text by Kao Chien-Hui
Magnetic Writing: Marching Ideas, Works on Paper, a mega exhibition presented in Taipei at the IT Park Gallery, invites all the artists both domestically and internationally to join the club, which remarkably shows dedication to the hubbub of the art circles in recent years. The IT Park Gallery has had a reputation as a de-regional gallery where possesses its own distinctive stature and has been grounded in the foundation of new thinking of contemporary art. In addition, the experienced staff of the Gallery are well capable of dealing with international exchange, marking it as a treasure house of tourism on the contemporary Taiwanese art front. The IT Park Gallery has undergone numberless struggles over the last decade while managing such an 'experiment space' occupying a marginal place in society. The opening of Magnetic Writing: Marching Ideas, Works on Paper has succeeded in effectively integrating local artists throughout the island into the Gallery space. In so doing, the Gallery is in an attempt to cross the border along contemporary Taiwanese art lines.
The title of the exhibition is 'Magnetic Writing' which is intended as a central theme around which ideas evolve. Seemingly, the ideas are posed to 'gain an insight into a broader rumination on a traditional form of body writing and digitizing writing of body.' Moreover, many 'professionals' have devoted themselves to writing the texts offering a specific rationale for this orientation as a supplement to some new thinking in the time of post-modernism. At the same time, it attracts a number of scholars to endorse on the academic front where they address the issue of 'the emergence of a magnetic writing epoch'. Strangely enough, even if it brings together approximately 85 artists the world over and people of diverse group on the cultural front to worship the mega show, all the works need to be done on paper measuring 20 square centimeters in compliance with the exhibition guideline. It is quite plain that the IT Park Gallery itself has great impact on the show, which is far beyond the comprehension of any individual artist. This is the very signal that the Gallery possesses 'the force of magnetism' where 'artists could not afford the rejection of the invitation.'
The exhibition is packaged the way anything academic at school is. The truth indicates that the posture towards the commercial system is peculiar to the intelligentsia. Artists ultimately have their private small drawings dealt with in accordance with certain unified standards such as the dimensions of each work and its frame, pricing, the share of profits, and so forth. Consequently, it appears how artists have their energy to play with 'writing'. All the works exhibited encompass the first drafts of drawings, the copies
of printouts, ready-made objects, collages, photographs, …etc. Nevertheless, there are few of artists devoting all their time to engaging in the production of the 'works'. Amongst those artists standing equally in a row, some present drawings with delicate strokes, but at the same time some present simply a 'conceptualized' ready-made object. It is noted, however, that 'conceptualizing' relatively marks price with 'an artist's identity'.
Magnetic Writing is held to reveal artists' identities with their concepts. In that sense, each artist produces a small piece of work to explore his own distinctive character. 'We are involving in the art campaign to auction artists' concepts and identities. One will be always welcome to join a quiz game in which it enables him to match works with artists', as it is crowned by art theory. Indeed, the 'game' is sort of trick played by the elites in the art community. Such a 'king's new dress' is given so many artists' and scholar's authentic approval. Seemingly, the tension coming to the surface is stable on the Taiwanese art arena. If anyone intends to make a gentle wind blow on the water, it probably ends up forming a one-man institution. What is then the meaning of the show valued most? An answer to the question is how art is reasonably packaged to accommodate all points of view in reality.
* Here are a few excerpts from “The Transforming and Transposing of new Taiwanese Art Arena-An Investigation into the Three Exhibitions of Contemporary Art in Taipei”, Artist Magazine, 99(288), 337-338. |
