Kaohsiung International Container Art Festival 2009 Ideas for an Ideal City / 2009國際貨櫃藝術節
Kaohsiung International Container Art Festival 2009
Ideas for an Ideal City
◎English Text by Hsin-Yi Peng
◎Photos Courtesy of Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts,Chan-Hua Yang
The Port of Kaohsiung is the most prominent part of the city; in fact, Kaohsiung is one of the major international container transporting hubs. Cargo containers are such a familiar sight in Kaohsiung, one can even say that it is the city's specialty. The Kaohsiung International Container Art Festival is a biannual event; it was launched in 2001 and is reaching its fifth event this year. In the past, the exhibitions were displayed at the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts but this time the venue was changed to the Pier-2 Art District. The image of maritime transportation was especially heightened with the ocean as its backdrop. The unique characteristic of this festival is that the entire exhibition is created using retired cargo containers. As time goes by, the Kaohsiung International Container Art Festival has evolved into an art exhibition with strong local character, documenting the waxing and waning of maritime transportation in the past decade as Kaohsiung has moved to embrace its new cultural identity. The imagination and skills of the artists transform mundane-looking cargo containers into one-of-a-kind artwork that wins applause from the audience year after year.
The theme of Kaohsiung International Container Art Festival 2009 is "Ideas for an Ideal City". The exhibition encompasses a good representation of art creations by Taiwanese artists as well as contemporary artists from all over the world, spreading out a blueprint of an ideal city using containers as their base material. There is no limit to the extent of creativity one can apply, through painting, sculpture, even interactive multimedia; the artists conjured their creative architecture, depicting a new way of life that combines functionality and entertainment. The "boxed-up" image of containers is completely blown away as the containers are transformed from cold, hard cuboids into something that is both completely open, yet able to retain some mystery from their closed-off property. The open invitation of the 2009 exhibition enlisted 43 submissions from all over the world, among which sixteen were selected and will be displayed. In addition to the regular exhibition, there is the "Creative Model" special exhibition, featuring 1/15th model of designed containers, and it was a hit among younger artists and designers. There were nearly 300 submissions, and the top three designs were selected by the judging committee.
The exhibition of the International Kaohsiung Container Art Festival is open to the public from now until January 24th, 2010. If you are interested in seeing the world inside the containers, please join us in the Pier-2 Art District.
Address:No.1 Dayong Road, Yancheng District, Kaohsiung City.
2009國際貨櫃藝術節
邁向理想城市的N種想法
◎文／王大衛 ◎照片提供／高雄市立美術館、楊蟬華
高雄市依港而生，是國際貨櫃轉運港之一，要說貨櫃是高雄的「特產」之一也不為過。自2001年起，二年一度的「國際貨櫃藝術節」已邁入第五屆，不同往年在高美館舉行，此次特地搬到港邊的駁二藝術特區，更突顯與海洋相連結的或貨櫃意象。使用二手貨櫃為其創作材料，每一只貨櫃藝術作品，都見證了這近十年來船業運輸在高雄邁向文明前進時的勢力消長，「國際貨櫃藝術節」逐漸成為深具地方特色的藝術展覽。藝術家們的妙手讓每一只貨櫃，演繹出令人想像不到的精采創意。
2009年貨櫃藝術以「邁向理想城市的Ｎ種想法」為創作主題，結合貨櫃表面塗裝或內部互動裝置等，匯集國內、外當代藝術家，發揮創意，在櫃體內、外設計一個邁向理想的城市，人們可以想像的生活藍圖，運用貨櫃表面塗裝或櫃內裝置，營造一個微型的創意建築空間或是娛樂生活模式。透過貨櫃既「神秘」又「開放」的特質，觀眾可以享受到藝術家打破貨櫃冷硬印象的巧思與精妙創作。本屆，國際貨櫃藝術節實體貨櫃徵件，以公開徵件方式，總計43件眾多國內、外徵件作品，最後16件作品勝出。另外，特別策劃的貨櫃「創意模型」，以十五分之一的模型縮小比例標準，引起年輕創作圈的熱烈討論與迴響，共募集近三百件作品，並評選出前三名。
想一窺貨櫃的異想世界，即日起至１月24日，在駁二藝術特區（高雄市鹽埕區大勇路1號)持續展出國際貨櫃藝術節作品。
作品名稱：還要再多少顆氣球，貨櫃才能飛起來
Title of Work: How Many More Balloons Can Make a Container Fly?
作品名稱：逐水草而居
Title of Work: Rambling in Water City
作品名稱：戰鬥花園
Title of Work: Garden of War
作品名稱：20091121
Title of Work: 20091121
作品名稱：內省的往來
Title of Work: Introspective Trade
作品名稱：還原‧城市呼吸
Title of Work: Return‧Urban Breath