P005 → Work in Progress
In 2018, Chen Hsian-Jung went to Perth, Australia for an artist residency through the Taipei Artist Village’s AIR Taipei Program. For one of his projects, he combined the imagery of avocados and bricks, eating one avocado and making one ceramic avocado brick by hand per day. After amassing a certain amount, he tried to build a house with his avocado bricks to respond to the public discourse about millennials’ apparent inability to afford housing.
In 2022, for the TAV art collecting project, Chen Hsian-Jung extended the context of his previous work created during his residency in Perth, painting regular bricks in a green similar to that of avocado pulp. By stacking up some low walls in the exhibit space, he recreated the architectural pattern of the first floor of Taipei Artist Village. At first sight, the setup seems similar to a construction site. The rough construction method and unstable structure imply an unbuildable and fragile house, which also responds to the imminent relocation of Taipei Artist Village due to an urban renewal project. In many urban gentrification and real estate development plans, socially disadvantaged groups are passed over and have no choice but to leave their homes. Walking into the “under construction” site, you can see ceramic works that the author created based on inspirations he took from Taipei Artist Village scattered here and there. The rubbing of wall textures, the shape of a building, the re-arrangement and combination of the shapes of leaves, and traces of animals running about, etc. When entering the space, viewers will try to compare and combine the visual clues of the work with their existing impressions of Taipei Artist Village. Just like the manifold impressions left in the hearts and minds of visitors who entered and left this space over the course of the last 20 years.
陳向榮於2018年透過台北國際藝術村藝術進駐計劃前往澳洲伯斯駐村，當時他將酪梨與磚塊的意象結合，每日食一酪梨，並手作一塊酪梨磚，漸漸累積了一批酪梨磚塊，試圖以其砌磚起厝，藉此回應當時熱門的新聞話題，表達千禧世代年輕人買不起房的無奈。
於 2022 TAV 藝術採集計畫中，陳向榮延伸之前駐村的作品脈絡，將磚塊漆上近似酪梨果肉的綠色，以藝術村 1 樓的建築格局為原型，於展場內堆砌出及小腿的矮牆，看起來像是施工現場。陽春的工法、不穩的結構，暗示一棟蓋不起來、脆弱的房，也是作者對於藝術村即將因都市更新計畫而搬遷的回應。在都市縉紳化與房地產開發計畫中，相對弱勢的族群似乎沒有選擇的餘地，只能被迫遷徙。走進施工狀態中的建物裡，可以看見作者於藝術村各處採集靈感進而轉化的陶藝作品散置於各處，它們可能是牆壁紋理的拓印、某建物造型的擷取、葉子形狀的排列組合，或者來去匆匆的動物身影等。而在作品中來回穿梭的觀者，試圖將所見的蛛絲馬跡與腦海中的藝術村印象重疊、糅合，猶如過去 20 年來，形形色色於此交會後離去的人，藝術村在每個人心中長成不同的樣子。
Photos by TAV