The '921' killer earthquake in Taiwan in 1999 inspired
Vincent Huang to devote himself to environmental and climate-related
issues on a global scale. This month he travels to Qatar to attend a
major U.N. climate conference in Doha.
For eco-artist Vincent J.F. Huang (黃瑞芳), all the world's a stage, from
the beaches of Tuvalu to the conference halls of major climate
conferences. This month he's in Qatar in the Middle East to attend a
United Nations climate confab, and he'll be exhibiting some of his
works there.
While Taiwan does not have many climate activists working in the
international arena, Huang is a climate artist with a vision and he's
out to put his stamp on public awareness issues worldwide. Now
in his early 40s, the Nantou County native went overseas to study art
in Scotland and received a master's degree from Grays School of Art
there. Huang's goal is to help wake up the world -- and
his native Taiwan -- about the possible dangers of unchecked climate change and
global warming in the future.
With these issues in mind, Huang has travelled to Qatar this week for
COP 18, a U.N. climate conference, where he plans to make a plea for
more attention to be paid to peple of the Pacific
island of Tuvalu. In September, Huang visited the island nation where
he exhibited some of his works on a picturesque beach and met with
government officials there.
In a recent interview with this blog, Huang said in that he
felt at home there and came back to Taipei impressed by
both the islanders and their government.
"The government and islanders were both very supportive of my two
visits, one in 2010 and one this September, and they
appreciated the eco-art projects I created to try to draw more
international attention to the situation Tuvalu is facing in regard to
climate change and rising sea levels," Huang said.
When asked what kind of impact he feels his eco-art has on viewers
worldwide, Huang said that as an artist, he believes in
the power of art to effect change in attitudes.
"The kind of spectacle art installations I do have a visual impact
that can lead people around the world to not only pay more attention
to the crisis Tuvalu is facing on a daily basis, but also to picture
more vividly the global problems of climate change," he said.
Setting up art installions on remote Pacific island and travelling to
Qatar take time and money, of course. Huang received a travel grant
from the Taipei Yuan Shan Rotary Club. (台北圓山扶輪社) to fund his two visits to
Tuvalu, he said, and for that he's grateful. The Republic of China's
ambassador in Tuvalu, Larry Tseng (曾瑞利), was also very helpful, he
said.
However, in general, it's difficult for independent artists like Huang
to get funding in
Taiwan since his climate-related works are not for sale or for art
collectors.
"It's ironic that many corporate enterprises here in Taiwan talk a lot
about eco-friendly beliefs but very few CEOs want to do things like
Britain's Sir Richard Branson," Huang said. "Branson puts his money
where his mouth is, and uses his public relations clout and his money
to sponsor socially-relevant events and eco-art projects."
"Most people in Taiwan today don't believe that what is happening to
Tuvalu could ever happen to this island nation," he said. "As an
artist, I'm surprised that people here still don't get it and that is
a main reason I am doing my art projects. I want to wake people up in
Taiwan, too. We are very much part of the ocean world, too."
When asked how he goes about the time-consuming and arduous work of
contacting government officials in a small country like Tuvalu, Huang
said he relied on patience and help from the Taiwanese embassy there
in conducting what he calls "art diplomacy."
"My 2010 eco-art project in Tuvalu helped connect me with governmental
ministers there, and those connections enabled me to go there again
this fall," he said. "It took me about 10 months of communicating back
and forth via email with Tuvaluan officials and our Taiwanese embassy.
Unfortunately, I don’t always succeed with art diplomacy like this, as
the government of China tries to interfere."
Huang was born in 1971 in the small town of Shuili (水里) in Nantou
County (南投). When a reporter asked what led him to pursue the winding
path of an artist, Huang said that what really got him going as a
young man was the killer earthquake of September 21, 1991, noting:
"The 921 quake destroyed a lot of buidlings and homes in Nantou and
other counties -- and my home, too, was destroyed. The earthquake made
me start to think hard about the relationships between man and nature.
As an art major, as a man who wanted to become an artist, I decided I
needed to say something about the destructive power of nature through
my work."
When asked whether he considers himself a climate activist or an
eco-artist, Huang
said he wasn't looking for a label but that "an artist who has an
awareness and a sense of responsibility about social or environmental
issues takes actions to intervene wake up the world, to act as a
bridge on global issues and offer people a way to see beyond what they
normally see in everyday life. I see my job to remind people that we
are all global citizens who should be aware of and responsible for
current and and future environmental problems."
In Tuvalu, Huang set up one installation art piece on a beach that
consisted of a fuel
truck nozzle tied in a knot. The 4m by 2m artwork also featured an
image of a polar bear relaxing in a hammock, and according to the
artist, was set up to symbolize "the end of the world’s reliance on
oil and a move back toward a life of simplicity."
