2017/8/19 Lin Shu-kai x Shinya Akutagawa (Japan)
Shinya Akutagawa from Fukuoka, Japan, works mainly on animation, video and sound installations. Lin Shu-kai is living and working in Tainan whose practices primarily bases on painting installations. Both artists are much interested in cities and body perception within cities. Through this “Coming to My Place Project,” Lin Shu-kai tour-guided Akutagawa in Tainan, and the two artists have discussed their artistic practices and exhibition experiences in the molding factory of Shu-kai’s father.
Constructing a City of Consciousness
Lin Shu-kai：
I used to work on oil paintings, so I started to think about the reason I use a technical pen. I think it’s an ordinary tool used by most of the people, so I depicted those wooden molds with technical pen in points, lines, and faces. I imagine the grid patterns as the accumulation and the buildings constructed by the collective consciousness. Therefore, I think that the state of anxiety or collection, either a city or a community, stands for a collective mentality.
Later, I returned to work on canvas again. Using a technical pen is like a ballpoint pen. The lines are somewhat restrained and limited. Then, due to the change of my mental state in the past two to three years, I changed into the calligraphy pen brush. I want to return to the state of a human being. A human being is still an independent individual, although the society restrains her. Therefore, every dot and line marked by the pen brush is non-identical and imperfect. With this trait, I depicted my ideal appearance of a city. In short, I have been trying to recreate my perfect city through my relationship with the city, history, and culture.
Although I spend a lot of time in the studio, I still want to rebuild a city... I once had an opportunity to visit a tsunami area in Japan, a city called Ishinomaki. It is home to the Kamen Rider. There were actually several piles: a pile of cars and a pile of a destroyed house. The city had been slightly repaired when the second time I visited. I found a space to play around with local children. They lived in a nearby city called Sendai and only came back for the Qingming Festival. Mostly, the elders are still living here. There used to be a house on this space, but the tsunami destroyed it. I demonstrated the wooden molds to the children and discussed with them on how to recreate an ideal home. For instance, I assembled their perfect city or house by drawing with chalks or sketching on the street.
The City’s Complying to Nature or Relying on Its Spectacle
Lin Shu-kai：
Till now, I still think the situation of Taiwan is complicated, and conversely, when you travel overseas, you get the cultural shock. For instance, last year, we worked together in Jakarta or Makassar in Indonesia, where Islam is the dominant religion. The local religion is different from the case in Taiwan or my belief. Also, I saw the old city in Jakarta and the buildings constructed by the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie. I can illustrate the Fort Zeelandia with the wall in Tainan or archives and illustrations from other historical documents. When I was in a different cultural scenario, I was aware of transforming the scene into Fort Zeelandia. I believe it is something available for overlapping and recreating.
Shinya Akutagawa：
The impact that I received abroad lead to many changes in my practices, such as the materials I use or the approach I take. I am fond of getting in touch with different cultures. When exchanging, I spend a lot of time doing research and investigation. Either Indonesia or Singapore, they are different cultures to me as an unknown world. I want to understand their culture and differences. It is like a strange world to me. So, sometimes I would spend more than two months staying there just for studying one of the cultural phenomena.
Why do I spend so much time to study the local culture? Why do I find out that I have to spend so much time investigating a particular culture?
Just as I mentioned that Singapore serves as the model for cities in Southeast Asia. When it comes to city, it seems that all the cities have to follow an ideal prototype. I am confused about this. Why should we follow in the same direction? I spend a lot of time studying the local culture; therefore, I resonate a lot to Shu-kai’s introduction of his works. Since cities develop, grow and change with the artificial structure. It won’t be something that fixes to the same state.
Then, why should we frame the cities with the notion of urbanization? Take Taiwan as an example; we would think of cities such as Taipei and Tainan. However, the city Ishinomaki that Shu-kai visited is a city that cannot be renewed. He mentioned that the local elder residents would like to help to renovate the city. However, is the city able to be revived? Is it unable to be revived due to external factors? This is another obvious example of a city.
