匯聚的分岔點
歷史中諸多文明的起點，皆位於山巒和河川錯落之處，臺灣作為文化多元的國家，如同山川的匯聚之境，共生出豐沛且充滿活力的藝術環境。「2023臺南新藝獎」展出來自全國10位得主藝術家與14組邀展藝術家的作品，其創作媒材多元、關注議題各異，展覽奠基於新藝獎獨特的機制，於臺南的十間藝廊與藝術空間中以不同的對話語境呈現。
策展主題「匯聚的分岔點」意謂著年輕藝術家們呈現的多樣議題，反映著當代的美學概念、世代觀點和社會文化等面向，其多重總合的縮影，是線索，是現實，也是未來。而過程猶如抽絲剝繭，我們得以在其中窺見青年世代所關注的獨特議題如何展現在藝術創作中。意義在匯聚的同時，也應運充滿複數的歧異生成空隙，無限散發各種無可預測的美學向度。一如新藝獎現有機制的運作，藉由年輕創作者與各地藝術家之間的作品對話，打開尚處於生成中的創作系統，面向不同的議題與形式，跨足藝術與社會間的連結。同時，也期望為地區在地的藝術社群、個人創作者注入另一種參照的可能。
本次獲獎藝術家大抵皆以視覺文化經驗出發，其中數名基於藝術形式與美學感性，以「藝術問題」延伸創作路徑。黃立穎於水色藝術工坊展出的繪畫，藉鉛筆石墨的反光特性描繪奇石的形貌，呈現作品與觀者所見的形上哲思。日籍藝術家平川祐樹，以俐落的影像轉化樹蔭下的光影漸變，以形式呼應展場特色以及黃立穎的繪畫。同樣以「光」為切題，胡縉祥於醉美空間展出互動光影裝置，以科技省思人與科技網絡之間的關係。王璽安則以光暈作為繪畫主軸，透過筆觸呈現天空、星雲的深邃。Connection解構光與色彩的關係，以光影裝置結合表演，敘述了生命六個階段的不同型態。
作為老屋再造的弎畫廊，張善學的作品嘗試呼應中庭栽植的大量盆栽，以他過去對於蕨類植物的情感與熱忱，追溯蕨類在冰河時期的地理路徑。黃蘭雅運用色彩鮮豔的壓克力材料，奇想式的建構一座想像的綺麗森林花園。胡晴雯則以水墨技法，呈現午後陽光灑落於住家陽台，斑駁映照在盆栽枝葉、窗花、磁磚的時刻，靜謐的呈現個人的心境感受。藝非凡美術館的紀沛辰，將臺灣招牌文化繪於旅法期間拍攝的歐洲城市，創造獨樹一格的城市叢林風景。李勇志則嘗試拆解消費主義所主導的城市景觀——霓虹招牌，在城市景觀演替之外塑形懷舊美學。於索卡藝術展出的陳柏源，以新媒體呈現當代水墨的氣韻，描繪飛機航行於雲層間氣候漸變的景象，盂施甫則以動力裝置元素，擬仿鳥類與飛行器的中介複合體。
在當今資訊爆炸的狀態下，由社群媒體與關鍵意見領袖（KOL）主導的「後真相時代」來臨，網路文化漸次導引當代社會的大眾文化發展，現實與線上的界線也因影像的大量再製而逐漸變得虛幻。如同在甘樂阿舍美術館展出的古孟萱，藉由對新聞、網路中戰爭與災難圖像反覆拓撲，比擬傳統山水畫中宏觀感受。溫佳寧關注於媒體影像所塑造的身體，並以變形、虛構、扮裝等方式進行視覺詮釋。加力畫廊的新媒體藝術團隊2ENTER（貳進），則以即時數據與影像拼貼，在遊戲引擎中創造了另一種揉雜的數據風景。蔡宜儒的繪畫擷取了動畫、社群平台及通訊軟體的符號，呈現人在不同階段與螢幕介面的視覺經驗。
延續對網路、資訊文化的探討，部分藝術家亦專注於藝術與社會、政治面向的探索。德鴻畫廊展出的楊傑懷探討性別與網路文化，反思個體欲望與權力階序的曖昧姿態。曾怡馨則是從女性的觀看機制與凝視主體出發，在流行文化的圖像中思考性別與政治的不對等關係。安排在絕對空間展出的陳俊宇，以幽默的方式提出假設性方案，諧擬當代社會的嚴肅課題。張紋瑄展出的作品，模仿了成功學講師的授課方式，暗示亞洲國家敘事下的民主政治的況境寓意。
日籍得主藝術家胡宮雪娜，運用大新美術館本身挑高的空間特性，展出結合臺灣與沖繩文化符號的大型軟雕塑，並反映全球化下的文化交融跨度。在全球化與文化流動的主體概念下，邀請三位形式各異的藝術家進行對話：方偉文的平面繪畫藉個人「記憶所繫之處」，擷取其離散的生命經驗中所出現的文化符碼，呈現一座流動且無法固著的世界；莊培鑫將大量虛擬的視覺圖像進行重新編碼，轉化為實體的「數位標本」；陳呈毓則嘗試將流通於世界的信息、物件、影像比擬為「雲氣」，並將其概念物質化，以多重物件拼組一幅「混沌」的當代景觀。
第11屆臺南新藝獎「匯聚的分岔點」共展出24組藝術家的巧思，包含來自國內外的優秀藝術家，期望背景殊異的創作者們匯聚於臺南的同時，分岔出異質且多樣的聲音，更在新藝獎有別於臺灣其他獎項的設計與執行機制中，以推進藝術家鍵結藝術市場為主要目標之一，同時，也冀望結合公部門與民間的行銷、推廣資源，凝聚各方的文化量能與臺南的歷史底蘊，打開城市美學的品牌特質，並在城市中的十個不同點位各自綻放精彩的展演。
In human history, many civilizations originated from places with entwining mountains and rivers. As culturally diverse country, Taiwan is a land of converging mountains and rivers with an artistic environment that promises abundance and vibrancy. The 2023 Next Art Tainan features ten winners of the award and fourteen invited artists/art groups from around Taiwan, bringing together their works of divergent creative media that engage in different topics and issues. With the award’s unique mechanism as the foundation, the Next Art Tainan takes place in ten art galleries/art spaces in Tainan and is presented through various context of dialogue.
