Artist Lin Shuen-long, who has taken part in Japan’s Eichiga-Tsumari Art Field festival several times, has built a giant “seed boat” shaped like the seed of a barringtonea tree — a kind of evergreen tree that is commonly seen on Taiwan’s coast. He built the boat using driftwood flushed out by Typhoon Morakot in 2009. Lin’s illustrated book The Fantastic Drifting Voyage of the Seed Boat records the story of the boat’s “voyage” from Shihmen in Taoyuan to the second Setouchi Triennale festival in Japan.
Lin says that driftwood represents “death and the end of life,” while the barringtonea seed represents “rebirth,” so he combined the imagery of a seed with a manmade boat as a metaphor for the symbiosis between human beings and nature.
The process by which the seed boat was created was a very random one that did not involve any design drawings. When the seed boat was transported to the Setouchi Triennale festival, Lin collaborated with Assign Theater to exhibit the Day and Night Sea Goddess — who symbolizes the deity Mazu — and her left- and right-hand guardians Qianliyan and Shunfenger, at four of the island venues. Lin guided locals to take part and in doing so left the Japanese people with a deep impression of this seed boat from Taiwan.
Photo courtesy of Yuan-Liou Publishing
照片:遠流出版提供
As well as taking up residence at the main venue of the Setouchi Triennale festival, the seed boat has also been included in Japanese high school students’ art textbooks. As well as contributing to artistic interchange between Taiwan and Japan, Lin’s book — the first one he has written — bears witness to the deep sentiments that exist between the people of the two countries.
(Liberty Times, translated by Julian Clegg)
Photo courtesy of Yuan-Liou Publishing
照片:遠流出版提供
多次參與日本越後妻有大地藝術祭的藝術家林舜龍,以台灣海邊常見的常綠喬木棋盤腳種子為原型,利用二○○九年八八風災的漂流木打造一艘巨大種子船,並以圖文書《種子船的奇幻漂航》,記錄這艘從桃園石門「航」向日本第二屆瀨戶內國際藝術祭的種子船。
林舜龍說,漂流木代表著「死亡與生命的盡頭」,棋盤腳的種子則代表著「重生」,他將種子結合人工的舟船為意象,隱喻人與自然共生。
這艘種子船創作過程超隨性,完全沒有設計圖;更特別的是,當種子船運至瀨戶內國際藝術祭展出時,林舜龍與差事劇團合作,讓象徵媽祖的日夜海女神,及祂的左右護持──千里眼與順風耳,在其中的四個島嶼「遶境」巡迴展出,並帶動當地民眾一起參與,讓日本人對這艘來自台灣的種子船留下深刻的印象。
這艘種子船現在不只常駐瀨戶內藝術祭的主場地,還被列為日本中學生美術教科書內容。林舜龍首本著作不僅呈現台日兩國藝術交流,也為兩國人民的深厚情誼做了最好的見證。
(自由時報記者楊媛婷)
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