Local Enough?

Can foreigners use their outsider perspectives to see local sceneries that the local people have neglected to see?

The tourist gaze proposed in John Urry’s book with the same title involves experiences outside of one’s ordinary daily routine, which then evokes a sharper sense of observation, with tourists enthusiastically applying the signs they have observed to construct the subjects of their gazes.

Through engaging in “residencies”, artists are able to immerse themselves in “other” locations with different cultures from their own and to experience the locations’ unique “local cultures”, with their proposed residency projects derived from cultural contexts, localness, and social distinctions that are their own and also how they have imagined these “other” locations.

Some of these artists have arrived in Taipei, Taiwan, seeking to understand what is considered “local” here.

As for us, those playing the role of the locals and also on-location witnesses, how should we reflectively see ourselves (or our island) through their eyes?

Should we carefully examine from all angles whether or not these outsiders have fittingly presented something that is “local enough?”

Or should we negate projections coming from these foreign eyes that are without a trace of recognizable familiarity?

Taiwan is an island that is constantly receiving cultures and people from different places. A group exhibition showcasing artworks by artists-in-residence is a domain composed of multiple-perspectives, where “our localness” is reflected through several pairs of eyes of “non-local others”. Can such endeavor lead to mutual connections between them and us? Can this also prompt the locals to further reconsider our constantly shifting “local culture”, resulting in new, broader horizons seen through a compound perspective?

台北國際藝術村第三期駐村藝術家聯展

接地氣，嗎？

外地人用外地的眼光能不能看到本地人用本地的眼光看不到的本地的風光？

約翰．厄里(John Urry)在《觀光客的凝視》中提及，「觀光凝視」通常引向日常所經驗不到的狀態，因此促發觀者敏銳的觀察力，並樂於使用各種觀察到的符號（signs），建構他所凝視的對象。

藝術家透過「駐村」，將自己放入不同於自身文化的他方，去體驗他方獨有的「在地文化」，並以其自身（以及想像的他方）的文化脈絡、地方性和社會特殊性，提出必要的「駐村計畫」。

現在他們來到台灣，在台北，尋找他們嘗試理解的「在地性」。

這一次，切身的在地演出者，同時，又是在場目擊者的我們，會如何「反觀」他們眼中的我們（或者我島）？

是前前後後，上下左右，打量檢查，到底這些外地人有沒有正確接收到台灣的地氣？

還是會因為找不到任何一條可供辨識的熟悉性，於是否決了來自陌生眼睛裏的投影？

台灣，是座不斷承接四方文化與各路人馬的海島，駐村藝術家聯展，是一種最複眼的場域，一雙雙「非在地的他者」的眼珠所反映的「我們的在地性」，能否讓我們與他們彼此的內心的「地氣」相互接應？進而提供在地人反芻、咀嚼其實可能一直都在變動中的「在地文化」，為島上展開新一回合的，複眼的開闊視野？！

● 2016.08.12-09.04 11:00-21:00(Closed on Monday)

● Opening 2016.08.12(Fri.) 19：00

● Opening Performance：2016.08.12(Fri.) 19：30

2016 臺北藝穗節《i@台北》 2016 Taipei Fringe 《i@Taipei》段落

● Venue：台北國際藝術村，百里廳 (台北市北平東路7號)

● 參展藝術家 Artists

Wenhai Huang 黃文海

Verena Issel 韋雷娜・伊塞爾

Jihee Kim 金芝嬉

Junya Kataoka & Rie Iwatake 片岡純也X岩竹理恵

Karel van Laere 卡爾‧范‧拉爾

Yang Liu (Opening Performance) 劉陽 (開幕表演)

Walking grass agriculture Han-Sheng Chen, Kuan-Yi LEE, Shing-You Liu

走路草農藝團 陳漢聲、李冠宜、劉星佑

● 策展人 Curator 沈菲比 Phebea Chun-Yi Shen