Cheng Kongfeng’s “Sailing Boat” Tour of Taiwan’s History 400 Years – Huge
Through a long study of craft technology, Taiwanese artist Zheng Fengfeng envisions contemporary facilities that connect us not only to the past, but also to nature and our current environment.
The artist, who straddles sculpture, installation, craftsmanship and design, draws on what he calls “ancient and gradually forgotten Eastern culture”, transforms traditional patterns and methods into new works that nod to approve of the continuity and creativity of East Asian art. It may even be positioned to position his practice in the field of storytelling, leveraging collective cultural memory and overlapping history.
In the “sailing” installation in Tainan, Feng used the sails of wooden ships as a visual metaphor for the cityscape, “the cluster of buildings resembles ships gathered in the harbor,” he said. Symbolizing movement, discovery, and social progress and expansion, he engages in dialogue between architecture and progress, as well as between memory and present moments.
The beams and sails were inspired by many actual buildings in the south of Thailand, such as the Temple of Confucius, Fort Zeelandia, which was built in the 17th century by the Dutch East India Company and Chihkan Tower, another Dutch outpost, also known as the Provinburg Fort.
Taiwan was known as Formosa in the mid-1600s, and the Dutch were ruled by colonial rule, with the Dutch’s trade interests mainly revolving around the import of Chinese silk to Europe, where they were highly praised for their luxury goods. Located at the Anning Shipyard Historic Site, Feng wrapped the maritime heritage of the region and four centuries of transport in a “Sailing Castle” in the canal in the West Central District.
“The overlapping voyages both evoke the gathering of ships along the seafront, but also the expectation of a sailor who is looking forward to departure and the arrival of a return navigator,” he said.
Feng Shui pavilions use mainly wood and canvas, which are the intersection between artistic intervention and functional meeting spaces, and have small surfaces that stick out from posts where visitors can sit down. Cruising, as it passes through a green park and illuminates at night, the “sailing boat” simultaneously arouses a sense of awe as it encourages us to slow down a minute or two of meditation and rest.
Find more information on the artist’s website and on Instagram.
