Could we just go in (and feel welcome)？
我們一般人可以就這樣進來嗎？
By Chien Lee
李芊
Should I introduce the ss space into conversations with my parents, I imagine that would be their immediate response. To them, commercial galleries and their relationships with the non-collecting public are puzzling enough. Yet at least they understand those are spaces essentially for trades. Art itself as the traded items might be hard to understand, but the financial nature of transactions is clear enough. Followingly, potential buyers who theoretically could be any person, however seemingly dubious judged by their appearances, can all push open the door and enter with some certain degree of assurance. After all, as perspective customers, we should all be allowed to look around first then decide if there is something we are willing to pay with money. That is a rather comforting idea. That having been said, it remains unlikely that my parents would venture into any commercial gallery without my dragging them along. But at least the principle of the existence of commercial galleries and their suppositional attitudes towards the public members are relatively comprehensible.
An artist-run space, as the ss defines themselves, would be for them so alien a practice they won’t even know where understanding can possibly begin. It is not an artist’s studio which sometimes might announce an open day while during the rest of the year, it is a private space for the artist to do their things, hypothetically something creative.
It does not, either, belong to the category of art museums, which, even private ones, sit on the other end of the spectrum of publicness. The very idea of the art museum is to offer, besides the care of collections, the non-collecting audience a space for aesthetic experience. The realisation of the venue relies closely on visitors, otherwise it would stay as a mere storage. In contrast, can one confidently assume spaces like the ss welcome the public?
Hence the question aksed in the title: can a member of the general public who has no intention of purchase and a total stranger to the host enter without prior enquiry for permission? Sure, when feeling uncertain, why not just ask? But the asking part can itself be intimidating. Most will simply choose not to bother.
I use my parents as exemplary cases for they can in many ways and to some degree represent the Everyman. Therefore, their reactions, shared by many others, serve to bring out further discussion about the many layered relationship between the public and the space of art.
The Problematic of Naming
When receiving Sean and Sara’s invitation to contribution, I was most intrigued by how clashing the impressions left respectively by the English and the Chinese descriptions they applied to the same ss space. On the one hand, ‘artist-run space’ portrays, at least to me, an organised place centring its focus on artistic exploration, not necessarily exclusively practices by artists but very likely participation of the public, even when they are unfamiliar with art’s past and present. There still bears some perturbing degree of vagueness in term of the positionality of the space. However, exactly because of the ambiguity, there is an openness for interpretation. On the other hand, the term 藝術家自營空間 suggests more a space made of and for economically profitable activities. The divergence in denotation resulted from, not Sean and Sara’s capability of translation, but what we native Taiwanese-Chinese users’ troublingly intuitive associating the very word營 with its most common social meaning: often, it is used as such that it means maintaining a business. And for the public members who are neither creators nor art mediators such as gallerists, curators and researchers, there can quickly grow an uncomfortable feeling that they’ve, indeed, no business to be there. Furthermore, unlike commercial galleries with their clearly stated purpose, artist-run spaces present a more ambiguous proposition: are visitors paying for the space or for the artwork?
From the Perspective of a Frequent Visitor to Spaces for Arts
Serving as a sociological researcher looking into the audience experience of arts, I remain firmly a member of the general visiting public. (Indeed, I have been from time to time pointed out by people working in arts as being an artworld insider rather than a common audience—a term I oppose its application in discussion for their lack of accuracy and inherent contempt for those described as such. Yet I approach every exhibition essentially as an anonymous visiting person, curious about the works on display and often having no relevant art history knowledge). However often I visit exhibitions, I still find myself feeling more relaxed at some while nervous at others: I am most comfortable at art museums, public or private, followed by recognisably non-profit galleries, then commercial galleries. The term artist-run space gives no direct message as to its nature and I would thus feel much less sure of my position there.
Depending on the type of space, the degree of unease felt on the part of the general public as potential visitors lessens or increases. The question to be pursued would be: What’s the focus of the ss space? To be more precise, what kind of relationships and with whom the ss space aims to develop? As a visitor, I would wish to feel, if not exactly welcome, at least not just being tolerated. That we non-practitioners possessing no purchase power can confidently (though politely) feel we have the right to be there. And the right, I argue, has to be gifted from one party to another—in this case, from the space host to the visitor—on the condition that both stand on an equal ground. Departing from here, the next question is: how would ss space realise this possibility?
