臉書:在地偏好Topophilia Studio 信箱:topophiliastudio@gmail.com
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秘密基地 Secret base 往寶藏巖西北處,順著新店溪水岸往下游走,可以找到一個自來水廠排放廢水的出水口,因為水管出水口懸空的關係,流出來的水形成一道弧形的小瀑布,落地之後變成一個小水塘。由於排放的水是製水過程中不要的過濾產物,所以雖然名義上是被拋棄的廢水,但是其實算是相當乾淨。以前的水塘很小沒辦法游泳,但是很適合讓五六個人一起在裡面泡水聊天,水深大概到腰胸以上,當時是村裡小孩子常去的秘密基地。現在從該處附近抬頭望向樹林間,還可以看到隱沒在樹叢花草中的大排水管,以前這裡並沒有自行車道,我們都是依循著大水管的路徑軌跡,穿越一大片雜草叢林才能找到我們的秘密基地。
Head northwest of Treasure Hill and downstream along the Xindian Riverbank, you will find a drainage pipe that’s part of a wastewater treatment plant. Water used to gush forth from the pipe in an arc like a mini waterfall, forming a pond. The discharge contained particles filtered out by the water treatment process. Wastewater in name, it was actually quite clean. The pond was too small for swimming, but it was perfect for a soak and a lively chat with friends, five or six at the most, as water only went as high as the waist or chest. It used to be the favorite secret meeting place of children growing up in the village. These days, you can still see hidden within the bushes numerous rows of pipes. There weren't any bike lanes, so to pass through the jungle of weeds that stood between us and our secret "base," we had to rely on the large pipes for guidance.
Treasure Hill is located by a river; the area stretching from Little Guanyin Mountain, the Treasure Hill village to Xindian River makes up a diverse ecological environment. Walk along the riverside, and you’ll observe plenty of species. There’s fish jumping out of the water surface, and migratory fish swimming in the Xindian River. You can feel the ebb and flow of the river if you pay attention to shifts in the water. After an extended period of time, I’ve come to learn of each species’ habitat. I know the sparrows make those two trees their home. The Chinese starlings settle in a spot under Yongfu Bridge. The black-collared starlings’ nest is at the side close to Fuhe Bridge. I have seen ospreys twice at Xindian River. Recently I noticed the presence of the yellow-headed herons. They’re a kind of migratory bird that visit in summer, so I think they’ll be flying southwards before long. If you pass by Fuhe Bridge at noon, chances are you will find black kites (Milvus migrans) circling in the air above. The light-vented bulbuls (Pycnonotus sinensis), sparrows, black bulbuls (Hypsipetes leucocephalus), turtle doves and pigeons have made the village their home. Their daily chirping livens up the day. Last year, a Taiwan blue magpie (Urocissa caerulea) flew to the window of my studio for some cat biscuits (actually leftovers, ‘cause a village cat named Purr-purr did not eat them all!). Sometimes the grey treepie comes by for a snack, too, and when it finds the big biscuit bowl empty, it moves to stand on it, and then overturns it with a loud clang, as if protesting "Yo, it's empty! Píng-toh!* "
* In Taiwanese Hokkien, píng-toh means overturning the table, a highly provocative action that suggests anger.
