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Xindian Boys, The Untitled Year. Artist interview.

無名之年，藝術家訪談 @VTartsalon

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The Untitled Year Duration‭: Apr ‬17, 2021 -‭ May 22,‬2021‬‬‬‬‬

‬‬‬‬‬‬‬Artist: Xindian Boys(TSONG Pu, WU Tung-Lung, CHEN Shun-Chu, SU Hui-Yu)

Venue‭: ‬VT Artsalon‭ (‬B1‭, ‬No.17‭, ‬Ln.56‭, ‬Sec‭. ‬3‭, ‬Xinsheng N‭. ‬Rd‭, ‬Taipei‭ ‬City 104‭, ‬Taiwan‭)‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

Following the artwork of Lost in Interstellar Space: RED, the art group Xindian Boys (TSONG Pu, WU Tung-Lung, and SU Hui-Yu) based on the Nanshi Creek will release the fourth collaborative series, the Untitled Year, of their quasi-topographical survey since 2012 at VT Art salon. This work is complex includes multi-channel projection, electronic screen, installation and huge b/w photography. The Untitled Year has been in development since March 2020, inspired by the global lockdown in the Coivd-19 pandemic era. Xindian Boys transform daily and nondaily life (under the pandemic) into a poetic visual language and have a distant and abstract dialogue with this turbulent world via their fundamental context – the axis of “people, scenery and others”. The Untitled Year is not only named to refer to the impact of 2020 on life and living but the title of “Untitled,” an extremely familiar term in the artistic system, is anticipated to catalyze infinite imagination – an indescribable year and era. No title, no name. Is this because it cannot be captured or exposed in language, or because people do not want to remember it? Like the previous choice of Xindian Boys, the Untitled Year is immersed in the landscape, constructing a disguised ritual and narrative, then leaving all possible answers to audiences to develop solitarily.

＊The project was granted by the National Culture and Arts Foundation.

www.vtartsalon.com

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The Untitled Year

In March 2020, the globe entered a daily and survival state of the Covid-19 pandemic. Although Taiwan’s situation is not as dreadful as in other countries, a metaphysical “self-isolation” is once branded in people’s hearts in various shapes, such as border blockade, footprint monitoring, a sudden drop in social frequency, masking of the face and freshly alienation. No matter from a physical or psychological state, it makes the three artists, who used to habitually stay in their homes in the Xindian mountainous area, feel of sheltering in the mountains and forests even more. Hence, the fourth project began with an indescribable contradiction as their prospective driving force, including living in seclusion and communicating with human civilization.

In the pandemic, people increasingly rely on the media to interconnect with the world. Since the widespread of the Capitol invasion broadcast in the US, a far-right activist dressed in a Native American-like fur headdress with horns became the news headline for a while. This distant and appalling image resets this piece of artwork of Xindian Boys. Thus, these elements of the (pseudo) naturalism, the abuse of totems, the smoke (whether it is mists, fire, fireworks, or tear gas), the viruses and DNA (a crude imitation of primitivism), the classic graveyards, the men and women on an outing and the frequently-failed-to-take-off kite, are placed in the scene of Nanshi Creek, a familiar environment for the artists, and stretched into a fictitious ceremony. All the messages are clear, transparent and indescribable, while the statuses seem to be closely related to the world yet have nothing relevant at the same time. Like Xindian Boys’ first artwork, The Best Day, the lens of “The Untitled Year” consistently rotates between mountains and rivers; meanwhile, plenty trifle biting back incidents happen in succession. However, the difference is that something gloomy covers everything.

The Untitled Year is a year that artists cannot name, an untitled spirit calling ceremony, an untitled face, an untitled time, and an untitled situation.

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The 2017 HOBIENNALE just kicked off last week. Lost In Interstellar by Xindian Boys is now participating in the festival, this is the boys' second aboard show after Paris Photo.

http://www.hobiennale.com/success.html

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Lost in Interstellar Space is now exhibited in National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art, Taichung.

1985年，台灣仍處於戒嚴時期，知名的極簡主義雕塑《低限的無限》被指控影射含有「紅星」的符號，在「恐有思想問題」的情境下，藝術家李再鈐被迫將其作品漆為別的顏色，因而引發諸多議論。在輾轉換過幾次顏色之後，《低限的無限》終獲平反而恢復原貌，但已被移出北美館廣場。「星際迷航-RED」便是以這件臺灣藝術史上的奇案為起點，透過科幻的形式進行奇想。本作以復古科幻電影（Sci-fi movie）為調性，並取經蘇聯時期名導塔可夫司基《飛向太空》一作的所具有的「形上流亡」的概念，藉由太空敘事，遙指人類自身的荒誕與虛無。新店男孩的所有作品皆於新店地區拍攝，《星際迷航》的場景也一如以往地取自2015年風災後的新店溪流域，在災變後地形挪移且荒蕪乾枯的河床上，新店男孩以其特有的影像風格鋪陳著這段抽象藝術牽扯政治審查的奇幻旅程。

「星際迷航－RED」包含四個閱讀的段落／作品。首先映入眼簾的是《低限的無限》的切片，或稱重新組裝，作為整個作品的引子；其次將有一組黑白攝影，將場景鋪陳而出；再來觀眾會進入三頻道錄像的寬廣空間，前述片段於此融合在一起，觀眾在黑白影像中，與主角——失魂落魄的太空人／藝術家／最後一位人類一同漫遊在荒漠之中，一同被流放。影片中的場景皆取景自新店溪畔，然而風災後所造成的特殊地形，令這些景象與在地人產生疏離，透過鏡頭幾乎不可能辨認地點所在，於是故鄉成了外太空，家園成了異域。若將目光離開投影，觀眾將見到一組猶如枯木或隕石般被擺設出來的廢鐵雕塑，它們皆是風災後被沖刷至中游的建築碎片，這些鐵片被洗刷過後，藝術家將其放置在如大禮堂般的鮮紅色牆面上，再次提示著當初《低限的無限》被迫掩蓋掉的那個禁忌顏色。

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The Best Day, HD video, 8′10″ loop, 2012 The Best Day（最好的一天） is a video artwork in the series “The Determination of Life” . The scene in this work was shot in the mountains of Wu-Lai（烏來）. The four artists firstly recorded a concatenation of their motions in this natural environment with 360 degree high-speed photography, and then edited the images into a video without the outset and the coda. By virtue of the concept of circle/circulation, the content of this video not only demonstrated a harmonious relationship between the nature and humanity but also emanated an aura of oriental philosophy. 

