'Make art', not war

The recently opened Bunker Museum of Contemporary Art in Kinmen consists of 18 solo exhibitions by predominantly Chinese and Taiwanese artists and is on view until Jan. 10. Most of the art works are installed in abandoned bunkers, which for many of the local residents are filled with tragic memories and ghosts.

Artist Cai Guo-qiang (蔡國強) known for his controversial gunpowder performances curated this exhibition that includes composer Tan Dun (譚盾) (of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon fame) and filmmaker Tsai Ming-liang (蔡明亮), with the premise of "make art," not war as a way to transform a site of hostility and pain into a more positive site of creation and rebirth.

Under military rule until 1992, Kinmen was off-limits to Taiwanese with the exception of its 60,000 inhabitants and military conscripts who had to travel 17 hours by boat to get there. Now no longer off-limits, big plans are afoot to turn the island into a touristy place for historical sightseeing and cultural activities. But while there are still minefields and dangerous sections of beaches, the plan seems to be specious at best. However, artists tend to be an idealistic sort and it is with this intention that the exhibition is determined that art's healing powers can help to obliterate Kinmen's ghosts and dangers.

NY-based Taiwanese filmmaker Wu Tung-wang's (吳東旺) poignant experimental film Surrender consisted of interviews with Taiwanese children who were asked big issue questions about life and death, dignity, surrender, and national/ethnic identity. In one powerful scene, a voiceover asked if it was shameful to surrender, while an image of an elderly woman begged for money on a busy city street, alluding to the various capitulations we experience in our lifetimes.

Chiayi-based Wang Wen-Chih (王文志) constructed an enormous bamboo and rattan woven structure (15m high), built by craftsmen who once served in Kinmen, that overtakes a bunker and merges into the surrounding natural environment, turning the abandoned bunker into a place for meditation.

Sound was one important element in this show as artists referred to the large military speakers in China that broadcasted propaganda to Kinmen during the Cold War years. Chinese artist Shen Yuan (沈遠) literally plays with this idea in her large installation Speaker Tea which is a huge megaphone, which one can sit in and have tea while looking at nearby China.

Music's healing powers were eloquently displayed by Taiwanese popular songwriter Yao Chien (姚謙), who provided a karaoke area under a banyan tree where one could sing Chinese love songs that unites people on both sides. It was a simple, yet moving piece.

A native Kinmen artist, Lee Shi-chi's (李錫奇) installation War Bets on Peace consisted of bombs and a gambling machine highlighting the ambivalence and powerlessness embedded in the Taiwanese psyche.

The inclusion of erotic performer Yin Ling (垠淩) who was born in Taiwan and lives in Japan created an interesting position on Asian post-war identity, while her suggestive performance "lovemaking for World Peace" in which she cavorted with the spirits of Chiang Kai-shek(蔣介石) and Mao Zedong (毛澤東) was extremely well attended.

For Taiwanese artist Lee Ming-wei (李明維), who is based in New York, the use of a military bunker was antithetical to his Buddhist nature and he was the only artist not to exhibit in a bunker.