"Art/Sports" as a Public Platform: Between Contemporary Art and Social Movements

These social events and protest movements, broadcast on television or online media, happen all around us.
They may not directly involve us, but they create a space for public discussion and provide nourishment for progress, even inspiring artists to respond to the world and find creative ideas.

Looking back at pivotal moments in a changing era, what is the relationship between contemporary art and social movements?
Are they parallel worlds, clashing with each other, or mutually constitutive?
This is a local record of the intersection of art and social movements.

Research on social movements from an art and culture perspective is scarce. This book offers a different viewpoint, understanding the ever-changing relationship between contemporary art and social movements through artistic creation, exhibition production, art criticism, and other aspects.

In six chapters, the author examines the interaction between contemporary art and social movements from the 2010s to the present. This includes artist Chen Chieh-jen's works created after social movements had subsided; the anti-displacement protests of the Xizhou and Sawali tribes; the 2014 Sunflower Student Movement and its creative output; young artists' creative practices returning to the March 18th Movement; the "Anti-Beautiful Bay Development Project" on the East Coast from 2011 to 2013, and the "Ketagalan Boulevard Protest" from 2017 to the present; as well as cases that transformed artistic actions into local community movements, such as the "Tropic of Cancer Environmental Art Action" and the "Shumeikeng Creek Environmental Art Action." From the beginning of the events, collaborative planning, to their conclusion or renewed discussion, the book clarifies the ins and outs of each event, presenting diverse perspectives. It also includes a chronology of important social movements and cultural events in Taiwan from 1980 to 2023, leading readers through a decade to see how contemporary art projects and actions in Taiwan related to specific social movements developed more creative dialectical dialogues in their pursuit of ideals and visions.