In the world of silence, hearing impairment often leads one to vent his mental and emotional agony and depression by means of artistic creation that usually demonstrates strong self-awareness. In the process of research, it took me a long time to adjust mood and further investigate the deeper meaning and possibilities of the field of art and explore the expression I wanted. In the end the material that's the most familiar with was utilized to explore the content of art and to allow art to express itself in proper means and to allow audience to access to it; in this way, elements such as the author, spectators and surroundings also become part of the works.
This was primarily based on personal works. At last personal unique lexicon was sorted out: the relationship between elements and structure, the relationship between works and space; especially personal style tends to seek the lover for linearity, the density and illusion caused by works' shadow, the relationship between indistinguishable virtuosity and concreteness, and the ambiance between space and time. In particular, there's a desire to touch sculpture works; therefore the deeper sense of physical intervention of the audience was further investigated. At last, it's hoped that issues such as the practice of personal creation and change of personal mood could be clarified to identify the traits of the author, to seek out breakthroughs in the future world of art and to create a realm of new language of art of my own.
Keywords
linearity, linear structure, extension, physical intervention
蘇聯民族精神與國家記憶的文藝化身——以紀念雕塑與宣傳海報為例Embodiment of Ethnic Spirit and National Memory in Soviet Russia through Artistic Works—Memorial Sculpture and Political Poster
摘要
每一場戰爭、革命的落幕,都不免經歷十足的震撼與程度各異的毀壞;斷垣殘壁的廢墟上,等待著的是新時代象徵再造的契機。政權更迭的成功與否,政客經常以目光所及之舊時代象徵為首要剷除對象,去舊迎新的意念化作執行的動力,也同時充當政治角力競逐的標記。恰如台灣社會曾經鬧得沸沸揚揚之「去蔣」;又如2007年初冬西班牙國會通過之「歷史記憶法」(Ley de Memoria Histórica),為移除佛朗哥(Francisco Franco, 1892-1975)雕像、匾額的行動提供了有效的法律依據;再者,於2003年以美軍為首的聯合部隊攻陷伊拉克首都巴格達時,對強人薩達姆‧海珊(Saddam Hussein,1937-2006)大型塑像的拆卸、搗毀。這一幕幕的視覺革命都隱喻著重獲新生前必須經歷的一場毀滅,以象徵舊體制的崩解與渴望轉變的決心。
然而,遠在西伯利亞的凍土上,自20世紀末共產主義瓦解至今,俄國邁入民主現代化國家的行列已十多個寒暑,政經改革開放後的街頭還是可見蘇聯時期遺留的大型雕塑建築,譬如座落於莫斯科紅場上的「列寧墓」、公共空間僅存1960、70年代的紀念雕像和碑群、或是為重整市容而規劃設計的雕塑藝術群等,受眾不論是懷著崇敬、好奇或純粹欣賞的心情,瞻仰參觀的人潮依然絡繹不絕。它不僅挑逗觀者的視覺神經,也喚起對於國家曾經輝煌、強大的歷史記憶。 對於兩次世界大戰期間,德國「戰爭經驗神話」(myth of the war experience) 在各種文藝形式中繼承與延續的表現,與之敵對的蘇聯也有一套愛國教育原則,其手法技巧可見相似性,但表現出的民族特色卻大不相同,作品的形式與數量也因屬戰勝國的成員而於戰後有逐漸攀升的趨勢,史達林崇拜於戰後在各項文藝的表現更是躍升到了頂點。 本文擬針對俄國哲學家的觀點,探討俄國人民自身與祖國關係的認知、戰爭之於俄羅斯民族的意義、與國家民族意識形塑的契機,觀察自1917年蘇維埃革命到二戰期間以至於戰後的時期,在文藝政策監督與各項資源合作的過程中,藉由視覺革命所達至的藝術呈現。這一系列以塑造英雄人物及推崇領導者形象為主的政治宣傳作品,時常展現與舊時光榮記憶的聯結,如此的創作意象,做為共黨主政下遙寄烏托邦世界的催化劑,是一種民族主義的哄抬與國家虛榮心作祟?還是,一種愛國心正是需要在這種懷舊的基礎上重新建構民族認同,藉由神話與記憶拼湊出一個想像的共同體?
