活動記錄：
文字 text：鄭凱莉 Kelly Jheng
攝影 photo：張巧怡 Joy Chang
Graham Harwood 與Matsuko Yokokoji從1994年即一起工作，擅長技術修補及圖像思考，各自的專長為彼此佈下激盪出合作火花的基石，幾個合作案也在藝術界打響名號。兩人於1996至2007年間創辦藝術團體-Mongrel，在2005到2008年設立自由媒體實驗室-MediaShed。2008年，他們與長期夥伴Richard Wright共同創作「鉭紀念祭：交換機與社會電話網路的重建」，榮獲2009跨媒體藝術節的首獎。YoHa在作品內注入「生態媒體」、「自由媒體」和「社會電話網路」的概念，試圖一探究竟全球化世界中藝術、權力與媒體間錯綜複雜的關係。
鄭淑麗多從事影像作品、裝置藝術與網路藝術，自1980至1990年代開始拍攝獨立影片，身為性別政治少數族群，以及西方主流藝壇中的亞裔藝術家，這些背景讓她有說不完的故事。1990年代中期漸漸接觸網路藝術，例如：1995年的「保齡球道」(Bowling Alley)，挑戰人類對公共空間和虛擬空間的認知；另一件受到相當多討論的作品「布蘭登」(Brandon)，以1993年因揭露變性身分而遭到暗殺的受害者Brandon Teena為名，開放網路空間開放給不同地域、背景的群眾討論性別政治，激盪出更多元的觀點。2001年推出一系列設想2030年發生的科幻情節作品。近年主要以歐洲為據點進行創作，在日本、印度、澳洲等數十個國家皆可找到她的蹤影。鄭淑麗藝術的關鍵為讓群眾介入作品，著重臨時社群。
「邪惡媒體配送中心」的發想為YoHa對於 Matthew Fuller 和 Andrew Goffey剛出版《邪惡媒體》一書的回應。從Google的口號「不作惡」(Don’t be evil.)為起點，這句話點出其實科技已悄悄地改變人類的生活，平時看不出科技物件對我們的影響，但發生的作用卻具體而明顯，如Google的網頁瀏覽器Chrome，由於它的便利性而產生許多愛用者，卻必須依照固定的規格使用，亦即我們建構出物件，物件也建構了我們。此合作案邀請52位人對52項物件用130字的篇幅寫下敘述，討論邪惡媒體發生強制性作用並在日常生活中影響著人類的心理與生理，其中有人寫道：歐洲大陸的各個城市都有自己的運行時間，當蒸汽火車發明時，為了使火車發車順利，才產生火車時刻表，統一人類的時間概念，想要通勤更方便，就要依照火車時刻表的時間搭車，欲求方便而實際使用的行為就是受之影響的表徵，這種發生潛移默化作用的物件稱為「灰色物件」，蒸汽火車即為一例。
鄭淑麗在完成「堆肥城市 |堆肥網路」之前，走訪各個城市，研究各地處理廚餘以及電子廢棄物的方式，在柏林發放12個箱子給12個人收集堆肥，合作的美術館也會介入而一同找連結，綠化當地，達到社會推廣的效力。最後以媒體表演的形式結束持續六個月的計畫，表演開始前，若願意自己將身體貢獻的一部分與泥土混合，如頭髮、指甲以及尿液等，就有優先權入場，另外也用堆肥中的蟲製造熱量與電力，產生噪音音樂，與觀眾一起同樂，希望參與者能和她作品裡的概念互動。
YoHa表示，社會藝術家是一個探問的角色，非直接但要提出問題供民眾多方面思考，例如看待一把槌子，除了知道它是助力的工具，手臂也可能因此斷裂，此為一來一往的關係，但一般人大多不會思考到這樣層面的觀點，社會藝術家即盼望透過作品的呈現帶給觀眾不同高度的視野。科技有一共同特質，都渴望有人能夠配戴它，需要人類的使用才會產生功用，進而變得實際與完整，如零組件在人與科技物件互惠的情況下，集聚起來演化成引擎。但在輝煌成就的背後，往往陳列許多受剝削者的犧牲，例如英國雖已停止採集煤礦，卻又以燃煤電腦的形式出現，為了生產電腦，煤礦工人吸進許多煤灰，也汙染了當地的環境。鄭淑麗認為，「堆肥城市 |堆肥網路」的循環概念也可以套用在藝術家自身，思考自己每年的創作計畫可以有何種循環，並不斷強化個人的主張。
在座談會的最後，主持人李士傑提出這場對談的主旨是對科技的反思，深思科技與社會如何產生關聯，兩者的差異為何，背後的想法又是什麼？
An Exploratory Dialogue on Contemporary Art DiscourseIn Taiwan, political life gradually becomes volatiles. Governments may no longer be mighty spirits that are out of public control, but imaginary utilities that can be “temporarily called” (http://g0v.tw/) for conversation and modification, and “mobilized” to correct social and media chaos. Public information may be reopened for use. New paradigms (http://3du.tw/) also start to appear in education life. Old obstacles are collectively overthrown, and bedrocks that can “temporarily” broaden our horizons are placed. Open data movement represents efforts by digital natives to leave ivory towers for society.Facebook is full of retro and conservative personal messages, shielded by eemingly diverse, rich, digital and progressive covers. On the other hand, traditional television conglomerates extend from info visualization to public isciplines. Nationalistic ideologies emerge behind splendid images. As Chengdu Biennial curator Fu Xiao-dong says, are our old media and their criticism systematically updated”? Is new media really “newer”? Challenges that contemporary artists face are not just skills or technologies, but also media accessibility and sensory over-saturation. How do international landscape, data clashes and local reality under Wikileaks reach into local minds, if not consumed and blurred politically?How do contemporary arts retrieve dynamics, and maintain introspection to information society at the same time? In this series of dialogues organized by TCAC and Culturemondo Network Asia-Pacific Secretariat, evil media will be composted, hopefully to wake up young people nowadays.
