蝸牛樂園 Snail Paradise (2019)

刺繡屏風 300x200cm，食譜，影像

展出於2019新加坡雙年展

2019, Site-specific installation: videography, embroidery and recipes, dimensions variable

Singapore Biennale 2019 commission (Images courtesy of the SB)

“How to make a snail food?”

這句子是軸心，不僅僅是cook更是make，去進行一個製圖（mapping）工作；審視與逆返非洲大蝸牛的遷徙途徑，試圖描繪出牠們的生態歷史的大航海時代。

非洲大蝸牛原生於東非，1933年日本殖民政府官員從新加坡引進臺灣發展食用養殖。這雨後會出現在路邊的生物，在相近的時期分別侵入夏威夷群島、印尼、北婆羅洲、馬來半島等地。這些地區共同經驗了帝國傳播拖曳的痕跡，轉化出了不同的自我文化的發展。

蝸牛成為探討介面，去思考各地方文化的混雜性；啟航至作為轉運站的新加坡，與當地藝術家合作，探索蝸牛作為各種食譜成分的態度，成就一個研究進程不斷累積的食景圖譜。

 又該如何思考食景地圖的繪製？「Map」詞源於拉丁文「Mappamundi」，原始語意是「將世界繪在布上」。應用台灣原住民族於傳統服上的刺繡方法，以針代筆、以線代墨的針路書寫去探究；而「針路」又指稱為「航道」，蝸牛是這計畫的指南針。


“How to make a snail food?”
This sentence is the axis, not only to cook but more to make, of this mapping project. Reviewing and rewinding the migration route of the Africa Land snail (Achatina fulica), I attempt to portray their Age of Discovery in ecological history.

The Africa Land snail has its origin in East Africa; it was introduced to Taiwan from Singapore by a government official during the Japanese colonial period in 1933 for the purpose of food farming. This creature that appears after rain separately invaded Hawaiian Islands, Indonesia, North Borneo, Malay Peninsula, etc. at similar times. These regions shared the experience of empire’s spreading and dragging, while transformed to one’s own cultural development.

The snail has become a discussion interface to think about the hybridity of local cultures; set sail to Singapore, collaborating with local artists to explore attitudes towards the snail as an ingredient in a range of recipes, and achieve an accumulating map of foodscape during the research process.

How to think about mapping a cookbook? “Map” original came from “Mappamundi” in Latin, which means “draw the world on a cloth.” I will apply the embroidery of Taiwan indigenous  on traditional costume while using needle as pen, sewing as ink to write and to research; As “needle road” implies the “seaway  map,”  snail is the compass in this project. (Most translations by  San-San Liu)


群島資料庫10（與新加坡藝術家ila以及 Kin Chui的訪談與食譜）
NUSANTARA ARCHIVE 10 (Interview with Singaporean artists ila and Kin Chui, and who make the snail recipes)

食譜下載
 Snail recipes download

蝸牛樂園－前導篇 Snail Paradise: Preface

2019, 複合媒材，影像3分25秒，三組傳統男子刺繡後敞褲片，尺寸依場地。
展出於「留洋四鏢客」，TKG+，內湖，台北。
2019, mixed media, video 3' 25", 3 traditional men's rear open pants with embroidery, dimensions variable. At “The Middleman, the Backpacker, the Alien Species, and the Time Traveler”, TKG+, Taipei, Taiwan. (Courtesy of TKG+)

當非洲大蝸牛出現在台灣本地熱炒料理“炒螺肉”，成為熱門下酒菜，尤其受台灣原住民族族人的歡迎，甚至納入珍貴的傳統食物裡；牠似乎出乎1933年引入食用養殖日殖官員的預料之外，且台灣的原生物種構樹葉子能夠輕易地去除牠的黏液。

通過非洲大蝸牛行走遺留的黏液，逆返審視牠的傳播路徑（台灣→新加坡→東非），探詢它拖曳過的痕跡；先是作為轉運站的新加坡，與對牠原生地非洲的想像，做一「啟航」的宣示。此蝸牛旅程系列「前導篇」，借用了母親家鄉「大鳥部落」(pacavalj)男子傳統服褲片的樣式，設計了與蝸牛料理有關的植物轉為刺繡圖騰，用此形式書寫地方或世界的一段歷史。

It must not have been foreseen that the African snails became a very popular dish usually enjoyed with beer in Taiwanese stir fry restaurants and also a precious traditional dish among indigenous group of people when they were introduced to Taiwan in 1933 by Japanese officials.  
Moreover, leaves of the local common paper mulberry could be used to remove its trail easily.


By the trail left along the way, the artist examines African snail's dissemination route in reverse from Taiwan to Singapore and then back to East Africa. The preface of the journey depicted in this project presents a period of local and international history on embroideries rendering the plants relate to the snail dishes. The patterns are designed by the artist out of male pants from Pacavali, a tribe where the artist's mother originated. (Translated by Chun-Ying Lin)