The curatorial topic – Bifurcation of Confluence indicates the diverse issues concerned by the young artists, which demonstrate aesthetic ideas, generational viewpoints, as well as dissimilar socio-cultural aspects of the contemporary time. This multifaceted ensemble is an epitome that serves as a clue, reflects the reality, and points to the future. The process of its making is like peeling off layers, which grants a glimpse into the distinctive topics in the eyeline of the young generation and how these topics are addressed in their work.
While different meanings converge in the Next Art Tainan, interstices that promises the emergence of divergence also form in the process, diffusing endlessly into a wide spectrum of unpredictable dimensions of aesthetics. This process is echoed by the current mechanism of the Next Art Tainan, which fosters dialogues between emerging artists and those from different parts of Taiwan, opening up their creative systems that are still forming and evolving to various issues and forms while establishing the connection between art and society. Meanwhile, the Next Art Tainan also aims to inject new possibilities of references into regional and local art communities and the careers of individual artists.
The winners of this edition mostly start from visual cultural experiences, and several of them extend their creative routes from the “problems of art” based on artistic form and aesthetic sensibility. HUANG Li-Ying’s painting of peculiar stones exhibited at Mizuiro Workshop makes use of the reflective quality of graphite pencils to delineate various forms and shapes of stones, revealing metaphysical thoughts embodied by the works and perceived by the spectator. Japanese artist HIRAKAWA Youki portrays the gradual changes of light and shadow under a leafy shade with well-executed images, echoing the features of the exhibition venue and Huang’s paintings in form. Also dealing with the topic of “light,” HU Chin-Hsiang’s interactive light installation at Aglow Art Space technologically reflects on the relationship between human beings and the technological network. WANG Sean’s painting, on the other hand, revolves around the topic of halo, and visualizes the depth of the sky and nebulae through brushstrokes. Artist collective Connection deconstructs the relation between light and colors, combining light installations and performances to portray the different forms of six stages in life.
