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There is no_____

2019 Jun-Aug. Residency in Pier-2 art center, Kaohsiung.

坐上花圃,這裡的風景其實你很熟悉。


椰子,是一種常見於印尼本土的植物,其所有部位都能應用於印尼的日常生活中,「Coconut Seed(椰子種子)」更象徵了印尼童軍的哲學思想——每個人都有各自有用、所長之處,它是生命的韌性、適應力與懷抱理想的精神指標。在概念上,這個理想與來臺移人的生活有著鮮明的對照,來自海外的勞動力為失衡的臺灣社會、產業問題帶來了改善,也改變了臺灣城市中的族群風景。每到假日,東南亞移工人潮聚集在特定消費空間,成為他們集體現身的公共場域。來自車站大廳、候車廊道的人工造景,恍如一處東南亞觀光聖地的偽風景。他們在向你招手,就算來遲了,一樣歡迎加入他們的Silaturahmi(聯誼),點一首Dangdut(噹嘟樂)作為撫慰工作辛勞的止痛劑。

「太認真」兩人在駐村期間,以隨機、偶遇的節奏遊歷高雄城市中的東南亞文化面貌。建構一座路邊花圃,邀請觀眾坐在這裡歇腳,不同群體的出現也置換了「他們」不在場的身體。摘下濾鏡,重新思考散落在城市角落中的移工群體,作為勞動力同樣也身為「人」的日常,這是城市裡你我熟悉的風景。

“The Scout emblem incorporates the seed of the coconut palm, a common native Indonesian plant and all parts of which are used in Indonesian everyday life, symbolizing the philosophy of a true Scout, who must make him or herself useful in all aspects of life. The seed form represents the growing spirit, physical toughness, adaptability, and high aspiration of the Scout.”

—— Wikipedia: Gerakan Pramuka Indonesia.

Sitting on the flower bed by the sidewalk, scenery on the street seems very familiar to you. The southeast Asian migrant workers have shaped Taiwan’s multifaceted and diverse culture, as well as brought great improvement into our aging society and the labor-intensive industries. The “coconut seed”, which symbolized the persevering spirit and an ideal in their mind, exactly reflect their life of being a migrant worker.

Every holiday, you can find them gathered whether at a train station hall or the waiting corridor. With the colorful artificial interior decoration surrounded, you might feel like being at a famous tourist spot somewhere in Southeast Asia.


They sometimes wave to you, even you are already late for their gathering, the migrant workers will still welcome you to join their “Silaturahmi” (mean meetup with friends in Indonesian) and order a “Dangdut” (a particular style of Indonesian music.) to relax after a tiring workday.

During residency at The Pier-2 Art Center, the artist collective “Working Hard” researched about different culture aspects of Southeast Asia randomly and casually in the Kaohsiung City. Every Sunday is the day they go out for field research. They often start a conversation with those Indonesian migrant workers by saying the only sentence they have learned: “Jalan Jalan ”(Let’s hang out and have some fun together in Indonesian) . In order to memorize and document the weekly meeting, they painted the portraits of Indonesian migrant workers by using the Japanese “Snowman” color pen, which they brought back from Indonesia, and applied themselves to carefully control the deviation within plus or minus 50% of each figure they sketched. Instead of looking for the truth, they are more concerned with the value transfer of people’s perceptions of things.

They also built a flower bed near the street and invite different audience to have a seat. While different group of people sitting, the role of “the invisible people” who are only known as “the migrant workers” are replaced and exchanged. Through this action, artists want to remind that instead of seeing those migrant workers through a prejudicial filter, we should see them as a person, just like each of us is part of the city sceneries.

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