“Bagasse Missile“, “Lat Pulldown Machine“ and “Ethanol Distillery“ are a part of “The Limit is the Turbulent Skies” at MoNTUE Museum

LO Yi-Chu n’s installation trilogy traces the evolving roles of sugarcane as it moves through diverse historical and political contexts, including agriculture, colonial expan­sion, military industry, mass production, and contempo­rary body politics. This tropical crop has been continu­ously redefined. It began as a vital source of sustenance, later became a strategic fuel, and now stands as a metaphor for embodied desire and systems of control. Through sculptural assemblage and spatial interven­tions, her works reveal the hidden residues embedded in processes of circulation. These include the lingering imprints of war, labor, and displacement that shape the realities of the present. In a time marked by accelerated mobility and the pursuit of bodily optimization, Lo invites us to consider how deeply our lives are entangled with the material remains of intersecting histories.

Bagasse Missile (2024)

This sculptural missile, assembled from bagasse and agricultural remnants, probe the power dynamics and global flows that underpin tropical cash crops. Using bagasse to craft various traditional farming tools, the artist assembles them into a sculptural form modeled after the Sidewinder missile, a weapon commonly sold by the United States to Taiwan. In doing so, the piece examines the historical evolution of the sugarcane industry, from agricultural commodity to daily necessity, and ultimately to a source of military fuel such as ethanol and butanol. The installation also responds to current geopolitical tensions, referencing conflicts ranging from Gaza and the Russia-Ukraine war to the persistent threats across the Taiwan Strait. Suspended in the gallery, the missile becomes an interactive “fitness apparatus” that engages viewers physically. This gesture not only references sugar’s legacy as a contested colonial commodity but also points to its modern repositioning as excess calories that people now strive to eliminate through exercise. The installation draws connections between labor and physical training, while reflecting on how energy, both bodily and material, is produced, managed, and repurposed across time.

Lat Pulldown Machine – NIK2-J (2020)

This sculptural installation references the history of Taiwan’s sugar industry during Japanese colonial rule, when molasses -a by-product of sugar refining -was covertly converted into ethanol for military aviation fuel. Modeled after the Shiden Kai fighter plane, the work is constructed from cast agricultural tools made of bagasse, forming a hybrid object that resembles both a war machine and a lat pulldown gym apparatus. Sugar, in this context, becomes a shape-shitting material: once a tropical cash crop, later a source of military energy, and now seen as excess calories to be eliminated in contem­porary fitness culture. By juxtaposing the sugar demands of energy and war with the compulsions of modern self-discipline, the piece reflects on the absur­dity of exertion and the futility of war, revealing how tropical resources have been cyclically consumed, contested, and redefined.

Ethanol Distillery (2020)

Composed of stacked glass vessels filled with molasses and ethanol, this wall-like structure charts the modern history of alcohol fuel production in colonial Taiwan. Through subtle color gradations and mirrored reflections, the work draws connections between wartime aviation and contemporary fitness culture, shifting the focus from national combat to individual exercises. It reflects the ways in which contemporary fitness culture encourages self-surveillance, desire, and the construction of ideal­ized bodies. Resembling a scientific display case, the installation stages a spectacle of transformation, moving from molasses to alcohol, from fuel to energy, and from labor to exercise. Within this setting, a range of desires is refracted and reconfigured, revealing how material processes shape and mirror human fantasies.

About the exhibition – The Limit is the Turbulent Skies

Venue: MoNTUE Museum
From August 29 to November 2, 2025
For more information: https://montue.ntue.edu.tw/en/the-limit-is-the-turbulent-skies-2/