Utopia
With its origin in Greek, the prefix “u” in “utopia” means both “without” and “good or well,” whereas the affix “topia” refers to “place.” The term first appeared in the homonymous book by British writer Thomas MORE published in 1516, in which the writer described an ideal society. The notion has been frequently applied to art criticism and writings about exhibitions to describe the unique scenes and worldviews fabricated by artists, the brief gathering of communities through exhibitions and performances, the realities and ecologies of gathered art communities, etc.
In 2014, following the Sunflower Student Movement, utopia created by artists with symbolic actions and exhibitions underwent scrutiny when faced with drastic political and economic impacts caused by globalization, neoliberalism and urban gentrification. In the same year, the feature topic, “Art as a Mobilizing Force,” in the June issue of Artist magazine began with Carol BECKER’s article, entitle “Microutopias: Public Practice in the Public Sphere,” and traced numerous classic works of the new genre public art, community art and socially engaged art before further exploring the artists’ actions and the public’s autonomous creation at the site of the Sunflower Student Movement, along with their problematics derived from the social sphere. At its beginning, the article quoted the words from Ernst BLOCH in his letter to Theodor ADORNO: “‘The essential function of Utopia’ says Ernst BLOCH to Theodor ADORNO, ‘is a critique of what is present.’”
Also in 2014, the Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts held the exhibition “Asia Anarchy Alliance” which was curated by WU Dar-Kuen and was a series of actions/exhibitions that extended the exhibition “Republic without People.” In February 2014, the convener of the “Republic without People,” together with Xijing Men, The New Government of Japan and a score of artists, signed a symbolic convention at Tokyo Bay to formalize the founding of the Asia Anarchy Alliance (AAA). The objective of the alliance is to demonstrate the participants’ determination to oppose nuclear power (it was around the third anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster) and their insistence on free will and humanitarian concerns. From March to April, AAA presented an exhibition at Tokyo Wonder Site, and issued the AAA passport to bring together various spaces in Tokyo for multiple exhibitions. The exhibition was restaged in Taiwan in May afterwards—“it is a transnational ‘small movement’ that launched by inter-Asian artists … Through the questions posed by the artworks, the exhibition signals social issues facing inter-Asia today.”
Because AAA’s programs were partially coincided with the Sunflower Student Movement, the works by some of the attending artists were related to the movement and some artists also stationed at the site of the movement to produce their works, for instance, YUAN Goang-Ming’s The 561st Hour of Occupation and CHEN Ching-Yuan’s Painting from Life on the Legislative Floor. However, as the exhibition was realized with re-arrangement of sensibility, there were also discussions about how art could respond to the social sphere. Other terms derived from “utopia” include “cacatopia,” “dystopia” and “heterotopia”; and exhibitions that have employed the concept of utopia include “Atopia” and “Eattopia: 2010 Taiwan International Video Art Exhibition.” The two exhibitions by AAA in Japan and Taiwan have created consistent collisions with the present social situations, and have continuously explored the Taiwanese contemporary art and society.
Reference
In 2014, following the Sunflower Student Movement, utopia created by artists with symbolic actions and exhibitions underwent scrutiny when faced with drastic political and economic impacts caused by globalization, neoliberalism and urban gentrification. In the same year, the feature topic, “Art as a Mobilizing Force,” in the June issue of Artist magazine began with Carol BECKER’s article, entitle “Microutopias: Public Practice in the Public Sphere,” and traced numerous classic works of the new genre public art, community art and socially engaged art before further exploring the artists’ actions and the public’s autonomous creation at the site of the Sunflower Student Movement, along with their problematics derived from the social sphere. At its beginning, the article quoted the words from Ernst BLOCH in his letter to Theodor ADORNO: “‘The essential function of Utopia’ says Ernst BLOCH to Theodor ADORNO, ‘is a critique of what is present.’”
Also in 2014, the Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts held the exhibition “Asia Anarchy Alliance” which was curated by WU Dar-Kuen and was a series of actions/exhibitions that extended the exhibition “Republic without People.” In February 2014, the convener of the “Republic without People,” together with Xijing Men, The New Government of Japan and a score of artists, signed a symbolic convention at Tokyo Bay to formalize the founding of the Asia Anarchy Alliance (AAA). The objective of the alliance is to demonstrate the participants’ determination to oppose nuclear power (it was around the third anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster) and their insistence on free will and humanitarian concerns. From March to April, AAA presented an exhibition at Tokyo Wonder Site, and issued the AAA passport to bring together various spaces in Tokyo for multiple exhibitions. The exhibition was restaged in Taiwan in May afterwards—“it is a transnational ‘small movement’ that launched by inter-Asian artists … Through the questions posed by the artworks, the exhibition signals social issues facing inter-Asia today.”