學游泳How I learned to swim 寶藏巖這裡太多好玩的事情了,小時候根本不會跑到公館去(笑)。除了在山上玩捉迷藏、摘水果,去溪邊釣魚抓蝦之外,我們小朋友還會玩游泳跳水,位於新店溪床上方有一兩座高壓電塔,以前我們會爬到電塔的水泥基座上面一躍而下,順著水流再慢慢游回岸邊,興致一來還可以一路游到中正橋,我的游泳技術就是這樣學來的呢!身體隨著溪水順流而下的時候,因為水流湍急,所以人不會一下就沉下去,順著水流調整姿勢和呼吸就好,一緊張起來反而才容易溺水。我也曾經有過在新店溪中央腳抽筋的經驗,那時候我就先沉到水裡,等腳舒服一點之後再浮出水面吸一口氣,接著扳扳腳趾頭就好了,不過有一次是兩腳一起抽筋,碰到這樣的情況,就只能靠雙手慢慢划回岸邊了。
Treasure Hill was a world of fun for me as a kid. I'd never once gone to Gongguan (laughter). Apart from playing hide and seek and picking fruits on the mountain, and fishing and catching shrimps in the river, we also swam and dived. I think a transmission tower was on the Xindian Riverbank, well maybe two. We used to climb up the tower and jump from the concrete foundation, and then slowly swim back to the riverbank with the current. On a whim we would swim all the way to Zhongzheng Bridge. This is basically how I learned to swim. I feel my body moved by the water's current--it's rapid so one doesn't sink right away. All I had to do was adjust my posture and breathe. You only choke on water when you tense up. I had this experience where I got a foot cramp just as I got to the middle of the Xindian River. So what I did was just let myself sink all the way down, and when that particular foot got better I swam up to take a breath. After that I just took some time stretching my cramping toes with my hands. There was this one time when both my feet got cramps. In a situation like this, all I could do was rely on my arms’ swimming strokes to take me back to the shore.
萬盛溪Wansheng River 現在的萬盛溪其實已經改道過了,和以前的位置不太一樣。以前萬盛溪出水口落在福和橋的正下方,溪水也不像現在這麼多,與其說是溪,還不如說是一條很乾淨的水溝。幾十年前我的爺爺在萬盛溪的兩側種菜,有些河段小到一跳就跳過去了,這也是為什麼我們沒有什麼在萬盛溪玩水的記憶,因為它實在太小了。萬盛溪水還乾淨的時候,新店和萬盛兩條溪的匯流處因為魚群很多,因此吸引了非常多的釣客,人多到魚鉤還會彼此打結呢……因為魚被釣到就會跑嘛,跑來跑去把不同人的釣魚線都纏在一起了。除了釣魚之外,萬盛溪口還可以撈蜆仔、抓蝦子和抓毛蟹。我上國中以後,水質慢慢開始改變了,因為萬盛溪上游的工廠多,以前興農路一二段到處都是電鍍工廠或染布工廠,汙水都直接排到這裡,因此當時 的溪水常常在變顏色。漸漸地,魚的種類愈來愈少,只剩下吳郭魚可活。原本萬盛溪和新店溪交會口是魚蝦匯聚之地,後來只剩一層浮油,水髒得可怕。十歲以前,我們還會釣魚來吃,後來就再也不敢了。
The current Wansheng River does not fit the one in my memory—it has meandered and changed. Its outlet was once situated right below Fuhe Bridge, and there wasn’t so much water—it was more of a clean ditch actually. Decades ago my grandpa grew vegetables on both sides of the river; you could cross it by jumping across certain small gaps that existed back then. And so we don’t really have much of a memory of playing at Wansheng River, because it was just tiny. When the water was still clean, you could catch all sorts of fish at the point where Xindian and Wansheng Rivers converged. The crowd of the fishermen was such that fishing hooks often got tangled. I mean, once hooked, the fish gets frantic and moves about wildly, causing a mess of tangled fishing lines. In addition to fishing, clams and crabs were a-plenty for catching at the mouth of Wansheng River. However, things began to change when I got to junior high—the water quality deteriorated. Upstream, more and more factories were being set up: all along Sections 1 and 2 of Rd. were fabric dyeing and electroplating workshops. Contaminated water went directly into Wansheng River—I remember how the water was always shimmering with varying colors. Soon, there was only one kind of fish left to be found: tilapia. The converging point of Wansheng and Xindian Rivers used to teem with fish and shrimp, but before we knew it, nothing was left but a sheen of oil on dreadfully dirty water. Before I was ten, we could catch fish in the river and make a meal out of it. Not anymore.
