Socially Engaged Art
Socially engaged art is an art genre that emphasizes on creating relations with society; and it’s distinguishing characters includes community-based, collaborative, participatory, dialogic and public. Influenced by the trend of thought in the 1960s, socially engaged art also embodies the characteristics of “art activism,” as it focuses on social issues and employs artistically conceived action to achieve the goal of individual or group empowerment. This makes it a common approach in art practice. In terms of form, it draws inspiration from “Happening Art,” “Fluxus” and “Situationist International,” and is closely related to community art in the UK and the new genre public art in the US.
Taiwan’s socially engaged art practice emerged around the lifting of martial law, along with experimental exhibitions; however, there was no systematic theorization at the time. Moreover, the artists did not necessarily consider the process of public participation as an objective of art exhibitions. It was after 2000 when projects such as “Very Fun Park” (2001) and “Haian Street Museum of Art” (2004) were launched, together with the establishment of NKNU’s Graduate Institute of Transdisciplinary Art (2006) and TNUA’s Graduate Institute of Transdisciplinary Arts, that participatory art was systematically introduced and gradually became a common practice and form of art genre.
In 2018, Education for Socially Engaged Art: A Materials and Techniques Handbook, translated by WU Dai-Rong and SU Yao-Hua, was published by Taipei National University of the Arts. In this book, the author Pablo HELGUERA attempted to clarify the changes that socially engaged art, underwent over the course of nearly half a century to re-define it: “SEA [socially engaged art] is a hybrid, multi-disciplinary activity that exists somewhere between art and non-art, and its state may be permanently unresolved. SEA depends on actual—not imagined or hypothetical—social action.”
The practice of participatory art avoids the dominance of a singular author and shifts to a collaborative model while refusing any symbolic forms, consumerism and elitist aesthetic viewpoints, allowing participatory art to naturally develop theorization related to “collaboration” and “participation.” For example, British Artist Stephen WILLATS asserts that the artist and the audience are no longer defined by a rigid upper-lower relationship; instead, they become co-creators of an artwork through communication and interaction. US artist and writer Suzanne LACY proposes a model of concentric circles for audience participation. With the center being “the motivation of creation,” the participants and audiences are divided according to the level of their involvement. The production of each work has fixed aspects of participation. The relationship between audience, artist and artwork is defined by constantly, mutually permeating and influencing concentric circles along the process. Helguera further incorporates the artist’s level of dominance in the participation framework as he believes that the artist’s participation has a direct influence on the community experience created by the artist.
Various works that serve as examples of socially engaged art include YEH Wei-Li’s The Treasure Hill Tea + Photo Project (2004-2006), HSU Chia-Wei’s Marshal Tie Jia (2012), CHOU Yu-Cheng’s A Working History – Lu Chieh-Te (2012), HUANG Po-Chih’s Five Hundred Lemon Trees (2013), KAO Jun-Honn’s The Ruin Image Crystal Project and Mirage: Disused Public Property in Taiwan created by YAO Jui-Chung and a group of students.
Reference
Taiwan’s socially engaged art practice emerged around the lifting of martial law, along with experimental exhibitions; however, there was no systematic theorization at the time. Moreover, the artists did not necessarily consider the process of public participation as an objective of art exhibitions. It was after 2000 when projects such as “Very Fun Park” (2001) and “Haian Street Museum of Art” (2004) were launched, together with the establishment of NKNU’s Graduate Institute of Transdisciplinary Art (2006) and TNUA’s Graduate Institute of Transdisciplinary Arts, that participatory art was systematically introduced and gradually became a common practice and form of art genre.
In 2018, Education for Socially Engaged Art: A Materials and Techniques Handbook, translated by WU Dai-Rong and SU Yao-Hua, was published by Taipei National University of the Arts. In this book, the author Pablo HELGUERA attempted to clarify the changes that socially engaged art, underwent over the course of nearly half a century to re-define it: “SEA [socially engaged art] is a hybrid, multi-disciplinary activity that exists somewhere between art and non-art, and its state may be permanently unresolved. SEA depends on actual—not imagined or hypothetical—social action.”
