The Extreme Journey of Perwira and the Calm Sea: in 3 Acts is a series that centers around Tani Yutaka, a Japanese intelligence agent of the military intelligence operation Fujiwara kikan (F Kikan) in the 1940s, with different aspects prompted by shifting “borders” explored. Tani Yutaka was a Japanese man of Muslim faith and was known as “The Tiger of Malaya”. Born in Fukuoka, Japan in 1911, Tani Yutaka later moved with his parents to live in northeastern Malaysia, where he became a bandit to avenge his younger sister’s death.

In 1943, a flm adaption of Tani Yutaka’s story was made for the frst time, which was the Japanese produced propaganda flm, Tiger of Malaya, that was released in Malaysia. Japan once touted the mantra, “Asia for the Asiatics”, and used Taiwan as a strategic geographical position in the southernmost point of the North to launch southwards through multidimensional atypical war strategies that included radio, images, and songs. Tani Yutaka’s identity was glamourized in the television series, Bandit Harimau in 1960. “Harimau” is a phonetic adaptation of the Malay word for“Tiger”. The television series re-imagined Tani Yutaka as a cowboy-esque bandit, who defeated the “savages” from the West and opened up the “wilderness” in the. South. In 1966, an advertisement for the Taiwanese movie, “Battle of the Dragon and Tiger” (also known as the“Malay Tiger”) appeared in the newspapers of Taiwan.

Shifting into the 21st century, a character named after Tani Yukata appears in Animal Crossing, a video game series developed by Nintendo. Tani Yukata has taken on an image of a wanderer who travels through space-times, and this image suggests a planetary awareness for the linking of the islands of the Southern Ocean. The name“planet” comes from the ancient Greek term “Planetes”, meaning “wanderer”. The shifting image of Tani Yukata seems to be set on an axis that retraces history, where it also ventures into a certain future relationship, an imaginary blueprint composed of galaxies; and a refexive future designation.

In 2 Electric, Cosmos and the Seance, Tani Yutaka transformed into a chimera of human and tiger with ambiguos sexual identity, embarked on an imaginary journey of space odyssey,  a strange encounter with a Malay princess, passing through cold war remnants, seance of the mysterious past, became a drummer and party till the end.

Installation View photographed by Lee Hsin-Che