An earlier project, titled ''The Modern Atlantis Project'', featured
an aquarium installation, already showed his concerns about the excessive use of
fossil fuels.
"The closed aquarium symbolized the Earth, our Earth, from which human
beings in the name of 'civilization' and 'capitalism' consume nature
freely and limitlessly, and as my project showed, the aquarium itself
will gradually be consumed, too," Huang said. "I wanted to present
viewers with the idea that our world is doomed if we go on consuming
limited natural resources as if there was no tomorrow, greedily and
without regard for what life on Earth is all about."
"I'm not a scientist, I'm an artist, so I don’t think I can predict
the future in any real way," he said. "But as an artist who cares
about climate change and its impact, I think we need some new
approaches to wake people up."
MORE & FULL TEXT==== TAIPEI, TAIWAN -- November 1, 2012 webposted on blog for private viewing until publication day: If Taiwan has a climate activist working in the international arena,
it certainly
is Vincent J.F. Huang, a climate eco-artist with a vision. Now
in his early 40s, the Nantou County native went overseas to study art
in Scotland and received a master's degree from Grays School of Art
there. Now his sights are set on trying to wake up the worldm-- and
Taiwan -- about the possible dangers of unchecked climate change and
global warming.
With these issues in mind, Huang is in Qatar this week for a United
Nations climate conference, where he plans to exhibit some of his work
and make a plea for more attention to be paid to peple of the Pacific
island of Tuvalu. He flew to Tuvalu in September where he exhibited
some of his works on the beach and spoke with government officials
there.
When asked how his work was received there, Huang said in a recent
interview that he felt at home there and back to Taipei impressed by
both the islanders and their government.
"The government and islanders were both very supportive of my two
visits, one in 2010 and my second one last September and they
appreciated the eco-art projects I creared to try to draw more
international attention to the situation Tuvalu is facing in regard to
climate change and rising sea levels," Huang said. "I hope to go back
to Tuvalu one day soon, too. I'll be exhibiting some of my
Tuvalu-related work on the sidelines of the meeting this week in
Doha."
When asked what kind of impact he feels his eco-art has on viewers
worldwide, via newspaper articles and photos distributed worldwide via
blogs and the Internet, Huang said that as an artist, he believes in
the power of art to effect change in attitudes.
"The kind of spectacle art installations I do have a visual impact
that can lead people around the world to not only pay more attention
to the crisis Tuvalu is facing on a daily basis, but also to picture
more vividly the global problems of climate change," he said.
Setting up art installions on remote Pacific island and travelling to
Qatar take time and money, of course. Huang received a travel grant
from Taipei Yuan Shan Rotary Club. (台北圓山扶輪社) to fund his visits to
Tuvalu, he said, and for that he's grateful. The Republic of China's
ambassador in Tuvalu, Larry Tseng (曾瑞利), was also very helpful, Huang
said.
But it's difficult for independent artists like him to get funding in
Taiwan since his climate-related works are not for sale or for art
collectors.
"It's ironic that many corporate enterprises here in Taiwan talk a lot
about eco-friendly beliefs but very few CEOs want to do things like
Britain's Sir Richard Branson," Huang said. "Branson puts his money
where his mouth is, and uses his public relations clout and his money
to sponsor socially-relevant events and eco-art projects."
While Taiwan is not facing the same kind of environmental or climate
crises that Tuvlau does, as an island nation, it still must be on
guard. When asked if Taiwan's
coastline might be threatened if sea
levels rise in the future, with one scientist in Taipei already warning that
parts of Taipei City could be under water by the year 2100, Huang said
he wouldn't be surprised if Taipei was flooded by sea level rises in
the next 100 years, noting: "It used to be a lake some 500 years ago."
"Most people in Taiwan today don't believe that what is happening to
Tuvalu could ever happen to this island nation," he said. "As an
artist, I'm surprised that people here still don't get it and that is
a main reason I am doing my art projects. I want to wake people up in
Taiwan, too. We are very much part of the ocean world, too."
When asked how he goes about the time-consuming and arduous work of
contacting government officials in a small country like Tuvalu, Huang
said he relied on patience and help from the Taiwanese embassy there
in conducting what he calls "art diplomacy."
"My 2010 eco-art project in Tuvalu helped connect me with governmental
ministers there, and those connections enabled me to go there again
this fall," he said. "It took me about 10 months of communicating back
and forth via email with Tuvaluan officials and our Taiwanese embassy.
Unfortunately, I don’t always succeed with art diplomacy like this, as
the government of China tries to interfere."