秘密基地 Secret base 往寶藏巖西北處,順著新店溪水岸往下游走,可以找到一個自來水廠排放廢水的出水口,因為水管出水口懸空的關係,流出來的水形成一道弧形的小瀑布,落地之後變成一個小水塘。由於排放的水是製水過程中不要的過濾產物,所以雖然名義上是被拋棄的廢水,但是其實算是相當乾淨。以前的水塘很小沒辦法游泳,但是很適合讓五六個人一起在裡面泡水聊天,水深大概到腰胸以上,當時是村裡小孩子常去的秘密基地。現在從該處附近抬頭望向樹林間,還可以看到隱沒在樹叢花草中的大排水管,以前這裡並沒有自行車道,我們都是依循著大...
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作者序 | 以空間為題的地方書寫實驗
「隨著我們越來越認識空間,並賦予它價值,一開始渾沌不分的空間就變成了地方。」──段義孚*
2008年的夏天,臺北市立美術館推出一檔令人印象深刻的建築展覽名為「建築實驗室」,展出的圖面與模型與其說是一個個的精緻的建築作品,不如說是眾多藝術家、理論家及建築師們對於建築、城市、身處時代乃至整個人類文明的態度與宣示。由紀.恩斯特.德博(Guy Ernest Debord)在1957年發表的「巴黎心理地理學指南」亦在展覽當中登場。這一幅作品呈現一張支離破碎、令人狐疑的巴黎地圖,一塊塊破碎的街區搭配一連串的箭頭符號被看似隨意地安置在畫面上。這張不知所云的地圖或許會讓觀者感到莫名其妙,然而它卻精確反映出人們認識城市的方式:對於城市的某處我們很可能瞭如指掌,但是對於另一處卻十分陌生。「巴黎心理地理學指南」反映了我們心裡面所認知的城市模樣,那是一種「由想像、主觀與片段式經驗所重組的空間」。(臺北市立美術館,《建築實驗室》)
Foreword Space as subject matter—A local writing experiment
“As we get to know a space and assign values to it, this formerly chaotic space turns into a place.” --Yi-Fu Tuan Yi-Fu Tuan[1]
In the summer of 2008, Taipei Fine Arts Museum curated a remarkable architecture exhibition named Archilab. To be sure, each drawing and model was a delicate piece of work; however, it would be more apt to see them collectively as an expression of mentality and a statement by a great number of artists, theorists and architects toward architecture, city, their eras, and human civilization in general. Guide psychogéographique de Paris, published by Guy Ernest Debord in 1957, was also part of the exhibition. This piece of work presented a broken and perplexing map of Paris. A series of arrows complemented each broken patch of city block, seemingly arranged in a random manner. While this map may seem unintelligible or bewildering to the viewer, it accurately reflects the way people come to know a city: we may know a corner of the city inside out and be a total stranger to another. Guide psychogéographique de Paris reflects the cityscape in our mind--it is "a space reconstituted by one’s imagination, subjective and segmented experience.” (Archilab , Taipei Fine Arts Museum)
Through this piece of work, Debord tells us that people’s perception of a city is constituted by subjective experience. In the book Space and Place by the humanistic geography scholar Yi-Fu Tuan, he further makes clear the foregoing concept by way of an example:
Long-time residents of Minneapolis know the city. A taxi driver can learn to find his way around the city. An academic studying geography may come to know Minneapolis conceptually through his studies. These are three different experiences. One may become familiar with a place conceptually and realistically, and be able to clearly convey his thoughts. Yet, he cannot express what he knows through senses of touch, taste, smell, hearing, or sight.* *Translator's note: This is a back translation of a Simplified Chinese edition of Tuan’s book.
