Housing is a basic material need of human survival. People build and live in buildings in order to have safer and more comfortable dwelling places. “Buildings” for “residential” purpose thus become homes we live in. Living spaces and structural shapes reflect the interactive relation between external natural environment and people, manifesting people’s creativity and displaying landscapes altered by people for living. Different environments and different lifestyles—farmers stay in one place and nomads roam about—shape and form different dwelling cultures.
Residence is formed by external material culture and inner spiritual culture. As an extension of shelters people built for security, houses become homes, homes expand into villages and towns, villages and towns develop into cities, and ultimately give rise to dwelling culture of an entire region. This exhibition focuses on the theme of “residing,” exploring people’s dwelling cultures and landscapes in three aspects. First, types of building; houses built in response to natural resources, environmental limitations, and living needs vary in different places, resulting in buildings of various types, such as bungalows, apartments, portable metal-sheet houses, and rooftop add-ons. Second, urban or rural landscapes; for people living in villages formed by houses, urban or rural spaces are not just venues for activities, it also embodies local culture and identity. Third, home living; living space records a person’s or a home’s traces of life, and stores memories of every moment; it is the haven where people can seek both physical and spiritual escapes, and a place they can safely pursue their dreams.
“Residing” showcases a total of 24 contemporary artworks procured and collected by Taiwan Art Bank, disclosing the internal and external images of residences. Through the artists’ careful observation and imagination, the common scenes in the environment we live in are reinterpreted, allowing viewers to see different details in living spaces from various perspectives.