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The Story after “To Be Continued” by Tsai Ming-Jiun Also published in Chinese on Very View 14 walls of the exhibition rooms, and therefore make it difficult for the audience to ignore the intriguing relationship among the walls, the ceilings, and the structure. When I was asked whether I intentionally to expose the flaw in this space, I replied that “it is a distinctive feature rather than a flaw.” Indeed, the purpose of this design was to show the audience the normal outlook of the space regularly used for exhibiting museum collections. As a result, we did not change the outlook of this space except the color of the walls and a partition for a video installation. Therefore, we may discuss the minimalist way of demonstrating an exhibition space and inciting the audience to think about its meaning. We may further think about how to gracefully escape from the conventional logic of exhibition design and collections display as well as from the relationship between an exhibition and its venue. How do we make a space not just a space, not just a white or black box? How do we facilitate the dialogue between the way of displaying collections and the space in which the collections are displayed, particularly in a space characterized by the TFAM architectural features and regularly used for exhibiting museum collections?
“Intersecting Vectors—Experimental Projects‘To Be Continued’from the TFAM Collection”Exhibtion View Photograph credit: Taipei Fine Arts Museum
As one of the curators of a ground-breaking program in the collections exhibition of Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM), I felt more anxious than excited. Besides, the organizing process of this exhibition did not go smoothly, and therefore I did not release any associated information on Facebook until we embarked on the installation of this exhibition. I wrote a piece of message on Facebook as the following: “‘To Be Continued’ is a slightly greedy exhibition with a slightly selfish motive.” I am grateful to my co-curator Chin Ya-Chun for her reply that “being greedy is good and a selfish motive is indispensable.” After the exhibition drew to a close, I would like to talk about the greedy and selfish story behind the scene. Every introduction I made to the exhibition always started with how “To Be Continued” follows my “site-specific” curatorial orientation in recent years. Accordingly, the exhibition-specific objects to be discussed in this article include the venue (TFAM), space (the exhibition hall on the second floor), exhibited works (museum collections), time (2013), and discursive approaches. The space on the second floor regularly used for exhibiting museum collections is characterized by the architectural features of TFAM. The exhibition rooms are arranged in a crossroad form without high ceilings. When I introduced this exhibition to the volunteers of TFAM, one of them pointed out that this exhibition highlights the structure used for covering the air pipes at the center of the ceilings. The structure was not noticed in the past because previously exhibited works were placed at a normal viewing height. However, due to the salon-style design of this exhibition, the works occupied the red
p5 The Story after “To Be Continued”
To address the above-mentioned questions, we must take the salon-style exhibition design into consideration. The salon-style exhibition design is commonly seen in Europe, but is rarely adopted in Taiwan. Out of a simple requirement of “displaying as many works as possible in a limited space,” it occurred to me the idea of adopting the salon-style exhibition design. This idea was reinforced by other seemingly foolish statements like “collectors usually adopt the salon-style design to display their collections,” “the salon-style design can create a nostalgic atmosphere,” “the salon-style design gives the audience a huge visual shock,” and a finding from an illustration in the literature that “in the eighteenth century when the French salon party prevailed, it was often held in the living room where the hostess demonstrates her collections.” Some of the TFAM staff and the audience found it difficult to accept this kind of exhibition design, and therefore this design was criticized for undermining the optimal viewing environment for the exhibited works. However, as a curator, my mission included proposing a new viewing/interactive way for the exhibited works, the exhibition, or even the space. Wide intervals between the exhibited works might help the audience view and understand these works independently and completely. However, an intimate but rationally logical relationship emerged among the exhibited works when they were placed close to each other in a scientific way, and thereby created alternative possibilities for interpreting these works. Contemplating this exhibition and its meaning from this point helped us not only escape from the perspectives of art history, media, single proposition, and review of artists, but also exhibit the museum collections in different contexts. In this way, we created different meanings and values for permanent and curatorial exhibitions of TFAM collections. The purpose of painting the walls with red was to work in concert with the atmosphere in the age of salon exhibition. The presumed atmosphere prevailed in France in the eighteenth century can be related to the story characters and their imaginary origins in the article “So-Called Curatorial Discourse” I wrote for this exhibition. Salons provided meeting places for thinkers in the eighteenth century. However, writers, philosophers, and artists