關鍵詞
蘇聯紀念碑雕塑、視覺革命、民族認同、愛國心
Abstract
New statue and sculpture with symbolic ideology accompany often with the victory of the revolution or war. The obsolete artistic works are destined to be removed in order to demonstrate successor's ambition of building an ever more powerful regime that no other could compare. It is clear that Bolshevik Soviet devoted herself to decorating public space with magnificent sculptures and monuments. Every street and square is embellished with colourful visual artistic creations.
This essay intends to cross-think several Russian scholars' philosophical points of view on self with relation to national significance and the moment of raising the ethnic consciousness. I will observe the development and performance of artistic productions that the Soviet authority adopted for political use- a series of heroic sculptures and images on posters. I wonder if such a thematic style is highly appreciated by the Soviet in order to reconstruct the national identity based on the nostalgic patriotism. By means of reappearance the heroic myth can Russians rebuild an imaginary community.
Keywords
Soviet monument and sculpture, Visual revolution, National identity, Patriotism
This study searches for the figural sculpture by Magdalena Abakanowicz (1930-), Polish artist survivor of the World War II. It explores, through the discussion of three body images, how she represents the historic trauma and memory by her "embodied" imagination and how she broadens the pattern of interpretation to strengthen the reconsideration of human destiny. First, this paper examines the "injured body" in Abakanowicz's work. This discussion reveals how Abakanowicz's powerful and sorrowful aesthetic pattern for personal and collective traumatic memories is constructed, reflecting her national identity and feature of the age. Otherwise, the "quantified body" is another characteristic of Abakanowicz's work, which is also an issue that this paper is further concerned about. It shows how by quantities of human body Abakanowicz visualizes the heavy casualties caused by the war, the devastation of human dignity and the loss of identity as well. Her complex relationship with Polish immediate sociopolitical reality, her reconsideration of collective behaviors and repetition of history are also the subjects to explore. Finally, it will analyze the "metamorphosis body" in Abakanowicz's figural sculpture, and examine the analogy of human body and natural organic world and its meaning. As we shall see, the body in Abakanowicz's work represents the body of the artist, the body of Poles, and moreover, the body of all human, and therefore its significance is defined, which is not only autobiographical, historical, but also transhistorical and universalistic.
Keywords
Magdalena Abakanowicz, Body, Figural sculpture, Polish art
"2009 Keywords: Everydayness, Sculpture, Non-place" (it will be called "Keyword Project" for short in the below) is an experimental project, and the main shaft of the project is so called "creation-in-residence model".
The aim of this text, on one hand, it can be regard as the exhibition curatorial mechanism participator, Jian Tzu-Chieh, explains the concept of "Keyword Project", which can also act temporarily as an exhibition statement; on the other hand, as an experimental project the point is to expand a compared process rather than to sum up a single conclusion. However, the process always origins from our thinking models, and finally fulfill within the artistic practice. Also, the main body of writing will try to focus on the relational properties between the keywords mentioned in the project and contemporary sculpture practicing activities. Moreover, we are trying to answer where the thought may extend by running the "Keyword Project".
Keywords
Everydayness, Sculpture, Non-place, Exhibition curatorial mechanism, Creation in residence, Art project
According to the expansion of the contemporary art form and the creation method, the category of Taiwan contemporary sculpture has fallen into a vague cognitive situation. To give a definition of sculpture reflects the intention and the strategy of creation. Understanding through sculptures definition, we have to a preliminary analysis for the multiple variation of the contemporary sculpture.
The development of the history of Taiwan's sculpture presents the transplantation of Western sculpture forms direct or indirect. The concept of art form that combined Eastern traditional thought and Modernism is Taiwan's endemic class. The spirit of avant-garde has been lack of the critique ability of artistic system and the postmodern material conditions is full of the void form produced by the technique system of fabrication plant. These spread out the way of Taiwan contemporary art. The renovation and expansion of forms indeed product some contemporary traits, but the modernization is short of critique ability on the artistic system and depend on realistic conditions. Taiwan contemporary sculptors whose artworks with multi-surface created from their living perceptions seem that only reflects the lack of subjectivity. Some method of the historiography plunged into recycle mode of the historical material and ignored the stance of creators' aesthetics that is pseudo objective analysis of material. The positioning of subjectivity of the contemporary sculpture is always cognized in time axis mode; a sculpture without contemporary nature but created now are also seem to a contemporary sculpture. Someone impute that technical formalization to contemporary sculpture, so liberate the formalization of contemporary sculpture becomes the pretext to struggle with traditional forms. Avoid misunderstanding some static forms of traditional sculpture for the contemporary art as a struggle object, we must analyze the possibility and game theory why contemporary sculpture in Taiwan are considered as a major object of formalization.
