《錫神》Duncan Mountford 個展
《裂變景觀》jonCates ＆ Jason Cole Mager 聯展

展覽期間：2025年1月4日至3月2日
藝術家開幕酒會：1月5日（週日），下午3點至6點
展覽時間：開幕活動外，展覽期間採預約制參觀
展覽地點：231001新北市新店區新店路110號，Project Space 110新店藝術空間

Project Space 110新店藝術空間榮幸對外公開首檔展覽策劃，將為大家呈現兩檔展覽：Duncan Mountford 的個展《錫神（Tin Gods）》、jonCates 與 Jason Cole Mager 的聯展《裂變景觀（Disrupted Landscapes）》。
jonCates與Jason Cole Mager的聯展《裂變景觀》位於前展廳，後展廳則展出Duncan Mountford個展《錫神》。兩檔展覽中的藝術家們皆以家族歷史為起點，結合其對各自藝術媒材的深刻理解，探索當前地方與地緣政治變遷中所交織的社會、地理與個人歷史。

《裂變景觀》
展覽匯集了數位故障藝術（Glitch Art）的先驅藝術家jonCates，以及長期透過繪畫實踐探索自身認同與臺灣殖民歷史的 Jason Cole Mager 的作品。兩位藝術家皆來自美國中西部，現已在臺北居住多年，視臺灣為長期居所。jonCates運用故障技術干擾數位檔案，在本次展覽中呈現具有驚人繪畫質感的美國中西部景觀。透過故障藝術，jonCates探討自身成長環境中的矛盾——廣闊的自然美景與暴力的移民殖民歷史之間的糾結；Mager則聚焦於曾對臺灣施加影響力的主要地緣政治體系，在繪畫中層層堆疊美國、日本帝國與中國歷史朝代的符號。關於其作品，Mager表示：「這些歷史畫作若不深諳符號的歷史意涵，可能僅被視為裝飾或壁紙，但事實上它們是一種歷史繪畫。」jonCates透過數位媒材解構美國移民殖民歷史，Mager則透過繪畫探索臺灣歷史中堆疊的殖民軌跡，兩位藝術家都在各自的媒材中運用看似優美的表現形式，探討社會、歷史、政治框架本身的複雜性，同時提醒我們在詮釋超越宏大敘事的歷史時所需的謹慎與細膩。

《錫神（Tin Gods）》
在Duncan Mountford的個展《錫神（Tin Gods）》中，Mountford使用「語境爆炸（context explosion）」一詞來描述他在雕塑、繪畫、寫作與裝置藝術的創作實踐。在這次展覽中展出三件來自《錫神》系列的三聯式櫃體雕塑，以及一本藝術家書籍（收錄墨水與水彩手稿）。作品外形類似於其羅馬天主教背景中的宗教祭壇櫃，其中的微型室內場景暗指劇場空間到科幻電視、神祕學傳說到武器研發、散佈城市的廢墟到徘徊在夢魘與反烏托邦未來邊緣的夢境空間。這些三聯雕塑櫥櫃的翼面描繪出某個未知時間點的場景，暗示大自然最終掌控了整個世界。Mountford描述為「與未來幽靈共鳴的世界」，《錫神》捕捉了我們當前的歷史時刻，未明說的敘事，通往多重且可能令人不安的未來，其中人類的存在與所處角色都依然不明。


關於藝術家

Duncan Mountford出生於英國利物浦的一個工人階級天主教家庭。他在利物浦完成藝術基礎課程，並於1976年獲得科芬特里大學（Coventry）的美術學士學位。Mountford擁有溫徹斯特藝術學院（Winchester School of Art）的雕塑碩士學位，並以博士論文《透過裝置藝術與雕塑形式探討美術館作為控制、記憶與失落場域》獲得諾丁漢特倫特大學（Nottingham Trent University）美術博士學位。除了創作實踐外，Mountford曾擔任社區藝術家、壁畫家、展覽技術員、策展人和大學教授。他曾在眾多機構任教，其作品在歐洲和亞洲廣泛展出，包括臺北當代藝術館和臺北市立美術館。自2013年起，他擔任臺北藝術大學客座教授至今。

