"We don't know where he's from

or where he's going." —— No Form

"Their walking journeys are

like a meditative prayer of heart and soul." —— Abiding Nowhere

In 2011, director Tsai Ming-liang unveiled Only You, a stage play composed of three one-act monologues. Among them, The Fish of Lee Kang-sheng: The Journey in the Desert featured actor Lee Kang-sheng embodying Tsai's father, carrying a sack of flour and walking with excruciating slowness along a table—a journey that stretched a mere few steps into nearly 30 minutes. This deliberate pace, like a pebble rippling through still water, transfixed Tsai, inspiring him to translate its meditative essence into the language of cinema. Draped in a crimson monk's robe, Lee began his slow pilgrimage in Taipei, captured in No Form, the inaugural film of Tsai's Walker series.

Over the 12 years from No Form to Abiding Nowhere, the Walker series meandered through eight cities, emerging as one of Tsai's most steadfast artistic endeavors. It stands as a sanctuary of simplicity amidst the cacophony of modern filmmaking, where Tsai abandoned the intricate machinery of the film industry and its narrative conventions. 

Since Stray Dogs (2013), Tsai has ventured beyond traditional cinema spaces, forging connections with art museums and exploring the interplay between white-box galleries and black-box theaters. The Walker series transcends boundaries, weaving itself into cinema, theater, and exhibitions. Each iteration of the walker's journey reimagines cinema as something more than just a medium—it becomes an act of presence.

The marathon screening of all ten films from the Walker series promises an audacious experiment: a 10-hour overnight odyssey with Tsai himself present. Challenging conventional notions of cinematic viewing and invites audiences to experience film as an immersive meditation on time and being, this program are also complemented by two other works that highlight Tsai's collaborations with international institutes: Face (2009), commissioned by the Louvre, and Stray Dogs (2013), conceived for museum premieres and exhibitions. Tsai Ming-liang's Walker series exhibits a manifesto for rethinking cinema itself that offers both creator and audience to see anew, to feel deeply, and to glimpse an entirely new universe within each frame.

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