2018  Femi-Flow: Creating Female subjectivity in Art,

「女潮:女性主體與藝術創作展」

Date: 2018/12/04-2019/05/26

Venue：Craft Exhibition Hall, NTCRI. No.573, Zhongzheng Rd., Caotun Township, Nantou County 542, Taiwan (R.O.C.)

Ｃurator: 　Ming TURNER　陳明惠

Flow, a psychological concept that deals with the immersive, fully involved, and joyful status of the mind, is also used as a term to describe menstruation. Thus, “Femi-Flow: Creating Female Subjectivity” is an exhibition that explores women’s feelings of joy, enhanced by self-affirmation, through the creation of art that depicts female subjectivity while echoing the biological characteristics of females. “Femi-Flow” has invited 24 female artists from Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, the USA, and the UK to work in concert with a gathering of female artists from the 1970s’ feminist movement. Through contemporary artworks, it demonstrates both interpretations of life and social issues experienced and observed by female artists from different cultures and generations.

This exhibition comprises three subjects: “The Flow of Poetry: Fairy tales and Symbolism,” “The Flow of Weaving: Female Subjectivity in Folklore Culture,” and “The Flow of Ideology: Body Politics and Social Issues.” The materials and techniques used by the artists are varied and include natural and recycled materials, video, new media, mixed media, and interactive installations. The artworks cover subjects encompassing family, kinship, immigrant women, and cultural identity, as well as issues of femininity, the ambiguity of femininity, and social observations and critiques. Thus, this exhibition both brings together vital artworks of contemporary female artists and serves as a platform for conversation and communion; through these fine artworks, it builds a bridge between the interdisciplinary nature of contemporary art and the experimentality of craft creation, while creating a medium for the audience to reflect on the relationships between the self, the other, and society.

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以英文Feminine(女性特質)簡寫的Femi代表「女」，且以潮水及心理學「心流」理論的Flow一字代表展覽主題「潮」。潮水象徵女性生理期的身體變化週期，而心理學的「心流」是指沉浸在事物中而至忘我的喜悅、滿足感。因此《女潮》除了呼應女性生理特質外，並指涉女性在心理上對自我肯定而產生的愉悅感，進而以藝術創作呈現女性主體議題。

此次邀請24位來自臺、日、美、英與菲律賓5國的女性藝術家共82組件作品參展，呼應自70年代早期女性主義對於女性藝術家集結的重視，更藉著不同文化、世代背景的藝術家之創作，展現女性透過當代藝術創作對自身生命與社會議題的新詮釋。本展共包含三個子題，分別為〈織流：常民文化之女性意識〉、〈意識流：身體政治與社會議題〉與〈詩流：神話與其象徵〉。

〈織流〉以一系列常民文化為主題，並與纖維藝術或與纖維相關的創作作品。纖維藝術在1960年代末期女性主義藝術崛起時，便是女性藝術家常使用的創作媒介，展出作品脫離早期女性主義對於父權的二元批判，議題含括對於社會議題之關懷、在地文化的重新詮釋，及與自我和家庭的主題之關照。參展藝術家包含：林介文、侯怡亭、康雅筑、鄧文貞、潘娉玉、美國藝術家Liv Aanrud。

〈意識流〉中「身體」一直是西方藝術中主要描繪的對象之一。從文藝復興以來，無論是女性、男性、老人、青年人或孩童的身體，皆被藝術家作為描繪的對象。1960年代開始至今，「身體」一直是女性主義藝術家重要創作主題，尤其藝術家質疑女性的身體已經被社會化所規束的現象，企圖解構被性別規則化下的身體概念。藉著身體所延伸關於不同生理或心理性別之差異與認同，甚至關於社會對於身體的期待與觀看，皆是藝術家常以創作來闡述與辯證的主題。參展藝術家包含：林珮淳、吳鴻安、徐薇蕙、陳妍依、陳依純、彭怡平、萬一一、趙書榕、英國藝術家Miffy Ryan、菲律賓藝術家 Josephine Turalba。

〈詩流〉展出藝術家對於神話、愛情、童年的想像與回想，同時展出藝術家透過媒材的嘗試，進而創作出具有特殊視覺效果，且極具詩意風格的作品。神話與愛情一直是藝術家創作的媒材，不論是文藝復興時期希臘羅馬神話故事，或是浪漫主義時期、超現實主義風格，到今日，古今中外的藝術家常受啟發於天馬行空的神話，或是可歌可悲的愛情。展出藝術家包含：江枚芳、吳詠潔、林麗華、曹筱玥、黃裕智、曾鈺涓、楊偉林。

上述重要的女性藝術作品，對於當代藝術的跨領域特質與當代工藝創作的實驗性，提供一個相互對話與交融的平臺，並給大眾一個重新思考對工藝的定義與想像，及觀看自身與他者、社會相互關係的媒介。