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The Bunker Museum of Contemporary Art is the latest in Chinese artist Cai Guo Qiang’s ‘Everything is Museum’ series of curated projects, in which he seeks to integrate contemporary art into local communities. Previous instalments were at the Dragon Museum of Contemporary Art, in Niigata, Japan, and Under Museum of Contemporary Art in Colle div al d’Elsa, Italy. This incarnation is, however, particularly significant, not only in the international political arena but also personally for Qiang, who comes from the nearby Chinese town of Quanzhou. Politically part of Taiwan, but situated geographically closer to the mainland of China, the contentious island of Kinmen has been the site of intense military confrontations between the two countries.

Given the overwhelming political context of this exhibition, it was always going to be challenging for the artists to engage with it, while at the same time distancing their work sufficiently to allow other dimensions to emerge. The 18 installations by the nine Chinese and nine Taiwanese artists are installed mostly in military bunkers, disused after the thaw in relations between the two countries and the subsequent decline of the island as a significant military and strategic location. It is therefore unsurprising that many of the works engaged overwhelmingly with its peculiar history and the complex relationship between China and Taiwan, which remains potentially explosive to this day. Lee Shi-Chi’s (the only artist from Kinmen itself) installation War Bets on Peace (2004) was a bingo-type game in which viewers are able to place bets on the various outcomes of peace between the countries. The Da Lun Wei Art Squad’s research project was presented in the form of archival and photographic documentation, tracing the lives of Chinese and Taiwanese defectors after 1949, when the Nationalists fled to Taiwan. The installation brought to life the very real tensions, antagonisms and propaganda battles that existed for decades. Liu Xiaodong’s Battlefield Sketches (2004) comprised 18 life-size portraits of Chinese and Taiwanese soldiers made during time with soldiers in military bases on both sides of the straits. The portraits reveal the contrast between dispositions: the laid back and relaxed attitude of the Taiwanese soldiers compared to the seriousness of the Chinese soldiers.





Beside the overwhelming military and political theme of the exhibition, another of its more interesting aspects was the inclusion of those not usually regarded as visual artists, for instance the acclaimed filmmaker Chai Min-Leong, the composer and conductor Tan Dun and glamour model and actress Yin Ling. In Min-Leong’s nostalgic work Withering Flower (2004), a large bronze statue of Chang Kai-shek, the former Nationalist leader of China and then Taiwan, stands in the middle of the bunker, where a big artillery gun once stood, looking out onto the Chinese mainland. Another aspect of Min-Leong’s work was a performance based on a short story by the novelist Chang Ai-Lin about the suffering of a young girl, relating the sadness and nostalgia felt by many Nationalist soldiers when they fled to Taiwan, thinking that they would never return to their homeland.

Yin Ling’s Making Love for World Piece (2004), which was performed during the opening, involved the scantily-clad Ling simulating copulation with a skeleton, while being watched by a Taiwanese and a Chinese general. Tan Dun’s Music Visual (2004) also engaged with the prevailing political context, but in a less explicit way. His installation featured sound recordings of the smashing of Chinese-made pianos, which were then reconstructed and played. While the reconstructed pianos were curious-looking objects in themselves, the tonalities and sounds they produced made them even more intriguing.

There were also works site-specific works that went beyond the political context of Kinmen. Tse Su-Mei’s huge propeller spun gently inside a bunker – mesmerising and drawing the viewer in while obstructing the entrance, creating a sense of seduction tinged with danger. Lee Mingwei’s work, meanwhile, engaged with legends and myths recounted by villagers from the local village of Shuito. Motion-activated speakers and lamps installed around the village broadcast Lee’s recounting of the first part of the legends, which could only be completed by consulting the village inhabitants.

The exhibition was successful in a number of ways; however, it is ultimately Qiang’s use of art as a conciliatory gesture, his attempt to mend the psychological wounds inflicted by years of hostility, that was its most significant achievement. Other fascinating attributes of the island were brought to our attention, such as its beauty and the resilient and optimistic nature of its inhabitants.

Eugene Tan

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