This is a thought-provoking book that brings both theoretical frameworks and case studies into light. Tung’s book explores the perspectives of social practice in contemporary art from within Western and East Asian contexts. It also adds significant perspectives on education and civil activism. This book is worth reading for practitioners of interdisciplinary art and researchers concerned with the relation of art to the development of communities.
Mali Wu / Associate Professor and Director of Graduate School of interdisciplinary Art, National Kaohsiung Normal University
The Challenge of Aesthetics: Social Practice in Contemporary Art is a book that shows that contemporary art practice is not about creating miracles or works of genius; it is about the stories of “communities self-awakening and being fulfilled, as well as receiving support from the ‘outside’.” For Wei Hsiu Tung, the “Plum Tree Creek,” “Togo Village,” and “Mirage” projects, amongst others, all epitomize contemporary art practice in terms of social engagement, care for the environment, civil discussion or education, and resistance to urban gentrification. Beside the usual references to Bishop, Lacy, Kester and Bourriaud, Tung’s The Challenge of Aesthetics provides Chinese language readers of studies on social practice art with a local perspective as well as worldview from within the self-reflective framework of Taiwan.
Jow-Jiun Gong / Ph.D. Associate Professor/ Doctoral Program in Art Creation and Theory, Tainan National University of the Arts
This book offers different perspectives on discussions of social practice in contemporary art, from theories to case studies whether in Western or East Asian and Taiwanese contexts. The book also reflects on the educational dimension of social practice art and its potential for civil action.
By confronting society and its reality, and by raising the critical questions of our time, art can prompt different communities to develop self-awareness through creative expression. Such art practice has the power to bring-in change beyond the confines of the museum and within our own lives. This is what makes the social practice of art pivotal in our time.
曾獲國家文化藝術基金會「藝術與社會環境結合」藝術社會學博士論文獎助,2010-2011年擔任英國倫敦都會大學(Sir John Cass School of Art, Media and Design, London Metropolitan University)公共藝術訪問學者。著有英文專書Art for Social Change and Cultural Awakening: An Anthropology of Residence in Taiwan (Lexington Books, 2013),獲邀2014年台北國際書展美國在台協會(AIT)展出,及Taiwan Review書評專文介紹。目前也擔任《藝術研究學報》主編及Journal of Chinese Contemporary Art(Routledge)國際編審委員,並以中、英文出版多篇文章於國內外匿名審查學術期刊及其他重要專論。長期研究關注領域為藝術的社會參與及實踐、公共空間藝術、藝術家進駐計畫研究等。
Wei Hsiu TUNG is Associate Professor of theory of art at National University of Tainan, Taiwan. After obtaining her master’s degree in art education at Warwick University, she was awarded a scholarship from the Taiwan National Culture and Arts Foundation to write a PhD dissertation in anthropology of art with British anthropologist Nick Stanley at Birmingham City University (BIAD, 2003).
In 2010-2011 she was Research Fellow of public art at the Sir John Cass School of Art, Media and Design, London Metropolitian University. Her research interests and expertise cover public art, socially engaged art, community-based art practice in East Asia, social anthropology of art East/West, contemporary Chinese and Taiwanese art. She has published her research in both English and Chinese in peer-reviewed journals such as Journal of Visual Art Practice (Taylor & Francis), Art Forum (National Cheng Kung University), or Aesthetics and Art Science (Airiti Press). She has authored two books: Art for Social Change and Cultural Awakening: An Anthropology of Residence in Taiwan (Lexington Books, 2013) and The Social Practice of Contemporary Art: Towards the Reality and Power of Change (Quan Hua, 2017). She also currently serves as Editor in Chief of the peer-reviewed Journal of Performing and Visual Art Studies.
藝術家進駐計畫在西方國家的模式發展非常多元,並且結合了當代藝術思潮,但是專注於非西方國家的藝術進駐計劃的出版卻付之闕如。我於2010年獲得萊辛頓出版社(Lexington Books)主編的回應,並提供出版合約,2013年在美國出版英文專書《為社會變遷與文化醒覺而藝術:台灣藝術進駐的人類學研究》(Art for Social Changeand Cultural Awakening: An Anthropology of Residence in Taiwan),透過對藝術家進駐計畫如何反思台灣文化脈絡與認同的書寫,試圖為藝術進駐計劃的論述提出另一套非西方國家的經驗模式的研究。這本英文專書後來也在2014年的台北國際書展獲得美國在台協會(AIT)的推薦與展出──基於此書對於台灣的藝術發展與社會變遷的探討,為英文讀者提供了一個對台灣文化與社會更深入了解的觀點。
能夠完成這本著作,得力於許多人在研究上的勉勵與交流。首先,我要感謝雪梨南威爾斯大學當代藝術講座教授Prof. Paul Gladston、美國加州州立大學Prof. Wang Meiquin(王美欽教授)、加拿大約克大學Prof. Hong Kal,以及荷蘭萊頓大學的國際亞洲研究中心研究員Minna Valjakka,與他們的對話與交流,啟發了一些我在研究上的靈感。最初是因為透過國際期刊及專書的出版,帶來和這些國際學者的連結,使我在孤獨的學術研究的路上,發現了與我的研究興趣及主題相近的夥伴。
Prof. Paul Gladston 於我2010-2011年在倫敦都會大學擔任訪問學者的期間,邀請我參與 Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art的編審工作,當時他擔任Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art的創刊主編以及英國諾丁漢大學當代東亞文化研究中心主任,前來參與我在倫敦都會大學的論壇發表,並於論文後續的投稿給予許多寶貴意見。我的論文後來在Journal of Visual Art Practice這本雙匿名審查的英文期刊出版,其後加拿大約克大學Prof. Hong Kal主動來信,對於我在Journal of Visual Art Practice所發表的文章‘The Return of the Real’: Art and Identity in Taiwan’s Public Sphere(「真實的回返」:台灣公共領域中的藝術與認同)給予回饋分享,讓我第一次擁有「來自遠方讀者之迴響」的奇妙感受,也很榮幸日後有機會和她一起,在國際間素負盛名的藝術學院聯盟(College Art Association,簡稱CAA)於2017年CAA紐約年會以及亞洲研究學會(Association of Asian Studies,簡稱AAS)在國立新加坡大學舉辦的年會發表論文。同時,感謝在加州州立大學任教亞洲藝術史的王美欽教授邀請我參與東亞藝術的社會實踐相關主題英文期刊出版計畫;以及Minna Valjakka在英文出版上的不吝指教;這些學術夥伴們的意見分享與鼓舞,成為我進步的動力。他們對研究的熱情與嚴謹、見解犀利與虛懷若愚同時兼具的特質,不僅是我所佩服的,也帶給我許多學習精進的機會。過去幾年來,與這本書內容有關的幾個國際性大型研討會的參與,以及在準備這本書的出版的專注寫作期間,我很幸運認識了許多國際學者及優秀的藝術工作者,提升了我的視野。