The Hidden South
mt. project
Date│2018.05.26 - 09.01
Venue│Daren, Jinfeng, Dawu, Taimali
Townships in Taitung County
Comments on the Finalist
The most praise-worthy thing about The Hidden South is that the curatorial team led by Eva Lin Yi-Hua is not only able to convince the county government to slightly step out of the old niche of how public art projects are carried out, they also employ a substantial and steadfast communication process to include local yet continuously overlooked living realms of the Paiwan, Amis and Rukai people, bringing different villages together under the structure of the art project. The massive amount of formal or informal exhibitions, performances and dialogues in The Hidden South are scattered in different times and locations. It is not possible for out-of-town visitors staying for a short period of time to participate in all events. However, the more important thing is the network collaboratively created by the large number of artists, cultural workers, consultants, non-local speakers and village youth organizations gathered by The Hidden South during the length of the project. Employing direct physical perception and inner sensibility to form its foundation and creating dialogues through telling stories mixed with mythologies of various origins, The Hidden South reveals a path of self-empowerment for the continuation of unending cultural revival.
(Commentator: HUANG Hai-Ming)
Artwork Introduction
The Hidden South is an art project that features four townships in Taitung County, which are Daren, Jinfeng, Dawu, Taimali. It aims to create dialogues with local communities by engaging local culture, memory of local residents, nature and the indigenous landscape. Through the collaboration between artists, local people and participants, the art project reveals immersion communicated between contemporary art, indigenous wisdom and natural philosophy'; unfolding experiments to evoke and represent local cultural subjectivity. The project team and participating artists visited and lived in the four townships, inviting participants to cast away existing frameworks and logic, remove dichotomous boundaries and create twenty brand new site-specific works incorporated with local perspectives. In addition, the project also includes more than fifty activities and events designed in accordance with the curatorial concept to awaken the physical senses. The project presents abundant activities and events in a wide range of genres, including an artist residency, wild talks, art workshops, historic lifestyle camp, guided tours, film screenings and food sharing. The indigenous concerts, hunting and tracking tours, shaman courses, dream interpretation gatherings, sharing of folk tales about the sea and moon have fully realized the project-based spirit of The Hidden South and reconnected nature, reality and imagination.
About the Artist
mt. project
