Alienation
Borrowed from the field of philosophy, the term was first applied to sociology by German philosopher Karl MARX in his Economic and Philosophic Manuscript to refer to people’s estrangement from the objects they created throughout the process of production. In the specific historical situation caused by capitalism, the main reason of alienation came from capitalists re-assigning the value of products created by laborers.
The exhibition, “Wayward Economy” (2005), curated by Manray HSU and Maren RICHTER, focused on various issues created by globalization, including transnational flow of capital, border conflicts, racism, cultural hybridity and anxiety over the embarrassing ineffectiveness of global governance while pointing out the failure of the alternative system experiment heralded by Marxism in the 20th century. The exhibition hoped to search for means of survival outside the mainstream economic system through works related to economic activities and social structure. Meanwhile, it reflected on the methods and approaches used in Western works of art after the 60s when engaging in topics about consumer society and late capitalist aesthetics, stating that “if a work cannot or does not try to alter the relationship between a viewer and the work itself, such work is not able to escape the fate of consumption no matter how its content critiques commodity fetishism or the new semiotics of commodity it proposes.”
In “Wayward Economy,” CHEANG Shu-Lea, for her work Kingdom of Piracy, built a website and organized a workshop to tackle the issue of intellectual property and discuss the possibility of freely sharing digital content as an ultimate form of art on the internet. For the Taiwan Pavilion at the 50th Venice Biennale, she presented another work, Garlic = Rich Air (2002-2003), which employed the form of barter and used real garlic and free internet hotspot to create a network of free exchange. CHEN Chieh-Jen’s I Pirate My Own Work (2007) was showcased in the 10th International Istanbul Biennial, which authorized local venders to pirate and sell his work as a way to respond to the paradoxical relationship between the market of artworks and their value. Art collective Dimension Plus’s Soybean Futures was featured in the 2019 Ars Electronica Linz, which utilized soybean, one of the key commodities in international trade war, to reflect on the impact of globalization on the everyday life.
Nevertheless, alienation is not a completely negative term. Creative Commons, another work featured in “Wayward Economy,” is an example that “does not oppose capitalism, but propose an alternative solution to the consequences resulted from capitalism” in the Free Culture movement.
Reference
The exhibition, “Wayward Economy” (2005), curated by Manray HSU and Maren RICHTER, focused on various issues created by globalization, including transnational flow of capital, border conflicts, racism, cultural hybridity and anxiety over the embarrassing ineffectiveness of global governance while pointing out the failure of the alternative system experiment heralded by Marxism in the 20th century. The exhibition hoped to search for means of survival outside the mainstream economic system through works related to economic activities and social structure. Meanwhile, it reflected on the methods and approaches used in Western works of art after the 60s when engaging in topics about consumer society and late capitalist aesthetics, stating that “if a work cannot or does not try to alter the relationship between a viewer and the work itself, such work is not able to escape the fate of consumption no matter how its content critiques commodity fetishism or the new semiotics of commodity it proposes.”
In “Wayward Economy,” CHEANG Shu-Lea, for her work Kingdom of Piracy, built a website and organized a workshop to tackle the issue of intellectual property and discuss the possibility of freely sharing digital content as an ultimate form of art on the internet. For the Taiwan Pavilion at the 50th Venice Biennale, she presented another work, Garlic = Rich Air (2002-2003), which employed the form of barter and used real garlic and free internet hotspot to create a network of free exchange. CHEN Chieh-Jen’s I Pirate My Own Work (2007) was showcased in the 10th International Istanbul Biennial, which authorized local venders to pirate and sell his work as a way to respond to the paradoxical relationship between the market of artworks and their value. Art collective Dimension Plus’s Soybean Futures was featured in the 2019 Ars Electronica Linz, which utilized soybean, one of the key commodities in international trade war, to reflect on the impact of globalization on the everyday life.
Nevertheless, alienation is not a completely negative term. Creative Commons, another work featured in “Wayward Economy,” is an example that “does not oppose capitalism, but propose an alternative solution to the consequences resulted from capitalism” in the Free Culture movement.
Reference
- CHENG Hwei-Hua. “Free Culture, Alternative Economy and the Possible Future—On Wayward Economy.” Artco Monthly & Investment, iss. 150, March 2005, pp. 54-6.
- HSU Manray. “About Wayward Economy.” Artco Monthly & Investment, iss. 149, February 2005, pp. 54-7.
- Net Art, “Garlic = Rich Air.”
- IT Park, CHEN Chieh-Jen, “I Pirate My Own Work: Free Donation Project.”
- Art Touch. “KU Kuan-Yi and Dimension Plus Bring Eastern Dietary Culture into the 2019 Ars Electronica Linz.”