The concept proposed by Debord and Tuan goes to show that a “place” familiar to people is, in fact, made up of a series of segmented experiences or shards of memory. Limited by subjective consciousness, each person can only know so much of a place. This applies to even professional experts and scholars committed to studying a place. With the foregoing ideas on space as our starting point, in 2018 we launched Project Treasure Hill: Collecting Memories in Taipei Treasure Hill Artist Village as our reflection on and response to those ideas. With the legal status of a cultural heritage and considered one of the most well-known artist villages in Taiwan, Treasure Hill is an exemplar settlement imitated by other communities. A great deal of academic research and reports on Treasure Hill have already produced plenty of writings. A lot of research on places rely on the so-called “field work” method—researchers visit on-site, make contact with people in the community, obtain local information through interviews, and then form generalizations about the settlement’s history, culture, space, among other information. However, such “fieldwork” usually only serves as a part of the research process. The resulting research reports mostly consist of the researcher’s discourse. With Project Treasure Hill: Collecting Memories, we sought to do things differently. We began to think: why not turn the “stories told by the residents”into the main characters, and let these “local residents” tell us their “local stories”?
Imagine putting together different persons’ segmented descriptions of Treasure Hill in an overlapping manner. There is a chance the “broken piece of Treasure Hill’s map” held within each person’s mind will add up, overlap, and gradually form a more complete picture. In this way, our understanding of Treasure Hill can go beyond the telling of a single person or group, and come closer to a restored, “public” version. If the world exists on the basis of human beings’ understanding, then shouldn’t the version of “Treasure Hill” as told by many come closer to touching upon the essence of this place?
Overlapping of time and space From 2018 to 2020, we have interviewed dozens of people related to Treasure Hill, including long-time residents, managers of the artist village, resident artists, social welfare workers, stores in nearby business districts, and competent authorities of other agencies. For our memory collection project, we anticipated hearing different versions of “Treasure Hill” as told by different people, but the interview process turned out to be far more interesting. Listening to different interviewees tell their stories, we clearly saw how each person’s perception differed from that of another—not just spatially, but temporally. For instance, two different persons both talked about the Xindian Riverbank. One told us of his childhood memory of playing and swimming there, while the other happily shared her discovery of migratory birds by the river the other day. When we compiled and presented a series of stories derived from different interviewees’ “psychological-geographical maps” in an overlapping manner, we discovered that a place’s collective impression in fact comprises complex perceptions resulting from the overlapping of time and space.
We soon found ourselves facing a problem when going through various interview materials: various remarks about each space had been made at different points in time. Therefore, the chronological order of this book will constantly jump back and forth when one gets to different interviewees’ memories and remarks. This may seem to pose a problem for reading comprehension. But, isn’t this just the way we view a place? There are a number of ways to get to know a place. It could be due to a particular event in the past that you’ve come to fall in love with a place. It could be your day-to-day life in a certain place that gradually allows you to deepen your understanding of that place. In fact, a person’s memory of a space comes from this enormous collective entity called “the past” that he’s experienced, and in a recall he only extracts the segment from this entity of which he has an impression. Therefore, the accumulation of a wide range of Treasure Hill stories is not so much a restoration of the village’s extended life history as a “situational” spatial account. Whether familiar with Treasure Hill or not, readers are welcome to tap into their own understanding and imagination when reading about different figures’ feelings for Treasure Hill, and then re-create your own image of Treasure Hill.
When “spaces” connect There are many ways to acquaint yourself with Treasure Hill. Go and wander about in the open area of the settlement, apply for a guided tour that will take you on a specific route circling the village, or pass by whenever you feel like it. Ride a bike, visit the lawn and have a picnic there. Get a glass of sour prune soup at the community grocery if you’re thirsty. Commute toward Gongguan business district by bike and you’ll “pass by” the village every day. As human beings, we share more or less the same body constitution. Even if each of us has our own way of viewing and understanding a place, we more or less have a consensus on what constitutes a “space.” The villagers of Treasure Hill have long divided the village into “upper” and “lower” parts. Even if you’re not familiar with the village, the spatial composition of Treasure Hill should be easy to grasp if you refer to the accessible descriptions and diagrams we’ve provided. (See “Stories and Where to Find Them.”) In short, the village borders on Little Guanyin Mountain, Xindian River and Wansheng River. The bottom of the mountain is the main living area of the villagers, including the vegetable farm, community grocery and a shed, where people gather, chat and rest. The top of the mountain is the primary area managed by the artist village; various artist studios and shops are located here. From a historical point of view, Treasure Hill Temple (dedicated to Guanyin Bodhisattva) and Treasure Pagoda comprise the earliest core space of the village.
