2016年，由清華大學人類學系臧振華教授主持，和西班牙學者合作，在基隆和平島發掘出十七世紀、西班牙人興建的教堂及四具墓葬。這個重大考古挖掘持續至今，藝術家許家維也從旁拍攝這個過程，作為他了解海權時代、台灣與歐亞國家之間關係的重要線索，也成為其系列創作。

許家維十多年前便開始關注和平島，在日殖時代，和平島的造船廠是日本最南端的軍事造船廠，國民黨政府時期，又是經濟發展的關鍵要角，高度濃縮了近代歷史，而許家維的作品《和平島故事》，穿梭於記憶、歷史和夢境之中，以極為個人的角度閱讀歷史。

此後他的創作網絡從台灣擴及到東北亞和東南亞，其中一條路線延伸探索亞洲殖民史，關心海權時代、荷蘭東印度公司在亞洲擴張的複雜網絡。2019年，許家維到馬來西亞拍攝新作《石頭與大象》，串連馬來巫師的傳統信仰、當代攝影技術和馬來西亞的被殖民歷史。

Chia-Wei Hsu´s Archeological Trail Through Asia

In 2016 Acadamia Sinica worked with Spanish scholars to excavate a church and four graves built in the 17th century by the Spanish on Keelung and Heping Island. The large-scale archeological dig continues to this day. Artist Chia-Wei Hsu filmed this process to help him understand the important link between Taiwan and other Eurasian nations during the Age of Sail. His work has since developed into a series of projects.

Chia-Wei Hsu shifted his focus to Heping Island over ten years ago. During the Japanese Colonial Era, the shipyard on Heping Island served as the southern-most military shipyard in Imperial Japan. Under the Nationalist Government, the shipyard also played an integral part in the subsequent Taiwanese Economic Miracle. The shipyard is a microcosm of modern history reflected in Chia-Wei Hsu´s “The Story of Hoping Island.” The piece synthesizes memory, history, and fantasy to offer a highly individual interpretation of this historical period.

Chia-Wei Hsu has gone on to create an Internet of Things that spans across Taiwan to Northeast and Southeast Asia. One link in his network explores Asia´s colonial history with a particular emphasis on the Age of Sail and the rather complex expansion of the Dutch East India Company into the Asian continent. In 2019 Hsu went to Malaysia to shoot a new piece called “Stones and Elephants.” The project sought to connect the traditional beliefs of Malaysian shaman, modern cinematic technology, and Malaysia´s own colonial history.