International Folklore Festival 南瀛國際民俗文化節

Poet and Harvard Professor Henry Wadsworth Longfellow famously said, ‘Music is the universal language of mankind.’ So does the dance.

Taiwan

In Taiwan, Nan-Ying International Folklore Festival (NYIFF) has been the international cultural event which is hosted every two years since 1996 in Tainan city. It is a way that Taiwan opens its arms to welcome the international cultural guests and provide citizens more opportunities to enjoy exotic performances.

Marshall

 

Serbia

This October, Haiti and Marshall that have the diplomatic relations with Taiwan participated in this pop-up event, together with other 16 countries from four continents like Russia, Serbia, New Zealand, Indonesia, and the Czech Republic to show their traditional folklore dances. 

Indonesia

To welcome these beautiful international friends, the prelude of 2018 Nan-Ying International Folklore Festival (NYIFF) started with the famous Taiwan traditional folklore art teams to give the performances. The total of international dance groups was up to 22, they were well-arranged to perform around many public places in Tainan, introducing their folklore culture by the traditional country dance, music, and  the flag team performance.

Taiwan

The 11th NYIFF was from Oct 6 to 14, the Mayor indicated that ‘it is not only a longest international art festival in Taiwan, but is the only one that dedicated on preserving the intangible culture and promoting the folklore art performance.’

Serbia

Beyond music and dance, people love to make new friends. The city government has cooperated with the passionate local host families, communities, schools and even enterprises form every district in Tainan to receive these international guests.

Russia

This most plentiful art feast was heartily welcomed by the locals. However, the current Taiwan weather may be too hot for some international guests, especially people from Russia area! They probably felt burning and sweated a lot while performing on the outside stage as I can see they danced with their traditional furry coats! Hope they enjoyed a lot of famous Taiwanese bubble milk tea while they stayed in Taiwan.

Russia

The 2018 NYIFF has been joyously hosted between Oct 6 to 14 Oct, and during the festival period, it met the Taiwanese National Day which is right on 10 Oct. All the 16 international groups were thus invited to celebrate this big event together.

Serbia

This October, let's say 'Happy Birthday to Taiwan!’

2018年南瀛國際民俗節（NYIFF）

詩人和哈佛大學教授亨利沃茲沃思朗費羅說：“音樂是人類的共通語言。”舞蹈也是如此。在臺灣,南瀛國際民俗節（NYIFF）是自1996年以來每兩年在台南市舉辦的國際文化活動。這是台灣張開雙臂歡迎國際文化嘉賓，為市民提供更多機會享受異國情調表演的方式。

今年10月，與台灣建交的海地和馬歇爾與來自俄羅斯，塞爾維亞，新西蘭，印度尼西亞，捷克等四大洲的其他16個國家一起參加了此次流行活動，展示了他們傳統的民俗舞蹈。

為了迎接這群美麗的國際友人，2018年南瀛國際民俗節（NYIFF）的序幕由台灣著名的傳統民俗藝術團隊進行表演開展,國際舞蹈團的總數達到22個，他們被精心安排在台南的許多公共場所演出，透過傳統國家，鄉村舞蹈，音樂和旗幟表演來介紹他們的民俗文化。

第11屆NYIFF已於10月6日至14日舉行完成，市長表示“它不僅是台灣最長的國際藝術節慶，而且是唯一一個致力於保護非物質文化和推動民俗藝術表演的藝術節。”

除了音樂和舞蹈，人們喜歡結交新朋友。市政府與熱情的當地寄宿家庭，社區，學校甚至是台南各地的企業共同合作，接待這些國際賓客。

這個最豐富的藝術盛宴總是受到當地人的熱烈歡迎。 但是，目前台灣的天氣可能對一些國際賓客來說太熱了，尤其是來自俄羅斯地區的人們！ 在外面舞台表演時，他們可能會感到灼熱和出汗，因為我可以看到他們穿著傳統的毛茸茸的外套跳舞！ 希望他們在停留台灣期間大大享用台灣著名的珍珠奶茶。

