35th Asolo Art Film Festival 【TAIWAN VIDEA 2.0: Cultural Encounter】 The Taiwanese Avant-Garde Video Exhibition 第35屆義大利阿索洛國際藝術電影節 【TAIWAN VIDEA 2.0:文化秘遇】台灣前衛影像展

35th Asolo Art Film Festival
【TAIWAN VIDEA 2.0: Cultural Encounter】
The Taiwanese Avant-Garde Video Exhibition 
Curator: Yunnia Yang

Time: 2016. 09.16 (Fri.)  21:30-23:00 

Venue: Duse Theater, Asolo, Italy 

第35屆義大利阿索洛國際藝術電影節
【TAIWAN VIDEA 2.0:文化秘遇】台灣前衛影像展
策展人:楊衍畇

Travel has been a part of contemporary life. No matter what the travel is for, we all meet multiple cultures. Cultural shock is inevitable, but cultural stereotype will give great impacts on the understandings and the perceptions of cultural similarities and differences. Under the overwhelming manipulations of mass media and commercial mechanism, the so-called “ Cultural Tourism” has been promoted with the ideas of pilgrims and adventures, which conceals the essence of the culture that includes all the lives. The notion “Grand Tour” in the Western civilization is to cultivate the intelligentsia to explore and experience the outer world for a long-term period and in a deeper level. Charles Baudelaire ‘s “Flâneur” regards a whole city as a book to read thoroughly, to perceive the rhythms of contemporary life, to capture the ephemerality of everyday life on streets. The Surrealists praises the spirit of “Flâneur” to discover the uncanny from everyday life and to get inspirations from exotic cultures. The perceptive process of cultural encounters is too intimate to make any rational discourse. Artists instill their own life experiences into this process of cultural encounters. In their artworks, viewers may perceive alternative cultural understandings, to overturn the cultural stereotypes given by this commercialized world, to encounter multiple cultures with sensibility.

旅行已是當代生活的一部分，無論旅行目的為何，皆會與多元文化相逢，文化衝擊在所難免，刻板印象卻會影響對文化異同的認知與體會，大眾媒體與商業機制過度操弄下，以朝聖或獵奇心態包裝所謂文化觀光，掩蔽文化是生活總和的本質。西方文明的「壯遊」(Grand Tour)培養知識分子對外在世界長期深層的探索體驗，十九世紀波特萊爾(Baudelaire)所言的「浪遊者」(Flâneur)將整座城市視為一本可以細讀的書本，觀察當代生活的節奏變化，捕捉街頭所發生的瞬逝感。超現實主義者崇尚「浪遊者」的精神，從日常覺察反常性，自異國文化激發創作靈感，與文化相逢的感知過程過於私密，無法以理性論述言說，創作者的生命經驗反饋在這文化秘遇的過程中，觀者透過藝術家的創作細細咀嚼這箇中滋味，反轉我們被動接收體制的刻板訊息，而能積極感性地與多元文化秘遇。

【TAIWAN VIDEA2.0: Cultural Encounter】Trailer
【TAIWAN VIDEA 2.0:文化秘遇】預告片
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teaWKLlUpWk

1. 2010 Arctic Diary: The Wrong Ice
Tsui Kuang-Yu｜Taiwan｜2010｜21 min37sec
2010極地日記:錯誤的冰塊｜崔廣宇

This work was produced for the 2009 Arctic Circle expeditionary residency program organized by the U.S. Farm Foundation for the Arts & Sciences (FFAS). The film was shot on location in Spitzbergen, Norway and in Taipei, Taiwan. Tsui Kuang-Yu wonders just what he can discover in these extreme and alien conditions, and whether or not he can uncover the “invisible system” within this environment. For him, it is as fleeting and impalpable as the living organisms in the arctic climate.

這件作品是參加由美國「土地藝術科學基金會」在2009年所舉辦的北極圈藝術旅行計畫，全部影片於挪威Spitzbergen以及台北兩地拍攝完成。藝術家思考極端與陌生的條件下，以生物在北極環境的密度和能見度回應其「隱形的系統」。

2. Invisible City: Taiparis York
Tsui Kuang-Yu｜Taiwan｜2008｜5min10sec
隱形的城市: 台巴黎. 約克｜崔廣宇

This work is a continuation of the Invisible City series developed in 2006. Redirecting his focus to his home country, Tsui Kuang-Yu attempts to find possibilities to transform the reality in Taiwan, a country that melds different cultures. In a way the transformation has already taken place in the form of photogenic tourist attractions. By staging these deceptive performances, the artist attempts to question the association between the existence of these exotic sites and the environment we inhabit while bridging the reality and the hopes and yearnings people harbour for exoticism. Perhaps the biggest benefit that these sites offer is a chance for us to take photographs or take advantage of their fame to do something. Contrary to conveniently closing the distance between Taiwan and other countries, these transplanted symbols have in fact created a gap far greater than assumed. They exist in a floating, vacuous state, lacking any meaningful clue. The discord between this vacuous bubble and the actual environment is blatant from every perspective.

