Sensefield – in Chinese 感野 gǎnyě, literally ‘field of senses’ – is an interdisciplinary exhibition committed to showcasing experimental ethnographic art in Taiwan. In its second iteration, titled Sovereign Worlds, this exhibition foregrounds works of ethnographic art and practice-based ethnography that focus on sensory experiences of sovereignty. Inspired by Ann Cvetkovich's idea of a “sovereignty of the senses” – according to which sovereignty is an embodied practice that is both learned and articulated through agential and affective engagement over time – the artworks showcased in Sensefield 感野: Sovereign Worlds aim at unsettling the concept of sovereignty from the politico-legal poles of the individual and the nation, and to explore instead the continuum of identities, communities, and networks involved in its production. Sovereignty is a process shaped by how we sense our worlds, which are in turn unmade and remade through sensory productions.
Organized in collaboration with the 2019 edition of the Taiwan International Ethnographic Film Festival (TIEFF) and extending its theme Visions of Sovereignty to other sensory domains, Sensefield 感野: Sovereign Worlds is supported by both the National Culture and Arts Foundation (NCAF) and the Taiwan Association of Visual Ethnography (TAVE), and it brings together artworks by internationally recognized artists and anthropologists from Canada, Palestine, Nicaragua, United States, and Taiwan who are currently experimenting with new configurations of ethnographic knowledge and sensory mediation. By juxtaposing the ethnographic concept of a bounded ‘field’ (野) with the experiential category of ‘sense’ (感), Sensefield 感野: Sovereign Worlds confronts audiences with processual articulations of sovereignty that challenge and expand established definitions of the term.

感野，字面上意思為「感官的田野」，是一個跨人類學與藝術領域的展覽，為台灣帶來具實驗性的民族誌創作。在台灣，儘管人類學有其長久的學術淵源，而當代藝術的發展也蔚為成熟，但以兩個領域聯合的名義策畫的行動尚在起步階段。身處邊界進行探索的藝術家和人類學者，在以民族誌創作為基礎的實驗行動上，還有相當大的開拓空間。第二屆「感野」的主題為「主權世界」。這來自於渥太華卡爾頓大學婦女與性別研究所的教授和主任 Ann Cvetkovich ，提出「感官的主權（sovereignty of the senses）」說法：「主權，並非僅是對於個人或國家的抽象概念，它其實是一個集體長期在感官，以及情感上的學習及操作。」本展覽收錄的藝術作品們，意圖動搖主權個體或主權國家在政治及法律面向上確立的概念，並從「我們如何感知世界？」的角度出發，探討身份認同、社群、網路如何造就及重塑了「主權」。

《Sensefield 感野：主權世界》與2019年台灣國際民族誌影展，(TIEFF）合作舉辦，將今年主題「看見主權」擴展到更多元感官的領域，本展覽得到了國家文化藝術基金會（NCAF）和台灣民族誌影像學會（TAVE）補助，匯集了來自加拿大，巴勒斯坦，美國和台灣的國際知名藝術家和人類學家，他們嘗試以新的感官媒介來製作民族誌形式的藝術品。而通過連結有界的「野」（field)：民族誌概念，與無邊的「感」（sense）：感知體驗，本展覽將帶領觀展者感受「主權」的形成過程，挑戰並擴展了「主權」一詞的既定定義。

活動資訊

主辦單位｜感野策展團隊
協辦單位｜台灣民族誌影像學會、剝皮寮歷史街區
日期時間｜2019/11/22-11/26 10:00 – 18:00
活動展間｜143號、145號展間
洽詢電話｜0908175517 李小姐
活動連結｜http://sensefield.org/