Chen Zhaohua Wins Taipei Fine Arts Award with Memory-Burning Exhibition

Artist Chen Chao-hua won the Taipei Fine Arts Award Grand Prize in 2023 for his work *At Lower Guiroushan*, one of the most prominent accolades in Taiwan's contemporary art scene. Established in 1995, the Taipei Fine Arts Award brings together a professional jury each year to select works that break new ground in creative concepts, material utilization, and social engagement, with winners frequently viewed as barometers of the new generation of art. *At Lower Guiroushan* not only sparked intense debate among the judges but also drew large crowds of visitors during the exhibition, becoming a focal point of art news that year.

*At Lower Guiroushan* is an installation primarily constructed from raw logs and stone, with a title derived from the symbolic meanings of mountains and terrain to explore the interdependence and alienation between humans and nature. During the creative process, Chen personally cut and spliced the wood to form a structure that appears both fragile and solid, allowing viewers to weave through it and experience an alternation of spatial heaviness and lightness. Critics noted that the work uses minimalist materials to narrate the erosion of nature amid the process of urbanization, while simultaneously hinting at personal memories of longing for and the regeneration of mountain forests.

Tomorrow, Chen will hold a solo exhibition in Taipei, publicly debuting his new video work *Keeping Warm*. Centered around the theme of looking back, the curator has arranged a juxtaposition of multiple past and recent creations, allowing audiences within a single space to experience the artist's ongoing dialogue with time and the self. The exhibition venue is presented with subdued lighting and open walkways designed to cultivate a contemplative atmosphere, enabling viewers to experience an emotional flow from the past to the future as they step into and out of the works.

*Keeping Warm* records in video format the process in which Chen set fire to the wood used to build *At Lower Guiroushan*. The camera slowly captures the moments of spreading flames and flying wood chips, accompanied by low ambient sound and occasional cracking wood, creating an audiovisual experience that is simultaneously ritualistic and fraught with a sense of crisis. The act of burning is frequently employed in contemporary art as a symbol of self-destruction and rebirth; through this gesture, Chen revisits his award-winning creation to present a reflection on success and a repositioning of his creative origins. This action serves not only as a farewell to past achievements, but also as a form of self-purification mediated by fire.

This response of "incineration" has sparked multifaceted discussions within Taiwan's art circles. Some critics suggest that the artist's daring physical destruction of an award-winning work challenges traditional, solidified notions of award value, demonstrating a profound exploration into the essence of art. Other viewers have felt the emotional tension behind the work, viewing it as an honest and courageous form of self-examination. From a broader perspective, Chen's action reminds people that artistic creation should not be bound by honors, but should instead continuously advance through self-criticism and experimentation, offering new directions for contemplation in Taiwan's contemporary art.