【 局長的話 】
臺南藝術節自2012年啟辦以來，不斷創新開拓，深入臺南各地，在不同的城市空間和舞台帶來一次又一次的精彩演藝。2019年藝術節迎來全新的轉變，首度由獨立策展人策劃，以「特定場域」、「現地創作」、「社會參與型計畫」為主軸，為臺南城市和歷史空間打造專屬現地製作，在作品中融入與社會、族群及歷史的對話和觀照，進一步帶領臺南藝術節走出更寬廣的格局。
2020年，臺灣及全球都因為新型冠狀病毒疫情受到衝擊，藝術界也面臨前所未有的困難，演出被迫取消、創作無以為繼；但也因為如此，我們再次體認到能夠聚集在藝術「現場」，共同參與、見證乃至創造的可貴。2020年臺南藝術節的策展理念「為了在此相遇」即是期待喚起對藝術的關心，同時藝術也做為希望的指引，透過創作和當前的社會及世界對話，引發集體和個人的省思，尋得希望攜手渡過這場危機。
2020臺南藝術節聚集了來自臺灣各地優秀的藝術家及團隊，帶來經典重製及全新製作作品。開幕節目依往例在億載金城上演，由今年成立20周年的臺南品牌團隊十鼓擊樂團《島嶼傳說》網羅臺灣各地民俗節慶、民族傳說及宗教儀式，以鼓樂、擊樂、管絃樂結合力與美的舞蹈，表現島嶼的熱鬧活力、虔誠信仰和豐厚生命，在紅磚牆環繞的城內以天然竹搭起舞台，呈現島嶼之形，以燈火、儀式意寓島嶼之神，重磅呈現獻給土地的樂章詩篇，揭開藝術節的序幕。
藝術節不只有熱鬧的節目展演，我們也努力導入創作顧問制度及推動文化中心自製節目，給與臺南年輕團隊創作突破的契機，整合運用資源提升在地文化經營能量；透過外部與內部的交流，激盪新的視野和連結，也讓不同的「相遇」帶來無限的可能性。
一個城市藝術節應該為全民共享、共創，因此我們也持續發展社會參與型的藝術計畫，走進社區、走進生活，以藝術之眼觀看熟悉又陌生的日常；「《人生的一條歌》」社區策展共創計畫，將長者積累大半輩子的生命故事，以一首歌的時間娓娓唱道；「『舞陣漫步』」駐地舞蹈計畫深入校園，賦予孩童藝術創造的語言，將日日練習的藝陣舞步融合轉化為當代舞蹈編創，用藝術為未來發聲。這些藝術與生活的「相遇」，相信將帶來持續前進的力量。
2020臺南藝術節，期待與您相遇!
臺南市政府文化局 局長 葉澤山
From the Director-General of the Cultural Affairs Bureau, Tainan City Government
Since its inception in 2012, the Tainan Arts Festival has continued to grow and innovate. Today, the festival extends throughout Tainan, bringing wonderful performances—one after the other—to all corners and stages of the city. In 2019, the Tainan Arts Festival entered in a new era. Curated by independent curators for the first time, it featured a renewed engagement with the city through “site-specific”, “on-site creation” and “social engagement” efforts. Taken together, these new trends gave birth to exclusive on-site productions among Tainan’s cityscape and historical spaces. This incorporation of social, ethnic, and historical dialogues and observations within performances also signaled the festival’s growing scale and scope.
For most of 2020, Taiwan, along with the rest of the world, has been affected by the fallout from COVID-19. The art world has faced unprecedented challenges, with performances cancelled and creative projects put on hold. However, from this state of affairs, we’ve come to realize the preciousness of being able to gather at art “sites” to participate, witness, and create.
The theme of Tainan Arts Festival 2020 is Encounter—Here and Now. It reflects a desire to arouse a sense of concern for the artistic medium and looks to use art to guide us towards a more hopeful outlook on the future. Through dialogues between artistic creation and our current society or world, it looks to trigger reflections at both the collective and individual level and help us find the hope to overcome this current crisis together.
Tainan Arts Festival 2020 gathers top-notch artists and troupes from all over Taiwan who are slated to bring classic remakes or entirely new productions to the performance stage. The festival’s opening show, The Legend of Island, will kick off at the Eternal Golden Castle. Performed by Ten Drum Art Percussion Group—currently celebrating their 20th anniversary as one of Tainan’s most recognized performing arts groups—The Legend of Island touches upon a wide range of Taiwanese folk festivals, folk legends, and religious ceremonies. It uses drumming, percussion, and orchestral elements in combination with dance to express the brimming vitality of Taiwan, its devout faith and rich life. The natural bamboo stage surround by castle’s red bricks presents a microcosm of the island’s form, while the lights and rituals serve as an embodiment of the island’s spirit. The performance is very much a musical poem dedicated to Taiwan and a fitting start to Tainan Arts Festival 2020.
The arts festival is more than lively performances, however. We have strived to introduce a system of dramaturgy and to promote self-produced performances by the city’s cultural centers. We look to give Tainan’s newest generation of performing arts groups a chance to shine, while pooling resources to help elevate the capabilities of cultural management at the local level. Through dialogues between local performance groups and newly embedded consultants, as well as local cultural centers and visiting performance troupes, we look to embrace new horizons and relationships and to allow these various “encounters” to birth limitless potential.
A city’s art festival should be available for everyone’s enjoyment and participation. Therefore, we have continued to develop social engagement models of art programming. By entering communities and entering lives, the artistic eye can observe the familiar and unfamiliar in daily life. Jîn-sing ê tsı̍t tiâu kua is one such example of a community-based project. It collects the life stories of senior citizens, and recounts them to the public in the space of a song. In another example, Green Green Parade, the residential dance project dives deep into school campuses as it seeks to familiarize children with expressing themselves through the language of art. The dance array that the school children practice daily is thereby transformed into a contemporary dance composition and art is allowed to speak to the future. We fully believe that such art and life “encounters” offer a strong impetus for the continued progress and development in all communities.
Tainan Arts Festival 2020! I hope to “encounter” all of you there!
YEH Tse-shan, Director-General of the Cultural Affairs Bureau