In 2015, the East Coast National Scenic Area Headquarters, which oversees the area from the mouth of Hualien River to Xiaoyeliu Scenic Area (officially, East Coast Fugang Geopark) covering 168 kilometers of coastline between Hualien and Taitung counties, launched the Taiwan East Coast Land Arts Festival (TECLandArts Festival). Since then, there have been 4 major art festivals that involve land art, local tourism, and public participation: the East Rift Valley Land Art Festival (along County Highway 197), South Link Arts Festival (across 4 southern rural townships of Taitung), and the Mipaliw Land Art Festival (in coastal Hualien). We see that the managing offices of these art festivals are all non-arts related entities, such as the East Coast National Scenic Area Headquarters and the Taitung Branch of Agency of Rural Development and Soil and Water Conservation, both entities of the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency of the Hualien Forest District Office. Even the South Link Arts Festival which is organized by the Cultural Affairs Department, receives funding from the South Link Highway Expansion Project feedback fund.
Accordingly, there is tension of negotiation between curatorial teams, and artists involving environmental protection agencies and ecosystems. For this article, I interviewed LEE Yun-Yi, curator of the recent TECLandArts Festivals, the private-sector management of the Mipaliw Land Art Festival, and SU Ssu-Ming of NODE Creative. Despite their migrant status, they have lived in Taitung and Hualien for extended periods. Their unique backgrounds and relationships to the local cultural ecosystem, along with their extensive local experiences, help to propel the festivals along the workings of the local cultural conditions and established networks. Through this survey and my private interpretations, I aim to provide an alternative take on the land art festival and expand the discussions, especially since today, we see a great proliferation of art festivals on both the main island of Taiwan and off-shore islands.
Rahic TALIF,Marine,The Shadow of Island (2018), litter nylon ropes, marine litter bricks, marine litter plastic, rebar. East Coast National Scenic Area Headquarters at Douli, Taitung. 2018 Taiwan East Coast Land Arts Festival. Credits: Provided by Taiwan East Coast Land Arts Festival.
From LEE Yun-Yi’s perspective, the local basis for the art festival began in early 2000 in Dulan and Jinzun in the rural township of Donghe, when the disused Dulan Sugar Factory was turned into an arts and culture site and the Conscious Tribe came together at Jinzun. Subsequently, the government-hosted Austronesian Cultural Festival, Du Lan Shan Arts Festival, and art installation projects along Provincial Highway 11 such as Marks of the Eastern Seas-East Coast Driftwood Installation Art and Jialulan Handicraft Market, all featured works by members of the Conscious Tribe and the Dulan artists community. Through the practices of these multi-local artists, an artistic quality and cultural space had been developed, incorporating the material aesthetics and symbolism of driftwood, the art action and environmental aesthetics of the Conscious Tribe, and the Sugar Factory Cafe as the gateway for exchanges between the north and the south. Scott EZELL, a US-based musician who took residence at Dulan personally observes: “For the Conscious Tribe artist, there is a holiness in the driftwood’s curves, color variations, and textures that transcends the appearances of the mountains and seas, an overarching cycle that no human being can understand or recreate, which can only be captured through sculpture.”1
LEE Yun-Yi noted that since 2006, the artist-initiated Jialulan Handicraft Market at the Jialulan Recreation Area brought together driftwood art and live music by local musicians, not only expanding upon the government policy of co-creation between public and private sectors, but also, with its representation of the aesthetics of mountain and sea during the summer event, served as a prototype for future art festivals. On the other hand, the East Coast National Scenic Area Headquarters, founded in 1987, has been tasked with environmental management, maintenance, and building social relationships. As an entity of the central government, it has a less complex mission than offices of the local county government. For the curatorial team, that meant a greater degree of freedom to act. The year before the art festival launched, LEE took on the commission to research art development on the east coast of Taiwan. In her work with the authorities, two important models for policymaking were the Setouchi Triennale and Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale. However, LEE thinks that the aesthetic direction originates from its first curator, PAN Sheau-Shei. Since then, “Down-time Philosophy, Sightseer’s Gaze, and Land Aesthetics” has become the core proposition of the festivals, while also developing a framework of residency creation, land art, open workshops, handicraft art market, and ocean kitchen events. LEE says city folks view life on the east coast as being “laid-back”, neglecting the personal circumstances and the economic conditions of the region. “The art festival brings forth an aspect beneath the veil of tourism, so that people are unable to escape into the toils of everyday life and forced to confront our inner selves.”
Iyo Kacaw, The Moon Lives in the Sea (2021). Rebar. Jialulan. 2021 TECLandArts Festival. Credits: Photo courtesy of Taiwan East Coast Land Arts Festival.