began to gather in coffee shops where they discuss and develop political institutions and ideas. Last year, I gained the experience of being the owner of a small coffee shop and got acquainted with some owners of local coffee shops. Therefore, I started to pay attention to small coffee shops in other areas. Due to this experience, I associated the role of local coffee shops in Taiwan nowadays with that of those in the eighteenth century, namely serving as meeting places for thinkers, social movement activists, and artists. The owners support and promote this kind of gatherings, or even organize associated activities. Accordingly, I decided to describe the state of their minds and perspectives as the representative appearance of Taiwan in 2013. As a result, writing this story became a necessity to respond to the context of the exhibition and writing the curatorial discourse in the form of a novel rather than a thesis became important. With further reflection, a curatorial discourse is an important medium for a curator to present him/herself in an exhibition. A curatorial discourse is often used for explaining the idea of curating, introducing the exhibited works, and extending or presenting perspectives and related theories. However, in my
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opinion, a curatorial discourse can also be regarded as a curator’s creation. The concept or idea that a curator attempts to share with the audience can be expressed in various ways, and therefore the relationship between a curatorial discourse and an exhibition can be closer and diverse. The words written for “To Be Continued” conveyed the idea of the exhibition to the audience on the one hand, and represented the appearance of Taiwan nowadays on the other. The appearance of Taiwan was connected with the museum collections that represent the scenes and images of Taiwan from 1920 to 2011, and became one of the crucial elements of the exhibition context. In this case, why did I choose the works that represent the appearance of Taiwan since 1920s? The TFAM collections contain the following characteristics: all the works were created after the twentieth century; the collection of photographic works is comprehensive; TFAM has a user-friendly online system of museum collections; and TFAM held thematic exhibitions of museum collections annually since 2001. Besides, I reviewed the detailed list of TFAM collections and found that it collected many works that depict the landscapes and states of Taiwan, especially Taipei, in different times. These altogether inspired the idea of the exhibition. Throughout 2013, there were various social movements and protests in Taiwan caused by problems about politics, environment, food, energy, labor, residence, urban planning, and economics. In my opinion, these problems, social movements, and protests are the contemporary scenes. Human beings write their own history. People in Taiwan are often occupied with the current situations. They neither pay much attention to the past of Taiwan nor the future that they may lead to. It is a situation that needs to be pointed out. As the first museum of modern art and locating in Taipei (the biggest city in Taiwan with the most frequent political and artistic activities), TFAM is a highly efficient stage for demonstrating this situation. TFAM is also a public and professional museum and has numerous collections that are rarely seen elsewhere. Therefore, I took advantage of the collections to tell the story of Taiwan in the past and wrote the article to tell the story of Taiwan nowadays. Through this exhibition, I expected the audience to realize that they are the ones who decide how the story proceeds after “To Be Continued.” In addition to the afore-mentioned issues such as “site-specific creation,” “exhibition design,” “the possibilities for museum collections exhibition, and “the writing of curatorial discourse,” there is one more point that I would like to discuss. As far as I am concerned, an exhibition resembles an artwork. It can be admired and read from different levels and perspectives. I tried to bring different stimulus and feelings to the audience from different backgrounds without applying introduction, and thereby incite constructive discussion. The exhibition per se contains many details that need to be connected through the audience’s mental association and observation, and thereby generate a consistent context of time and issues. For example, the exhibited works were arranged chronologically. The works with similar issues or contents (environment, rural landscapes, industrial development, political events, urban constructions, etc.) were arranged in the same cluster. Four spatial installations that described Taiwan from different perspectives and themes bracketed the entire exhibition. In order to adapt to an emergency, I also decided to add a bug in this exhibition. All in all, I expected this exhibition to be attractive and convey clear messages to the audience even the audience did not notice these details or we did not discuss curating, museum collections, or exhibition design. My anxiety was not relieved until the successful opening of the exhibition. For a person who has too many thoughts in her mind and is too sentimental about the era in turmoil, driven by “greed” for demonstrating many things is inevitable. However, curators always have their “selfish motives.” None of them will be willing to work under a state full of tension and stress unless they are interested in the theme of the given exhibitions. In sum, just let the story continue. And what we need to do is to observe how it will proceed.
