Hung-Chih Peng and Valentina met in November 2024, while Valentina was conducting fieldwork on deconsecration rituals in the Taipei and Keelung area. Before starting, Valentina was already aware of Peng’s work, having found articles referencing his use of abandoned gods. With “God Pond,” an installation realized in 2006 at the Musée Guimet in Paris, Hung-Chih Peng addressed the historical phenomenon of god statue discarding in 1980s Taiwan, triggered by gambling fever. His central argument is that the deities underwent a transformation: venerated figures became perceived as failures for not granting gamblers’ wishes, and thus were seen as disposable. For the installation, Peng assembled 606 discarded deity statues across the gallery floor, while a video projection on the wall—The Chronicle of the Misfortune Deities—features a dog recounting this shift from reverence to rejection. The work directly parallels abandoned gods and stray animals, explicitly questioning what devotion means if it can so easily turn into disposability. According to Peng, both abandoned gods and stray dogs are confined to limited spaces, forced to compete for new owners, and both endure the trauma of violent abandonment.
Initially, Valentina wanted to understand more about the reasons behind Hung-Chih Peng’s installation and his perspective on deconsecration in Taiwan. During a preliminary interview, she learnt that Mr Peng collected the statues for the installation from Mr Lu. Mr Lu is a spirit medium in Hsinchu who collects discarded statues and finds them a new home. Valentina was unable to interview key collectors of discarded statues during her fieldwork due to their remote locations, unavailability, or health conditions. For this reason, she wished to involve Hung-Chih Peng in “Traces of Guanyin” to add his perspective on deconsecration. Valentina and Mr Peng met regularly in July 2025 to discuss how his contribution could be made possible. Although Valentina respected Mr Peng’s artistic voice, she felt the provocative parallel in “God Pond”—between dogs and gods reflecting on gamblers’ misuse of religion—was too strong and controversial to show in “Traces of Guanyin”. Therefore, Hung-Chih Peng and Valentina agreed to focus more on the preparatory work for “God Pond” and Mr Peng’s relationship with Mr Lu. During preliminary meetings, the delicate topic of collecting discarded gods arose. Valentina felt it would help the audience reflect on how sacred power affects collecting and museum practices in Taiwan. In “Traces of Guanyin”, the audience can indulge in the photographic interview with Mr Peng and find food for thought.
*Click on the first image to open the photo gallery and read the captions.
