The 2008 Kaohsiung Iron & Steel Sculpture Festival / 用藝術提昇城市的溫度
The 2008 Kaohsiung Iron & Steel Sculpture Festival
◎Text by Fu-Ju Lin
◎Photos Courtesy of Chung-Hui Pao, Cultural Affairs Bureau
Kaohsiung is an international city, famous for its beautiful surroundings including the Love River and the ocean. For a long time, steel manufacturing has been central to Kaohsiung's urban and cultural development. In order to celebrate this resource, the city government created the Iron & Steel Sculpture Festival 2008. The festival became a very successful large scale artistic event and represents the very roots of Kaohsiung's development. The venue included iron and steel art works, created by well-known artists.
The Iron & Steel Sculpture Festival 2008, was held at Jhongdu Tangrong Brick Kiln. Sculptures were created by ten artists and exhibited during the last two weeks of November. Some of the sculptures included the "Takao project" by Kai-Huang Chen, which was a concept derived from Kaohsiung's old name "Takao". It included various dog sculptures and was the festival's most popular exhibit.
Zhi-Liang Lo's "Nesting" was also popular and considered the festival's most romantic work. Other sculptures included "Dizzy Project: the bird away from home" by Nai-Wun Chang and "Silent Hill" by Ta-Chien Pan. Nicolas Chiou's "Jhongdu Tangrong Brick Kiln- a movie scene", depicted the history of the area surrounding Jhongdu Tangrong Brick Kiln area. Mu-Ren Lyu created "Original appearance: breathe here, our expectation" and "About art recycling" by Huang-Di Lin. "Domino Game" by Huang-Chen Tang, "Castle" by Wei-Wen Fang, and "Consequential ism: make a visit to the kiln" by Jia-Yun Li, sparked the interest of the children and youngsters who came to see the festival. All visitors were deeply touched by the artists great creativity.
All exhibits were open to the public during their development phase and many people came to watch their metamorphosis. This gave visitors the chance to feel a part of development of the art. Lighting also deeply affected the mood at the exhibit. Night lighting gave the installations a more dramatic appearance.
The Iron and Steel Sculpture Festival 2008, also featured an number of exciting events. Tens of thousands of people attended the opening ceremony, which included a performance by the Paper Windmill Crew. Other performance groups included Lin Jong-Teh Children's Musical Group, The Kaohsiung Brass Band and The Takao Singers. Other activities included screenings of classic movies and pottery making. All events during the festival were extremely successful and pleased the crowds.
The festival demonstrated southern Taiwan's artistic vibe and revived the one-hundred-year-old Jhongdu Tangrong Brick Kiln. Approximately 70000 people attended the 16 day festival. Kaohsiung City Government felt Jhongdu Tangrong Brick Kiln was a great location to stage this event and hopes to transform it into a new art zone. It is a place dear to everyone's heart, and can contribute a lot to Kaohsiung's artistic enthusiasm.
用藝術提昇城市的溫度
2008鋼雕藝術節
◎文／林昀熹
◎照片提供／鮑忠暉、高雄市政府文化局
高雄市已經逐漸轉型為以河、海等水岸美景著稱的國際觀光大城，但「鋼鐵鑄造」仍是高雄市發展軌跡與城市文化中相當重要的一環。因而由高雄市政府主辦的「鋼雕藝術節」雙年展，便成為最具城市意象的大型藝術節慶。透過重量級藝術家運用鋼鐵媒材進行創作，不但讓城市文化在藝術中創造新生命，更將這些藝術作品融入城市風景與市民生活中；「2008鋼雕藝術節」就在這樣的前提下，與高雄市民度過一個熱力四射又充滿歡樂的初冬。
在中都磚窯廠舉辦的「2008鋼雕藝術節」，共有十位藝術家在十一月下旬的兩週內，分別進行藝術計畫。像是陳愷璜的「千犬計畫」，由高雄古名「打狗」之符碼意象出發，並有各種犬類造型讓市民「認養」、帶回家裝置，成為大排長龍的人氣之作；羅志良的「築巢」，則堪稱浪漫指數最高；此外還有張乃文「暈眩計畫」、潘大謙「沈默之丘」，以及與中都磚窯廠場域相呼應的邱顯洵「中都鐵工廠」、呂沐芢「樣子」、林煌迪「關於藝術的資源回收」；還有引發小朋友強烈好奇的湯皇珍「骨牌」、方偉文「城堡」、李佳芸「結。果論之到此一遊」。讓所有曾走訪鋼雕藝術節的朋友們，都留下了深刻印象。
特別的是，這些藝術作品從製作過程就呈現在民眾眼前，許多市民更相當積極關心喜愛的作品進度；高度的互動性更讓參觀者擁有參與感，並充分融入藝術計畫的情境中；同時到了夜晚還有照明計畫，讓這些藝術作品在夜間上演有別於日間風情的黑光秀，豐富了作品的面貌。
除了十項藝術計畫主軸，「2008鋼雕藝術節」更有著一連串精采活動。開幕式時紙風車劇團的演出就創下超過萬人觀賞的盛況，林榮德兒童節奏團、高雄銅管五重奏、打狗亂歌團等表演團體，則為鋼雕藝術節注入聽覺饗宴。展場中並舉辦經典電影放映、陶磚燒製體驗等活動，民眾參與的熱絡程度，讓大家都感受到「發燙」的城市熱力。
「2008鋼雕藝術節」不但展現了南台灣的藝術活力，更讓中都磚窯廠這座百年古蹟煥然重生。鋼雕藝術節在16天展期、超過七萬人次參與中落幕，卻是中都窯廠成為嶄新藝術特區的開始，高雄市政府期望能引發高雄城市藝術美學另一個開端，讓所有身處高雄的朋友，都能在城市的每個角落感受最大的藝術熱情。