At San Gallery, an art space renovated from an old house, CHANG San-Hsueh’s painting responds to the large number of potted green plants in the atrium, and driven by the artist’s love and zeal for ferns, traces the geographic pathways of ferns in the glacial period. HUANG Lan-Ya utilizes vibrantly colorful acrylic paint to create a fantasy-based, splendid forest garden born from her imagination. HU Ching-Wen uses ink painting techniques to depict cascading sunlight on a residential balcony. The tranquil moments of light shining on plants, patterned windows, and tiles, reveal her personal states of mind and feelings. At Mezzo Art, CHI Pei-Chen uses computer graphics to integrate Taiwanese culture of street advertisements with images of European cities taken during her stay in France, forging an idiosyncratic landscape of urban jungles. LEE Yung-Chih attempts to dismantle the cityscape dominated by neon signs – an epitome of consumerism, molding an aesthetics of nostalgia that is alternative to changing cityscapes. At Soka Art, CHEN Po-Yuan delineates the rhythmic flow of contemporary ink art with new media, depicting varying climatic views observed an airborne airplane above layers of clouds. Known for his motorized mechanical installations, YU Shih-Fu’s work mimics an intermediary hybridization of birds and aircrafts.
In the present world of information explosion, we are witnessing the advent of a “post-truth era” dominated by social media and key opinion leaders (KOL). The internet culture is increasingly taking hold of the development of contemporary popular culture. The boundary between reality and the online world has become increasingly virtual due to extensive reproduction of images. This phenomenon is responded by GU Meng-Xuan’s work on view at the Asir Art Museum, in which the artist repeatedly topologizes the images of wars and disasters in the news and on the internet to imitate the macrocosmic perception conveyed by traditional ink landscape in the past. WEN Chia-Ning’s interest lies in the body shaped and molded by media images. Her work creates the visual focus through metamorphosis, fictionalization, and drag. At InART Space, new media art collective 2ENTER makes use of real-time data and image collages to fabricate an alternative, miscellaneous cultural landscape using game engine. On the other hand, TSAI Yi-Ju’s extracts signs from animation, social media platforms and communication software to create her painting, which evokes the stages of human life and the visual experiences afforded by different screen interfaces.
Continuing the exploration of the internet and information culture, some of the artists concentrate on the aspects of art, society and politics. On view at Der-Horng Art Gallery, YANG Jie-Huai’s work deals with gender issues and internet culture, contemplating on the ambiguous manifestations of individual desire and the hierarchy of power. TZENG Yi-Hsin engages with women’s viewing mechanism and the subject of gaze to inquire into the unequal gender and political relations. At Absolute Space for the Arts, CHEN Chun-Yu puts forth a hypothetical proposal in a humorous way as a parody of serious topics in contemporary society. CHANG Wen-Hsuan’s work imitates approaches used by lecturers of successology, which is a metaphor for the democratic political scene in the narrative of Asian countries.
Japanese winning artist KOMIYA Yukina utilizes the raised ceilings and elongated space of the Daxin Art Museum to display large-scale soft sculptures incorporated with Taiwanese and Okinawan cultural symbols, reflecting the scale of cultural integration in the context of globalization. Drawing inspiration from the globalized subject informed by cultural fluidity, three invited artists present their topics through respective forms. FANG Wei-Wen’s graphic drawing taps into his “place of memory” and converts the cultural codes encountered in his diasporic life experience into a flowing, unfixed world. CHUANG Pei-Xin re-encodes innumerous virtual visual images, transforming them into tangible “digital specimens.” CHEN Chen-Yu compares messages, objects and images circulating around the world to “vapor” and materializes this concept into a contemporary landscape of “chaos” comprising multiple objects.
The 11th Next Art Tainan – Bifurcation of Confluence showcases the ingenuity of twenty-four brilliant artists/art groups from Taiwan and abroad. It is hoped that confluence of the artists with dissimilar background in Tainan would bifurcate into heterogenous and diversified voices. Different from other art awards in Taiwan in terms of the design and implementation mechanism, one of the main objectives of Next Art Taiwan is to facilitate the connection between artists and the art market. Meanwhile, the award also aims to combine marketing and promotion resources of both the public and private sectors to unite the cultural energy from all fields with the history of Tainan to unveil the city’s urban aesthetic characteristics as a brand that bloom into respective yet equally outstanding exhibitions in ten locations in the city.