GLORY OF KAOHSIUNG

高雄之光

video installation, OHP / digital printing / iron, steel wires / celluloid films, graphite on paper & homogeneous tile / rainwater & soil mixed in paraffin wax, LED light

single channel HD video 10:38, installation dimensions variable

2019

 


Based on personal experiences in the past and studies of harbor history, artist composed a first-person narrative text of a stealthy ghost, telling a story from a distant broadcasting voice and a projection briefing with non-existent hands, in which the rise and fall of Port of Kaohsiung, dramatic life of Lien-Chih Lee, known as "Father of Kaohsiung Harbor", the fragility and absurdity of civilization under the threat of double typhoon invasion in July 1977, and the gray area of a debate on the city's "glory" were interwoven.

 

In hundreds of historical images and documents, artist chose 10 files and transformed into a materialized, 2-dimensional timeline, among rusty iron, homogenous tiles, celluloid films, and rainwater as well as soil from Kaohsiung sealed in paraffin wax. Through the dim light and various means to develop stacked images onto the symbolic materials, a fable / prophecy of a state apparatus destined to become  a magnificent ruin is thus revealed.

 

 

以自身過往的生命感觸與港史研究的基礎、藝術家交織出一個鬼魅般隱身的第一人稱的敘述文本,透過廣播遞送出的遙遠口語與不存在的雙手操演著投影簡報,娓娓道出高雄港的興衰、「高雄港之父」李連墀戲劇性的一生、1977年7月雙颱襲台事件下文明建制的脆弱與荒謬、以及對於交織其中的屬於一個城市「榮耀」的灰色地帶的辯證。

 

在上百件歷史圖像與文件檔案中,藝術家抽取出十餘幅影像轉化為物質性的二維時間軸,在鏽鐵、石英磚、賽璐璐片、封存高雄雨水與塵土的石蠟之中,透過昏暗的光源與各種材質象徵的顯影手段,堆疊出一個國家機器的理型最終走向一片壯麗廢墟的寓/預言。

 

 


* This artwork was nominated for Taishin Arts Award in the first season of 2019.

* 本作品獲台新藝術獎2019第一季季提名。