快樂山 Happy Mountain

雙頻道影像，18分25秒，2015

＊本影像作品非經作者授權，不得任意轉載與公開播映。 Works without the author's authorization, shall not arbitrarily reprint and open broadcasting.

在台灣東北角濱海公路某個隱匿入口，是地圖上找不到的快樂山，那兒居住著一群阿美族（Amis/Pangcah）老人，坐山面海的居住環境，有著絕佳的天然資源。他們上山採野菜、下海撈漁獲，且依著山坡道，用鐵皮或廢料板材搭出拼湊風格的各式建物，過著自給自足並互相照顧的生活近三十年。

城市外圍有許多像這樣的都市原住民部落，遷徙而來的成因絕大部分是因應早期城市建設，從花東地區而來的大批廉價勞動人力。這群離鄉背井的人們，在離工作就近處，聞嗅到像家鄉的地方，像是依循祖先的生存智慧，就這麼一個招喚著一個，群居了起來。而當台灣進入現代化後，土地已不是讓人可當過客暫駐的地方，而是成為國家財產或資本商品，那些逐水草而群居的天性就成了非法的賤民；快樂山的居民全部被提告「侵佔國土」，即將面對流離失所的命題。

從外部看來，那兒有著人與自然和諧相處的空間，自力更生的開拓美學，呈現出某種烏托邦的雛型，令人欽羨與嚮往。藝術家隨著事件，初步的進入村落，在詭譎多變的政治氛圍中縮時攝影24小時的取高風景，並在拍攝途中自拍自問自答，試圖尋找傳說中的美麗玻璃屋，並經驗著地方從內到外，像是地圖繪製的等高線，擴出一圈圈對「家」的探索取徑。

Happy Mountain, Video, Dual channel, 18' 25", installations, dimensions variable, 2015

The Happy Mountain is, by all practical accounts, invisible. Located around a seaside highway in northeast Taiwan, Happy Mountain doesn't have any visible mapping points. The people who live there are primarily elders of Amis (Pangcah), cohabiting with the natural environment and sustainably living off the rich resources found between the sea and mountains. They subsist off collecting wild vegetables and seafood, as well as building different types homes by collecting recycled construction materials for the last thirty years.

In Taiwan, many of the urban indigenous tribes are dotted around suburban areas of cities. The typical reason they came to live in these suburban areas —away from their hometowns such as Hualien and Taitung— was to make a better living wage as manual laborers, namely off of the early boom in urban construction. Due to nostalgia and  homesickness, these laborers gradually started to gather, one by one, in Happy Mountain due to its geographical similarity with their hometowns.

This type of movement is not unlike how their ancestors began to gather and live together in the past, forced on by the continued development of their country by outside occupation. After those major early develops waned in Taiwan, the land was no longer seen as belonging to these migrant laborers. Instead, the land came into the possession of the government and became just another piece of capital. Therefore, these laborers have now been deemed illegal occupants, treated without the proper respect, for their sacrifices and years of hard work for the collective good of Taiwan. As it stands today, every resident who make The Happy Mountain their home are being accused of illegally occupying National property and face losing the place they worked so hard to call home.

From the outside looking in, Happy Mountain seems like a utopian space, complete with a rare balance found in other parts of Taiwan, that being a harmony and peace within the dedication to sustainability. If anything, the hard work of these people have made it more attractive to outsiders, who now envy and look forward to living there.

En Man's entry into this space was to simply explore this area, soon finding a mysterious  house of glass abandoned on the high point of mountain, shrouded within a foggy political atmosphere. En Man uses this kind of loose exploration in order to gradually and unpretentiously build experiences tied to this mountain area and, in so doing, try to recognize and understand the process of mapping from outside to inside, as if looking for the path to some form of hometown.

Translated by : Wen-Li Chen & Darren Tesar

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2018.8.19 - 9.16  "XXOO", FOGSTAND Gallery & Studio, St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. (photo by FOGSTAND)
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dedet a ljavek a kemasi tua nia qinaljan.

海洋離我們的部落很近

The sea is close to our tribe.

（高雄市立美術館，張恩滿攝影）

（高雄市立美術館提供，林宏龍攝影）

2017.06　南方—問與聽的藝術：高雄市立美術館
│現場裝置材料來自高雄拉瓦克部落，部分為已拆遷的家屋棄材
│裝置施工：高雄拉瓦克部落族人陳正雄、古勒勒‧楊
│特別感謝：Kaing Lipay、Savungaz Valincinan、拉瓦克部落族人陳美金

「拉瓦克」排灣族語為ljavek，意思是近海之處。「拉瓦克」是高雄市區唯一的原住民部落，也遇到與瑞芳「快樂山」等都市原住民部落居住權與國家律法或開發衝突的問題。

「拉瓦克」多數是來自屏東的排灣族；約1950年代因應木業、出口、加工等勞動力，為生存而遷徙的族人們形成的聚落，目前已至第四代。拉瓦克坐落處目前發展為繁華的經貿園區商圈，前方的運河在1997年被填平成為中華五路，區域地景面貌的巨變擠壓了生活空間，也開始了被政府判定為「佔用戶」後，長達二十年的反迫遷談判與抗爭。


2017 The South: An Art of Asking and Listening, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Ars.

"Ljavek " means “the place close to the sea” in the indigenous Paiwan language. As the only Aboriginal tribe in Kaohsiung City, like their counterpart “Happy Mountain” in Ruifang, “Ljavek” is confronting the same problems of urban indigenous residence right in the face of national and private economic development.

"Ljavek", mostly consisting of Paiwan people from Pingtung, was formed as a consequence of migration due to the need of labor force by the timber, export, and manufacturing industries in the 1950s, with a pedigree of four generations. Ljavek is located in the middle of a bustling commercial district. In 1997, it saw a canal right in front of their settlement being filled into the now Zhonghua 5th Road, and as a result the altered landscape drastically diminished their living space. After being criminalized as “illegal occupants” by the city government, they have since launched a two-decade-long anti-forced-displacement negotiation and protest. ( photo by LIN Hong-Long, from KMFA )

* This is a site-specific installation consisting of materials from Kaohsiung Ljavek tribe, including the discarded lumbers from forced demolition.
* Installation builders: Kaohsiung Ljavek Chen Zheng-Xiong and Kulele Yang
* Special thanks to: Kaing Lipay、Savungaz Valincinan, Kaohsiung Ljavek Chen Mei-jin

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展場全景掃描

2015關鍵字：野生傳說：朱銘美術館，新北市
現場裝置材料來自快樂山部落
2015 Keywords: Wild Legend, Juming Museum, New Taipei City.
* This is a site-specific installation consisting of materials from Happy Mountain.
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影像截圖 Video capture