Wang Yu-Song

王煜松 

Shengzi Inn was formerly a maternity hospital and has since been transformed into a space for music and cultural activities. Although its function has changed, traces of its previous identity remain embedded throughout the building—in its spatial layout, classrooms, elevator, storage rooms, and architectural structure. Rather than replacing one another, the past and the present coexist within the same space, creating an environment suspended between memory and reality.

The title Homecoming is borrowed from the Tang Dynasty poem by He Zhizhang. Rather than illustrating the poem itself, the work draws upon its themes of returning home to reflect on one's place of origin, the passage of time, and the relationship between memory and identity.

The video consists of two interwoven narratives.

The first follows a documentary-like observation of the building. Through light, shadows, architectural details, corridors, elevators, walls, and classrooms, the camera searches for the lingering traces of the former maternity hospital. These traces are no longer explicit; instead, they quietly inhabit the present-day music space, allowing two different moments in time to overlap within the same architecture. The work invites viewers to imagine a place that is no longer visible, yet continues to exist through memory.

The second narrative is fictional. It follows a middle-aged man who was born in this hospital and returns to Hualien after many years away. Revisiting the place where his life began, he gradually confronts the invisible connections between people, places, time, and memory. Dreams, the umbilical cord, the navel, and the changing landscape become metaphors through which he reflects upon the beginning of life and his own sense of belonging.

For me, the navel is an important metaphor. It is the trace left behind by the umbilical cord—a reminder that one life was once physically connected to another. Even after that connection disappears, its mark remains. Returning home functions in much the same way. Although time reshapes places and memories fade, the bond between a person and their homeland cannot be entirely severed.

According to local accounts, a significant number of Hualien residents were born in this maternity hospital. The thought that countless people may share the same birthplace transforms this building from a deeply personal site into a collective point of origin. The work therefore expands from an individual experience of returning home to an imagination of shared memory and collective belonging.

Rather than reconstructing a lost history, Homecoming creates a space where memory, imagination, and reality intersect. As the camera observes the architectural traces left by time, it also reveals the invisible spaces that continue to exist beyond what can be seen. Perhaps the true completeness of a place does not reside in its physical form alone, but somewhere between material reality, memory, and imagination.