Chang-Ching and Rhett Tsai’s Tricks of the Light

Why It Matters

The work spotlights how a single technological practice reshapes ecosystems, supply chains, and cross‑strait politics, urging policymakers and consumers to confront hidden environmental costs. By translating satellite data into tactile experiences, the artists bridge scientific insight and public perception, amplifying calls for sustainable fisheries.

Key Takeaways

• Light‑lure fishing emits green LEDs, causing bycatch and light pollution
• Su’s *Greenlessness* captures vessel LEDs on film, creating immersive green hues
• *Pocket Constellations* turns satellite fishing data into solar‑powered keychains
• Tsai’s VR piece *Be Sampan* links historic Tanka displacement to digital “by‑catch”

Pulse Analysis

Light‑lure fishing, a method that uses high‑intensity green LEDs to attract squid, has become a cornerstone of China’s offshore fleet. While praised for its efficiency, the practice generates massive by‑catch, disrupts nocturnal marine life, and creates a halo of artificial light that spills across national maritime borders. Environmental NGOs and fisheries scientists have long warned that such illumination can alter migratory patterns and exacerbate regional tensions, especially between Taiwan and mainland China. By foregrounding this technology, the Watershed Art & Ecology exhibition turns a technical issue into a visual and sensory experience, prompting viewers to consider the hidden costs of a globally demanded seafood supply.

In *Greenlessness* (2023‑25), Chang‑Ching Su exposes colour sheet film directly to the green LEDs mounted on Chinese squid‑fishing vessels. The resulting prints pulse with saturated emerald tones, evoking a submerged perspective that blurs the line between sea and screen. Su extends the investigation with *Pocket Constellations* (2025), where Global Fishing Watch satellite tracks are rendered as retro‑reflective points on solar‑powered keychains. When visitors shine a flashlight on the installation, the constellation of fishing activity across the Min‑Tai coast lights up, turning abstract data into a tactile, participatory map of ecological trespass.

Rhett Tsai’s contribution shifts from data to narrative. His CGI films, such as *Green Light Ties the River*, overlay everyday moments in Fujian with the relentless glow of lure lights, suggesting a social rhythm dictated by the fishing schedule. The VR piece *Be Sampan* immerses audiences in the historic displacement of the Tanka boat‑people, juxtaposing their physical curvature with modern digital “by‑catch” like smartphone‑induced hand deformities. By linking past marginalisation to present technological dependencies, Tsai underscores that the lure extends beyond the ocean, ensnaring contemporary bodies and behaviours. The exhibition thus operates as a multidisciplinary warning: the same engineered light that fuels global seafood markets also captures ecosystems, cultures, and even our own attention.