From transparent to visible, nowadays, materials not only be a media but also plays a very important part in art works. Because of anti-erosion and stable surface, the stainless steel is the perfect material to install in the outdoor. Beside, strong industrial symbol, reflect character makes stainless steel a popular material in art field. This essay will review how different artists represent different aspects of stainless steel in their works.
Keywords
Stainless steel, Sculpture, Juming Museum, Yuyu Yang
As one of the active artists in Taiwanese sculpture field, the ambition of Liu Po-Tsun is not self restricted in the sculpture esthetic and the plastic discussion. For the past ten years, he had given up the illusionism in creating works, fully put on the modernist sculpture emphasis of material concept. He extended the so-called "material" to its visible and invisible expression, and furthermore, abandoned the emphasis of the sculpture volume, but exploited "non-material material", such as construction, space and time, movement, light, and sound in stead. However, in the 2008 exhibition- "Relativity and Duplication", he further gave up the modernism, and moved on to the sophistic topic of "duplication"; To separate the signifiers and the signified, created the displacement, and established a real as well as symbolic space. It reflected precisely the space of Human Being.
This article attempts to trace Liu Po-Tsun's latest ten years' sculpture creation development, analyze how he gave up the modernism grammar, and shifted to the postmodernist sculpture topic in his exhibition "Relativity and Duplication". In addition, propose possible solution in coping with the present Taiwan sculpture situation.
Keywords
Liu Po-Tsun, Modern sculpture, Postmodernism, Duplication
My paper tries to sketch Li Tsai-Chien's creation in the historical frame of "applied art/pure art", and at the same time discusses the characteristics of criticisms in the 1986's "Red Incident". Li Tsai-Chien's "Finite to Infinite" has long been considered either a Minimalism sculpture from the perspective of pure art, or a mere example of artists against the establishment in the 1986's "Red Incident". Those polarized perspectives, however, reveal only part of the story about the artistic condition.
In fact, the so called "pure artistic creation" was hard to be secluded from applied arts at the time. Li Tsai-Chien, for example, had been devoted to commercial designs for about 10 years before the making of "Finite to Infinite". It is hard to imagine his experiences of formal analysis in designs had nothing to do with his pure artistic creation, nor did the apparent geometric style in the "Finite to Infinite". Second, such a geometric style is also an open form. Without a privilege or frontal perspective, this work assumes that people can walk around it, appreciate it from any direction. This openness allows free interpretation in some extent, and in fact includes the controversial visual image that denotes this work as a red star viewed from a specific angle.
In the martial period of Taiwan, a red star could be a political taboo for its implication of Communism. In Red Incident, the "Finite to Infinite" was soon defined in this way, and thus reflected the priority of political interpretation in public visual cultures. However, instead of criticizing this priority, past criticisms, based on the idea of pure art, often imputed "Red Incident" to the general public's ignorance of artistic common sense. My criticism is that the work did not limit anyone to exert his own imagination on it even without any artistic knowledge. The critical point of this Incident is that the singular political interpretation has jeopardized the openness of the work. From this perspective, "Finite to Infinite" seems to find his presupposed audience in the post-martial period of Taiwan and, on the contrary, the idea of "pure art" and its relative criticisms seemed to reflect an attitude of passive responds to social and political ethos from 1970s.
Keywords
Li Tsai-Chien, Finite to Infinite, Red Incident, Art and politics
Based on the previous studies, my article tries to elaborate the idea of 'complex art' in 1960s Taiwan by concerning on the ready-made artworks, and their relative contexts.