■ Time：2013/03/15（Fri.） 14:00 -17:00
■ Venue: TCAC ( No.19-1, An-dong St., Da-an Dist., 10666 Taipei ) , www.tcac.tw
■ Moderator:
Shih-Chieh Ilya Li／Digital Cultural Worker, Culturemondo International Steering Committee
Member
n Panelists：
Shu Lea Cheang／Artist, International New Media, Digital Art Pioneer
Graham Harwood & Matsuko Yokokoji／UK Contemporary Art Group YoHa
14:00-14:10 Opening14:10-15:00 YoHa: Evil Media Distribution Center15:00-15:50 Shu Lea Cheang: Composting the City | Composting the Net15:50-16:00 Break time16:00-16:50 Artists’ Talk: Ilya & YoHa & Shu Lea Cheang
16:50-17:00 Ending
■ Contact Us:
Culturemondo Network Asia-Pacific Secretariat, Xiao-ling Lin & Mengshan Lee:02-2788-3799#1478
Taipei Contemporary Art Center, Eleanore Chen: 02-2731-5556
■ Introduction
Fresh from Transmediale2013 in Berlin, where YoHa (London) presented ‘Evil Media Distribution Center’ and Shu Lea Cheang (Paris) presented ‘Composting the City | Composting the Net’, the three artists invited by Culturemondo in Taiwan give a public talk on their respective works and the trajectory of their argument on contemporary art theory and practice, the processing and the processed of media and ecology. YoHa’s ‘Evil Media Distribution Center’ is the artists’ response to the recently published book ‘Evil Media’ (MIT, 2012) by Matthew Fuller and Andrew Goffey, Taking off from Google’s ‘don’t be evil’, ‘Evil Media’ addresses the gray zones of contemporary computational and networked media.
YoHa’s distribution center, an installation of a collection of such gray technocultural objects, takes the practices. With ‘Composting the City | Composting the Net’, Cheang examines the parallel degenerative process of fermentation and fragmentation of our daily food scraps and shared digital commons. Presented as performance/installation, Composting the City investigates urban food waste management systems while Composting the Net sources net cultures’ accumulated data. With this public dialogue, the three artists, who previously collaborated on ‘Moving Forest’ (2008-2012) hope to make an exchange of ideas and cultural viewpoints with Taiwan’s media art practitioners and the public.
Short Bio of YoHa
Artist duo YoHa alias Graham Harwood and Matsuko Yokokoji have lived and worked together since 1994. They co-founded the artists group Mongrel and established the Mediashed, a free-media lab in Southend-on-sea. In 2008 they joined long time collaborator, Richard Wright, to produce Tantalum Memorial, winning the transmediale.09 award. YoHa have created various projects using ‘free media’, ‘eco-media’ and ‘social telephony’. Their work explores the complex relationships between power, art and media in a globalized world.
* http://www.yoha.co.uk/
Short Bio of Shu Lea Cheang
As Artist, conceptualist, filmmaker, networker, Shu Lea Cheang constructs networked installation and multi-player performance in collective mode. She drafts sci-fi narratives in her film scenario and artwork imagination. Noted for BRANDON (1998-1999), the first web art commission and collection by the Guggenheim museum in New York city, she is currently located in post-net BioNet zone with recent work UKI (2009-2012) on viral love corporate hack and Baby Work (2012) with clone babies on ME (memory/ emotion) data.
http://mauvaiscontact.info
■ Website of Hosts:
http://ap.culturemondo.org/
■ Attention:
■ With Chinese-English interpretation and free WIFI.
■ With drinking water and coffee, it is highly recommended that participants bring their own cups.
■ Please attend on time, and the seat selection is on a first-come, first-served basis
■ Advisory Board: National Science Council, Executive Yuan
■ Organizers: Culturemondo Network Asia-Pacific Secretariat, Taipei Contemporary Art Center,
Doctoral Program in Art Creation and Theory of TNNUA, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Graduate
Institute of Interdisciplinary Art of NKNU
■ Co-Organizers: Taiwan e-Learning & Digital Archives Program, International Collaboration
and Promotion of Taiwan e-Learning & Digital Archives Program, Museum Computer Network
Taiwan Chapter
■ Special Thanks: Center for Art and Technology, TNUA
EVIL MEDIA COMPOSTED: An Exploratory Dialogue on Contemporary Art Discourse
will also take place at following places:
■ March 18 – 16:00-18:00, Tainan National University of the Arts, Taiwan
■ March 19 – 10:00-12:00, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan
■ March 21 – 19:00-21:00, Atsuko Barouh arts & bar, Tokyo, Japan