本作延續2006年「隱形城市」的系列，崔廣宇這次回到台灣試圖從這裡的環境裡尋找轉換現實的潛在可能，這種轉換早已發生，並潛藏根植於這個不同文化交融的環境裡以一種風景明信片般的圖騰樣態出現。透過一個讓人誤解的情境，創作者試圖提問這些異國城市場景的存在與當下生活圈之間的關聯，並橋接起存在於現實與異國情調在人們心中所抱持的寄託與嚮往，觀者能從此獲得一種漂浮在生活周遭缺乏線索的真空，無論從什麼角度切入都只能看到這個真空泡泡與環境間的不協調。

3. Lost in Underground｜Chou Tung-Yen｜Taiwan｜ 2008｜5min21sec
迷走地下計畫 ｜周東彥

Lost in Underworld was realized during the 6 months artist residency as a reflection of the artist Chou Tung-Yen’s life experience in Paris, as he quotes from Italo Calvino’s “Invisible Cities”:
“Elsewhere is a negative mirror. The traveler recognizes the little that is his, discovering the much he has not had and will never have.”

「他鄉是一面負向的鏡子。旅人認出那微小的部份是屬於他的，卻發現那龐大的部份是他未曾擁有，也永遠不會擁有的。」---《看不見的城市》卡爾維諾

我在台北捷運聽著法文會話，在巴黎地鐵一號線聽著張惠妹。和百萬人一起在城市的地上地下穿梭移動。在點和點的移動中建構出我的世界。是否在那些穿越地底的片刻，我們同時也闖入了負向的異鄉？生活在他方嗎？我已迷失在地下世界。

4. Identity Correlation
Huang Yu-Hang｜Taiwan｜2009｜5min41sec
認同的關聯性｜黃郁涵

I used photographs and the video to document the process in which I wore various sculptures in different locations and searched for a place to fit in. These wearable sculptures are made with foam and in various styles of houses including Chinese, modern, country as well as art museum. They represented my identities in different contexts and also served as personal shelters to preserve my culture. This project suggests the ongoing process of transforming oneself to become part of surroundings.

穿著包裝材料作成的穿戴式建築與芝加哥街頭不同區域的建築物合影的記錄。這些穿戴式雕塑在身體或精神上都形成個人的保護屏障，也象徵著不同的自我認同。藉由與當地建築物的合影,表達身為外地人對於希望融入當地的渴望， 卻因此成為一種特異的存在。

5. That Voice
Wang Ya-Hui｜Taiwan｜2010｜ 6min 07sec
那個聲音｜王雅慧

When I was in Finland for my artist residency program in Helsinki , I met two artists who just founded artist studios in the central Finland. What interested me is that the house is surrounded by the virgin forest of Finland. At that time, I was preparing a video project which is about a snowman singing a Taiwanese song. I decided to go there and do this project. This work is related to another work I made in Taiwan “ A tropical work: snowman”, it is about a documentary of a snowman made from shaved ice. I want to put together the contradiction of sensation and knowledge. Therefore, I would like to develop another work in Finland using the icon ”snowman”. In Finland, I am fascinated by its language, so unfamiliar and so charming, and it comes from this land. This experience inspired me to work with language, and the setting in this video came from a famous children’s book “Moomintroll”.

靠近北極的芬蘭森林中的雪人卻唱著南方的曲調，帶著南方溫暖的歌聲，迴盪在冰雪之中，這是對聲音的體驗與視覺的差異。

6. Tough Town
Chang Huei-Ming｜Taiwan｜ 2015｜ 9min
Tough Town｜張暉明

In 2015, I went to the Glenfiddich distillery in Scotland for a residency program. Besides continuing the experiment on the image, I recorded a short film, “Tough Town”, based on the distillery, highland forests, and Scottish dance. I invited students from a local dance school to join the film. The 4-12 year-old little dancers danced passionately, which formed a strong contrast to the huge and cold distillery area. It also showed the undefeatable spirit of Scotland. I still remember that time. Three months was not too long that I had been briefly introduced to the Scotch culture. I would say the humbleness human needs to face nature and our tiny selves, were the parts worth being shared in this Artist-in-Residency journey.

2015年我前往蘇格蘭的格蘭菲迪酒廠駐村，除了延續過往在影像上的實驗，嘗試以酒廠園區、高地森林及蘇格蘭舞蹈為主題拍攝了短片「Tough Town」，影片中邀請了當地的舞蹈學校參與演出，這些4-12歲左右的小小舞者跳著熱情強壯的舞蹈，與偌大冷漠的廠區形成強烈對比，卻也體現出蘇格蘭民族的堅毅精神。

7. Measuring Distance Between the Self and Others
Chen I-Chun｜Taiwan｜2010｜6min31sec
測量個人與他方間的距離｜陳依純

While entering a strange country, I found lost in translation, nothing but my body to perceive everything there. I found my body perception can be expanded so that I gradually regain my communicative ability without knowing the foreign language. I arrived in São Paulo alone for the sake of my exhibition without preparing myself well. Differing from the lifestyle in Taiwan, the strangeness from São Paulo invades my perception to enlarge everything I see. It implies that I enter into a video game world, and I have to encourage myself to face it even everything is strange to me.