In this period, Taiwan, as Free China (Ziyou Zhongguo), was in martial law enforcement as well as still a member of the United Nations. Artists in this time had to organize themselves in the name of 'international exchange' and cope with the official cultural ideology, that is, the issue of modernization of Chinese culture, in order to achieve artistic freedom and the legality of avant-garde. For example, PUNTO International Art Movement which was founded by some artists from Italy, Spain, Japan, Taiwan, etc., was invented to exhibit in Taiwan in 1963 because the Taiwan painters, Xiao Qin (1935-) and Li Yuan-Jia (1929-1994) were its members, and the other foreign painters were inspired by the spirit of Chinese culture.
The PUNTO exhibition, with its social connections with Taiwanese artistic circle, had impacts on the bifurcation between painters of May Society (Wuyue Huahui) and of the Orient Society (Dongfang Huahui), which both occupied dominant positions in the artistic field with their abstract paintings. Furthermore, the dominant artists and their challengers were also bifurcated by this exhibition. The challengers came from the field of art design, which was deemed the periphery in artistic hierarchy. In 1966, an astonishing ready-made work, Washing Hand (Xishou), by Hua-cheng Huang (1935-1996) was placed on the roundabout in West Gate District (Hsimenting) which was a chair with a washbasin on its seat and a poetry wrote on a scrap of paper on the front of the chair back. This work was a part of Modern Poetry Exhibition (Xiandai Shizhan) hold as a section of Chinese Art Season (Jhongguo Yishuji), and in the exhibition, almost all the participating artists were devoted to cover or industrial design.
Huang was an art director in Taiwan Television Enterprise, Ltd. founded in 1962 and the editor of Theatre quarterly (Juchang), a journal introducing avant-garde theatre and movies by translation. His background had provided him some advantages. First, he could exercise different media across arts. His Hand Washing seems to be astonishing at first glance, however, the grafting of different arts in Hand Washing: literature and fine art, were in fact a common feature in theatres, in movies and even cover designs. Another advantage was that the official cultural ideology was suspended from the field of art design and replaced by the idea of Existentialism which Huang learned from the performance of Beckett's theatres.
Those ready-made artworks seemed to meet a social tendency towards a consumer society, but they disappeared soon instead. The reasons for this finality might be that the prevalence of media is so strong that any successive artists who search for avant-garde expressions would not ignore it. Moreover, the artists who made ready-made works lost their alternative imaginary enemies: the members of May Society and the Oriental Society went aboard in succession, and finally disbanded in 1971. Finally, the suddenly reversal of international relations of Free China made the prevalence of Existentialism faint quickly, and the common features of ready-made works: ridicule, irony and self-exile, relatively hardly raised any interests in the ethos of raising nationalism and vernacularism.
Keywords
Ready-made artworks, May Society (Wuyue Huahui), The Orient Society (Dongfang Huahui), Hua-cheng Huang (1935-1996), Modern Poetry Exhibition (Xiandai Shizhan), Chinese Art Season (Jhongguo Yishuji)
As industrialization continues to deepen, metal materials, whose variety expands along, become critical representative substance of the 20th and 21st centuries. In particular, when applied to sculpting art, as they are fundamental to the construction of modern industries, their direct reflection of people's way of life and the spirit of the industrial era renders impressive results.
The power and speed of machine productions are more emphasized in the modern era. Influenced by this trend, sculpting artists set out to experiment on the use of different metal materials. These artists have made substantial progress in developing an alternative style to present their work.
The combination of modern technologies—represented by metal materials—and art, therefore, indicates that art is no longer about mastering techniques, but incorporating the artist's ideas, the spirit of the era and the applied materials to develop human culture, making the form and content of sculpting art much more diversified than before.
By analyzing industrial productions, ready-made industrial objects and the re-production of them, as well as kinetic sculpture, this paper aims to show how metal materials have become so uniquely important in the development of modern sculpting art, their distinguished characteristics in forms, as well as the expanded use of such materials.
By reviewing the development of metal sculpting art in this island, a unique language of sculpture in Taiwan is confirmed in this paper. This is a language in which diversified expressions are made through special interpretations to materials, space and ideas, all different from those in the old days. This is also a language that speaks the unique sculpting aesthetics in Taiwan.
Keywords
Metal forms, Direct metal sculpture, Minimalism, Kinetic sculpture, Sculpture in Taiwan