Nobody Home

The project threw a 7-day recreational camp at Hualien Fongbin Primary School. Thanks to the participation of the principal and the teachers of Fongbin Primary School, the brilliant art partners from Luxury Logico, art teacher Ya-Chin Chang, and dancers Hsiao-Tzu Tien, Ya-Chun Yang, and Ning Wang, we conducted a series of activities in village via dance, art, and video recording. We walked out of campus with kids, underwent fieldworks in the tribe, sought as well as create in rea life. It was the very first experience for our partners, from the school and the community alike. The purpose of this project is to allow children to unveil the stories of their families, their clangs, and their village through art creation. We guided school children to think and utilize their life experience as creative source, enabling them to construct artworks of “ours” from the field exploration of residence to the visits to the neighborhood. On the last day of the camp, teachers brought the kids to present their works at the assembly hall of tribe. They brought forth the works in the form of mosquito cinema, with children and villagers as the protagonists in the movies. Such event made where they live meaningful to its residents. In the future, the experience of these children passing by the seafood restaurant, grocery store, and mayor’s residence they have visited will be different from it used to be.

Why would the exhibition be named as “ Nobody Home” ? That is because during the tribal visit, kids went to mayor’s residence to interview the VIP. Yet, it happened that the “Mayor’s not home.” While waiting for the mayor, the kids just grabbed the chairs from the mayor’s house, discussing where the mayor might be and how they could find him. And so they danced. Everyone are thus very impressed with the experience, so it becomes the title of the work.

For the very first time, the tribal street becomes the space for dance rehearsal as well as the shooting site for video recording. The museum is not just for exhibition-seeing, but for dancers to take advantage of the properties of exhibition and space, so as to guide kids to feel and imagine the temperature of the space through their body. The principal dormitory turns into an art village, served as conference room, cutting room, recording studio, etc. The square in front of mother tongue teacher even becomes the stage for the preliminary showcase of their works, while the local ingredients becomes the delicacy on the table of celebration feast. Everyone works with community elders, making the simple dancing video program colorful.