potent tool for negotiating reality in an age of machine vision and algorithmic perception.

Authors:
YinHua Chu, National Taipei University of Education, Taiwan

About the Presenter(s)
Dr YinHua Chu is a University Assistant Professor/Lecturer at National Taipei University of Education, Taipei, Taiwan in Taiwan

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