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The Subduction Zone (Our Status Quo) 隱沒帶(我們的現狀)

The Subduction Zone (Our Status Quo)隱沒帶(我們的現狀)

English
Color
Sound
16:9
Three-channel video
production year /
2016
duration /
04'27

Located at the subduction zone where the Eurasian Plate converges with the Philippine Sea Plate, the island of Taiwan has developed a unique topography as a result of the downwelling tectonic activity. Similarly, Taiwan’s position at the boundaries of different political forces within the global geography, and the hidden forces exerted by political, economic, cultural, and ideological plates, have shaped its national identity. 

Taiwan’s unique landscape and geopolitical history serves as a theme for The Subduction Zone by Shake. Comprised of three short films entitled Our Status Quo, Our Story and Our Suite de Danses, the work traces the intersection of the tectonic plates and travel to Taipei’s Tatung Volcanoes; the Yuli to Antun section of the old railway line in Hualien that traverses the Eurasian Plate and Philippine Sea Plate; and to the Jili Badlands in Taitung. In the eyes of a geologist, these locations are ideal textbook examples of plate tectonics; but what Shake contemplates is whether these landscapes enable an imagining of the political struggles that have taken place on this island. How does an individual find a resting place within the conflicts of divergent social structures, political systems, and ideological modes? How can the status of the self be reimagined and the story of the self be told?

In addition to landscapes, Shake also includes constructions of narrative elements in the film, such as archived historical documents, personal memory, school activities, and cultural rituals, in the artistic practice of cinematic writing.

位於歐亞大陸板塊與菲律賓海板塊隱沒帶上的台灣島,因異質板塊的俯衝作用而產生許多特殊地貌;在國際地理上也處於不同政治勢力板塊邊緣的台灣,身分認同與記憶就如當地地貌,在不同政經、文化意識形態板塊的隱沒作用下成形。

雪克的《隱沒帶》即是以台灣特殊的地貌與地緣政治歷史為題材。此作品由三支短片構成,〈我們的現狀〉、〈我們的故事〉與〈我們的組曲〉沿著板塊交界,分別探訪台北的大屯火山群、橫跨歐亞陸板塊與菲律賓海板塊交界處的花蓮玉里至安通段舊鐵道,以及位於台東的利吉惡地。在地質學家的眼裡,這些地點是見證板塊推擠運動的最佳教材;然而對雪克而言,她思考的是:有沒有可能藉由這些地貌去想像曾經歷過的地緣政治鬥爭?如何在不同的政經文化意識形態衝突下找到安身立命之處?如何重新想像自身的狀態?講述自身的故事?

除了地景,雪克也在影片中含納歷史檔案文件、個人記憶、學校活動與文化儀式等敘事元素的建構,進行電影書寫(cinematic writing)的藝術實踐。 

about the artist /

Shake received a DNSEP degree from l’École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Paris-Cergy, and later obtained a MFA degree in plastic arts at Paris 8 university.

Experimental moving images and film installation are Shake’s main medium, she exploits cinematic writing as the methodology to experiment the moving image narrative. She focuses on the relationship between the fact and the fiction in the narration and the representation of History. Her works often feature multiple discussions: the studies of variety historical documents concerning Asian geopolitic, folklore, myth and pop culture; the experiment on film language, semiotic thus its institutional mode of representation; and the construction and the interpretation of collective/personal memories. These studies are presented in a kind of mutual involvement and mutual expression, which makes her works have a qualitative characteristic of becoming between fiction and non-fiction, reflecting how the personal history could be constructed under the state power, education, culture and globalization order. Shake has done multiple international artist residencies, and her works have been exhibited in Europe, Korea, Japan, the US, etc.

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