2018年南瀛國際民俗節在10月6日至10月14日期間舉行了歡樂慶祝活動，在節日期間，它迎接了10月10日的台灣國慶日。所有來自14個國家的國際團體因此被邀請共同慶祝這一大型慶祝活動。 

趁著光輝10月, '生日快樂！台灣！'

2018 Japanese Cultural Festival: 'Nebuta Festival’ 日本東北青森睡魔祭

Except for Miaki Kageyama’s Jewelry Exhibition (see my last blog), which is held from 13 Oct to the end of this year; ‘Nebuta Festival’—the Summer Festival in Aomori Prefecture is also taking place in Tainan as part of 2018 Japanese Cultural Exchange. 

When it comes to Aomori Prefecture, the first iconic thing for me is the apple. I still remembered my late grandmother always bought me expensive Japanese apples when I got sick in my childhood. And Tohoku Aomori Hirosaki is well known and proud of its rich production of apples. 

Hirosaki's lucky animal

The location of Aomori Prefecture is in east- northern Japan, its geographic character is unique that the land is surrounded by sea on the three sides, and has Hakkoda Mountains in the middle. Similar to Kyoto, Tohoku Aomori Hirosaki has not been influenced by the Second World War so that it remains seasonal festivals every year. Nebuta Festival is one of the attractive cultural events in summer.

The Aomori Nebuta Festival has been regarded as an important intangible Folk Cultural Heritage in Japan since 1980. According to the Japanese official website, Aomori Nebuta Festival is originated from the Tanabata festival that its root is believed from China. Nebuta is something like the lantern, the original purpose of Japanese Nebuta Festival is to pray for children’s peace and growth. Afterward, it has developed into an annual cultural event that everyone can participate in.  

Every August, many visitors coming from all over Japan and abroad head for Aomori to enjoy this annual event. During the festival, dynamic nebutas and colourful lantern floats parade in the citycentre, and colorfully dressed Nebuta dancers (called ‘haneto’) perform kabuki or mythical stories. At night, the nebutas are placed in boats with celebrating fireworks around the Bay.  

Although this cultural exchange only presents part of the event items, and the famous Aomori apples and noodles are not on the exhibition lists; it is quite interesting and new to me and many locals.

Unsurprisingly, the opening day on 13 Oct has attracted many people to come to experience and enjoy Japanese music and folk dances, pretty costumes, and on-site Nebuta painting. 

Through this event, having wishes for peace and happiness to everyone.

除了10月13日至今年年底舉辦的Miaki Kageyama珠寶展（見上一篇文章）外，“Nebuta Festival” - 青森縣的夏日睡魔祭,也是台南2018日本文化交流系列活動的一部分。

說到青森縣，對我來說第一個標誌性的東西就是蘋果。我還記得當我童年生病時，我逝去的祖母總是為我買昂貴的日本蘋果。 而青森弘前市就是以其豐富的蘋果產量而聞名且引以為傲。

青森縣位於日本東北部，地理特徵是獨特的，它三面環海，中間有Hakkoda山岳。與京都相似，東北青森弘前並未受到第二次世界大戰的影響，因此每年都有舉辦季節性節慶活動。 Nebuta Festival夏日睡魔祭是在夏日具有吸引力的文化活動之一。

青森Nebuta睡魔祭自從1980年以來一直是日本重要的無形民俗文化遺產。根據日本官方網站，青森Nebuta睡魔祭起源於Tanabata節，它的根源來自中國。在日本，其最初目的是為兒童的平安及成長祈禱。之後，它已發展成為每個人都可以參加的年度文化活動。

每年夏天8月,許多參觀者來自日本和國外各地都會來到青森一起參加這個年度盛會。在節慶期間，充滿活力的nebutas睡魔和五顏六色的燈籠在城市中遊行，穿著色彩鮮豔的Nebuta睡魔舞者（稱為“haneto”）展演歌舞伎或神話故事。晚上，nebutas紙繪睡魔會被放置在船上，在海灣周圍以放煙火慶祝。

雖然這種文化交流只能提供部分慶祝活動項目，而有名的青森蘋果和拉麵不在展覽名單上;但對我和很多當地人來說，這是非常有趣和新鮮的。不意外地,10月13日開幕日就吸引了許多人前來體驗和享受日本音樂和民俗舞蹈，漂亮的和服和現場Nebuta睡魔職人現場手繪。

透過參加睡魔祭,祝福大家平平安安.