The practice of participatory art avoids the dominance of a singular author and shifts to a collaborative model while refusing any symbolic forms, consumerism and elitist aesthetic viewpoints, allowing participatory art to naturally develop theorization related to “collaboration” and “participation.” For example, British Artist Stephen WILLATS asserts that the artist and the audience are no longer defined by a rigid upper-lower relationship; instead, they become co-creators of an artwork through communication and interaction. US artist and writer Suzanne LACY proposes a model of concentric circles for audience participation. With the center being “the motivation of creation,” the participants and audiences are divided according to the level of their involvement. The production of each work has fixed aspects of participation. The relationship between audience, artist and artwork is defined by constantly, mutually permeating and influencing concentric circles along the process. Helguera further incorporates the artist’s level of dominance in the participation framework as he believes that the artist’s participation has a direct influence on the community experience created by the artist.
Various works that serve as examples of socially engaged art include YEH Wei-Li’s The Treasure Hill Tea + Photo Project (2004-2006), HSU Chia-Wei’s Marshal Tie Jia (2012), CHOU Yu-Cheng’s A Working History – Lu Chieh-Te (2012), HUANG Po-Chih’s Five Hundred Lemon Trees (2013), KAO Jun-Honn’s The Ruin Image Crystal Project and Mirage: Disused Public Property in Taiwan created by YAO Jui-Chung and a group of students.
Reference
- Helguera, Pablo. Education for Socially Engaged Art: A Materials and Techniques Handbook. Trans. Wu Dai-Rong and Su Yao-Hua. Taipei: Taipei National University of the Arts, 2018.
- Bishop, Claire. Artificial Hells: Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship. Trans. Lin Hong-Tao. Taipei: ARTouch, 2015.
- Kester, Grant H. Conversation Pieces: Community＋Communication in Modern Art. Trans. Wu Mali et al. Taipei: Yuan-Liou Publishing, 2006.
- Lu, Pei-Yi. “Shifting towards ‘Art/Society’: A Study on the Practice of Socially Engaged Art.” Research project commissioned by the National Culture and Arts Foundation, 2015.
