Art Tarsh

DURATION: 2008-07-04 ~ 2008-08-24
OPENING: 2008-07-04
VENUE: INART, Tainan, Taiwan

參展藝術家 Artists 姚瑞中 Yao, Jui-Chung、陳秋林 Chen, Qiu-Lin(中國大陸 Chien) 劉時棟 Liu, Shih-Tung、鈴木貴彥 Takahiko Suzuki(日本 Japen) 吳達坤 Wu, Dar-Kuen、郭奕臣 Kuo, I-Chen 黃建樺 Huang, Chien-Hua、陳萬仁 Chen, Wan-Jen 策展人 Curator 陳浚豪 Howard Chen Howard Chen Having concerned myself with Taiwan’s art circle and taken a few trips to China in the name of research, I’ve travelled around a bit and have been observing the world through an artist’s eyes, and what I’ve already experienced has remained within my heart and intoxicated my mind for a long time. Recently, a senior artist recommended a book written by Ha Jin—War Trash—which tells of true accounts of Chinese POWs captured by the U.S. military during the Korea War(1951-1953). The publishing of the book has brought the long-forgotten war and the POWs, once again to public attention. The book serves somewhat as an alarming call to the status quo of Taiwan’s art circle, and some analogies seem able to be drawn between the war and the local art market, resulting in my naming the imminent exhibition—Art Trash. Art Trash implies the “impasse” of Taiwan’s contemporary art works—exhibitions that soon fade away into history and artists that are quickly forgotten by the audience. How does an artist reposition himself when there is a lack of an art market？ Will an artist, while dealing with real-life burdens, become hesitant in achieving his envisaged goals？ Will many art pieces end up as“Art Trash”？ This exhibition has been carried out in an attempt to raise concerns, arouse discussions and devise strategies to find solutions for the“Art Trash”issue. Perhaps such discourse will enlighten us in our understanding of the true problems faced by artists and formulating a foolproof reasoning process. In an era of chaos which is constantly bombarded by media hype, an artist should begin to re-examine himself (or herself) and come to terms with a new self-realization conducted through a reasoning process, and clearly understands his (or her) roll perceived by the society in general, which in turn might allow the audience to recognize the attention deserved by and the needs of artists. Besides having formed a fixed pattern of observation and deep-rooted paranoia, many of my contemporaries have doubts and queries, even self-contradictory thinking of the various phenomena appearing in the current art environment. For example, the general market prosperity that appeared at around 1993, the surge of installation art market that existed in 1998, and the current market boom for“technological art”works which are now mainstream collectible items, represent the good time the art market has enjoyed. Artists have been rising with the tides and perhaps some have made certain self-reflection and pondered about the ultimate value of various art pieces created by varied art endeavors. In contrast to the canvas-oil paintings, avant-garde technological art and installation art, after winning their applause and recognition across the Taiwan Straits (China and Taiwan), lack subsequent market appreciation and have gradually become“Art Trash”—a commonly shared viewpoint by the cross-strait artists. But not all artists are deterred by the dire circumstances. For instance,“active art pragmatists”have stood up to the waves of changes, attempted different genres of creation and overcome material restrictions, and have not compromised themselves with the existing obstacles. They play a multitude of rolls in social, political, sex, urban-rural, and environmental issues. They’ve become socially prominent activists who question“authority”through art actions. In turn, the artists would receive self-approval through artist-in-residence programs and find a peace of mind. They offer a redefinition and a new dimension to the term“functional art”. The artists“tread and take a foothold on the edge.”In so doing,“Art Trash”still exists but the trash is soon sorted from the treasure. The exhibition wishes to reproduce substitutable, marginal art behaviors and events—in the“Inart Gallery”located in the city center in an attempt to restore them to a normal track of exhibition administered by a functional gallery mechanism, and to find more enthusiasts to support contemporary art events. Only when an artist’s work possesses socially recognized values which are functional, educational, and historical can it not become an“art trash.” The curators aspire to create“a new form of experience”which not only at times swiftly and humorously points out the true standing point of an artist, but can also at times effects a silent dialogue to endow contemporary art more complete values. 姚瑞中 Yao, Jui-Chung 姚瑞中說︰「拍攝行動可作為過往的淒美追憶，卻也展示文明進步之虞，建物功能喪失之後的毀棄殘跡；然而沒有廢墟的話，就不可能有文明。」1999至2006年間，姚瑞中拍攝台灣各地的廢墟作品，黑白攝影的細膩質感，描述著廢墟的時空變異數落著空間的興衰變異，聚集的廢墟將匯聚出對文明的集體殘留記憶，包含創作者之間、創作者與民眾之間，形成價值認知的迷走場域，在面對廢墟與面對藝術作品的同時，提出創作所在的價值辯證？ Yao, Jui-Chung once said：“Filming not only serves to remember beautiful thing of the past, but can also present the ruins of a building after its functions have been lost during the progress of civilization. However, there cannot be any civilization if there are no ruins.”From 1990 to 2006, Yao, has been taking pictures of ruins all over Taiwan. The exquisite quality of a black-and-white picture depicts the time-space changes. Collective ruins evoke collective memories of a civilization, forming a repository of value cognition for artists as well as for the audience. Facing a ruin and an art work at the same time, how does one bring out the reasoning of one’s creation?