2016 Keelung artists start their sculpture installations at the NMMST

It has been raining a lot in Keelung, Taiwan, but the artists are all starting to work on their outdoor sculpture installations around the National Museum of Marine Science & Technology.  The 7 selected international artists for the 2016 project (Envisioning the Future of Our Oceans) are all working hard now, and many volunteers are coming to help them.  We have also had some visits from students in Badouri Elementary School and other nearby schools.  We also had a group of art teachers visit the art project.  It is great that more local people are hearing about the art project and coming to visit and help out the artists.

We also had a vist from a bamboo master who has a shop and bamboo store in a nearby city.  The bamboo master came to demonstrate some bamboo working techniques for the artists.

基隆這幾天都飄著雨，但是藝術家們風雨無阻，在戶外進行起他們的創作。這段時間以來，七位藝術家非常專注地在創作，也從藝術推手身上得到了非常多的幫助。除了藝術推手以外，八斗子國小的師生也加入了我們的計劃中。有了當地居民與各方對這個計畫的支持，使我們可以更快速的往前邁進。

特別值得一提的是，我們請到了金包里的竹板凳師傅來到現場傳授藝術家竹子作業的技巧，在此感謝師父的支持。

       

Below are some photos of the seven 2016 artists beginning their artworks.

Ester Fabregat – Spain is creating “Keelung Air Swimmers” using recycled plastic bags.  She is cutting and sewing and putting the large swimming figures together and will “fly” them from tall bamboo poles in the Caoching Park area at the NMMST.  Ester’s colors are very bright and will be exciting to see blowing in the wind near the ocean at the NMMST.

西班牙藝術家 Ester Fabregat 正在使用回收塑膠袋來創作她的作品-“飛天泳士”。Ester正在裁剪、縫紉這些色彩鮮明的回收塑膠袋，這些塑膠袋最後會蛻變成游泳的人形飛揚在空中。到時候作品將會豎立於潮境公園的草坪上，請大家一起來觀賞！

Tsuneo Sekiguchi – Japan is creating “Keelung Rainbow Hut” that will be a round structure of bamboo that people can enter and sit and watch rainbows appearing on the walls of the hut.  He is starting to make several large circles of bamboo and then will join it all together to make the hut.  His work will be in Caoching Park also sited near a small pond of water.

日本藝術家 関口恒男正在創作他的“彩虹球屋”。“彩虹球屋”將會由竹子編製成，藝術家用意是讓觀賞者可以進入空間內，坐看由鏡子折射出的彩虹。関口先生目前已經架構出了球屋的圓形結構了，屆時請大家到潮境公園的水池旁觀賞他的作品。

Patrick Demazeau (MADE) – France has started to work on his installation titled “A Good Blow of Brush to Clean the Ocean”.  He is making 15 giant brooms of bamboo and other natural materials collected in Keelung area and the broom will be installed in the Eco-Park area of the NMMST.  Patrick has temporarily put in one long bamboo pole and some smaller bamboo branches around it to see how the installation will look at his site, and now he is gathering and splitting bamboo to make the bristles of the brushes/brooms.  We hope it will be dry enough on Friday to make the holes to put in all the big bamboo poles for Patrick’s installation.

法國藝術家Patrick 已經開始創作他的”掃把救星”了，他使用竹子與其他天然素材創作出15個巨型的掃帚，象徵著把海岸的污染清掃乾淨。Patrick的作品位於復育公園的尾端，他暫時以細竹子定點放置，以預測最後的成果畫面。他目前正在處理素材，以便更快速的裝置作業。希望週五是個好天氣，讓鑽洞定點的作業可以順利。

  

Regine Neumann – Germany/Canada is creating an installation titled “The Tip of the Iceberg” that relates to the issue of global warming and melting solar ice caps.  Her huge iceberg is constructed of bamboo, tied with natural rope and then covered with white recycled fabric.  Her work is also sited in the Eco-Park area at the NMMST, and she is now laying out the piece and starting the foundation of the big iceberg.

德國/加拿大藝術家Regine正在創作她的作品“冰山一角”，“冰山一角”是希望提升民眾對於全球暖化與冰帽融化的議題。她將會以竹子建構主要的架構，使用麻繩將之綑綁，最後鋪上回收的白色布料。目前她正在進行基礎架構的建置，最後的作品將會在復育公園亮相。

Piotr Wesolowski – Poland is making a large sculpture that viewers can enter and feel the difference between the hard structured outside and the softer fluid inner part.  He is using bamboo and tying it with natural rope, and will use some recycled fishing net inside his structure.  His artwork titled “Horizon” is going up in the Museum’s courtyard near the IMAX theater.

波蘭藝術家Piotr將在海科館入口處(靠近IMAX影院)豎立一個大型的裝置藝術，名為“看！地平線那個”，使用的材料同樣也是以竹子與回收布料為主。他希望觀眾進入他的創作裡，感受不同調性的材質產生出來的衝突與協調。

Yi-chiuan Li – Taiwan is creating a series of “Sea Creature Gods” and they will be sited near the NMMST Railway Station in a green grassy area.  She is using local earth/clay, grass and other local vegetation, natural rope and a bamboo framework.  She is making the bamboo framework now for the shape of the “creature gods.”  She is hoping to get 5 of the creature gods made, and Yi-chiuan said she really needs some more volunteers to help her.

台灣的藝術家李怡宣將形塑一系列名為“海中之靈”的環境藝術作品。“海中之靈”是由竹子、當地的草木素材以及淨灘拾得的素材來形塑成神祇的形貌，她希望最終能順利完成五個神祇作品，如果大家有興趣的話歡迎加入這個計畫，協助怡宣一起完成創作。

Steve McPherson – UK is creating an installation of 46 flags mounted on long bamboo poles that will be installed on the bridge leading to the Regional Exploration Building at the NMMST.  He is busy now cutting recycled fabrics collected in Keelung to make the flags.  The Museum staff collected some recycled clothing before the artists arrived and Steve brought some recycled fabrics froms his home in England.  Today we went to the local recycling center and collected some more fabric for Steve’s artwork.  Yellow recycled fabric has been hard to find, and he is hoping that he has enough now to make all the 46 flags.  Steve has also been collecting lots of fishing floats that wash up on the local beach to use in his artwork.

英國的藝術家Steve要製作出46個懸掛在竹子的標示旗。Steve的作品需要大量的布料，工作人員於計畫前為他收集了些許布料，他本人也從英國帶來部分回收布料，更於前些日子前往基隆回收場收集到了更多，黃色的布料是目前收集最困難的。除此之外，他也在整理、清洗拾獲的魚浮標，以備創作之需，希望最後他能順利收集到所有必須的素材。所有的素材最後會懸掛在長竹竿上，豎立在區域探索館旁的天橋邊，希望大家一起前往欣賞。

All photos on this Blog are by Timothy S. Allen (allentimphotos2.wordpress.com).  Jane Ingram Allen is the curator for the 2016 Keelung International Marine Environmental Art Project.  Thank you to all the artists, volunteers, and students who have come out to help create the artworks during this 25 day residency in Keelung.  Our opening day is Sunday, June 5!

Keep watching this Blog for more photos as the artworks grow and get finished for the ㄋopening ceremony on June 5.

感謝本次參展的藝術家們、藝術推手以及學生們的參與，讓此次的計劃更臻完美。

六月5日本次潮藝術將盛大開幕，歡迎蒞臨。

策展人Curator: Jane Ingram Allen

攝影 Photographer: Timothy S. Allen (allentimphotos2.wordpress.com)