Jason Cole Mager是定居臺北的美國藝術家。原籍印第安納州印第安納波利斯（Indianapolis, Indiana），他在赫倫藝術設計學院（Herron School of Art and Design）獲得美術學士學位，隨後在波士頓美術館藝術學校（The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston）獲得學士後證書，並在紐約市亨特學院（Hunter College in New York City）取得藝術碩士學位。Mager在美國和亞洲各地展出，近期在臺北的個展包括99度藝術中心（99 Degrees Art Center）和你好沙龍（Shalom Shalom），並因其對臺灣政治和文化歷史的探索登上《臺北時報》。Mager的藝術作品作為當代歷史繪畫呈現，其符號蘊含與臺灣殖民過去相關的深層含義。他認為儘管歷史充滿悲劇，但應該成為促進團結並為藝術和社會提供啟發的契機。Mager於2013年遷居臺北，2016年獲得臺灣政府頒發藝術家簽證，並在此後數年深入探索與發展臺灣文化相關的藝術實踐。

jonCates是故障藝術（Glitch Art）領域的創始學者與藝術家。從奧地利知名的電子藝術節（Ars Electronica Festival in Austria）到紐約移動影像博物館（the Museum of Moving Image），以及紐約的藝術組織Rhizome，Cates在全球數位藝術市場擁有豐富的策展和展覽經驗。臺灣最大且最知名的當代藝術出版品《今藝術ARTCO》和《典藏ARTouch》曾評論：「jonCates的《鬼鎮》運用故障藝術媒材切入探討社會現象，提供另類的觀看方式討論當代影像美學。」他的故障藝術作品表現的鬼魅、混亂和迷樣的科技影像，映照出美國西部發展中的幻象與衝突。作為多個國際新媒體與媒體藝術系所的教授，Cates曾任教於芝加哥藝術學院（SAIC），並創立了該校的新媒體核心課程。根據全國最佳藝術學院排名（Best Fine Arts Schools of the United States），該課程為美國排名前五的新媒體系所之一。

關於Project Space 110新店藝術空間
Project Space 110是一間全新的非營利藝術家自營空間，位於臺灣新北市新店區的碧潭河濱。我們的實體空間和數位平臺致力於推廣在地藝術家的藝術實踐與其實驗性作品，並促進我們在臺灣與國際間多元藝術社群的交流與連結。一樓的藝廊空間由面向街道的主展廳、後展廳和其他中小型的實驗空間組成。樓上則是藝廊共同創辦人兼藝術家舒琮維(Jocelyn Shu)、Tim Budden和楊璫（Dang Yang)的工作室。
除預定活動外，Project Space 110新店藝術空間採預約制參觀（projectspace110@gmail.com；Instagram：@space110_gallery），地點鄰近捷運新店站（綠線）。

..........

Duncan Mountford Solo Show: Tin Gods
jonCates ＆ Jason Cole Mager: Disrupted Landscapes

January 4 – March 2, 2025
Artists’ Reception: Sunday, January 5, 15:00 – 18:00
Viewings by appointment outside of scheduled events


Project Space 110 新店藝術空間 is pleased to present our first curatorial projects: Disrupted Landscapes, a two-person show by jonCates and Jason Cole Mager in our Main Room; and Tin Gods, a solo show by Duncan Mountford in the Back Room. The artists in these two concurrent exhibitions use their family histories as launching points in combination with deep understanding of their respective artistic mediums to explore the intricate layers of societal, geographical, and personal histories embedded in current local and geopolitical shifts.

Disrupted Landscapes brings together the work of American artists jonCates — a pioneer of digital glitch art — and Jason Cole Mager, who through his painting practice has long explored his identity in tandem with that of Taiwan’s colonial history. Both originally from the Midwestern United States, Cates and Mager now consider Taiwan their long-term home, having lived in Taipei for several years. Cates presents work using glitch techniques to disrupt digital files that in this exhibition, portray the American Midwest landscape with surprisingly painterly quality. Through the glitch genre, Cates probes the paradox of the landscape he grew up with — one of vast natural beauty intrinsically tied to a violent settler-colonial history. Focusing on the major geopolitical entities that have exerted power over Taiwan, Mager layers historical symbols in his paintings that reference the United States and former imperial powers of Japan and dynastic China. Of his work, Mager says, “These are history paintings that may appear as nothing more than decoration or wallpaper if one is not intimately familiar with the historical significance of the symbols.” While Cates deconstructs US settler-colonial history through his digital landscapes, and Mager explores the layers of colonization that form Taiwanese history through paint, both artists probe socio-historical-political frameworks through deceptively beautiful use of technique in their respective mediums — a commentary in and of itself on the care required when interpreting history beyond the broad narratives often told.