The stories’ sequence follows the aforesaid spatial structure of the village. There is an invisible walking trail extending across all of the stories: with the Xindian Riverbank as the starting point, you move in the direction of the settlement, pass by the vegetable farm, the shed and the community grocery. Up the stairs, you’ll see the Treasure Hill Temple and entrance to the artist village. Visit each studio, the small plaza, the old banyan tree, and eventually arrive at the square on the top of the hill. So the stories are like dots, one connected after another on this walking trail. Reading all of the stories is equivalent to doing a careful round of the settlement. In our opinion, connecting each story and turning it into a linear space has the effect of anchoring the many stories “taking place at different points in time.” Readers will, step by step, be able to grasp the village’s spatial structure as they read along, and discover the village’s local features. Three pieces of writing about Treasure Hill are inserted in between the stories, two of which are written by artist Hsing Yu LIU and former Treasure Hill Artist Village manager Isis Mingli Lee, respectively. They offer their experience and perspective on how to view Treasure Hill, further expanding the spatial horizon of this book. The third piece of writing was the journal entry left during our Treasure Hill residency in 2019. With “spaces” connecting everything, we have put together a wide variety of stories and perspectives. Ultimately, what kind of a place is Treasure Hill? We leave this question’s answer and interpretation up to the readers.
Outside Treasure Hill Invited by the Treasure Hill Artist Village in 2019, we settled in the village for a period of four months. This opportunity was an extension of the 2018 Project Treasure Hill: Collecting Memories. The scope of the ensuing fieldwork included not only the settlement but places outside it, including Gongguan business district, the “WenRoTing” region, Taipei Water Park, Taipei City Hakka Cultural Park, and as far as Kishu An Forest of Literature located at the end of Tongan St.; territorially, we got involved in what is generally referred to as the “City South” region. The term is vaguely defined. Some say it includes the area where Guling Street is located, while some say it’s far more expansive, spanning Taipei South Airport, Kinmen St., Xiamen St., and Tongan St. Lucille HAN in her book Taipei City Narrator views “City South” as the street blocks reaching from YongkangSt., Qingtian St. to Longquan St. (namely, the so-called “Kang-Qing-Long” region).
With this vague definition as the premise, we proceeded with our project in an attempt to reevaluate the following question: what kind of spatial network do the Treasure Hill settlement and its environs--also part of “City South,” in broader terms--constitute? How do the spatial maps in the minds of people living outside Treasure Hill look like? After we’ve collected more information from interviews, we noted that another large group of people close to the village has maintained multifaceted and complex relationships with Treasure Hill. For example, when university students close by tire of going to restaurants near the school, they sometimes buy bentos in the village. Decades ago, Taipei Water Park was named a military zone. Nonetheless, children living in the village and Gongguan business district had dared to go there for adventures. What kind of mindset and thinking does the management of Kishu An Forest of Literature (also a cultural heritage like the Treasure Hill settlement) adopt when faced with an ancient structure and residents in the community? To some locals, Treasure Hill can be a recreational place for the elderly, for playing mahjong or cards, or for sports or relaxation. To local intellectuals concerned with such issues as preservation of cultural heritage, housing justice and ecological environment, Treasure Hill serves as a model for imitation, learning, reflection, and even critical judgment.
