Home / News / Glory of Mighty Mountains: Ridges between Awe and Respect

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As an elevated portion on Earth formed through plate motions, mountains are the largest, most noticeable natural terrain in Taiwan. These mighty peaks are like a beam of light in the sky, seeming so sacred and warm but also mysterious at the same time, inspiring awe and respect among people. As such, human–mountain attitudes and interactions have diversified, while humans smartly utilize the knowns and proceed to explore the unknowns. The dynamic human–mountain relationship has been continually changing without stop.

People's awe and respect of mountains comes with sense and sensibility, shuffling back and forth between the physical world and the spiritual one. Humans often expand their imagination about natural scenes high up in the mountains by adding belief-related and supernatural elements, and create various stories about all the living things—including plants, animals, and humans—interacting with mountains and forests that have been told throughout the history. Facing enigmatic mountains, human beings are courageous enough to challenge the unknowns and explore mountains with experimental spirits, as if they have been summoned by the sublime light of nature. The distance between humans and mountains have also established a wide range of patterns among the historical and geological shifts in Taiwan as well as changes in different perspectives and attitudes.

The "Glory" represents mountain light, while "Sublime" describes the mightiness of mountains. Like the mixed feeling of awe and respect triggered by Glory/Brockengespenst, the Glory of Sublime Mountains is both imaginary and real and signifies mental calling and changes in the physical world, with the glory per se being part of mountain scenery that is so close to us. As lines between two planes of an object, the "Ridges" exemplify intersections between mountains and those between humans and mountains. Thanks to light coming in different angles amidst the clouds and mist, these ridges, in addition to corporeality, form abundant and endless landscapes, implying human's ever-changing understanding of and imaginations about mountains that seem distant and close at the same time. The subtitle "Ridges between Awe and Respect" omits the subject and verb, leaving some room for people, incidents, and objects in contact with mountains as well as their different agency in relation to mountains.

The exhibition "Glory of Sublime Mountains: Ridges between Awe and Respect" held in the Tainan Art Museum comprises three subthemes, namely "The Realm of Spiritual Motions between Brightness and Darkness", "Following the Clear and Bright Light", and "Co-creation with Mountains", each describing various aspects of mountains from their mightiness to closeness and mystery to familiarity, and that how humans physically and mentally perceive and relate themselves with mountains using experience gained through awe and respect. The exhibition attempts to explore the various patterns of human–mountain coexistence in Taiwan as well as how human beings record and experience such natural terrain on the island.

Supervisor: Tainan City Government
Organizer: Tainan Art Museum
Special Thanks: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, National Museum of History, National Museum of Taiwan History, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taitung County Government, Taitung Indigenous Cultural and Creative Industries Park, Yuyu Yang Art Education Foundation, Lu Chi-cheng's Family: Lu Wen and Li Tsung-che, Inart Space, Tina Keng Gallery, Liang Gallery, Galerie Pierre, Taihu Brewing, Construction and Planning Agency of Ministry of the Interior, Forestry Bureau of Council of Agriculture, Hiking Biji

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