One can only be refined by the mountains when thinking from the perspective of the nature and land. Mt. Project founded by curator Ihwa Eva Lin, upholds the core values of cultural sustainability and sharing, and seeks opportunities of integration and breakthrough within diverse forms of art and practice. Working closely with international and local artists, creators, thinkers, craftsmen, hunters, farmers and professionals from different fields, Mt. Project seeks the hidden wild spirit and knowledge forgotten from this rational world and realizes the social value of art and public action with the profound humanistic thinking in contemporary art. Its recent projects include Parallax: Damage Control in 2017 and The Hidden South in 2018.
Production Team
Art Director｜Eva Lin
Exhibition Team｜En-man Chang, Haoyi Chen, Shin-yih TSAI
Project Administrator｜Lichi Chu, Peggy Lin, Juitzu, Chang, Sin-Zong Chem, Pei-jung Tsai, Shanlien Hsieh
Designer｜Yenpochun Design
Graphic Designer of website and event｜Yanghis Hsiao
Photograph｜Chui-Yu Chiu, Neng-Chen Chang, Etan Chen
Organized by｜Taitung County Government
Co-Organized by｜Taitung County Cultural Affair Department
Implemented by｜mt.project
Participant Artists｜
Esther STOCKER, Luxury LOGICO, Wen-Fu YU, Anne-Flore CABANIS, Chien-Wei BALI, Shing-Hsiung CHEN, Kaling DIWAY, Dexter FERNANDEZ, Yavaus GILING, Chiu-Chen HUNG, Po-Chih HUANG, Shih-Yang LEE, Cudjuy MALIJUGAU, Tjuljaviya PULJALIUYAN , Siki SUFIN, Rudee TANCHAROEN, Varig TINAWAY, Sih-Chin WU, Tsan-Cheng WU, Tzu-Ning WU
計畫主持人 林怡華
台九線末段貫通的南迴區域，由達仁、金峰、大武、太麻里四鄉鎮構成，散佈著以排灣族為主與零星的阿美族部落，也點綴部分卑南色彩。這個狹長地區自高山落向太平洋，為東部交通要道，但旅人反覆的「路過」並未伴隨深入探索，即便這孤立之地也因而保留了相對完善的自然資源與部落文化。
2018年，伴隨道路拓寬工程，南迴段第一次迎來「南方以南－南迴藝術計劃」，計畫在南迴四鄉廣袤土地展開，卻刻意跳脫藝術節思維模式，轉而以藝術為支點，重新與在地生活和自然發生關係，也試圖開啟理解的旅程。
「島嶼之南，猶有另一南方」
「南方以南」非指地理方位，而是在理性社會或既有當代藝術界線下，未被觸及的知識文化空缺。「這是較為精神層面，沒有被理解、觀測，或常被隱匿的文化精神。」策展人林怡華說，包括計畫英文命題 The Hidden South，都帶有某種迂迴往復的意味，貼合了原住民非線性觀的時間概念，同時也意喻尚待探索的珍貴寶藏。
計畫未懷抱刺激觀光之目的，也不再只單純於地方環境製作作品，而要「模擬在地人的生活方式與作息，把自己放在自然時序中，回到原民文化裡，真誠而與自然緊密連結的關係。」「沈浸式深度參與」成為貫穿計畫的工作方式與內容。林怡華說，身為策展人，自己先要放下「策展」，在未知領土拋開固有知識理論、邏輯，二十組參展藝術家的挑選，也不優先考量作品論述，而是「他願不願意花時間待在這邊？簡單來講，就是願意一起生活的人。」先是生活，再是藝術，何況原民詞彙本就無「藝術」一詞，生活方式是一連串經驗的驗證，夾雜著文化、知識、信仰、美，無從分隔。
從計畫前期到閉幕，策展團隊在南迴生活接近一年，藝術家則至少居住一個月，一邊理解在地，一邊自我省思，在與不同形式互動、充滿變數的創作節奏，與難以避免的文化差異中，協商出實現計畫的方式。
作品中，吳思嶔《名字嗎？我有很多個》深入探究原住民傳說裡「矮黑人」的詮釋差異，以裝置及AR技術，討論傳說／現實、虛擬／真實邊界的模糊。豪華朗機工《在屾》用颱風侵襲後荖葉園留下的水泥柱、鋼筋廢料，在曾經的海龜迴游海岸搭建裝置，提問文明與開發的必然。游文富《南方向量》的波浪狀竹子結構，由海灘往陸地延伸，述說風與土地的指向。菲律賓藝術家Dexter Fernandez《Vuvu & Vuvu》透過駐校教學相長，將排灣族圖騰轉化為建物外牆的新形象塗鴉。見維巴里《祢 那邊》以壁畫在金崙連接山海的涵洞中，創造擁有神秘力量的空間。劉哲安《Patjangzaq》用「編織」與「堆疊」技法，建構出多層結構交錯的空間供村民使用。陳幸雄、劉晉安、陳文意《家屋食間》搭建特有型態家屋，成為在地共享交流的所在。黃博志《夢啟酒》則以部落頭目受祖靈托夢傳遞的小米酒釀酒知識與預言，探索生命經驗、知識、社會、環境交會的獨特世界觀。所有計畫都經歷大量試驗與修正，也得力於在地協助，林怡華笑說，藝術家到了南迴，期間除了在地合作，多數時候「每天到處認識人、喝酒烤肉」，獲得理解信任，到最終，許多在地居民給予藝術家們的支持，甚至超過策展團隊。
活動作為液態作品
作品外，「南方以南」另規劃50場涵蓋不同感官方法與大量參與的活動。林怡華將之視為貼近策展核心的作品，回應原民學習方式裡，取代高度科學理性的「身體感」經驗。例如，「解夢會」探索心靈、夢境與真實邊界；「餐酒會」以味覺出發討論在地飲食文化；「放歌會」圍繞聽覺，播放部落卡帶、黑膠歌曲串聯敘事，也邀請在地歌手同歡；「洄游音樂聚」則結合部落儀式、植物採集、共食、工藝、音樂交流，濃縮傳統日常於一日。許多活動刻意選擇偏遠深山，希望回應在地需求，更在地理上直接貼近，「讓部落的阿公阿嬤直接走出來就可以參與。」林怡華認為活動像是「液態性」作品，以沈浸式的理解或感官開啟，對20個作品進行補充，「不見得在討論藝術，但它是唯一討論原住民藝術的方法，讓我們進到他們的邏輯，重新學習與寬廣我們的世界觀。」這樣連結藝術家、策展團隊、在地居民甚至外來參與者的集體合作，也破除一般藝術實踐裡主客與供需關係的二元分化，更達到發酵擴散。
「南方以南」 展期結束後，14件作品現地保留，但擁抱變化，如邱承宏在大武海灘打造的《陽台》，某天突然被發現僅存木造殘片，「一開始就設定最後會被大海捲走，所以我們都覺得這是作品蠻好的結果。」計畫目的不在立碑，作品留存也非關鍵，發展出的關係、討論、交流、溝通，才是真正的目的。而這影響不只於在地和參與者，也在策展團隊和藝術家的思維和實踐，「它變成一個課題，你會無時想要去討論、實踐在生活當中。」林怡華說，藝術與地方的交會，常將在地生根做為目標，然而「生根」有時也許被過度放大，在地真正需要的仍是理解與尊重，「理解未必等於認同，但唯有理解，後續的開展才能夠發生。」那才是所謂藝術與生活的狀態，也才是「南方以南」真正的精神所在。
（採訪撰文／許祐綸）