Between 2017 and 2018, LEE Yun-Yi managed the curation work for the TECLandArts Festival, with the respective themes of Mother Island (2017) and Inter-archipelago (2018). She drew upon her practical experience, using art residency creation, open workshops, moonlight sea concerts, and markets as the devices of the art festival. In all aspects, “being with nature” was seen as the running thread. “Land art’s discourse in public places of nature, far from urban life, often retain traces of materials being changed and eroded by natural forces, preserving a gradually changing aesthetic of life”2, this meant that in contrast to public art that is stable and visible, the land art of the Taiwan East Coast Land Arts Festival appeals to the unstable and fleeting. The installations are not taken down at the end of the exhibition dates, but continue to coexist with the environment, left to their fates. This also creates an art space that facilitates creative exchange and maintains a culture of mutual support between tradespersons.
Left: Artist Euroba assists Maiko SUGANO in the installation work 'Boat'. Photo courtesy of Taiwan East Coast Land Arts Festival. Right: Artist Nitjan Takivalit (left) helps participating artists create using fishplate welding. Photo courtesy of Taiwan East Coast Land Arts Festival.
The Mipaliw Land Art Festival evolved from the “Terrace Field Wetland Environmental Art Installation Exhibition and Music Festival” originating in 2011, and for a time was known as the “Mipaliw Wetland Art Festival”. “Mipaliw” means mutual assistance and exchange of labor in Amis language. The festival initially focused on the revitalization of the stone-terraced rice paddies in the rural township of Fengbin, and took on its current name in 2018. As the festival expanded to the coastal tribes of Kaluluan (Jiqi), Dipit (Fushing), pateRungan (Hsinshe), and Fakong (Maogong), it was renamed “Mipaliw Land Art Festival” in 2016 as part of the “Mipaliw Satoumi Platform” local empowerment initiative by the Hualien Forest District Office of the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency. This initiative emphasizes the coexistence of human systems and living environments, extending to the concept of “Satoumi” (coastal) from “Satoyama” (mountainous) regions. Its criteria included basic constructs of ecosystems, material circulation, main actors, and coordinated symbiosis, emphasizing collaborative governance by civil society.
The current organizing team, NODE Creative, began its curatorial work in the region in 2018 with the “Mipaliw Satoumi” platform. Core members SU Ssu-Ming, WANG Li-Chi, and HUANG Jin-Cheng had been deeply involved in the Hualien region for several years. WANG Li-Chi transformed the former police station near Gangkou Elementary School into the “Cepo’ Art Center,” a hub for art residency and education along the coast. Hualien County’s Mountain and Sea Theater project was mired in controversy, turned down by Gangkou, Jingpu, and Fengbing townships until a site was secured at Jiqi, and was also the subject of study for that year’s curatorial theme “Flow“. While most festivals aim to stimulate tourism, NODE Creative focused on the concept of “exhibition gap years” as devised by Fram KITAGAWA, and in this way extend their work to the community. Once the art festival ended, they proposed that the Hualien Forest District Office adopt a two-year cycle, rotating between the “Mipaliw Satoumi Art Placemaking” activities and the art festival itself to minimize the burden on the tribes, enhance their understanding of the festival’s relationship with the community, and encourage the community’s participation and creative energy. The first artistic placemaking in 2019, inviting 5 performance artists to 5 different tribes to conduct workshops in collaboration with community members of various ages. Once they created the momentum, it extended into the following year’s festival, when artists’ creations became part of the explorations on local issues, returning to a discussion of regional development on a policy and resource level and highlighting the subjectivity of the local community participating in art festivals. The shifted time structure also allowed the team to focus on recalibrating their artistic actions, since the inextricably intertwined complexity of tribal contexts must be taken in. In other words, the art festival is merely an external representation of the results of a particular phase.
CHEN Hao-yi (Akac Orat), Fasulan (2021). Strapping for cardboard boxes, rattan, cement. 700 x 180 x 40 cm. 2021 Mipaliw Land Art Festival. Photo by Night Raven, Photo courtesy of NODE Creative.
Placemaking tends to tie in to industry. However, placemaking for the team means “creation”, “creativity”, “innovation”, “ecosystems”, “living”, and “production”, a combined cycle that humans continuously engage in everyday survival. Viewing “past creations as the starting point of current creation (placemaking)”, they began to survey materials, conduct extensive interviews with elders, and invite artists to experiment with materials for cultural translation. In the following year, artists return to the tribe to experiment and practice together with the youth. Transcending a pictorial form of scientific narrative, they involve tribal legends, memories, and skills to make these materials tangible and vibrant by connecting materials with life, ecology, and culture. NODE Creative took part in the publication of Transmissibility Vol. 1: Fengbin Cultural Material Document (2020), positing the vision: “Whether it’s passing on traditional industries, youth returning to start businesses, creating local tourism, immigrants taking root, artist in residency, or art festival events, this map and reference guide can serve as a foundation for transforming the past and laying out the future.” When tribe members realize that art can also tie together their cultural heritage, there is deeper mutual understanding and leverage in the process of taking root.
Material maps of five tribes included in Transmissibility Vol. 1: Fengbin Cultural Material Document<span>; Illustration by WANG Hsiu-Ju, Photo courtesy of NODE Creative.