異化（Alienation）
源自於哲學用語，在德國哲學家馬克斯（Karl Marx）的著作《經濟學與哲學手稿》（Economic and Philosophic Manuscript）中率先將這個詞彙使用在社會學當中，指生產過程中人們與創造出來的物品疏離的過程，而在資本主義所造成的特定歷史情況下，資本家對於產自勞工的商品價值進行重新分配，是造成異化的最大原因。
在徐文瑞與瑪蘭‧李西特（Maren Richter）所策劃的展覽「嘛也通：非常經濟實驗室」（2005）當中，關注於全球化所造成的跨國資本流動、邊境衝突、種族主義及文化混融，對全球治理（Global governance）的困窘感到不安，並點出了20世紀以馬克思主義為首的另類體制實驗的失敗。展覽期待透過以經濟活動及社會結構相關題材的作品，尋找主流經濟系統外可能的生存方式，同時反省了歐美60年代以降作品在涉及消費社會與晚期資本主義美學時的方法，指出「［…］如果作品本身無法或不試圖改變觀賞者與作品的關係，那麼，不論作品的內容如何批判商品的拜物或提出新的商品符號學，作品都還是難逃被消費的命運。」
在「嘛也通：非常經濟實驗室」中，鄭淑麗的作品《派樂西王國：燒！燒！燒！》對於智慧財產權的議題架設了網站並舉辦工作營，討論數位內容的自由共享作為網路的一種終極藝術形式。第五十屆威尼斯雙年展台灣館「心感地帶」則展出鄭淑麗的另外一件作品《大蒜紀元》（Garlic = Rich air, 2002-2003），透過以物易物的方式，使真實的大蒜與免費的網路熱點創造出自由交流的網絡。陳界仁的作品《自我盜版》（2007）參與了第十屆伊斯坦堡雙年展，授權當地廠商盜錄、販售自己的作品，回應了藝術品市場與藝術品價值間弔詭的關係。藝術團體「超維度互動」（Dimension Plus）的作品《黃豆期貨指數》（Soybean Futures）曾獲邀參加2019年的林茲電子藝術節，以國際貿易戰中的重要商品—黃豆做為發想，反思全球化對於日常生活的影響。
但異化並非全然負面的詞彙，展覽「嘛也通：非常經濟實驗室」裡的另外一件展品：「創意公用授權條款」（Creative Commons）便是自由文化（Free Culture）運動中「不反對資本主義，但對資本主義所造成的惡果提出另一種解決之道。」的例子。
參考文獻
在徐文瑞與瑪蘭‧李西特（Maren Richter）所策劃的展覽「嘛也通：非常經濟實驗室」（2005）當中，關注於全球化所造成的跨國資本流動、邊境衝突、種族主義及文化混融，對全球治理（Global governance）的困窘感到不安，並點出了20世紀以馬克思主義為首的另類體制實驗的失敗。展覽期待透過以經濟活動及社會結構相關題材的作品，尋找主流經濟系統外可能的生存方式，同時反省了歐美60年代以降作品在涉及消費社會與晚期資本主義美學時的方法，指出「［…］如果作品本身無法或不試圖改變觀賞者與作品的關係，那麼，不論作品的內容如何批判商品的拜物或提出新的商品符號學，作品都還是難逃被消費的命運。」
在「嘛也通：非常經濟實驗室」中，鄭淑麗的作品《派樂西王國：燒！燒！燒！》對於智慧財產權的議題架設了網站並舉辦工作營，討論數位內容的自由共享作為網路的一種終極藝術形式。第五十屆威尼斯雙年展台灣館「心感地帶」則展出鄭淑麗的另外一件作品《大蒜紀元》（Garlic = Rich air, 2002-2003），透過以物易物的方式，使真實的大蒜與免費的網路熱點創造出自由交流的網絡。陳界仁的作品《自我盜版》（2007）參與了第十屆伊斯坦堡雙年展，授權當地廠商盜錄、販售自己的作品，回應了藝術品市場與藝術品價值間弔詭的關係。藝術團體「超維度互動」（Dimension Plus）的作品《黃豆期貨指數》（Soybean Futures）曾獲邀參加2019年的林茲電子藝術節，以國際貿易戰中的重要商品—黃豆做為發想，反思全球化對於日常生活的影響。
但異化並非全然負面的詞彙，展覽「嘛也通：非常經濟實驗室」裡的另外一件展品：「創意公用授權條款」（Creative Commons）便是自由文化（Free Culture）運動中「不反對資本主義，但對資本主義所造成的惡果提出另一種解決之道。」的例子。
參考文獻
- 鄭惠華，〈自由文化、另類經濟和可能的未來—記「嘛也通：非常經濟實驗室」展出〉，典藏今藝術，150期，頁54-56，2005.3
- 徐文瑞，〈關於「非常經濟實驗室」〉，典藏今藝術，149期，頁54-57，2005.2。
- Net Art，〈Garlic = Rich air〉
- 伊通公園，陳界仁〈「自我盜版」--自由樂捐計畫〉
- Art Touch，〈顧廣毅、超維度互動，讓東方飲食文化竄入2019林茲電子藝術節〉