Because AAA’s programs were partially coincided with the Sunflower Student Movement, the works by some of the attending artists were related to the movement and some artists also stationed at the site of the movement to produce their works, for instance, YUAN Goang-Ming’s The 561st Hour of Occupation and CHEN Ching-Yuan’s Painting from Life on the Legislative Floor. However, as the exhibition was realized with re-arrangement of sensibility, there were also discussions about how art could respond to the social sphere. Other terms derived from “utopia” include “cacatopia,” “dystopia” and “heterotopia”; and exhibitions that have employed the concept of utopia include “Atopia” and “Eattopia: 2010 Taiwan International Video Art Exhibition.” The two exhibitions by AAA in Japan and Taiwan have created consistent collisions with the present social situations, and have continuously explored the Taiwanese contemporary art and society.
Reference
- WU Dar-Kuen. Asia Anarchy Alliance. Garden City Publishing, 2015.
- KAO Chien-Hui. The Moving Horizon: The Essential Guide of Utopian Art. Artist Publishing, 2009.
- Becker, Carol et al. “Art as a Mobilizing Force.” Artist, iss. 469, June 2014, pp. 188-221.
- WANG Sheng-Hung. “The Fog of ‘Exchange’ to Be Traversed—Reality and Fiction in ‘Asia Anarchy Alliance.’” Artist, iss. 471, August 2014, pp. 214-9.
- Asia Anarchy Alliance. Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts.
- Asia Anarchy Alliance. Waterfall.
- HSIAO Li-Hung. ‘An Asian Anarchy Alliance is now formalized in Tokyo: Why, Who, What and How Was It done.” Bamboo Curtain Studio.
烏托邦（Utopia）
源自於希臘文的，「u」指「沒有」（without）及「好」，「topia」指「地方」。出自英國作家湯瑪斯‧摩爾（Thomas More）在1516年出版的同名書籍，書中描述了理想國度的樣貌，經常被使用在藝術評論及展覽論述當中，用以形容藝術家所創造出的特殊場景及世界觀、透過展演短暫發生的社群集結、藝術社群凝聚的樣貌及生態等。
2014年隨著太陽花運動的發生，藝術家透過象徵性的行動及展示所建立起的烏托邦，在面對全球化、新自由主義、都市的仕紳化在政治及經濟層面所帶來的劇烈影響時受到檢視。同年，藝術家雜誌六月份的專題「藝術做為動員的力量」以卡羅‧貝克（Carol Becker）的文章〈微型烏托邦：公共場域中的公共實踐〉作為開頭，回溯新類型公共藝術、社群藝術及社會參與式藝術的諸多經典作品，進而探究發生在太陽花運動現場的藝術家行動及群眾自發性的創作行為以及其在社會場域中衍伸出來的問題意識，文章起始引述了布洛赫（Ernst Bloch）寫給阿多諾（Theodor Adorno）的信件內容：「烏托邦的基本功能，是批判現狀。」（“The essential function of Utopia,” says Ernst Bloch to Theodor Adorno, “is a critique of what is present.”）
