不斷裂的生命之樹 |  波特蘭女性藝術家四人聯展

如果沒有樹、沒有紙，文字還能走出日常生活的客觀記錄，產生「文學」嗎？人類的文明是否會有不同面貌？

  一直以來，樹火始終關注於以「紙」為媒材發展的當代藝術。正由於紙與自然的緊密連結，藝術在「自然」的各種描述與反省，開啟了今年樹火一系列緊扣「自然」為主題的策展三部曲。從年前首部曲「觀察自然：《自然素描－萬神之森》攝影展」、年中二部曲「擁抱自然：《蒼穹羽翼》藝術家陳淑燕以紙的肌理－纖維，解構交織出其創作的內心世界」、直到第三部曲「回應自然：《不斷裂的生命之樹》」，邀請你開始思索自然與文明之間的依存關係。

走入美國波特蘭的紅杉國家公園，仰望所見，是近百米跑道長直抵天際高的紅杉。在地球的漫長演變，滄海桑田後，紅杉們依然兀自矗立數千年。數千年生命不若百年生壽的無知人群疾急嚷嚷，以劇烈加速度的破壞能量摧毀世界，它們始終以最平靜無常的態度面對生死變化。

在波特蘭這座與自然緊密連結的城市，四位女性藝術家Anne G. Greenwood、Diane Jacobs、Rachel Siegel與王淑如以「紅杉森林」為靈感創作的《不斷裂的生命之樹》，結合攝影、繪畫、裝置等多媒材的呈現手法，以象徵「文明」的紙與骨架雕塑出一棵棵紙樹，蔓延成一片紙樹森林的「自然」形象。「紙」不再只是文字的載體，更輪迴為紙樹森林，以另一種方式再生詮釋自然，藉此探討自然與人類文明的緊密關係。

現在跟著我們一起屏息靜氣，聽見紙森林棲地中的蟲鳴鳥吟，踏入全白靜樸的紙森林。由光譜中各色所形構的「白」，看似「無」實卻包含「所有」，如同一棵棵巨大紅杉看似靜默無為，卻孕育了無數生命、呼吸的空氣以及衍生的文明。

不要忘記，「自然才是世界」。
  一旦失去自然，所有生命與文明終將無以為繼，所有的進步只是滅亡的同義詞。若無法與之共存，人類永遠只是在生命史中的一則黑色幽默極短篇、一小段終將被遺忘的插曲。

Unbroken Arbor Vitae 

  For a long time, Suho has persisted in utilizing “paper” as the medium for developing contemporary art. Owing to the intimate connection between paper and nature, various depictions and reflections of art in “nature” have become the inspiration for Suho’s “nature” themed exhibition trilogy this year. This ultimately part three “Unbroken Arbor Vitae,” we invite you to start contemplating the interdependent relationship between nature and civilization.

Forests and humans are intimately linked, both in the air we breathe, and in the very creation of civilization -- from trees, we produce paper; through paper, we transmit culture.
  We are interdependent through gas exchange and as part of the same community of living organisms.

Unbroken Arbor Vitae (“Unbroken Tree of Life”) is a site-specific installation of white
  paper trees that references the beauty of renewal in our cultural and natural world. White is the manifestation of all colors, the complete energy of light; it represents wholeness and completeness. It will be created for Suho Paper Memorial Museum in Taipei, Taiwan, by Anne G. Greenwood, Diane Jacobs, Rachel Siegel and Shu-Ju Wang, four artists based in Portland, Oregon.

Portland is a medium sized city in the Pacific Northwest, famous for our forests and notably the Douglas fir tree. We will use the native forest trees and their habitat of this region as a guide to create and construct an installation. As you walk through the Museum’s exhibition space, the viewer will experience a series of photographs, a video with soundscape, and a sculptural forest. We will engage and collaborate with youth communities here in Portland and in Taipei. Participants will reveal their personal relationship to nature as a means to inventory our communal environmental circumstance.

Now, let us wait with bated breath and listen to the crying insects and chirping birds in the paper forest habitat. Let us enter the pure white and peaceful paper forest. From the perspective of the visible spectrum, the white color may seem “blank,” but it is actually produced by the combination of all of the colors of the visible spectrum. This is just like the towering redwoods; although they may seem silent and still, they nonetheless nurture countless lives, the air we breathe and our civilization.

Don’t forget that “nature is the world”, once nature is lost, all life and civilization as we know will come to an end; all of the progress we have made is taking us ever closer to destruction. If we cannot coexist in harmony with nature, humans will forever remain a dark comedy and a short, long-forgotten interlude in the history of life.

展覽時間│ 2014 / 10 / 06－ 2015 / 01 / 03   展覽地點│ 樹火紀念紙博物館 週一 ～ 週六 09:30 ～ 16:30 / 週日休館
展覽票價│ 100元

一條條年輪都是時間的累積，藝術家們以這樣表示樹的成長是需要時間的，我們對待大自然也是需要時間的保護而非破壞

藝術家描述了脈絡的文字：摘錄自Alison Hawthoren的The Rope

近看藝術家搭起的樹，據說是以紙慢慢一層層搭建起來的，做出的效果彷彿如椹樹的樹皮一般

以旅美藝術家林淑如為主，來自美國波特蘭的四位女性藝術家，將作品先在波特蘭的大型工廠架出後，再分別裝四大箱帶來台灣布展，樹的內部，以厚紙板先搭起一層層框架般的支柱後，在一層層的往外加入紙張，作出如同樹狀的質感，藝術家們要帶給我們的背後資訊是：現在你所翻閱使用的任何一張紙，皆出自於大自然，多年的累積而成，對待環境需要多關心與看待！

 一棵樹的成長不易，從小幼苗到成長成大樹，需要不斷的灌溉與滋養，藝術家以輸出的布條影像將會場展現大自然的氛圍

在一角落，也有投影的裝置，藝術家呈現大自然綠色大樹的概念

為了推廣這樣的環保概念，藝術家分別與學校學生們合作，將他們心目中的樹木畫下，然後一張張串起，吊飾在後方的展區，以互動的方式，完整的呈現人與樹之間的關聯。也藉此強調自然與文明依存的關連。