Build Community Identity through Art Co-creation with Local Residents
Taoyuan Land Art Festival, Taoyuan Department of Cultural Affairs, Taiwan. Ari. - Sep. 2019 #Community Building #Cultural Communication #Community IdentityMy Role: Social Designer
Founded in 2013, the Taoyuan Land Art Festival is an event that focuses on promoting Taoyuan’s natural landscapes and human culture. The festival, which has been held in various administrative regions over the years, utilises diversified and culturally rich art exhibitions to inspire visitors to look at land, environments, ecological development, human culture, and history from different perspectives.
Team
Vision Union
Project Lead: Si Ru Wu
Project Manager: Jia-Syuan Yu
Project coordinator: YingAn Chen
Research: Chen Yu Wang, Jia-Syuan Yu, YingAn Chen
Photographer: Ling Huai Zeng
Visual Designer: Wen Qian Lin
Support: Pei Hua Tsai, James Lu
Project Goal
Co-creating art with the residents to make them more conscious of their community's future.
Invite the local community to participate in the co-creation process by discussing local issues and recognising the community as a whole.
🎯 Research Goal
Learn how people, history, and landscape change over time.
Identify local problems to establish community recognition.
🔍 Methods
Understand & Define
Deliver
Desktop
Research
Researched on historical resources and different groups of people.
Explored the changes in landscapes.
Field
Research
Conducted interviews with elderly residents, residents, and immigrants in the community in order to gain a better understanding of the change of the community.
Explored the transformation of landscapes and the relationship with history.
Participatory
Workshops
Discussed the community issues with the residents in light of the historical findings and the local resources
Art Co-creating
Workshops
Invited eight artists from Taiwan and Japan to create art with local residents.
01. Desktop Research
02. Field Research
03. Participatory Workshops
04. Key Findings
Water environment maintenance is gradually becoming more important
The artificial river was one of the important public constructions during the early agricultural period. However, as time progressed and industry and commerce developed, irrigation function gradually decreased and sewage levels increased. Recently, after the reconstruction of the site, the plan became a community park, and the water environment is now being addressed. Weekly stream cleanup activities are planned by the local residents
The memory gap between the old and new residents
It is evident from the field study, at different stages, that Bade's interpersonal network has developed very long and has centripetal forces, and residents are very familiar with one another in generations. People care about local literature, history, and development gradually.After the industrial development period, many people moved in and have lived there for 30 years, but they don't really understand the culture. As for the surrounding new communities, there are about ten years of development, and they are more focused on developing the current living environment.
A growing number of people recognise the importance of collecting and preserving historical information
Even though the Bade District has a long history, its documents and oral materials have not been systematic. It is likely that the rezoning and development issues have led to many generations of local residents gradually investing in the work of collecting local data and contributing to the restoration of It is critical to compare and verify post-war historical rumors to restore the existing traditional festival behaviours.
05. Establish A Co-creating Principle for Workshops
A dialogue will take place with the local residents to learn about the current environment, ecology, food, culture and life in Bade District, find out their concerns and imaginations of the future, and respond to the art work.
#Easy for residents to understand
#Resonances of life
#Engage in discussion of issues
06. Co-creating Workshops
Many residents shared memories from their childhood and impressions of Bade.
The artists exchanged observations in Bade and ideas about their past creative collaborations.
During the dialogues, residents and artists co-created the installations.
Initial fieldwork, visits to local communities is to find local problems and memories. As a medium between local memory and art works, the artist reproduces the unique characteristics of the local area. This will also enhance the sense of identity of the locals, as well as maintain the co-creation and to respond to the issue of artwork by local residents.
It is hoped that combining the creation of experience. The workshops divided community participation into two phases: issue workshop and co-creating art workshop. The goal is to engage local residents in a participatory process that identifies local needs and views, thereby increasing local identity and creating community building. We held more than 20 workshops to engage as many residents as possible.
07. Concept of The Co-creating Art Exhibition
The integration of the old and new local communities
The Bade district in Taoyuan city has been shaped by different groups and eras that have come and gone. It was the local government's goal to encourage old and new residents to become engaged in communication, so we, as outsiders, studied the local environment and encouraged the artists to co-create community identities with residents.
