第19屆台新藝術獎首次不頒獎以直播揭曉三大獎得主

由於疫情三級警戒數次延長，今年「第19屆台新藝術獎」頒獎典禮歷經一次延期，終於7月10日首次以「網路直播獎項揭曉」方式取代實體的「頒獎典禮」，自15組入圍作品當中，頒發獎金各100萬元的「視覺藝術獎」、「表演藝術獎」及獎金150萬元的「年度大獎」三大獎項，總獎額350萬元。

全球疫情影響，本屆決選團再度全數由國內委員擔綱，由黎煥雄擔任決選主席，提名觀察團代表王柏偉、高俊宏、魏琬容，以及外聘委員呂佩怡、陳貺怡、鴻鴻等七人組成決選團，遵循室內不超過五人的限制，特別分二組四人一室，二室同步視訊連結，完成二日高密度的討論。 

揭曉典禮由劇場導演李銘宸統籌，演/歌/製作多角人才藍貝芝主持，因應疫情，首次台下無觀眾，包括入圍者、評委等人都觀看直播，台新金控二樓元廳200坪場域，則切分出主持、致詞、揭曉三大區域，既設計出視覺觀看的空間部署，也拉出了所有工作人員、上台者的安全距離。 

第一個揭曉頒布的「視覺藝術獎」，由張碩尹、鄭先喻、廖銘和創作團隊於立方計劃空間及龍泉市場展出的作品《台北機電人2.0：訊息瘟疫》獲獎，作品分別以白盒子空間以及真實濕市場為場景，利用數位科技將網路酸文與假資訊等「垃圾訊息」回收再利用，成為驅動機械裝置與聲音表演的創作材料，反映新冠肺炎疫情下的人間世。評選團認為：

「以向素人學習為出發點，作品橫跨典型與非典型的展覽場所：在立方計劃空間，將疫情期間的網路垃圾訊息，轉化為現場回收物件的動能，同時連動聲音創作者的演出；另外在龍泉市場透過氣味、燈光與敘事，改造潮濕場所的想像，二者皆連結病毒溫床的隱喻。作品探討網路現象、電子廢料與空間記憶之間彼此的循環與再生。創作者對當代議題高度敏感，以藝術創作的能動性，揭露了爆炸性訊息的煽動力，以及在不知盡頭的疫情蔓延時刻下，人的赤裸處境。」

視覺藝術獎作品   張碩尹、鄭先喻、廖銘和《台北機電人2.0：訊息瘟疫》

第二個揭曉頒布的是「表演藝術獎」，由2020年台北藝術節首演作品《攏是為著・陳武康》獲獎，該作品由法國藝術家傑宏‧貝爾提出創作概念，指定段落命題，台灣編舞暨舞蹈家陳武康擔任導演以及獨角演出，評選團認為：

「此作品以舞蹈／非舞蹈的十個段落構成，從探問「何謂舞蹈」出發，直抵演出者的生命核心，由傑宏・貝爾的美學命題加上陳武康的編導演，內容涵蓋陳武康的生命經驗，以及他以不同表演形式對創作命題的詮釋。演出不僅未被特定的概念架構所束縛，反而以深具生命厚度的表演，凸顯了演出者的藝術養成與生涯發展在身體所留下的軌跡，充分展現了「表演」在建構個體獨特性上所具有的創造特質。」

表演藝術獎作品   陳武康Ｘ傑宏‧貝爾《攏是為著・陳武康》

「年度大獎」由葉名樺受臺北市立美術館之邀，為「王大閎建築劇場」量身打造的作品《牆後的院宅》從十五組入圍作品中獲得桂冠。葉名樺將建築師王大閎的生命歷程轉化為三階段演出，利用舞蹈、戲曲、行為與影像的交融，回溯王大閎的建築生涯與生活日常。評選團認為：

「本計畫是一個在美術館延伸空間進行的特定場域表演，以三聯作〈之上〉、〈遊院〉與〈過日子〉構成，可說由外而內發展 ── 既是空間上的「自牆外到屋裡」，也是心理上的「從看表演到參與式演出」，葉名樺層次分明地探問王大閎建築劇場的繁複意義，細膩均衡地處理身體、空間、劇場、表演、生活等多個向度，展開建築、當代舞蹈、戲曲、影像的互涉與刺探，創造了獨特的觀者體驗，深化了跨域探索的藝術實踐。」

