Taipei Artist Village selects more than ten Taiwanese artists to participate in the three-month residency abroad in organizations worldwide every year. In 2020, Barry Room starts from the perspective of “Travel Literature”, organizing Artists Exchange Group Exhibition throughout the year. Following Homeric epic “The Odyssey”, artists provide retransmission of experience and thoughts in the narrative line that grows between “travel” and “back home”. The exchange organizations of artist village span across Asia, Europe, Oceania, and other countries. This year, the exhibition will be divided based on geographical areas, showing the projects and works inspired by local history, culture, geography.Besides bringing a complete end to the entire residential creative journey the exhibition also creates multiple paragraphs of traveling journal to viewers in their process of visiting.

Exhibition Post- Heisei is presenting the works of Peng Yi-Hsuan and Chen Liang-Hsuan, two artists who visited The Akiyoshidai International Art Village in 2019 and 2020. With one year in between, Peng and Chen both visited Akiyoshidai in Yamaguchi Prefecture. Peng focuses on the element of fire and its interaction with human society from the perspective of geological scenery and tradition. Chen’s work is inspired by the pears of Akiyoshidai, a local specialty, and unveils the delicate and complex labor and the production environment behind the commonly-seen agricultural products.

Fire is an important element in human civilization. With fire comes heat, which society cautions against. The danger and power of fire are impossible to ignore. On the third Sunday of every February, a mountain burning event is held in Akiyoshidai, setting fire to weeds to bring new life. Flames reaching as high as five or six meters tall are ignited at the sound of a siren. A 1,500-hectare field is burned out within a few hours’ time, which never fails to impress onlookers who are unable to take their eyes away from the view. By interchanging mixed media, Peng Yi-Hsuan allows the audience to perceive the relationship between fire, humans, and nature from different angles. The work is also added with personal experiences with fire, displaying new creative associations that were ignited after the residency ended.

The people of the small village in Yamaguchi Prefecture created the brand and reputation for the Akiyoshi pear, which is constructed with a deep sense of respect and the strict production process involved. However, they are in no way immune to the disappearance of the agricultural way of life and the aging population, or challenges regarding policies and the distribution of resources. Chen Liang-Hsuan recorded the village scenes during her residency in 2019 and is now pointing her lens at Taiwan, the land where she grew up in. To create products that cater to the taste of customers, Taiwanese farmers often graft Japanese pear species that originally grew in completely different climates, sending the products into the hands of customers after complex agricultural methods and procedures. Instead of dissecting each step, the artist’s work uses readymades and spatial design to guide viewers to peek and uncover the narrative of pears.

Exhibition Post- Heisei will be presented between December 4th ,2020 to January 3rd ,2021 at Taipei Artist Village. Japan adopted a new official calendar on May 1st, 2019, announcing the end of an era. However, changes in the calendar do not alter the memories of Heisei. Through artists Peng Yi-Hsuan and Chen Liang-Hsuan’s memories of their residence, viewers are guided on a journey to Akiyoshidai and back to the self, exploring new possibilities of the post-Heisei era.