Sovereign Worlds
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.
For more information, visit sensefield.org
Director: P. Kerim Friedman
Curators: Lee Tzu-tung & Gabriele de Seta
Location: Rooms 143-145, Bopiliao Historical Block (Guangzhou Street), Wanhua District, Taipei
Visiting hours: October 22-26, 10:00-18:00
FREE ADMISSION!