In Duncan Mountford’s solo show, Tin Gods, Mountford uses the term “context explosion” to describe his practice at the intersection of sculpture, drawing, writing, and installation. In a new body of work, Mountford presents three sculptures from his “Tin Gods” series of triptych cabinets, and an artist book of ink and watercolor drawings. Resembling altarpieces from Mountford’s Roman Catholic upbringing, the Tin Gods are sculptural curiosity cabinets containing model interiors alluding to a breadth of references ranging from theatrical spaces to old science-fiction television, occult stories to weapons development, ruins that litter cities, and dream spaces at the edge of nightmares and dystopian futures. The wings of these triptych altarpieces portray scenes that suggest an unknown timepoint in which naturㄩe has ultimately taken over. In what Mountford describes as a “sense of a world that resonates with ghosts from the future,” Tin Gods captures our current historical moment of unstated narratives leading to multiple, potentially foreboding futures — of which the presence of humanity and its role is unclear.

About the artists

Duncan Mountford was born in Liverpool, UK to a working-class, Roman Catholic family. He studied Art Foundation in Liverpool, and received a BA in Fine Art in Coventry in 1976. Mountford holds an MA in Sculpture from the Winchester School of Art and completed a PhD in Fine Art from Nottingham Trent University with his dissertation titled, “The Investigation of the Museum as a Site of Control, Memory and Loss by Expression in Installation and Sculptural Form.” In addition to his studio practice, Mountford has worked as a community artist, painter of murals, exhibition technician and handler, curator, and university professor. Mountford has taught at numerous institutions and held shows widely throughout Europe and Asia, including at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Taipei and Taipei Fine Arts Museum. He is currently a Visiting Professor at the prestigious Taipei National University of the Arts, a post he has held since 2013.


Jason Cole Mager is an American artist based in Taipei, Taiwan. Originally from Indianapolis, Indiana, he earned his BFA from Herron School of Art and Design, followed by a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate from The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and an MFA from Hunter College in New York City. Mager has exhibited throughout the United States and Asia, with recent solo shows in Taipei at 99 Degrees Art Center (99度藝術中心) and Shalom Shalom (你好沙龍), and features in the Taipei Times for his exploration of Taiwan＆#039;s political and cultural history. Mager’s art functions as contemporary history painting, with symbols that carry deeper meaning related to Taiwan＆#039;s colonial past. He believes that while history can be tragic, it should foster unity and inform both art and society. Mager relocated to Taipei in 2013 and in 2016, was awarded an Artist Visa by the Taiwanese government. He has since spent the past several years developing his practice in the context of embracing Taiwanese culture.


jonCates is a pioneering scholar and artist in the field of Glitch Art. From the renowned Ars Electronica Festival in Austria to the Museum of Moving Image in New York, as well as the art organization Rhizome in New York, Cates has extensive curatorial and exhibition experience in global digital art markets. Taiwan＆#039;s largest and most widely known contemporary art publications, Today Art (ARTCO) and ARTouch, have written: "jonCates＆#039; Ghost Town uses glitch art media to engage with social phenomena and offers alternative ways to discuss contemporary visual aesthetics." His work in the Glitch Art genre explores haunting, chaotic, and enigmatic technological images, reflecting the illusions and conflicts of the American West＆#039;s development. As a professor at several international new media and media arts departments, Cates previously taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) and founded the new media core curriculum at SAIC. This program is now one of the top five new media departments in the United States, according to rankings of the best fine arts schools in the country.


About Project Space 110 新店藝術空間
Project Space 110 is a new, non-commercial and artist-run gallery located in the Xindian district of New Taipei City, Taiwan — by the scenic Bitan riverside. Our physical and digital spaces aim to promote experimental work by local artists dedicated to their practice, and foster connections between the diverse art communities we engage with in Taiwan and abroad. Our ground floor gallery consists of a street-facing Main Room, Back Room, and additional smaller experimental spaces. The upper floors house the art studios of gallery co-founders Jocelyn Shu, Tim Budden, and Dang Yang. Project Space 110 is by appointment outside of scheduled events (projectspace110@gmail.com; Instagram: @space110_gallery) and located by Xindian MRT station green line.

REFERENCE

Instagram: Project Space 110新店藝術空間
Facebook: Project Space 110新店藝術空間