年度大獎作品   葉名樺《牆後的院宅》葉名樺Ｘ王大閎建築劇場

陳武康與葉名樺為舞蹈界知名夫妻檔，以個別製作雙雙入圍本屆藝術獎，最後奪下表演藝術獎與年度大獎，也是台新藝術獎19年來首見的喜訊。 

台新銀行文化藝術基金會董事長鄭家鐘致詞表示：「此刻，雖然沒有頒獎的儀式，但是我們認為對藝術家的鼓勵更形重要，得獎的百萬獎金、入圍者的10萬元推廣獎勵金，相信都是藝術家與藝術團隊此刻最需要的及時雨。」

決選主席黎煥雄導演致詞時用「又謙卑又自信、又刻苦又富有、又底層又超越、又弱勢又勇敢」來形容藝術家，並感到榮幸同屬於這樣的社群。最後基金會鄭雅麗執行長以「2021年我們將共同面對更大的挑戰，但是相信任何狀況都值得去經歷，藝術就是在限制中與艱困中更見力量」為典禮總結。

典禮在揭曉時同步連線得獎藝術家表達得獎感言，點選「第19屆台新藝術獎」專網，可觀賞線上揭曉直播影片，並追蹤了解所有入圍及得獎作品。

第19屆台新藝術獎專網：http://19award.taishinart.org.tw/

台新銀行文化藝術基金會Facebook 粉絲專頁：https://www.facebook.com/TAISHINART/

視覺藝術獎得主張碩尹(右)、鄭先喻(左)連線

表演藝術獎得主陳武康連線

年度大獎得主葉名樺連線

鄭家鐘董事長致詞

決選主席黎煥雄致詞及揭曉年度大獎

鄭雅麗執行長揭曉視覺及表演藝術獎

典禮主持人藍貝芝

擔任司儀的馬維元(右)在典禮最後成為數位映射載體，是典禮透過數位技術直播的驚喜(此為螢幕截圖)

The 19^th Taishin Arts Award Announces for the First Time its Three Laureates via Live Stream without an In-person Award Ceremony

 Taipei Robot Man 2.0: Infodemic Is a Metaphor for the Society in Pandemic.

 The House Behind the Wall and Dances for Wu-Kang Chen Respectively by the Married Couple YEH Ming-Hwa and CHEN Wu-Kang Bring Home the Awards

The award ceremony of the 19^th Taishin Arts Award this year, due to the pandemic in Taiwan and the multiple extensions of the level-3 alert, has been postponed once. On July 10, the in-person “award ceremony” is eventually replaced by the first-ever “livestream announcement of award laureates,” in which three laureates among fifteen finalists are announced. The laureates taking home the Visual Arts Award and the Performing Arts Award laureates are respectively awarded a NT$ 1 million monetary prize, and the Grand Prize laureate is awarded a NT$ 1.5 million monetary prize, bringing the prize money to a total of NT$ 3.5 million.

The Grand Prize: YEH Ming-Hwa, The House Behind the Wall – Wang Da Hong House Theatre X Ming Hwa Yeh (NT$ 1.5 million monetary prize)

The Visual Arts Award: CHANG Ting-Tong, CHENG Hsien-Yu and Dino, Taipei Robot Man 2.0: Infodemic (NT$ 1 million monetary prize)

The Performing Arts Award: CHEN Wu-Kang X Jérôme BEL, Dances for Wu-Kang Chen—2020 Taipei Arts Festival (NT$ 1 million monetary prize)

The Taishin Arts Award organized by the Taishin Bank Foundation for Arts and Culture has supported the creation of contemporary visual arts, performing arts and interdisciplinary arts throughout the years and enters its nineteenth year this year. Taking a retrospective look on the first half of the year 2020, many events and activities were halted due to the impact of the pandemic before numerous exhibition and performance projects were swiftly revived and presented during the second half of the year. The award’s nomination work, however, has remained ceaseless. From more than a hundred nominees, fifteen finalists have been named before three award laureates are to be selected. Affected by the pandemic, the final selection jury of this edition is once again formed by Taiwanese jurors. With theater director LI Huan-Hsiung serving as the chair, the final selection jury includes poet and theater director-playwright Hung Hung, art historian CHEN Kuang-Yi, artist KAO Jun-Honn, curator and art critic LU Pei-Yi, the artistic director of the Digital Art Foundation WANG Po-Wei, and the CEO of the International Organisation of Scenographers, Theatre Architects and Technicians (OISTAT) WEI Wan-Jung.

