台南市絕對空間於1月13日將迎來2024年首檔展覽「拾人牙穢」Articulate Wast，於2024年1月13日至2月25日在絕對空間展出。

來自新加坡的藝術家王若冰（Wang Ruobing）與陳賽華灌（Chen Sai Hua Kuan）以在台南的駐地經歷為基礎，呈現他們對台南這座演化中的都市有機體的近距離觀察，兩位藝術家以處理台南公共「耗材」為獨特視角，運用動力學、聲響、手工藝、影像，探討社會的瞬間背後的社會連結。展覽開幕亦適逢臺灣總統大選日，絕對空間與藝術家邀請觀眾共同參與，歷經以藝術形式對應雄辯滔滔的幽默創作。

本展以在地化觀點為構想，見證了兩位藝術家旅居異地、收受資訊的過程，並映證兩人的藝術實踐蘊含市井民情的本質。牙醫診所遍佈全台重要都市，Sai受之啟發，將目光朝向牙科診所的耗材一齒模。齒模，即牙齒模型，是醫師基於診斷目的，複製病患的牙齒、口腔結構的手段，其應用範圍涵蓋大眾常見的植牙、假牙、牙橋等療程。本展開幕日適逢2024臺灣第八屆總統大選，為臺灣歷史的關鍵時刻。藉由拾取在地居民于牙科診所遺留的齒模棄物，Sai以作品「閒聊 3 」，刻意形塑某種「競賽」場景。機械驅動的對話，成了附和臺灣民眾行使公民權利的聲響；而競賽結果，則將成為指涉兩岸關係的重要暗示。

陳賽華灌作品「閒聊」（Chitter-Chatter No.1）。圖／藝術家提供

藝術家陳賽華灌與作品「閒聊」(Chitter-Chatter No1) 。圖／藝術家提供

在城市的另一頭，若冰于台南傳統菜市場的日常有機廚餘中，尋獲靈感。駐村期間，她在當地各樣的市場間穿梭，花費大量時間觀察這些有機耗材的歸宿。在「廚餘的一天：兵仔市場」這個作品裡，她將台南規模最大的傳統市場「兵仔市」裡收集來的一日廚餘情境化，從這些有機耗材萃取纖維、造紙、並將之集結成冊。整個過程意圖將人類農作活動產生的廢料（來自地球的直接產物）轉換成書籍的樣態，作為記錄圖文資訊的媒介。這樣的實體轉化，旨在杠杆的兩端平衡書籍導入事物及概念的知識性功能，與之記錄歷史、擴張認知覺察的效用。最終，「廚餘的一天：兵仔市場」映照了食物體系片刻的脆弱，並揭示在實現地球健康、生活健康的路上，仍有許多尚待轉化的進程。

藝術家王若冰於永康兵仔市場蒐集廢棄蔬菜創作過程 。圖／藝術家提供

王若冰作品「A Day of the Waste: 兵仔市」創作過程。圖／藝術家提供

此外，本次展覽亦囊括了Sai的錄影裝置「空間素描No. 7」。台南古城裡廢棄的老宅，和那些棄之不用，卻與我們共存的小角落，處處與該片相映成趣。「空間素描No. 7」是Sai 2010年於愛爾蘭利莫里克市中心的廢棄廠房錄製的作品。如同許多被遺忘的都市角落，空虛與衰敗緩緩地臨到這個彙聚工業與文明的都會風景一隅。透過黑色彈力繩動能釋放的瞬間，「空間素描No. 7」捕捉了廠房內的社會縮影。當繩子伸縮於牆與牆間、砰地於地板與天花板間來回反彈 ；由內而外，該作以能量與力學繪製空間，在在揭露了場域中難以言喻的空虛。

兩位藝術家皆認為，台南這樣的都市像是演化中的有機體—某種「人新世」的形體，須近距離觀察。藉由處理台南公共「耗材」，他們巧妙地運用人類口腔活動之間的關聯，以牙齒治療和攝食進程為立基進行構思創作。「拾人牙穢」是一趟精心規劃的旅程，結合動力學、聲響、手工藝、影像，和藝術裝置的架構，閒談般地誦讀一個持續轉變的社會，並透過精煉真實社會的種種瞬間，探索在地概念。

Articulate Waste is a duo exhibition by Singapore artists Sai (a.k.a Chen Sai Hua Kuan) and Wang Ruobing – the residency artists of Absolute Space for the Arts (Dec 2023 – Jan 2024). Their exhibition is the outcome of the Space’s residency programme.

