展覽：紀凱淵 – 2017 紀紐約個展
媒材：物件裝置
地點：臺北市立美術館
Sticky Rice Turtle - Solo Exhibition
Video Installation
Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
紀凱淵 – 2017 紀紐約個展
紀凱淵，是我在藝術時間之外的本名。相較於紀紐約，這個從大學時期沿用至今的綽號（因迎新晚會穿了I ♥ NY的上衣而被命名）。本名似乎再也與藝術無直接相關，彷彿那是我的另一私密身份，一個存在於原鄉的密碼。
而這個暫不投射意義的名詞，成為了我 2017 年個展的展名。如同此次作品裡的米糕龜、師傅與我之間，長達30年[1] 的關係並無法化約為一段敘事，而是不斷攪拌而成的一團「紀凱淵」。
也就是說，這段關係滋養了一部份的我，並且以記憶重疊技藝的方式一再循環，形成了我的美感原型。而此時此刻，在藝術場域裡的藝術家正轉換角色，試著讓自己成為他 / 它的載體，以「相互承載」的形式呼應彼此。拍攝上選用紀實的手法貼近事與物，裝置呈現上則以各種技術在不同環節中捕捉自身感受。
就讓我們，互為載體。
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[1]
紀凱淵今年33歲，7歲以前在外婆家長大，從小到大每年最掛念的就是元宵乞龜。小時候從看著師傅製龜的過程中，首次感受到雙手捏塑的魔力，且覺得造型太好看而開始畫下來，成了我有記憶以來最原初的圖像。再長大一點若不滿足於平面時，便嘗試立體塑形（如物件展示裡阿嬤幫我收好的紙黏土龜）。而這個因不記錄下來就沒得看了（要再等一年）的習慣維持至今。
不過近年來師傅們的年紀漸長，多無傳承，且現代人飲食習慣改變後，米糕龜的數量逐年遞減。對我來說，使用繪畫、捏塑、攝影等不同形式紀錄了將近30年，已不再只是紀錄的問題，而是如何讓這個記憶 / 技藝繼續轉動。
我想，紀凱淵是能做好這件事的人。
STICKY RICE TURTLE
Solo Exhibition
CHI Kai-Yuan is my real name. Compared to my artist name CHI New York (inspired by a “I ♥ NY” shirt I wore at the freshmen party), my real name seems irrelevant to my artistic career, now a secret identity, a pass code to my native land.
Before meaning is projected upon this name, I want to use it as the title of my solo exhibition in 2017. The relationship between qi-gui (glutinous rice turtles), the pastry chefs and myself over the last 30 years [1] is reflected in the work, and cannot be summarized into a simple narrative. “CHI Kai-Yuan” is comparable to rice dough, churning and yet to be formed.
In other words, this relationship cultivates a part of me, and creates a cycle of “memories overlaid with craft,” formulating a prototype of my aesthetic. Through this exhibition, I want to shift my role as an artist to a carrier of the chefs and qi-gui, corresponding as inter-carriers.
I choose the format of film documentary to stay close to events and objects, and capture my emotions with different techniques in various segments in the presentation of the installation.
Let’s be the carrier of each other.
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[1]
CHI Kai-Yuan (b. 1984) was raised by his grandmother before 7. He has been enthusiastic about the qi-gui (sticky rice turtle) during the Lantern Festival ever since he was a child. Observing the chefs make qi-gui as a young child, he felt the magic of modeling things by hand. CHI proceeded to draw the form of these turtles, the most “primitive” image in his memory, As he grew older, CHI continued to model them in sculptural form, like the paper clay turtles his grandmother kept for him. He documents the event every year so he would not have to wait another year to see the turtles.
Due to the lack of successors following aging chefs and a change in diet, the amount of qi-gui being produced is decreasing every year.
For me, I have been documenting this event for almost 30 years with forms or drawing, modeling and photography; it is no longer documentation. It is now about how to keep this memory / craft alive.
I believe CHI Kai-Yuan could make this happen.
