Performing eco-public art: Tseng Chi-ming and his embodied environmental artivism

Abstract

This article investigates the interrelations of public art, performance art and environmental activism in contemporary Taiwan through a case study of Tseng Chi-ming and his ecologically conscious public art. With a professional background in fine arts and theatre, Tseng adopted performance art as his primary medium of expression in 2011, very much prompted by his concern of Taiwan’s continuous ecosystem deterioration despite waves of environmental movement. Since then, he has become a key member of the island’s grassroots environmental artivism with his consistent performance works in the public space to advocate the cause of ecology and sustainability. Taking issues with environmental problems and related social injustices, Tseng uses his very own body as the ground, the material and the vehicle to carry out his artivism. Often performed on the street, in the public square or next to endangered ecological sites, his art becomes eco-public art. Methodologically, Tseng tends to incorporate natural materials such as earth, water, stones and plants or direct elements of nature such as rivers, beaches, wind and sunlight as his props. This is very much inspired by his Hakka ethnic background, particularly the deeply rooted Hakka agrarian tradition of ‘worship of nature’ and ‘reverence to heaven and earth’. Aiming to inform, engage and activate the public for environmental protection and ecological literacy, Tseng’s work is an example of the eco-public art in the island that is part and parcel of the ongoing environmental artivism that strives to advance the discourse of ecosystem diversity and foster non-exploitative human–nature relationship.