As a means to control and in uence the artwork’s reception, an artist statement in the tone of a speech act is widely employed. Jao’s work investigates artist statements in Taiwan from 1930 to today, and “enacts” them with the help of general public, to ex- amine how the meaning of art is produced in all its linguistic and performative aspects. Jao highlights the di erences between art lingo and everyday language, as well as changes in usage and terminology over time.