浮城河事
Mouth of the River
2021 Tomorrow Towarding, "The World is yet to Come" MoCA TAIPEI, Taiwan.
此作重構一段關於淹水、防洪與移民的非虛構敘事。藝術家在住所（板橋）和工作室（士林）之間往來的日常通勤，跨越大漢溪右左兩岸、穿過形狀像是小台灣的浮洲、經淡水河遠眺北浮洲之稱的社子島；或是沿著河右岸跨越兩河交會的地方、再穿越一條河（基隆河）的身體的移動經驗，有賴於橋樑和快速道路的拓展延伸。作品關注在高架橋、水泥堤岸等城市現代化設施底下，因昔日治水政策而被迫拆遷的故事。在疫情之下，藝術家採取網路田野採集的方式，尋找出過去曾在治水過程中被迫消失的「洲後村」相關史料。洲後村原有的良田在獅子頭隘口以治水為名被炸開後，引發海水倒灌，不僅未能解決颱風後河水氾濫的情形，更使土壤鹽化，因為水利政策的禁建、迫遷，最後演變成一場拆遷抗爭事件，撼動禁錮台灣社會的戒嚴體制。
《浮城河事》重現河堤邊的畸零空間下，移動的行人、車流與時間，透過音景上演一齣無人劇場，重新編排不同環境音作為線索，提供人們進行視覺化的想像，藉口述影像將每個失憶（失明）的畫面重拾回來。水泥堤防將人與水、人與環境、現在和過去分隔開來，在這個感受交界於公私領域的灰色地帶，透過聲音劇場呈現河堤周遭不同場域的音景和敘事片段，使我們重新思考：今日城市生活的便利下，是以不義的舉措為奠基。置身其中，召喚自由、那些消失的、但曾存在的聲音與記憶。
此創作計畫延續自過去關注「移動的身份」議題，將循著臺北市的河堤城市景觀為靈感發想的起點，也是我每天往返住家與工作室之間移動路徑的身體經驗。消失的河道、新興的高架橋，水泥築起的河堤分割都市與河岸風景，也是許多臺北都會人的日常寫照，創作計畫將透過重構一段關於淹水、防洪與移民的非虛構敘事，以及具視、觸、聽覺身體感知的編導式雕塑裝置，以後設視角重新喚起人們對於時間、速度、城市、人文、歷史與自然環境力量的意識。
Mouth of the River centers on the topic of making up for what is missing in grand history by reconstructing a non-fictional narrative about flooding, flood control and migration. The artists’ daily commute between their residence (Banciao) and studio (Shilin) spans the two sides of Dahan River, traverses Luzhou that looks like a tiny Taiwan, and crosses Tamsui River while overlooking Shezidao that is also known as Northern Fuzhou. On the other hand, another route—one that provides the bodily experience of moving along the right bank of the river to cross where Dahan and Tamsui rivers intersect before acrossing yet another river (Keelung River)—relies on the expansion and extension of bridges and expressways. The work features stories of people being uprooted as their houses were demolished by past flood control policies underneath modernized urban facilities, such as elevated bridges and concrete embankments. Facing the pandemic, the artist duo employs the method of online field research in finding relevant historical materials about the disappeared “Zhouho Village” during the implementation of flood control measures. The rice fields in Zhouho Village were overwhelmed by seawater after Shizitou Pass exploded in the name of flood control. The flood control policy not only did not solve the problem of flooding after typhoons but also caused soil salinization. Furthermore, building restriction and relocation dictated by the hydro policy eventually led to protests over relocation that destabilized the martial law system, which had confined the entire Taiwanese society.
Mouth of the River represents the fragmented space by the river embankment, together with moving pedestrians, traffic flow and time. Using soundscapes, the work manifests a theater without performers by re-arranging various ambient sounds as clues to prompt the audience’s visualized imagination, retrieving every forgotten (overlooked) image through audio description. Concrete embankments separate people and water, people and the environment as well as the present and the past. In this gray zone where perceptions interweave with overlapping public and private domains, the artists use sound theater to portray various soundscapes and narrative fragments of different sites around the river embankments to prompt the audience’s reflection—the convenience of modern urban life is indeed founded on unjust actions in the past. As we are immersed in the work, once existing sounds and memories that are free and have disappeared seem to be evoked and recalled.