Tsai Ming-Jiun, currently works in a commerical gallery, hope to find a ballanced coorperative relationship between art collecting, creating, and curation.
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Since as a Wanderer, Wander Romantically: On the Exhibition “Romance of NG”
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a result, an invisible melancholic atmosphere of a break-up relationship shrouds this exhibition. Besides, the unclear and false questions such as “who is right and who is wrong;” “to love or not to love;” and “who am I and who are you” proposed during chanting, together with the deceptive faith and grace conveyed by the lyrics, narrated the romance of ambiguous intentions between lovers. However, for the participating artists who are at their thirties or forties, why were their creation and life regarded as “NG”? Were they really “No Good”? “NG (No Good) embodies an attitude, necessity, technique, and strategy of ‘dialogue.’ With regard to Taiwan, the meaning or the articulation position of NG is a stylized, temporary, and guerrilla-like (hit-and-run) ‘ethos.’ 3 NG derives its initiative from the emotional struggle between admiration for and dissatisfaction over an aesthetic paradigm. Therefore, it is driven by repression. The essence of this momentum is exactly the desire for ‘dialogue.’”—excerpted from the curatorial discourse of “Romance of NG”
by YEH Hsing-Jou Also published in Chinese on Very View 14
To continue the discussion about the theme of the exhibition, the dialogue of creation was not to reveal the inevitable lack of “Good” expressed by “No,” but to cover it repressively and abandon it obstinately. To an extent, such a “deliberation” originated from the obsession with “creativity,” which only attempts to approach “Good” by incremental progress, namely the resolution to write the word “better” three times in capital letters. It was a relatively appropriate strategic posture4 adopted after a comprehensive review of reality. In other words, artistic creation served as the interface between “No Good” and “BETTER, BETTER, BETTER.” It could flexibly be “as,” “with/without,” “while,” or others. Anyway, “No Good” embodied a proceeding positive attitude, pointed towards self-encouraged adept and staidness, as well as exercised an amiable and heightened vigilance. Is it promising if only the curator himself understands the romance?
「Romance of NG」Exhibition view （Photo Credit：TKG+, Taipei, Taiwan)
Taiwan as a Wanderer in the Age of Globalization Supposing that the artistic creation in Taiwan can be no longer kept away from the historical and practical meanings of “Taiwan,” the “international” will be synchronously introduced into the emotional structures of creators. Therefore, in Taiwan, at the time when “creation” does not properly share the prosperity with distinct life experience of individuals and does not inherit and turn the meaning of “creation” into organic, reflecting on the international (Taiwan and other countries/the globe) and interpersonal (Self and others/the society) dimensions becomes a common strategy of Taiwanese artists for facilitating reading and communication. Such a trend similar to the creative orientation in Taiwan emerged from the following historical development since the mid-1990s: the post-Cold War structure eliminated the legitimacy of Kuomintang’s rule of martial law, Taiwan’s reconstruction of subjectivity, the opportunistic diplomacy as an abnormal state, and the subsequent horizontal relocation of original equipment manufacturing chain and the rapid establishment of distribution channels of multinational corporations. At the time when Taiwan was seemingly to escape from the authoritarian regime and transform into a “New Taiwan” to be defined, “culture” always preceded (and contributed to) “politics,” and therefore became the material for the reconstruction of Taiwan’s subjectivity. During the period from the implementation of social reform policy on local industry revitalization in the mid-1990s to the inclusion of policy on cultural and creative industry in the national development plan in the early 2000s, several artistic production-consumption systems such as packet international tour exhibitions, Statute for Encouraging the Development of Culture and the Arts, Regulation on the Reuse of Historical Buildings (not the conservation of the original building), art festivals in cities, international artist-in-residence programs, and biennials that connect domestic resources with foreign ones were established successively. In this situation, although “Taiwan” was kept away from “international politics,” culture has preceded politics and made “Taiwan” a buyer in or a concession territory to the distribution system of “international artistic world.” Different from the introduction of Western modernism and impressionist exhibitions into art museums and news agencies during the late 1980s and the early 1990s, rapid political liberalization since the mid-1990s prompted Taiwanese arts to develop a content-experimental and resource-accessing quality, and thereby established a greater number of exchange channels of professionals and resources between Taiwan and other countries. At that time, the role of Taiwanese artists was gradually transformed
from the reader and disciple of arts into the author and personnel of cultural exchange. In other words, more and more Taiwanese artists obtained a sense of corporeality and reflexivity through their increasing “international experience” gained since the mid-1990s. At the time when the term “international” still implied the spirituality of “paradigmatic” creation in the teaching materials of art history, the “international” was not merely an image file anymore, but an object with which artists can personally meet and interact. Nowadays, when the “international” is still desirable and accessible, and when the Taiwanese government and foreign artistic institutions are no lack of support mechanisms for artist-in-residence programs, we should put the following questions to Taiwanese artists. Do you no longer feel lonely after you visited other countries and had social contact with foreigners? With regard to the “international,” is there really an opportunity for a seamlessly integrated collaboration and dialogue? Or, for the contemporary art that prefers innovation and immediacy, does “difference” becomes the object that needs representation? If yes, a further question would be that when artists still choose to travel around the world, how do they deal with the real difference between subjects and objects as well as the differences closely related to creation per se and concerned with life experience, material foundation, knowledge structure, feeling of touch, and taste? This could be an issue concerned only with creation but no other countries. However, after almost two decades since the opening of the international art channels in Taiwan, the artists transformed from readers into authors has been served as educators and reviewers (including comments, reviews, and curating) in the field of education and the mechanism of exhibition. As a result, the reflection on the current “status” of Taiwan (or Taiwanese artists) on the international stage will greatly influence the orientation of Taiwanese art system (academia, policy, market) in the next two decades. No Good "___" BETTER, BETTER, BETTER “It is my fault to spoil you. Your heart is forever gone. Affinity and destiny part ways. Loving you brings me an enjoyment of tragedy.” —The lyrics of《A Woman’s Heart》in the album of the singer Jia Zi-Hui In the exhibition “Romance of NG,” the audience makes a reference to the life experience1 of the artists while reading the exhibited works. During the time of viewing this exhibition, the work《A Woman’s Heart》2 by the artist Su Yu-Hsien is played repeatedly, telling the grievances of a woman. As
p6 Since as a Wanderer, Wander Romantically: On the Exhibition “Romance of NG”
“Unpromising 3D Video Art Festival” (in short, Unpromising Festival) was included in the exhibition “Romance of NG” together with the participating artist Chang Li-Ren. He described the structural design of this video installation as the following: “Rather than bringing advanced sensory experience, the 3D movie theater brings loneliness and privacy for the person who watches the video alone. Indeed, people always regard a person who enjoys the immersive experience of watching porn alone at home as unpromising.” Through the mechanism of “solo presentation-reading,” “Unpromising Festival” expected the audience, through an unfamiliar sense of corporeality, to concentrate on the works that the artists created in a way of self-enjoyment and difficult for outsiders to understand. It was nothing more than the purest creative desire of the artists. However, for the artists, most of their works were the products of struggle, refinement, and reproduction after they absorbed heterogeneous criteria of judgment. When “wandering” (physically and spiritually) in other countries was a necessary practice for the artists who have the opportunity and the potential to enter the “international art world,” the romance that resorts to personal feelings was at least the narrative language on which the artists can insist using. Under the circumstances, their works were already better whether they are promising or not.
1. Namely “The artistic life in the age of post-globalization,” an article written by the curator Huang Chien-Hung and was distributed in the exhibition venue. This article briefly describes the formulation of the ten participating artists’ “world view” and their experience of encountering the production system of global art. The participating artists in the exhibition “Romance of NG” include Chiang Chung-Lun, George Folk, Ni Xiang, Cing Chen-De, Chang Li-Ren, Chen Po-I, Chen Pin-Hua, Takahiko Suzuki, Teng Chao-Ming, and Su Yu-Hsien. 2. Su Yu-Hsien,《A Woman’s Heart》, single channel video, 5 minutes and 23 seconds, 2013. 3. The term “ethos” usually refers to “moral character.” Its original meaning is the “state of being.” 4. Teng Chao-Ming’s work 《He exhausted his strength to cry out his name three times, which is the only legacy from the absent father》 adopts white neon tubes to form the parallel words “better” in capital letters.