新店男孩於2012年發表的第一組系列作「生活的決心」甫於 2015年11月參展巴黎攝影覽會（Paris Photo），其中的錄像〈最好的一天〉，場景位於烏來深山，以360度高速攝影記錄了這四位藝術家於自然環境中的一連串動作再剪輯成一支沒有始末的錄像，透過圓形／循環的概念，展現生活與自然的關係，東方哲學的性格濃厚。

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0343, three channel video installation, 2015.

6 mins demo.

〈0343〉一作於2013年開始籌備，期間新店男孩成員陳順築得知罹患癌症，製作因而停頓；2014年春天，四位成員於郊遊踏青時無意經過了新店溪畔的粗坑發電廠，才驚覺於這座台灣史上第二座水力發電廠至今仍持續運轉，其古典外觀與周遭蠻荒靜謐的環境形成強烈對比。原始山林、百年電廠與重病在身，自然／人造、肉身／精神、能量／能源，這種種對位關係所形成的思辨，便成為新作的共識。〈0343〉由兩組投影，一組映像管螢幕與物件裝置構成，而延續著男孩們共同創作時的風格，作品中影像皆來自發電廠鄰近周遭（新店地區）的景觀，裝置使用之物件則來自藝術家的生活雜物。這些場景與物件，被他們以隱晦的語法所拼湊與縫合，形成一種乍看是雲淡風輕的隨拍，實則又是隱含某種敘事意圖的劇場式意象，看似為生活的碎片，實際上蘊含了精準的詩意韻律。2014年10月，陳順築病逝，剩下三位成員謹守當初承諾，繼續完成一同構思的〈0343〉，並將陳順築辭世一事以隱晦的方式融入該作。作品名稱「0343」則有一個神秘主義式的典故─在剪接畫面時，莊普瞥見了某顆電廠控制室鏡頭中，儀表板上出現了這組神秘數字，他直覺地脫口說出：「靈山似山」。在深邃山林中，冰冷的河水，老朽的電廠，一個孤獨而堅定的泳者，一切似乎讓人再明白不過。

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0343

Xindian Boys’ three-channel video installation 0343 finished in 2015 is included in this exhibition. The conception of this new artwork has been developed since 2013. However, it was suspended as soon as Chen Shun-Chu was diagnosed with cancer. In spring 2014 on the way of an excursion, the four artists surprisingly found that the Tsu-Keng Power Station on the bank of Xindian Creek, the second hydroelectric power plant in the history of Taiwan, was still in operation and whose classical architectural feature contrasted starkly with the wild, tranquil surroundings. The philosophical speculation over the primitive mountain forest, the century-old power station, and the seriously ill man, as well as the counterpoints of nature vs. artificiality, body vs. spirit, and power vs. energy collectively reflected the main theme that ran through this new work. 0343 consists of two projectors, a CRT screen, and an object installation. Following the consistent creative style of this artist group, the images in this work were derived from the landscapes of the power plant’s surroundings (i.e. the Xindian area), and the objects from the artists’ miscellaneous items. They ingeniously collaged and blended these scenes and objects with ambiguous and veiled artistic vocabulary, making this work a combination of carefree photographs at first glance, yet actually a theatrical image based on a specific narrative. It not only contains the fragments of life but also brims with precise poetic mise-en-scène. Unfortunately, Chen Shun-Chu succumbed to cancer in October 2014. The other three members fulfilled their commitment on completing this collaborative artwork in which they embedded Chen’s decease in an implicit manner. Besides, the title of this work contains an allusion of occultism. When editing the images, Tsong Pu caught a glimpse of the scene in which the set of numbers “0343” appeared on the dash panel in the console cabinet of the power plant. He intuitively read out the numbers whose pronunciation resembles “an ensouled mountain which looks like a real mountain” in Chinese. It seems that nothing is clearer than the essence revealed by the dense mountain forest, the chilled creek, the dilapidated power plant, and the solitary yet determined swimmer. 

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In 1985, the famous minimalist sculpture “Finite to Infinite” was accused of alluding symbol containing "Red Star". In the context of "fear of ideological problems", artist Lee Tsai-Chien was forced to repaint his work to other colors. This was caused a lot of controversies at that time. After a series of color replacement several times, “Finite to Infinite” has eventually rehabilitated and restored until now. “Lost in Interstellar Space” is presented to this mystery of Taiwan art history as a starting point which is a retro Sci-fi movie, and been molded by the conception “metaphysical exile” of the Soviet science fiction art film “Solaris”, directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. Through the space narrative, it reflects the absurdity and nihility of human beings. “Lost in Interstellar Space” scenes are taken from Xindian Creek after a typhoon disaster in 2015, at such changed terrain and barren dry riverbed, Xindian Boys elaborate this abstract art involves political issues aforementioned with their unique image style in order to introduce us into their Sci-fi journey they created: “Lost in Interstellar Space”.

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Lost in Interstellar Space－RED, exhibition view in Crane Gallery, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.