Hidden spaces During the course of our interviews, an interviewee shared with us his experience of working in Kishu An Forest of Literature and later setting up shop in Treasure Hill. Perhaps he was in some way more sensitive than most--he has had inexplicable experiences in both places when newly arrived. “Supernatural experience” wielded some influence on whatever was going on in his life and mind; in retrospect, he had been dealing with some issues of import in his life, and somehow these minor events turned things around for him. He told us that, with the passing of time, he came to sense how daily life, personal ideals and locality “formed a close and ambiguous relationship.” In the words of one well-versed in theories of space, perhaps the “it” he had encountered was the so-called “Genius Loci”--it might have been the local protector deity. Our daily routines, life’s dreams and hobbies cannot be separated from space[2]. If one truly wishes “to know what kind of a place this is,” then you could try to chat with people and to understand the locals’ way of thinking, and at the same time attempt to capture the “space” and stories derived from it that are hidden behind the life, history and memory of these people. Though a slow process, this method is effective. Our endeavor has been a local writing experiment, with space as its subject matter. With this series of stories, we hope to open up your imagination about all kinds of spaces, and renew your understanding of the local significations of Treasure Hill.
In Topophilia Studio, Taipei, 2020 Lin Szu Chun
[1]Author’s note: Quote comes from Yi-Fu Tuan's 1977 book titled Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience, albeit not in the original wording. I cite a Chinese translation of Place: a Short Introduction (p. 16) translated by CHIH-HUNG WANG and another translator. [2]Author’s note: Genius loci usually refers to a location's distinctive atmosphere. Literally, “Loci” means “place,” while “Genius” means “protective spirit.”
作者序 | 以空間為題的地方書寫實驗
「隨著我們越來越認識空間,並賦予它價值,一開始渾沌不分的空間就變成了地方。」──段義孚*
2008年的夏天,臺北市立美術館推出一檔令人印象深刻的建築展覽名為「建築實驗室」,展出的圖面與模型與其說是一個個的精緻的建築作品,不如說是眾多藝術家、理論家及建築師們對於建築、城市、身處時代乃至整個人類文明的態度與宣示。由紀.恩斯特.德博(Guy Ernest Debord)在1957年發表的「巴黎心理地理學指南」亦在展覽當中登場。這一幅作品呈現一張支離破碎、令人狐疑的巴黎地圖,一塊塊破碎的街區...
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推薦序Foreword ◾用說故事的方式重現寶藏巖的集體記憶 -李曉雯,寶藏巖國際藝術村總監 ◾Recalling Through Storytelling the Collective Memory of Treasure Hill -Li Hsiao Wen / Director, Treasure Hill Artist Village ◾從場域學習觀察,在場域察覺生活,在生活中認識自己 -榮芳杰,國立清華大學環境與文化資源學系、人文社會學院學士班 合聘副教授 ◾Learning from the Site, Perceiving the Site, and Knowing Oneself -Rong Fang Jay / Associate Professor, National Tsing Hua University Department of Environmental and Cultural Resources, and Interdisciplinary Program of Humanities and Social Sciences
作者序Preface ◾以空間為題的地方書寫實驗 ◾Space as subject matter — A local writing experiment
第一部分:寶藏巖 Part I : Treasure Hill ◾79個故事79 stories ◾3篇文章3 essays ◾我願化身寶藏巖的蓮花精靈 ─ 保持距離與好奇心 / 劉星佑 ◾Let me turn into Treasure Hill’s “Lotus Elf” ─ Keep your distance & stay curious / Hsing Yu Liu ◾開了燈,照亮誰? / 李明俐 ◾When Light Is Turned On, Whom Does It Illuminate? / Isis Mingli Lee ◾那些構成地方的微小事物 / 林思駿 ◾The little things that shape the place / Lin Szu Chun
第二部分:寶藏巖之外 Part II : Outside Treasure Hill ◾34 個故事34 stories
後記 Afterword
推薦序Foreword ◾用說故事的方式重現寶藏巖的集體記憶 -李曉雯,寶藏巖國際藝術村總監 ◾Recalling Through Storytelling the Collective Memory of Treasure Hill -Li Hsiao Wen / Director, Treasure Hill Artist Village ◾從場域學習觀察,在場域察覺生活,在生活中認識自己 -榮芳杰,國立清華大學環境與文化資源學系、人文社會學院學士班 合聘副教授 ◾Learning from the Site, Perceiving the Site, and Knowing Oneself -Rong Fang Jay / Associate Professor, National Tsing Hua University Department of Environmenta...