因展覽工作獨自到巴西聖保羅，一切陌生感侵襲而來，眼前許多物件景象都放大，暗示著自己是來到一個遊戲的關卡世界，即使一切陌生要鼓起勇氣闖關去面對眼前的世界和挑戰。

8. World’s Odds and World’s Ends
Wu Tzu-An｜ Taiwan｜2012｜12min42sec
World’s Odds and World’s Ends｜吳梓安

This video is an experimental ethnography about tourists. Wu doucments the touristic activities in the medieval town Cesky Krumlov of Czech Republic. He uses time-lapse photo to capture the repetition of the paths, the action, and the faces. The alchemy is the metaphor of their psycho-dynamic, a doomed quest of the freedom in the odds and ends, in the end of the world.

一部關於觀光的實驗民族誌，記錄穿梭在以中世紀聞名的捷克小鎮Cesky Krumlov中的觀光客活動，用逐隔停時的方式拍攝觀光客重複而制約話的路徑與行動，並以虛構的煉金術作為隱喻，試圖呈現當代觀光活動的內在動力，關於寰宇蒐奇與尋找世界盡頭的慾望。

9. Death Phobia Solo Dancing
Pu Shuai-Cheng｜Taiwan｜ 2016｜4min28sec
懼死獨舞｜ 蒲帥成

When I arrive in Egon Schiele Art Center for residency, the internet speed here goes
so slowly that the tempo of life is extremely different. My long-term creation is to think about the images of inner self as the axis of my videos. Here and now this creative intention expands itself; the free association found in my art is swirling fiercely in my consciousness.

來到席勒藝術中心駐村，網路速度極為疲軟，生活作息極為不同。長期的創作是思考自我內心當中的影像為主軸，在此時此地極為擴張，我自由意識為主的創作反而在此地肆意暴發在我的意識當中。

10. Kora
Jawshing Arthur Liou(Director) Aaron Travers & Melody Eötvös (Music Composition) ｜ Taiwan｜2012｜13min55sec
Kora ｜ 劉肇興(Jawshing Arthur Liou)；Aaron Travers, Melody Eötvös (配樂)

My desire to film this mystical landscape in Tibet preceded my knowledge of the existence of the mountain itself. In the summer of 2007, I was mourning the loss of my daughter. My bearings shattered and drowning in sorrow, I sought spiritual sanctuary in Buddhism. One day, I came across an album by Tibetan Buddhist singer Kelsang Chukie Tethong. I was immediately captured by her voice—a sound so serene and bright it compelled me to close my eyes. At that moment, a vision unfolded in my mind; one with the vivid image of wind-swept plains, a deep blue sky, and distant snowcaps. Later I was shown an image of Mount Kailash by a Tibetan monk. I knew immediately the journey to Tibet’s sacred mountain would be the most important task for me in the coming years.

In the summer of 2011, I embarked on a four-week expedition to western Tibet, including a four-day kora around Kailash. The mountain seems perfect and its shape, deliberate beyond any natural thing. Such form inherently points to a higher reality—a realm that predates the existence of language and religions. The harsh elements and expansive landscape turned my thoughts inward. There was no immediate enlightenment, but gradual realization—that the pilgrimage is an external mirror to my solemn confrontation with past and future. The kora, as a circle, has no beginning or end.

「廓拉」(Kora) 在藏文的意涵是指繞著寺院、佛塔，或是任何神聖的地境轉圈行走。它是一種朝聖及修行的方式。2011 年藝術家為了悼念亡女起程前往後藏，從拉薩出發，行經西藏高原、珠穆朗瑪和岡仁波切峰，並在岡峰海拔五、六千公尺處轉山繞行四天。劉肇興以龐大的拍攝規模記錄了這場朝聖之旅，採用超高解析度及曠時攝影等方式，無限廣闊的空間感引領觀者趨近山嶺上的朝聖者、觀光客、殊異的山光景色，體會蘊含其中對生命與自然的敬畏虔誠。

11.Looking for Siraya
Cheng Li-Ming｜Taiwan｜2013｜27min 38sec
尋找木柵女｜鄭立明

In 1871, John Thompson the Scottish photographer came to Formosa, and shot a series of images, which became the first, widely published set of photos of Formosa in the West. One of the most famous portraits displays a mysterious, aboriginal mother holding a baby in Muzha. This photo was shot with a 3D camera, its door-like double images lead the crew to the pursuit of the history about our motherland and ancestors.

1871 年，蘇格蘭攝影師約翰．湯姆生來台拍攝了第一批照片在西方成功傳播的台灣影像，當中有一位原住民母親在木柵抱著嬰孩熠熠發光。照片由3D 攝影機拍攝，呈現左右雙重影像，像是兩扇矗立的大門，通往追尋島嶼歷史以及先民來源的路。