       

Kimiaki Kageyama Jewelry Exhibition in Tainan: Fragments of Time

Japanese Master Goldsmith Kimiaki Kageyama had a solo exhibition: STILL FLOWERS  at Gallery S O LONDON in 2017. As Kimiaki Kageyama was a visiting scholar in Tainan National University of the Arts before; this October, he came back to Tainan to host an exhibition in Tsung-Yeh Arts and Cultural Centre to share his creative ideas and art works with his students and local people. 

Living in ふじさん Fujisan, Kimiaki Kageyama 影山公章, a famous Japanese professor and modern artist, is good at making the best of natural materials to create jewelry accessories. His unique skill is featured by designing and making of women accessories by the combination of fragmentary painting pieces falling from shrines with jewelry such as 18K gold and pearls.

He believes that jewelry is the ‘body of ornament’ by such a way we communicate with other people, the society and nature. Therefore, the jewelry works as a switchboard that can express the inner self of a person and the world outside. 

The theme of the exhibition is ‘Jewelry in which the Spirit of God Dwells’, which expresses that a person’s life is so fragile in the natural life circulation, and the human only play a very tiny role in such as an infinite time flow. The designer wishes to seize the moment by reflecting the eternity on a small piece of work. 

Moreover, he also injects humanness and sentiments into artistic work; for example, the original idea of the series of work: ‘Rose’ to show his appreciation and friendship to his nice neighbour Miss 純子.  

Kimiaki Kageyama珠寶展：時間片段

日本金匠Goldsmith Kimiaki Kageyama曾於2017年在GALLERY S O LONDON舉辦個展：STILL FLOWERS。

https://www.galleryso.com/artists/38-kimiaki-kageyama/exhibitions/

因Kimiaki Kageyama之前是台南國立藝術大學的訪問學者;今年10月，他回到台南，在總爺藝文中心舉辦展覽，與學生和當地人分享他的創意和藝術作品。

居住在富士山的Kimiaki Kageyama影山公章，是日本著名教授和現代藝術家，善長用天然材料製作珠寶配飾。他的獨特技藝是通過從神龕中落下的碎片與18K金和珍珠等珠寶相結合，設計和製作女性配飾.

他認為珠寶是一種透過我們與其他人，社會和自然界溝通的方式的“裝飾身體的物品”。因此，珠寶作為一個切換開關，可以表達一個人的內在自我和外面的世界。

這次展覽的主題是“神之靈留駐之珠寶”，表達了一個人的生命在自然生命循環中是如此脆弱，人類只在無限的時間流動中扮演著非常微小的角色。設計師期望透過在一個小小的作品上來反映出永恆來抓住當下時機。

此外，他還將人性和情感注入藝術作品中;例如，這一'玫瑰'系列作品的最初想法就是向他的好鄰居純子小姐展示他的感謝和情誼。

Migration and Rememory: The landscape narratives of Tainan 遷徙與再生

Although American geographer Ellen Churchill Temple argued, ‘Man is the product of the earth’s surface,’ migration is in fact a human action in response to the environmental changes; modern landscape and space are thus reshaped by the migratory process.

To understand the relationship between human and environment, a global city like London or New York, that the diversity is made by migrants coming from worldwide, has collected related information to set up an immigrant-theme museum in order to construct a whole picture of the city history and the concept of a place.  Similarly, there is an ‘experimental’ way to present a migratory landscape and human history in Taiwan. The project is called ‘Landscape Stem Cells’. Its idea is originated from the analogy of self-repair in the medical research, and attempts to conserve the landscape elements from the past to the present. 