Conceived from the perspective of locality, the exhibition attests to the vernacular nature of the artists’ practices, informed by their travels and living in a foreign city. Inspired by the numerous dental clinics scattered extensively in the major cities of Taiwan, Sai, for his materials, turns to clinic waste – teeth cast – from the dentists. Teeth cast, also known as dental cast, is a copy of patients’ teeth and mouth structures for diagnostic purposes, and are used as models for treatments, such as implants, dentures, bridges, etc, which many of us have experienced before. Coincidentally, the opening of the exhibition falls on the same day of the 8th direct presidential elections in Taiwan in 2024, a pivotal moment in the island’s history. Using a number of dental wastes/casts from local individuals, Sai’s “Chitter-Chatter 3” purposefully creates a ‘contesting’ site through mechanically animated conversations echoing this historical moment when Taiwanese exercise their civil rights, and the outcome of the contest will have major implications for Taiwan’s relations with China.

On the other hand, Ruobing is inspired by the everyday organic leftover from Tainan’s local wet markets. During the residency, she spent time visiting various local markets observing how the organic waste was being dealt with.  Her artwork “A Day of the Waste: Bing Zi Market” is a contextualisation of her collection of one day of organic waste that she could manage to gather from the largest traditional market – Bing Zi market in Tainan. She extracted the fiber from the collected organic waste, and subsequently made it into paper and then bound into a book. The process means to transfer the direct product of the earth from the leftover of human activities into a book – a medium for recording information in the form of writing or drawing. Such a materialised transformation from one form to another is to leverage the book’s intellectual function in introducing us to things and perspectives, and recording history and spreading awareness. Ultimately, “A Day of the Waste: Bing Zi Market” responds to a moment in time when our food systems are fragile, and there is much to be transformed to achieve healthy living and a healthy planet.

In addition, the video installation “Space Drawing No.7” by Sai is included in this exhibition in response to the many ruined houses and small plots of abandoned and co-existing within the historical old town of Tainan. “Space Drawing No.7” was created at an abandoned warehouse in the city centre of Limerick, Ireland in 2010. Like many other forsaken urban spaces in the city, this is a place where emptiness and decay are slowly taking place within a manufactured and civilised urban landscape. “Space Drawing No.7” captures the social life of the warehouse through the energy released from a black bungee rope. The rope bounces from wall to wall, from floor to ceiling, from inside to outside mapping the space in an energetic and dynamic way, and disclosing the unspeakable emptiness of the site.

The artists consider a city like Tainan a living, evolving organism, an Anthropocenic form that demands close observation. Processing the ‘wasted’ materials from the public of Tainan, they wittily exercise the movement of the mouth underpinned in its metaphoric association with dental treatment and food consumption. Articulate Waste is thoughtfully structured as a journey, incorporating kinetic movement, sound, craft making, moving images and installation in order to articulate a chatty reading of an ever-changing society, and explore the ideas of locality through distilling moments of social reality.

拾人牙穢—王若冰×陳賽華灌駐地成果展
Articulate wast: Residency Artist Exhibition of Wang Ruobing & Chen Sai Hua Kuan
藝術家Artists｜王若冰、陳賽華灌
展覽日期Exhibition｜2024.01.13（Sat.）-2024.02.25（Sun.）
展覽開幕暨座談Opening & Forum｜2024.01.13（Sat.） 15:00
開幕座談與談人Forum Guest｜王若冰、陳賽華灌、鄭勝華
地點︱絕對空間Absolute Space for the Arts
地址｜700 臺南市台南市中西區民生路一段205巷11號
電話︱06-2233508
網址∣ https://absoluteart.space
臉書∣ https://www.facebook.com/abaspace
贊助單位｜文化部、台南市政府文化局、國家文化藝術基金會