The French have a saying -- metro, boulot, dodo (metro, work, sleep) -- that with snappy rhyme sums up the tedium of modern urban existence. We shuttle to work, then we work, and then we sleep off work before repeating the process the following day.
It might seem like yet another expression of Gallic angst to most, but it gets Pierre Yang (
Yang, who addressed the symposium yesterday, is Taiwan's foremost authority on the sociology of mass transit systems and he mentions the French phrase in the foreword to one of two books he published in time for the ongoing 2002 World Metro Symposium and Exhibition, which has the integration of art in metro systems as one of its themes.
PHOTO COURTESY OF DORTS
"Metro is not just about technology or a transport tool. It works on much deeper levels to touch us," Yang said.
Most Taipei residents would agree with him, as the MRT has quickly become an integral part of the city's social fabric and a few stops, in particular the Chientan station, can reasonably be called city landmarks.
PHOTO COURTESY OF DORTS
But for an MRT system to bear special relevance to a city's residents, Yang said, the system's hardware must attempt to reflect the community that exists on the surface level. This requires special attention to design and abundant public art at stations or on the trains themselves.
PHOTO COURTESY OF DORTS
On this score, Yang said, Taipei is no London, Moscow, or Paris.
Nevertheless, as MRT lines have opened over the past six years, 15 pieces or series of art have been installed at different stops along the Hsintien-Tamshui and Panchiao-Nankang lines by the Department of Rapid Transit Systems (DORTS).
"The Taipei MRT has actually been a vanguard in the field of public art in Taiwan," said Yin Chien-ni (尹倩妮), who has overseen the selection and installation of art for DORTS.
Art in public spaces was considered at best an afterthought until a 1992 law stipulated that 1 percent of budgets for public buildings be allocated to public art. The law, in fact, did not apply to the MRT, but its passing helped raise awareness of public art's value and solidified the case for setting aside an average of NT$5 million per installation, Yin said.
With these limited funds, the department managed to commission a broad range of works that could be described variously as educational, historically significant, atmospheric and just plain loopy.
Shuanglien station was the test ground for public art on the MRT and the department decided to solicit proposals for a piece that would connect the station to the historic neighborhood. The winners of the open competition for the installation were college students whose work titled Dawning Sail
From these stolid beginnings things started to a take a turn for the abstract.
Take for example, Tsong Pu
One of the most popular pieces, however, is Suite of Hands
Beyond its reassuring theme matter, several pieces in Suite of Hands also double as station furniture, which is another reason it has been a favorite among harried MRT riders.
"These sculptures are perfect examples of successful public art, by being practical and contextually appropriate at the same time," Yin said.
In contrast to the art in some of the world's great MRT systems, like London's or the Paris Metropolitan, the art in Taipei's MRT tends toward the high-tech and modern, which reflects the age of the artists commissioned and the cyber bent of the city's residents. An example of this might be Lin Shu-ming's (林書民) Metamorphosis (非想,想飛), which are another of this famed artist's holograms that lines the wall next to the escalator at CKS Memorial Hall's exit three. The images is intended to metaphorically reflect the city's population moving together through time and change.
Few images could be more appropriate to Taipei, where neighborhoods disappear and reappear in different form seemingly overnight. The art is a way of capturing this process and freezing some aspects of the city that are lost forever, Yang said.
This may be the case of the Luchou line, set to open in five years. The art along the line's five planned stops will bear the theme of the egret, the bird from which the town got its name and which is now only rarely spotted in the area.
Public art can be found at the following MRT stops: Minchuan West Rd. station, Shuanglien station, Chungshan station, NTU Hospital station, Nanshih Chiao station, CKS Memorial Hall station, Kuting station, Kungkuan station, Hsintien station, Tapei Main station, Chunghsiao Tunhua station, Taipei City Hall station and Kunyang station.
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