同樣於2014年，關渡美術館舉辦了展覽「亞細亞安那其連線」，由吳達坤策畫，延伸自展覽「後民國：沒人共和國」系列的行動／展演。在2014年2月由後民國-沒人共和國召集，與西京人（Xijing Men）、新政府（The New Government of Japan）團體共數十位藝術家在東京灣簽屬象徵性的公約，成立AAA亞細亞安那其連線（ASIA Anarchy Alliance），旨在反映與會者反核（時逢福島核災三週年）堅持自由意志及人道關懷的決心。三月至四月時，亞細亞安那其連線在東京都藝術村（Tokyo Wonder Site）進行展覽，結合東京多個展演，發行安那其連線護照串聯起諸多空間，並在五月時移到台灣，「是一群亞際藝術家發起的跨國『小運動』，……透過作品的提問，指涉出當今亞際自身的社會性議題。」
由於亞細亞安那其連線的活動時間與太陽花運動重疊，部分參與藝術家作品與運動相關並進入運動現場製作，如袁廣鳴的《佔領的561小時》、陳敬元的《議場內的肖像》等，但也因為展覽實踐方式著重感性上的重新配置，而引起藝術如何回應社會場域的討論。烏托邦另外衍伸出的詞彙包含Cacatopias（惡托邦）、Dystopia（反烏托邦）、Heterotopia（異托邦）等，援引烏托邦概念的展覽有「非域之境（ATOPIA）」以及「食托邦：2010臺灣國際錄像藝術展」等。而2014年亞細亞安那其連線在日本及台灣的兩場展演，與當下的社會處境不斷碰撞著烏托邦的架構，並持續了臺灣當代藝術與社會的探討。
參考文獻
2014年隨著太陽花運動的發生，藝術家透過象徵性的行動及展示所建立起的烏托邦，在面對全球化、新自由主義、都市的仕紳化在政治及經濟層面所帶來的劇烈影響時受到檢視。同年，藝術家雜誌六月份的專題「藝術做為動員的力量」以卡羅‧貝克（Carol Becker）的文章〈微型烏托邦：公共場域中的公共實踐〉作為開頭，回溯新類型公共藝術、社群藝術及社會參與式藝術的諸多經典作品，進而探究發生在太陽花運動現場的藝術家行動及群眾自發性的創作行為以及其在社會場域中衍伸出來的問題意識，文章起始引述了布洛赫（Ernst Bloch）寫給阿多諾（Theodor Adorno）的信件內容：「烏托邦的基本功能，是批判現狀。」（“The essential function of Utopia,” says Ernst Bloch to Theodor Adorno, “is a critique of what is present.”）
同樣於2014年，關渡美術館舉辦了展覽「亞細亞安那其連線」，由吳達坤策畫，延伸自展覽「後民國：沒人共和國」系列的行動／展演。在2014年2月由後民國-沒人共和國召集，與西京人（Xijing Men）、新政府（The New Government of Japan）團體共數十位藝術家在東京灣簽屬象徵性的公約，成立AAA亞細亞安那其連線（ASIA Anarchy Alliance），旨在反映與會者反核（時逢福島核災三週年）堅持自由意志及人道關懷的決心。三月至四月時，亞細亞安那其連線在東京都藝術村（Tokyo Wonder Site）進行展覽，結合東京多個展演，發行安那其連線護照串聯起諸多空間，並在五月時移到台灣，「是一群亞際藝術家發起的跨國『小運動』，……透過作品的提問，指涉出當今亞際自身的社會性議題。」
由於亞細亞安那其連線的活動時間與太陽花運動重疊，部分參與藝術家作品與運動相關並進入運動現場製作，如袁廣鳴的《佔領的561小時》、陳敬元的《議場內的肖像》等，但也因為展覽實踐方式著重感性上的重新配置，而引起藝術如何回應社會場域的討論。烏托邦另外衍伸出的詞彙包含Cacatopias（惡托邦）、Dystopia（反烏托邦）、Heterotopia（異托邦）等，援引烏托邦概念的展覽有「非域之境（ATOPIA）」以及「食托邦：2010臺灣國際錄像藝術展」等。而2014年亞細亞安那其連線在日本及台灣的兩場展演，與當下的社會處境不斷碰撞著烏托邦的架構，並持續了臺灣當代藝術與社會的探討。
參考文獻
- 吳達坤，《亞細亞安那其連線》，田園城市，2015。
- 高千惠，《移動的地平線：藝文烏托邦簡史》，藝術家出版社，2009。
- 卡蘿·貝克等，〈藝術作為動員的力量〉專輯，藝術家，469期，頁188-221，2014.6。
- 王聖閎，〈有待穿越的「交流」迷霧—「亞細亞安那其連線」中的現實與虛構〉，藝術家，471期，頁214-219，2014.8。
- AAA亞細亞安那其連線，關渡美術館
- AAA亞細亞安那其連線，Waterfall
http://www.hiwaterfall.com/post/aaa/ - 蕭麗虹，〈亞細亞安那其連線的東京成型：緣起，成員，與過程〉，竹圍工作室