Huang was born in 1971 in the small town of Shuili (水里) in Nantou
County (南投). When a reporter asked what led him to pursue the winding
path of an artist, Huang said that what really got him going as a
young man was the killer earthquake of September 21, 1991, noting:
"The 921 quake destroyed a lot of buidlings and homes in Nantou and
other counties -- and my home, too, was destroyed. The earthquake made
me start to think hard about the relationships between man and nature.
As an art major, as a man who wanted to become an artist, I decided I
needed to say something about the destructive power of nature through
my work."
When asked whether he considers himself a climate activist or an
eco-artist, Huang
said he wasn't looking for a label but that "an artist who has an
awareness and a sense of responsibility about social or environmental
issues takes actions to intervene wake up the world, to act as a
bridge on global issues and offer people a way to see beyond what they
normally see in everyday life. I see my job to remind people taht we
are all global citizens who should be aware of and responsible for
current and and future environmental problems."
In Tuvalu, Huang set up one installation art piece on a beach that
consisted of a fuel
truck nozzle tied in a knot. The 4m by 2m artwork also featured an
image of a polar bear relaxing in a hammock, and according to the
artist, was set up to symbolize "the end of the world’s reliance on
oil and a move back toward a life of simplicity."
An earlier project, titled ''The Modern Atlantis Project'', featured
an aquarium installation, already showed his concerns about the use of
fossil fuel.
"The closed aquarium symbolized the Earth, our Earth, from which human
beings in the name of 'civilization' and 'capitalism' consume nature
freely and limitlessly, and as my project showed, the aquarium itself
will gradually be consumed, too," Huang said. "I wanted to present
viewers with the idea that our world is doomed if we go on consuming
limited natural resources as if there was no tomorrow, greedily and
without regard for what life on Earth is all about."
Another art piece that Huang designed features images of polar bears
squeezed into oil drums, a concept that he says was inspired by oil
giant Royal Dutch Shell’s plan to drill for oil in the Arctic regions.
When asked if he think Shell is listening to him or even aware of his
artwork,, Huang replied: "No single individual can fight against a
huge company like Shell, but at the same time I have tried to connect
with NGOs who also care about these issues and with artists with the
same concerns. Hopefully, together, we can make it to Kyoto where the
Kyoto protocol was signed."
Huang's view of the future? He's worried, he said, but he cannot
predict exactly what will happen or when.
"I'm not a scientist, I'm an artist, so I don’t think I can predict
the future in any real way," he said. "But as an artist who cares
about climate change and its impact, I don't think that statistics or
research papers and scientific reports -- even by climate activists or
top climate scientists -- can catch public attention or concern in a
meaningful way. We need some new approaches to wake people up. News
reports, visual images on television and blogs about the earthquale
amd tsunami Japan and Superstorm Sandy recently in Manhattan and New
Jersey showed just how unpredictable Nature can be. We need to be on
alert. Most people think these things can never happen to them in
their safe homes in the modern world. But natural disasters can up
close and real. For people living in Arctic regions and in a remote
island nation like Tuvalu, future disasters could be real. I feel we
all need to face these issues no matter where we live on this planet
now."
During his trip to Tuvalu in 2010, Huang waded out to a reef
where you erected a small sculpture of an ugly and sad-looking mermaid
made of dried coconut shells and tiny pieces of palm
trees. The images caught the media's attention in Taiwan and in Tuvalu, and
government officials there invited him to visit the island again and
also asked him to come along as a delegate to the Qatar meetings going
on now.
"I'm looking forward to meeting climate activists from around the
world on this new trip," Huang said. "I hope to get some good feedback
from fellow artists and acitivsts this month on my earlier Tuvlau
projects. We shall see."
Acitivists and scientists keep putting hope in new climate confernces,
and while some progress has been made, there is still a long way to go
to fully protecting the Earth -- and humankind -- from climate-related
disasters in the future.
Huang has strong feelings about this and says that ''capitalism is the
key reason [for the lack of progress at climate conferences]''.
"Sadly, the leaders of both developing countries and wealthy nations
care only about their own economic situations, and they selfishly
refuse to do much or anything to solve our climate or environmental
issues worldwide," Huang says.
But the Taiwanese eco-artist charges on, and remains optimistic.
He has been selected by an international group hoping to protect the
polar regions to take part in a three-week visit to the Arctic next
September where he will present a new art piece and do some
media-related outreach upon his return to Taiwan.
There's also hope at the Taipei Yuan Shan Rotary Club, Huang said,
noting that a past president of Taipei Rotary, Gary Huang, has been
selected to be global president for Rotary International in for
2014-2015
"I hope to discuss some eco-art events or ideas of mine with Mr. Huang
when he takes the helm of Rotary International for two years, not only
for Tuvalu, but for Taiwan as well, Huang said. "I hope Taiwan can
take a more active part in global efforts on climate issues in the
future, and help to put Taiwan on the world map in a new way, too."
