Temporary Assembly began during a one-month residency in Reykjavík, from the experience of being in an unfamiliar environment. Tao collected kelp, lava stones, black sand, clay, and discarded construction materials from different places around Iceland, repeatedly assembling, photographing, dismantling, and reassembling them.

Nothing is glued or permanently fixed. Each structure relies on friction, gravity, balance, and one material leaning against another. At what point do materials from different places become an assembly? When does a temporary arrangement become a sculpture? How long does something need to stay before it belongs? Through repeated acts of building and dismantling, the work considers adaptation as an unstable and ongoing process.