(photo: Screen shot from Getting There, As a State of Mind (2011), HD video)
我去了北極 -鄧兆旻個展
打開—當代藝術工作站
地址：台北市中華路一段91巷13號展期: 2011/5/28 - 2011/7/10 (週四至週日 2-8PM)
開幕茶會: 2011/5/28 週六下午 4 - 6 PM
打開—當代藝術工作站五月底將舉辦旅美藝術家鄧兆旻在台灣的首次個展《我去了北極》。展出的作品，是藝術家於2010年底入選由紐約農場藝術與科學基金會與文建會獎助的〈年度北極圈駐村計畫〉的創作成果。
十八位來自世界各地的藝術家，在屬挪威管轄的國際領土 Svalbard 群島上的 Longyearbyen 小城集合，登上有一百年歷史，荷蘭籍的冰航等級帆船，展開近三週的北極圈航行旅程。航行的緯度在77到80度之間，距離北極點 (The North Pole) 不到800公里。面對極限的海況、氣候，和毫無人居的土地，鄧兆旻的新作延續其一直以來的態度，將藝術創作視為一種個人的手段，用以接近、重讀、拆解我們身處的環境與面對的系統及概念。北極被視為一個極限的地點，也是一個不曾經歷過的想像，這樣的特點激起了每個參與的藝術家去理解以佔為己有的渴望。透過每個人的身體親自去嘗試，在旅程中不斷航向下一站，收集著處於北極的體驗，屬於北極的符碼。
第一件作品「即將抵達，作為一種心理狀態 (Getting There, As a State of Mind) (2011)」是由十四段從20秒到11分鐘不等的長鏡頭拍攝的錄像，循環播放。藝術家將攝影機固定在船身，記錄了船體在航行過程中與海的力量的互動。內容中只有移動的軌跡，不見起點與終點。同時也凸顯為了抵達目的地所必須付出的移動，而這與生命中任何的追求都是相同的。
北極的空曠與原始，彷彿用一種靜默的方式拒絕我們的靠近。鄧兆旻帶了許多研究資料到了現場，卻發現接近此地的困難。他決定用一種很個人的方法來直接認識這個地方：「我利用一個我熟悉且懷念的認識框架，也就是我在台北家中房間的平面圖，作為尺寸以及概念空間的參照。在每個停靠的地點，我嘗試尋找一個適合擺放這樣的空間的基地，並實際測量標記一個跟台北房間一模一樣大小的範圍。」
航行中執行這個行動的紀錄成為「無題 (Untitled) (2011)」 裝置作品中的主要元素。一同呈現的包括出發前準備的研究文件、地圖、科學研究圖表、現場拍攝的照片集…等。文件的內容與安排呈現一個仍在進行中的整理行為。觀眾可以隨意翻閱。
鄧兆旻於台灣大學電機資訊學院取得學士及碩士學位之後，2007年畢業於麻省理工學院，建築規畫學院媒體藝術碩士班。目前旅居紐約專職創作。作品著重概念操作，橫跨多種媒材及形式，同時參與多項劇場與展場美術指導工作。2007年獲加拿大Banff New Media Institute邀請演講並指導學生，2009年至法國尼斯國立當代藝術中心駐村。作品曾於美國、中國、日本、法國等地展出。
TENG Chao-Ming -I was in the Arctic
28 May–10 July 2011
Open Contemporary Art Center
(Opens Thu-Sun, 2-8PM)
No. 13, Lane 91, Section 1,
Zhong-Hua Road
Zhong-Zheng District, Taipei
TAIWAN
Open Contemporary Art Center is pleased to announce I Was in the Arctic, the first solo exhibition in Taiwan by New York-based artist TENG Chao-Ming. Last year TENG was selected to participate in the Arctic Circle, an annual artist residency/expedition, run by New York’s Farm Foundation for the Arts and Sciences. I Was in the Arctic shows two new works completed during the trip by TENG.
Eighteen artists from all over the world gathered at Longyearbyen, Svalbard, and boarded on a 100-year-old schooner, sailing between 77 to 80 degree north for almost three weeks. Faced with the extreme condition and uninhabited land, TENG’s new work once again shows his attitude: art-making as a way to approach, re-read, and de(re-)construct the environment we live in, and the systems and concepts we live by. The artist thinks embarking on this journey felt like responding to a certain aspiration; an aspiration to understand and own the remote and mysterious Arctic. Every participant was physically there to collect experiences and signs to their ownership.
One of the two pieces, Getting There, as a State of Mind (2011), is an fourteen-part video piece that consists of long shots between 20 seconds to 11 minutes, played as a loop. The artist fixed his video camera on the boat and recorded the interaction between the moving body of the ship and the powerful sea. The viewer only sees how the boat keeps moving, without seeing the starting point and the destination. This piece foregrounds the necessary physical movement in order to reach a destination, similar to efforts that we make with any pursuit in life.
With all the background information he had researched before he left on the trip, the artist still felt it was difficult to approach places in the Arctic. It was almost like these places, with their rawness and primitiveness, silently rejected being understood. TENG tried to understand them with a very personal approach:
“I used a framework that I’m familiar with (and have missed a lot) -- the floor plan of my space at home in Taipei, Taiwan -- as a reference for both scale, and spatial concepts. At every landing, I would try to find a site that works for such a space, and mark out an area of snow with red construction-use poles; the measurement would match exactly with my space in Taipei.”
The photographic documentation of the actions described above is presented as the main component of the installation work Untitled (2011). Also presented together are all the research documents, maps, scientific diagrams, and photos taken on the sites. The organization of these documents and the form of presentation are intended as an ongoing work in progress, since the artist thinks, at least for now, the piece remains a question to be solved. Viewers are welcome to browse these documents.
Born in Taiwan, currently based in New York, TENG, Chao-Ming graduated with a master’s degree in media arts from the School of Architecture and Planning at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), U.S.A. In 2007 he was invited by the Banff New Media Institute, Canada, as a mentor artist to give lectures, and In 2009 he was awarded a residency at the Centre National d'Arts Contemporain, Villa Arson, France. TENG has been showing his work, leading workshops, and giving talks in Taiwan, Japan, Canada, China, and the United States. In addition to personal art practice, he is also commissioned to produce installations and videos for film festivals and experimental theater plays that tour internationally.
Thanks for the sponsorship from:
