Symbiotic Seedlings – The Earth and the Time

作品賞析

The artist Chen Han-Sheng grew up in a village outside of Kaohsiung and has long been concerned about villages’ symbiotic relationship with industry. In his Symbiotic Seedlings—The Earth and Time, he explores how, as an artist, he responds to the history of his farming family. The work uses seedlings as a visual image, with metal seedlings planted in ceramic containers. A power device allows the sprouts to rotate and sway irregularly, and they make a light, crisp sound when they collide with the ceramic. Within the installation, which is designed in the form of a field, the metal and soundscape suggests the presence of industry—the countryside coexists with an industrial zone. Chen Han-Sheng’s hometown is also close to an industrial area, so there are traces of insecurity and contradiction within tranquility of the village. Through his art, he draws from his memories of how the people there worked both in agriculture and industry, so he uses this installation, with its power device, to gently raise deep questions on the situation of the modern countryside.