It was this week when I returned to my hometown—Tainan, Taiwan to visit my parents. I am still a bit suffering from a confusing body clock due to jet lag, but I cannot wait to see such a cultural exhibition in Mattau: ‘Migratory Matters: Rememory and Reworking in Mattau’, which is designed by a group of team members composed of scholars, architects, artists, botanists and writers. Through their eyes, I start to understand my homeland in a more systematic way. 

'Migration and Regeneration'
Human migration brings about new cultural meanings for their new destination landscape as the project introduction states, ‘Migration and regeneration coexist as continual processes of conversation that involves both change and cultivation. Every migration brings forth regeneration, while each regeneration spurs new migration. Migration is not a linear, inevitable disappearance and change, but the relational movement and deployment upon which we rethinking and implement the issues of preservation and revitalization.’

The landscape narratives of Mattau are reconstructed based on historical facts and literature, local residents’ everyday memories, and digital tools including filmmaking, Google Earth, aero photographs taken by the aircraft pilots; through the study of the project researchers and the eyes of artists, it displays a whole story of the land.

The look of Mattau before the Urban Improvement Plan after WWII

The interweaving of fragmental memories is created by interviewing older generations who experienced war periods running from the air raids and strived to sustain their lives. From their perspectives, Mattau was once a significant place for Taiwan’s sugar production industry in the past, agriculture, plants, and trains closely connected people and the land. 

  

Nowadays, many historical buildings have been dismantled and redesigned, such as the sugar factory area has been transformed into a Japanese cultural centre; as a result, maps and memories are changing. The record and conservation of stem cells in this project will become part of precious cultural assets for our next generations.

Check the exhibition venue: Red-brick Office, Tsung-Yeh Arts and Cultural Center

http://tyart.cp30.secserverpros.com//en/news/html/?400.html

雖然美國地理學家Ellen Churchill Temple認為，“人類是地球表面的產物”，但遷移是人類應對環境變化的行為，因此現代的景觀空間是因遷徙過程而被重塑。

為了理解人與環境之間的關係，像倫敦或紐約這樣的全球化城市，其多樣性來自世界各地的移民,已經收集了相關資料以成立移民主題博物館，構建完整的城市歷史和地方概念。同樣地,  最近在台灣，有一種用’實驗的’方式來呈現遷徙的景觀和人類歷史。該計畫被稱為“景觀幹細胞”，起源於醫學研究中自我修復的比喻，並試圖保護從過去到現在的景觀要素。

時間是在本週我回到家鄉 - 台灣台南拜訪我的父母時。雖然由於時差我身體時鐘還有點混亂,我前往台南市麻豆區舉辦的文化展覽：“遷徙紀事：麻豆的記憶和改造”，由一群博物館團隊成員設計，這團隊是由學者,建築師，藝術家，植物學家和作家組成. 透過他們的眼睛，我開始以系統性的方式來了解我的家園。

遷移和再生

人類遷移為他們的新目的地景觀帶來了新的文化意義，根據本計畫介紹頁指出，“遷移和再生並存為一場不斷變化和復育的對話過程。每次遷移都會帶來再生，而每次遷移都會刺激新的異動。移民不是單一直線方向的,無可避免的消逝及更迭,而是建構在我們重新思考及執行保存及復育議題上相關動的變動及開展。

麻豆的景觀敘事是根據歷史事實和文獻，藉由當地居民的日常記憶和數位工具重建的，包括影片製作，Google Earth，飛機駕駛員拍攝的航空照片等;透過研究計畫人員和藝術家的眼睛，它展示了整個土地的故事。

透過採訪經歷過空襲的戰爭時期並努力維持生命的老一代，創造了碎片記憶的交織。從他們的角度來看，麻豆曾經是台灣糖業生產工業的重要地方，農業,糖廠和火車與人民及土地緊密相連。如今，許多歷史建築被拆除或改建，例如糖廠區已經變成了日本文化中心, 結果,地圖和記憶正在發生變化. 無論如何,這個幹細胞的記錄和保存計畫將成為下一代珍貴文化資產及教育的一部分。

(照片:麻豆車站手繪圖) 第二次世界大戰后城市改善計劃之前的麻豆外觀