The Visual Arts Award is presented to Taipei Robot Man 2.0: Infodemic by CHANG Ting-Tong, CHENG Hsien-Yu and Dino, which was showcased at both TheCube Project Space and Longquan Market. Utilizing the white box space and the real wet market, the work uses digital technologies to reuse online trolls and fake news as creative materials to power mechanical installations and create sound performances, reflecting the social landscape amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The jury gives the following comment—
“Learning from the subaltern as the starting point, the work straddles typical and atypical exhibition spaces: in the Cube Project Space, junk messages about the pandemic on the internet are converted into electric signals for the recycled objects on site and linked with the sound artist’s performance; and in Longquan Market, the smell, light and narrative transform our imagination of the humid place. Both are connected to the metaphor of viral hotbeds. The work explores the cycle and regeneration of internet phenomenon, electronic waste and spatial memory. The artists are highly sensitive to contemporary issues and use the agency of artistic creation to expose the incendiary power of explosive messages and the naked fragility of human beings in the midst of a pandemic that no one can predict its termination.”

The Performing Arts Award is presented to Dances for Wu-Kang Chen, debuted in the 2020 Taipei Arts Festival. Creatively conceived by French artist Jérôme BEL, who assigns topics to each segment of the work, Taiwanese dancer-choreographer CHEN Wu-Kang serves as the director and solo performer of the piece. The jury gives the following comment—
“Dances for Wu-Kang Chen is composed of 10 dance/non-dance sections, which pose the question "what is dance" while exploring the core of the performer’s life. The work of Jérôme BEL’s aesthetic propositions in collaboration with Wu-Kang CHEN’s directing and performance reflects CHEN's life experiences and his interpretation of creative propositions through various forms of performance. Instead of being constrained by the conceptual framework, the performance embodies the richness of life, highlighting the traces left in the performer's body by his artistic formation and career development. The work is a successful demonstration of the creative quality of performance in constructing the uniqueness of an individual.”

Selected from fifteen finalists, the Grand Prize is presented to YEH Ming-Hwa, who was invited by the Taipei Fine Arts Museum to tailor-make The House Behind the Wall for Wang Da Hong House Theatre. Yeh converts the life journey of architect WANG Da-Hong into a performance in three episodes, interlacing dance, traditional theater, performance and video to revisit and retrace Wang’s career as an architect and his everyday life. The jury gives the following comment—
“This project is a site-specific performance in the Wang Da Hong House Theatre, an extended space of the Taipei Museum of Fine Arts. It consists of three episodes Above/Strolling/Living that develop from outside to inside. Physically the performance grows from outside the wall to inside the house, and psychologically the audience’s role shifts from watching a performance to participation. YEH Ming-Hwa explores the complex significance of Wang Da Hong House Theatre in a clear and layered manner, and deals with the various dimensions of body, space, theatre, performance and life in a delicate and balanced approach. Through the interplay between architecture, contemporary dance, Chinese opera and video art, she creates a unique experience for the audience while advancing the artistic practice of interdisciplinary exploration.”

The well-known dancer-choreographer couple CHEN Wu-Kang and YEH Ming-Hwa first made the list of the finalists with their respective productions and eventually brought home the Performing Arts Award and the Grand Prize, writing the ever-first and indeed a joyous record in the nineteen-year history of the Taishin Arts Award.

In his speech, the chairman of the Taishin Bank Foundation for Arts and Culture, Mr. Simon CHENG states that “although an in-person award ceremony is not available at the moment, we believe what is more important is the encouragement to the artists. The million-dollar prize money for the laureates and the hundred-thousand-dollar monetary incentive for other finalists are surely a timely and needed aid for all the artists and arts teams.”

In his speech, the chair of the final selection jury, theater director LI Huan-Hsiung describes the artists as “humble and confident, assiduous but rich, subaltern yet surpassing, disadvantaged but courageous,” and expresses that he feels honored to be a member of such a community. To conclude the ceremony, the Executive Director of the Foundation, CHENG Yali says that “the year of 2021 is a greater challenge for us all, but it is our belief that any and every situation we experience has its merit. Art demonstrates a greater power when encountering restraints and difficulties.”

After the laureates are announced, the awarded artists also immediately give their appreciation remarks online. Please visit the official website of the 19^th Taishin Arts Award to watch the livestreamed ceremony. We invite all to follow the finalists and laureates to get a deeper understanding of their works.

Official Website of the 19^th Taishin Arts Award: https://awarden.taishinart.org.tw/
Facebook fan page of the Taishin Bank Foundation for Arts and Culture: https://www.facebook.com/TAISHINART/