社會參與式藝術（Socially Engaged Art）
社會參與式藝術是一種強調與社會締結關係的藝術實踐方式，擁有社群的（Community）、合作的（Collaborative）、參與性的（Participatory）、對話性的（Dialogic）、公共的（Public）等特質。受到1960年代思潮的影響，社會參與式藝術帶有藝術行動主義（Art Activism）的特色，藉由關注於社會議題並且出自於藝術理念的行動為社會中的個體或群體賦權（empowerment），成為一種常見的藝術實踐方法，形式上同時受到偶發藝術、福魯克薩斯／激流派（Fluxus）與 情境主義國際（Situationist International）的啟發，並且與英國社群藝術及美國的新類型公共藝術關係匪淺。
臺灣的社會參與式藝術形式創作在解嚴前後萌發，伴隨著實驗性質的展演出現，但當時並未出現系統性的論述，創作者也未將群眾參與的過程視為其藝術展演的目的。直到2000年以後，「粉樂町」（2001）、「海安街道美術館」（2004）等計畫的策動，並且隨著高雄師範大學創立跨領域藝術研究所（2006）與臺北藝術大學藝術跨域研究所（2009）的設置，參與式藝術被系統性地引介，才逐漸成為普遍的藝術實踐類別。
2018年由吳岱融與蘇瑤華翻譯，臺北藝術大學出版的《社會參與藝術的十個關鍵概念》，作者保羅．埃爾格拉試圖在書中釐清社會參與式藝術在近半世紀來的轉變，並重新定錨：「社會參與藝術是一個介於藝術與非藝術之間的混合、多領域活動，並可能永遠處在一個曖昧不明的狀態；最後，社會參與藝術是建立在真實（而非想像或假定）的社會行動之上。」
在參與式藝術的實踐過程當中，去除單一作者並且轉往合作模式，與拒絕象徵性的的作品形式、反對消費主義、菁英式的美學觀點，讓參與式藝術自然而然地發展出「合作」與「參與」的相關論述，如英國藝術家史蒂芬・維列茲認為藝術家與觀眾的關係不再是嚴謹的上下層關係，而是透過溝通與互動成為作品的共同生產者；美國藝術家與作家蘇珊．雷西提出了同心圓式的觀眾參與模型，以「創造的誘因」作為中心，依參與的深入程度劃分參與者與不同的觀眾群，每一件作品產生的參與層面是固定的，觀眾和藝術家、作品的關係形成一個隨著過程進行，不斷滲透、相互影響的同心圓；保羅．埃爾格拉則進一步將藝術家主導性的高低納入參與的架構當中，認為參與程度直接影響了藝術家營造的社群經驗。
目前該類型創作的案例有葉偉立的〈寶藏巖泡茶照相館計畫〉（2004-2006）、許家維的〈鐵甲元帥〉（2012）、周育政的〈工作史-盧皆得〉（2012）、黃博志的〈五百顆檸檬術〉（2013）高俊宏的〈廢墟晶體計畫〉與姚瑞中與學生共同進行的〈海市蜃樓：台灣閒置公共設施抽樣踏查〉等。
參考文獻
臺灣的社會參與式藝術形式創作在解嚴前後萌發，伴隨著實驗性質的展演出現，但當時並未出現系統性的論述，創作者也未將群眾參與的過程視為其藝術展演的目的。直到2000年以後，「粉樂町」（2001）、「海安街道美術館」（2004）等計畫的策動，並且隨著高雄師範大學創立跨領域藝術研究所（2006）與臺北藝術大學藝術跨域研究所（2009）的設置，參與式藝術被系統性地引介，才逐漸成為普遍的藝術實踐類別。
2018年由吳岱融與蘇瑤華翻譯，臺北藝術大學出版的《社會參與藝術的十個關鍵概念》，作者保羅．埃爾格拉試圖在書中釐清社會參與式藝術在近半世紀來的轉變，並重新定錨：「社會參與藝術是一個介於藝術與非藝術之間的混合、多領域活動，並可能永遠處在一個曖昧不明的狀態；最後，社會參與藝術是建立在真實（而非想像或假定）的社會行動之上。」
在參與式藝術的實踐過程當中，去除單一作者並且轉往合作模式，與拒絕象徵性的的作品形式、反對消費主義、菁英式的美學觀點，讓參與式藝術自然而然地發展出「合作」與「參與」的相關論述，如英國藝術家史蒂芬・維列茲認為藝術家與觀眾的關係不再是嚴謹的上下層關係，而是透過溝通與互動成為作品的共同生產者；美國藝術家與作家蘇珊．雷西提出了同心圓式的觀眾參與模型，以「創造的誘因」作為中心，依參與的深入程度劃分參與者與不同的觀眾群，每一件作品產生的參與層面是固定的，觀眾和藝術家、作品的關係形成一個隨著過程進行，不斷滲透、相互影響的同心圓；保羅．埃爾格拉則進一步將藝術家主導性的高低納入參與的架構當中，認為參與程度直接影響了藝術家營造的社群經驗。
目前該類型創作的案例有葉偉立的〈寶藏巖泡茶照相館計畫〉（2004-2006）、許家維的〈鐵甲元帥〉（2012）、周育政的〈工作史-盧皆得〉（2012）、黃博志的〈五百顆檸檬術〉（2013）高俊宏的〈廢墟晶體計畫〉與姚瑞中與學生共同進行的〈海市蜃樓：台灣閒置公共設施抽樣踏查〉等。
參考文獻
- 保羅．埃爾格拉，《社會參與藝術的十個關鍵概念》，吳岱融、蘇瑤華譯，臺北藝術大學，2018。
- 克萊兒．畢莎普，《人造地獄》，林宏濤譯，典藏，2015。
- 格蘭．凱斯特Grant H. Kester著，《對話性創作：現代藝術中的社群與溝通》，吳瑪悧等譯，遠流，2006。
- 呂佩怡，〈轉向「藝術/社會」：社會參與的藝術實踐研究〉，國家文化藝術基金會委託研究計畫案，2015。