Organizers: Hualien County Goverment、East Rift Valley National Scenic Area Administration、East Coast National Scenic AreaAdministration、Taroko National Park Headquarters

Artists：

Dillon Marsh, LEE SISIAN, Shun Owada, Youki Hirakawa, WU Meng-Chang, WU Wei-Ting, ZHAN Wang, CHANG Yung-Ta, CHEN Wei-Chen, Sean TSENG, Chan Shih-Tai, LIAO Chao-Hao, LIU Yu, LAI Chin-Chih

Introduction

The thematic exhibition of the 2023 Hualien International Sculpture Art Festival – Stoneverse, re-defines the current conception and image of stone sculpture. Like a powerful “detonation” of our understanding of this traditional art form, the exhibition revisits the original state of stone sculpture, and uncovers alternative correspondences beyond established connections between the signifier and the signified so as to shape the possibility of “conceptual” stone sculpture.

Detonation of Essence and Form features fourteen artists from Taiwan and abroad, and explores the meaning of “stone” in various context of art through three subtopics, unveiling a diverse inquiry into stone sculpture and its characteristics, while displaying dissimilar aesthetic appearances revolving around “stone” as the central theme. Through the detonation of the mental image, the exhibition will thoroughly carve and shape the imaginary present and infinite future in this valuable quarry accumulated from the past.

The Foundation

The inseparable relationship between nature, environment and human has shaped the lifestyle of inhabitants in different regions. If we could use the origin and formation of stone as an interpretive perspective to review the traces of human activities that correspond to stone texture or crevices, would we be able to find different narrative angles therein? What kind of landscape would emerge from the interweaving interaction between nature, environment and human?

The Essence

When dealing with “stone” as a medium, artists cannot avoid extensive, repetitive labor as they continuously work on the lines, details, and texture of their creations. Their techniques and skills informed by personal aesthetics extend the mutual permeation of the works and their labor. This reflects the artists’ ubiquitous “presence” and inner spirit. Meanwhile, they also respond to the material thinking about the medium itself through the sensitivity-based processes of artistic creation, and reconsider alternative ways to engage with plastic form.

The Form

Molding and shaping material have been crucial approaches in the art of stone sculpture. This subtheme re-explores the potentiality of sculpture through imitating, deconstructing, and damaging of the material. Through the creation and imagination of artists, stone is given new forms and meanings, while prompting the audience to contemplate on what they have perceived, both metaphysically and physically, and its connection with reality.