LI Cheng-Liang

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LI Cheng-Liang

Participating Project	Exchange Residency Program (Creators from abroad)
Activity Based	Tainan
City / Place stayed	Tokyo
Period	2026.1 - 2026.3

Purpose of the residency

During the residency, Li will develop the project “Tokyo Hypercity Dream” through drawing-based research and field research, exploring Tokyo’s urban landscape through the lens of “future city” and “cyberpunk” imagination. By observing its dense architecture, neon light, and social rhythm, Li aims to depict how technology, solitude, and desire intertwine in the contemporary metropolis.

Plan during the residency

• Conducting on-site sketching and visual note-taking in various Tokyo districts.
• Studying the city’s architecture, signage, and light reflections as visual language.
• Creating a series of sketches, drawings, and paintings that reinterpret the city’s density and rhythm.
• Developing conceptual studies that connect daily urban scenes with futuristic imagination.
• Presenting the outcomes through an open studio or small-scale exhibition at the end of the residency.

Activities during the residency

During my residency at TOKAS, I developed a project titled “Dream of a Hyper-Urban City”, using drawing, photography, and sketch-based processes. The project was structured in three stages: field observation and data collection, drawing development, and final presentation.
I began by moving through Tokyo and conducting nighttime observations, documenting the light, sound, and spatial atmospheres of different districts as the foundation of my work. In the second stage, I translated these materials into drawings, gradually building a visual narrative system through pencil sketches, watercolor painting, ink linework, and textual annotations.
Through repeated observation and drawing, I developed a visual world that combines fragments of everyday urban life with science-fiction imagination. The project was finally presented in an Open Studio format, emphasizing the imaginative and perceptual experience of viewing.

Outcome of the residency

This residency outcome continues my ongoing interest in spatial perception and the experience of interior and exterior viewing. The project explores Tokyo as a “hyper-normal” city, developing a speculative mode of observation situated between reality and imagination.
During the residency, I completed 18 small-scale watercolor paintings and several sketches, alongside extensive photographic and documentary records collected throughout Tokyo. These materials serve as key references for further artistic development. Selected works were presented in the Open Studio, where exchanges with audiences generated new interpretative possibilities for the work.
In response to these interactions, I sought opportunities to engage more directly with the city, creating an additional watercolor painting which was gifted to a traditional Japanese café. This gesture allowed the work to move beyond the exhibition space into everyday urban life, remaining within Tokyo’s urban context. It also led me to consider more direct forms of engagement with the city, such as designing shop signs, creating bathhouse murals, or collaborating with local businesses on experimental visual projects.
After returning to Taiwan, I will continue to develop the painting concepts initiated in Tokyo, while integrating science-fiction imaginaries from Taiwan into my ongoing practice. I aim to shift from small-scale, observational watercolor works toward large-scale oil paintings resembling advertising billboards or cinematic stills, transforming conceptual reflections into more narrative visual spaces.

Creator Information