Stories of Celluloid: Terra Nullius Data

Single-channel video, 8mm and AI-generated, 12′ 30″, 2024

The Stories of Celluloid project consists of multiple chapters that explore the past and present of dataset image through early film production material: camphor. Camphor, primarily sourced from the low mountainous regions of southern East Asia and Southeast Asia, was used in early 20th-century celluloid film production. Taiwan, as a major producer of camphor during this period, extracted camphor oil through scientific surveys, modernization, and conflicts with Indigenous communities, projecting the history of the mountains in the circuits of image production. With the use of AI dataset, this chapter brings to life a memory of colonization found in the camphor production techniques preserved in Taiwan and in colonial period literature.