Building 1
"Formosa lies within the Tropic of Cancer, and extends from 120° 7 ½’ to 122° ¼’ east longitude, and from 21° 54 ¾’ to 25° 18 ½’ north latitude, being about forty miles long on the east side, and fifty on the west. At the northern end, it is eight miles broad, only four miles at the south, and eighteen or nineteen in the middle part; its whole circumference amounting to between one hundred and thirty to one hundred and forty miles. Some, however, state that it is only three degrees long."
——Rev. William Campbell, Formosa under the Dutch: Described from Contemporary Records[1]
Since the advancement of nautical technology and cartography in the 15th century, the world had ushered in the Age of Discovery in history. Empires encountered constantly on the sea, and crossfires took place across different waters, following maps and scents of spices into the Far East and expanding their territories. Deerskin, spices, sugar, and porcelain were all resources from the tropical Far East, fascinatedly sought after by empires. Due to her ample resources and strategic location, Formosa (Taiwan), reputed “the pearl on the sea,” saw empires, merchants, and migrants come and go since centuries ago. Colonizers arrived in the faraway places with the advantage of relatively matured technology, encountered the indigenous people inhabiting the island of abundance, and subsequently created economic and production systems.
After the colonizer occupied Formosa, the natural resources on the island entered an initial stage of industrialization, for instance, the prototypical sugar refinery built by the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC, or the Dutch East India Company); the sika deerskin sourced from the Plain Indigenous People, of which the exported number reached 100,000 pieces per year; and various industries developed by the colonizer, including the camphor, forestry, and tea industries. Humans migrated for resources, and then built new social systems. Colonizer brought with them seeds of new species to newfound lands, and facilitated the growth of new species and the disappearance of the old. The Dutch occupied Taiwan in 1624 and subsequently built the Fort Zeelandia. Today, after four hundred years since the establishment of the fort, the symbolic meaning of this exhibition is no longer to re-examine the influence of the invader’s colonial regime, but instead to open-mindedly unearth, comprehend, and re-imagine the exchange of culture, species, and resources at the time. Through examining the contemporary time by reviewing history, the expression of the artworks featured in this exhibition enables us to reflect on a range of contemporary topics, including the post-colonial society of Taiwan, the increasingly intensified concern over geopolitics, the crisis of regional warfare, and the allocation of resources.
This curatorial project starts with the Fort Zeelandia built by the VOC in 1624. Through the problematic revolving around the colonization and trade by this state-run commercial company – one that was able to carry out diplomatic actions and launch violent wars – this exhibition concentrates on the exploration of several keywords, including “trade,” “war,” “marine navigation,” “colonization,” “post-colonial,” “map,” and “plants and species migration.”
The exhibition is on view at Galleries B to G of the Tainan Art Museum Building 1 and Galleries A to D of the Tainan Art Museum Building 2. The different subtopics have similar points of attention, and the combination of and dialogue between various artworks also extend into more discussion-worthy topics. At Building 1, the artworks featured in the first two subtopics, “Here Comes the VOC” and “Encounter and Coexistence,” revolve around the VOC’s invasion, trade, marine navigation, the encounter between species and history, and the imagination of the bygone eras. It is hoped that the works of the artists can refract into more perspectives of viewing this island that we inhabit, allowing us to move beyond existing frameworks and listen to more intriguing stories about this land.
[1] Campbell, William. Formosa under the Dutch: Described from Contemporary Records. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co. Ltd., 1903. ( (https://archive.org/details/cu31924023514403/page/n9/mode/2up?view=theater) )
Building 2
Colonizers (empires) described unfamiliar others using their perspectives and languages. In their eyes, resources from these lands of sunlight and water formed a nurturing source that satisfied the needs of their homelands. As coasts changed, and ships and merchants arrived and left, the borders of empires were expanded. To a certain extent, imperial borders were defined by the resources brought by ships and merchants and the farthest lands that they could reach.
"Crossings were never smooth. Cultural encounters were dangerous as often as they were productive….Any history of an ocean must confront the questions of boundaries—between sea and land, between fresh water and salt, between the seas that make up an ocean; from that question “all others flow.”"
——Sunil S. Amrith, Crossing the Bay of Bengal.[1]
Merchant ships, navy fleets, and pirates moved constantly in the sea. Their voyages, conducted for dissimilar purposes, linked cities in the Far East through different connections, mapping out various parts of the world beyond political and national definitions. Meanwhile, due to geopolitics or colonial history, Taiwan was given different roles and a strategic location. Starting from Taiwan, or sailing to the island from other places, foreigners had composed diverse stories with their life experiences. The Age of Discovery opened up a crucial period of flowing borders in human history. In addition to trade wars launched for economic reasons, the encounter of different races also wove and produced more stories of mixing races.
The Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC, or the Dutch East India Company), occupied Taiwan in 1624 and subsequently built the Fort Zeelandia. Today, after four hundred years since the establishment of the fort, the symbolic meaning of this exhibition is no longer to re-examine the influence of the invader’s colonial regime, but instead to open-mindedly unearth, comprehend, and re-imagine the exchange of culture, species, and resources at the time. Through examining the contemporary time by reviewing history, the expression of artworks featured in this exhibition enables us to reflect on a range of contemporary topics, including the post-colonial society of Taiwan, the increasingly intensified concern over geopolitics, the crisis of regional warfare, and the allocation of resources.
The exhibition starts with the Fort Zeelandia built by the VOC in 1624. Through the problematic revolving around the colonization and trade by this state-owned commercial company – one that was able to carry out diplomatic actions and launch violent wars – this exhibition concentrates on the exploration of several keywords, including “trade,” “war,” “marine navigation,” “colonization,” “post-colonial,” “map,” and “plants and species migration.”
The exhibition is on view at Galleries B to G of the Tainan Art Museum Building 1 and Galleries A to D of the Tainan Art Museum Building 2. The different subtopics share similar points of attention, and the combination of and dialogue between various works also extend into more discussion-worthy topics. With the same framework, comparing to the subtopics on view at Building 1, the subtopics showcased at Building 2 – “The Shadow of Sea Monsters,” “From Them to Us,” and “The Sea Breeze of Zeelandia,” focus on utilizing a metaphorical approach to highlight the contemporary state of geopolitical warfare concerning Taiwan, the changing interpretations of species and commodities in Taiwan after the colonial period, as well as the retrospection of stories regarding the past inhabitants of this island from the present time, engaging the audience to collectively witness the diverse culture that has enriched this island.
[1] Amrith, Sunil S. Crossing the Bay of Bengal: The Furies of Nature and the Fortunes of Migrants. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard UP, 2013, p. 28-9.