The Tamsui River has three tributaries which are the Dahan River, Sindian River and Keelung River. It is the most important river in northern Taiwan and it is also the third longest river in Taiwan. The Dahan River Basin flows through Yilan County, Hsinchu County and Taoyuan City, then into the Taipei Basin. While the Keelung River Basin bends through the Ruifang Mountain Area, and flows through Keelung County before reaching the Taipei Basin. Only the Sindian River Basin does not exceed the scope of Taipei. However, the Sindian River Basin is about three times the size of the Taipei Basin. After considering the time left, the artist decides to focus on the Sindian River Basin for the mountain riding action this time.
“Sindian River-Action” is a project of geographic viewing. This project is composed of six routes in total, across three rivers, two areas, and the outer ridge. The riding action started respectively from January to March in 2020, and the conceptual production and post-processing of the collected data were still in progress by the end of June in 2020. The three rivers are Nanshi River, Beishi River, and Jingmei River. The two areas are the small river area and the urban riverbank area. The former area includes a variety of small rivers mostly located in between a mountain and a basin, which are geographically similar to Jingmei River, and the latter sits in the city in between the Jingmei River estuary and the Sindian River estuary. The areas where the three rivers are located are more natural looking, and the urban riverbank area, on the other hand, is covered by concrete urban structures. The exposed tributaries appear very much like a big and smelly gutter. The small river area and the downstream area of the Jingmei River have transitioned from being made up of natural rocks to urban concrete.
There is also a route that is referred to as the “outer ridge”, which marks the line outside of the watershed around the Nanshi River. This line circles around the Dahan River, Lanyang River, and Beishi River. In order to transform the daily riding trips into a meaningful action, the attempt of “mountain riding” is making every effort to complete the personal planned routes by walking on foot or by riding a motorcycle. These routes more or less represent a kind of pursuit for aesthetics. Besides regular roads, there are also countless industrial roads in plain or mountain areas.
Riding on a motorcycle alone in a part of the city where there are mountains and trees, time is killed and so is the gas in the motorcycle. Passing by hills, rivers, and valleys, various earthly sceneries are taken in, and unavoidably leads to many understanding or incomprehensible imaginations. During the mountain riding, a sense of adventure common with most travelers is experienced, along with intermittent feelings of fear and delight in the face of the unknown artificial landscapes and wilderness. With both tangible and abstract thoughts, the artist in the end realizes that the meaning of mountain riding is the mountain riding itself, and the things left as documentation are the maps, text, videos, photos, notes and stones.
However, the documentation of the action will eventually be transformed into the digital signals, and the QR code attached to this poster at the exhibition site will allow the exhibition to develop further details. When YouTube, Instagram, Facebook or earlier blog-type network have evolved from social media to a new mass media, how can people initiate an artistic discussion or appreciation whether thoroughly or briefly in a group chat with friends? The artist consciously reviews and resists the unjust and ugly landscapes of the mainstream norms through the seemingly usual sightseeing trips, in an attempt to raise the necessary and urgent concern of the society and environment through the art action regardless of the time. The aesthetic value of the macro-realism is gaining the power of communication at unprecedented least cost, which inevitably requires the artist to place the message of contemporary art in everyday life. (Translation by Yi-Chun Liu)
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