All this means is that art creation is more closely related to the community than the landscape. Reflecting on the methods of the art festival, SU Ssu-Ming mentions that in 2021, participating artists were invited to the tribe to learn about natural materials such as clay, bamboo, and rattan. Some artists’ final works were related to the materials they learned about, showcasing each artist’s perspective on the materials. While landscape art may attract crowds, it is ultimately an added value. The goal of art creation is to find the “creative” ability, encompassing economic, cultural, and even educational contexts, family structure, and disruptions of the cultural heritage of the tribes, which are all interconnected and cannot be ignored.
Artist WU Shu-Lin learns from tribal women in the process of making Amis pottery test pieces and experimental semi-finished products, while bringing in young artists to the tribe to inspire creation. Photo courtesy of NODE Creative.
Artist KA Ya-Chu working with tribe members to process ramie, experiment with materials, and practice various fiber material formal constructions. Photo courtesy of NODE Creative.
From the internal factors of the two art festivals to the trajectory of influence on overall cultural policies and negotiations with environmental governance mechanisms, each step constructs its curatorial methods and aesthetic demands, intertwined with more complex and diverse local networks. In the context of LEE Yun-Yi’s accounts, the formation of the land art festivals includes a hidden policy path, the “public art—land art festival” boundary effect. NI Tsai-Chin mentioned in his book Exploration of Public Art in Taiwan (1997) that there was a debate in Taiwan about whether the English term “public art” should be translated as “civic (公眾) art” or “commons (公共) art” in Chinese, ultimately settling on the latter, which is relatively far from its original meaning. If the translation of words inevitably affects the construct of cognition, can it still potentially influence the way the land art festival is viewed in policy mechanisms and local governance?
PAN Sheau-Shei mentioned in an Art Critique of Taiwan interview3 that when public art was promoted in various places in the 1990s, Hualien was one of the places chosen for the pilot program. The NTU Graduate Institute of Building and Planning raised the concept of “users having the right to design” principle, leading to increased public participation in the installation of public art in Hualien. After a failed social protest movement against Taiwan Cement Corporation, Hualien artists entered the Pine Garden, which was disused and slated for demolition, to organize theDriftwood Environmental Installation Art Exhibition (2000)and formed the “Hualien County Cultural and Environmental Creation Association”. The following year, the Pine Garden was chosen as one of the six trial sites for the “2001 Revitalization Trial Program” by the Council for Cultural Affairs (now the Ministry of Culture). HUANG Tsan-Huang, the director of the Sintung Sugar Factory in Dulan, mentioned in an interview with LEE Yun-Yi4 that the first artist to enter the sugar factory, Siki Sufin (in 2001), was looking for a larger workspace to work on the VA KANG AN Hot Springs installation art project. The reason the “Sugar Factory Cafe” (of 2003) appeared in the sugar factory is that the preparatory group came up with the concept of “reusing idle space”. If public art, revitalization of idle spaces, landscape art, and the land art festival (at least in Hualien and Taitung) form a connected and transitional vocabulary system, how should we proceed, and how do we retrospectively describe the art development in Hualien and Taitung?
Scene of performance before nightfall at the 2023 Moonlight Sea Concert. Photo courtesy of Taiwan East Coast Land Arts Festival.
Artists YU Ming-Chu and CHIU Mi-Chen lead tribal women in a physical performance workshop. Photo courtesy of NODE Creative.
Thus, LEE Yun-Yi’s summary of the “Conscious Tribe—Dulan Sugar Factory—Land Art Festival” past and present is initiated by the art community; the “Rice Paddy—Mipaliw—Mipaliw Land” succession of art festivals undertaken by NODE Creative expands from the initial single tribe (Gangkou Tribe) to multiple tribes. “Community” and “Tribe” are the two scales of art networks initiated by the art festivals, not demarcated, but often cross-referencing. For example, before the “Rice Paddy” in the first decade of this century, the Gangkou Tribe, at the core region, gradually formed an art community through the return of creators and the influx of art projects. Although the Mipaliw Land Art Festival no longer focuses on the Gangkou Tribe, the recently emerged Makotaay Ecological Art Village reconnects the existing art community through new planning axes and operational methods, while continuously introducing external dialogues and artist residency mechanisms to spark new energies.
Leaving the coastline and looking towards the longitudinal valley (rift valley), in the example of the curatorial theme of “Transmigration of Gaya in the Contemporary” at the Elug Art Corner this year, which is still centered on the Dowmung Tribe and invites creators from different fields, locales, and ethnic groups to respond to Gaya among the Taroko people. This can be considered an example of the tribal network scale. In contrast, LIN Chieh-Wen’s curation “Dungku Asang” in 2021 is closer to the community network scale. If art festivals always involve groups, these two scales may serve as ways to view art festivals in Hualien and Taitung, and even as an inherent logic for understanding the development of contemporary art in Hualien and Taitung. Such groups may also generate different “forces”, inviting non-typical critical exchange relationships in environmental governance and cultural production.
