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