2024
translator: Chien Lee
如果我和爸媽在閒聊中提到ss space，我想他們首先就會提出這個疑問。對他們而言，商業性藝廊與不具收藏意圖的參觀者大眾之間的關係已夠令人困惑 ──總是忍不住要問「不買東西的我們一般人會被歡迎嗎？」，但至少他們理解這些空間本質上是為了交易而存在。被買賣的藝術作品本身也許很難理解，不過以金錢換取想要的物品這件事卻是落於常識範圍內的。理論上來說，任何人，不論他的外表再不符合想像中的藏家典型，都應能理直氣壯的推開藝廊的大門、踏進去逛一逛。畢竟，做為可能的購買者，我們有權力先看看再決定是否購買吧？儘管我的父母仍然不太可能主動踏入任何一間商業藝廊，不過稍作解釋後，他們是可以理解這些空間的存在原則以及它們對公眾成員的假設性態度。
藝術家所主持的空間，或者如ss space所自我定義的藝術家自營空間，對他們來說就是一種如此陌生、不知該如何理解起的做法了。這並不是一個藝術家的工作室，偶爾會宣布公眾可進入參觀的開放日，平時則是藝術家用於創作的私人空間，由此構築起空間的明確內涵。
它也不屬於美術館的範疇，坐落於空間公眾性光譜的另一端 ── 即便是私人展館，亦有深刻的半公共性特質。畢竟美術館的概念，並非止於藏品的維護，亦包含為一般沒有在收藏藝術品的觀眾提供一個可以讓美感經驗發生的場所。其空間的實現與參訪者息息相關，否則它將僅僅停留在儲藏室的層次。相較之下，我們是否可以自信地假設像 ss 這樣的空間歡迎公眾呢？
如標題所問，一般未具收藏意圖亦非主理人相識者的大眾，是否可以在未經事前詢問的情況下直接推門進入，並且，很重要的，不感覺自己是打攪了？當然，感到不確定時，為何不就問問看呢？但詢問本身可能就已夠讓人感到怯步，而大多數人會選擇就不要麻煩了。
我以我的父母為例，是因為他們在許多方面，一定程度上代表了一般人。因此，他們的反應與許多人共享，有助於進一步討論公眾與藝術空間兩者可能有的各種關係。
命名的難題
當我收到Sean和Sara的書寫邀約時，最令我感到有趣的，是他們對同一個空間所使用的英語和中文描述引導出相互衝突的兩種印象。一方面，「artist-run space」，至少對我來說，描繪了一個以藝術探索為中心的組織化場所；不一定侷限於由藝術家進行的實踐，也可能包括即使對藝術不熟悉的公眾在空間中的參與。誠然，在空間的定位方面，這仍然存在一些令人不知所措的模糊性。然而，正是這模糊，使解讀有開放可能。另一方面，「藝術家自營空間」則暗示了一個以經濟營利活動為基礎的場所。我們這些臺灣華語使用者，或會傾向將「營」字與其最為流通的社會意義聯繫起來：通常，它被用來表示經營業務、維持生計。對於既不是創作者，也不是如藝廊經紀人、策展人和研究者等藝術中介者的公眾成員來說，如果沒有購買的打算，他們很快會感到不安，認為自己沒有資格闖進這樣的空間中、打擾人家「做生意」。並且不同於商業藝廊明確揭示其存在目的，藝術家自營空間是相對曖昧的指示經營項目: 參觀者需要或者可以付費的是空間，還是作品？
作為藝術空間的常訪者，我的想法是...
身為研究藝術觀眾經驗的社會學者，我始終認定自己是空間參觀大眾之一 （確實，我時常被藝術工作者指出也同是藝術圈內人，而非「普通觀眾」── 對此分類，我仍然反對在討論中未經檢討的使用，因為它缺乏準確性，並且往往隱含輕視群眾的態度 ── 然而，面對每一個展覽和作品，我首先都是因為好奇而接近的觀眾，也經常並未先備對應的藝術史知識）。儘管相對經常地參觀展覽，我仍然發現自己置身於某些空間時更放鬆，而在另一些則感到緊張：最舒適的是公共或私人美術館，其次是公認的非營利畫廊，然後是商業畫廊。而「藝術家自營空間」沒有那麼直接的藉由詞彙傳達其性質，因此我會對自己的定位感到不確定，使得要去感受作品的身體多少緊繃。 根據空間的類型，一般公眾作為潛在參觀者的自在感受會朝正向或負向的發展。需要追問題的是：ss 空間的重點是什麼？更準確地說，ss 空間旨在與誰發展什麼樣的關係？ 作為一名觀眾，我希望感到，如果不是受到歡迎，至少不是被勉強容忍；我們這些非從業者非買家，可以自信地（雖然禮貌地）感覺自己有權力進入空間。我認為，這種權力必須由一方贈予另一方——由空間主持者贈予參觀者——而這分贈與關係的前提是雙方站在平等的基礎上，而非慈善。從這裡出發，接下要來問的是，ss可以怎麼落實？
2024
翻譯: 李芊
PhD in Sociology and co-founder of gallery Unfold, Kyoto. Currently serves as Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Department of Sociology, National Taiwan University. Previous experience included commissioned researcher at Theory, Culture & Society and Visiting Research Follow at Goldsmiths, University of London. Researching from the standpoint of sociology of arts, core area of expertise includes art museums, aesthetic experience, photographic mediation, and sensory ethnography.
倫敦大學金匠學院社會學博士，京都Unfold藝廊共同創辦人。現任國立臺灣大學社會學系兼任助理教授。曾任《理論、文化與社會》期刊特聘研究員、倫敦大學金匠學院訪問研究員。從事藝術社會學研究，主要研究領域包括美術館、美感經驗、攝影中介與感官民族誌。
