Can the silent hills shine again? The first "Mine Art season" lights up the vein of Jinguashi culture.

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This autumn's golden melon stone is very artistic! The first "Mine Art Season" was held from October 29 to November 30, re-lighting the memory of the mining village of Jinkuashi. The participating artists said,"The cultural life, architecture and history left behind by the golden melon stone itself is itself a vein containing gold."

Huang Ting-yao, who took over the curatorial work of the first Mining Art Season, is from Tugou, Tainan. He has accumulated more than ten years of experience in rural social construction, curating the "Rural Art Museum" and founding the "Elegant Farmer Art Factory." He saw the unique cultural charm of the northeast corner mining village, which led him to travel all the way from the vast Chianan Plain to the northeast corner mining area.

One of the works of Jin Kuashi's first mining art season, with the roof as the theme, residents paint the oil felt of the roof with tar in summer to prepare for the long winter rain, symbolizing the glorious mining years. (Photography/Lin Jiyang) The old mine in the artist's eyes is full of life memories and feelings everywhere.

In the first mine art season, 6 of the 43 submitted works were selected by the jury, taking the surroundings of Jinguashi Qitang Old Street as the creation base, including hospital ruins, bomb shelters, streams and old street life.

Among the six selected works, Lin Chenxun summoned the collective memory of the golden melon stone people by recreating the ruins of the miners 'hospital, while Wang Guoren disturbed the spatial language of the mine through bright colors. Zeng Xikai profoundly compared,"The cultural life, architecture and history left by the golden melon stone itself is itself a vein containing gold." Through his own acumen and imagination, the creator digs out the human life of the mining village as the theme.

Artist Wang Guoren reinterprets abandoned mine corners with color. (Photography/Lin Jiyang)

Chu Pu Architects uses abandoned water conservancy space, rich moisture to breed bryophytes, balanced distribution of green and metal, to create a unique atmosphere of abandoned space in mining town.

Artist Huang Chung-chen highlights the contrast between past experiences, with the theme of long winter rains, and the golden melon stone people painting the roof with tar felt in summer. This scene of families working on the roof is like a religious ceremony. Artist Huang Zhongchen created this life memory as "Open/Behind/Gold and Darkness", connecting the common life experience of residents, comparing it to the darkness below after the glory of gold mine has faded.

Huang Dingyao believes that "for those who continue to live in Jinguashi in the future, what they need is a support system." As long as the outside world gives encouragement and affirmation, the rich value of Jinguashi's own terroir characteristics and humanistic memory naturally provides energy for creation, and even can be created together with residents.

Chupo Architects creates a unique atmosphere of abandoned space in the mining town by using the green of the humid environment in abandoned space. (Photo/Lin Jiyang) From the Chianan Plain to the northeast corner, how can the experience of earth ditch be used in mining villages?

In 2002, the government of New Taipei City began to renovate the abandoned mine of Taiwan Gold Company and prepare for the establishment of Gold Museum Park. In 2004, the Gold Museum opened, opening a new page for the cultural revival of Jinkuashi mining village. Until this year, the opening of the first mine art season.

"There are dozens or even hundreds of local art festivals in Taiwan." Huang Dingyao reflected that when art festivals were reduced to attracting tourists or directly used to revitalize the rural areas, these goals were actually ignored: "art festivals" must first make local people "feel".

Huang Dingyao quoted Tomiro Kitagawa, curator of Japan's "Earth Art Festival," as saying,"The original purpose of the art festival is to make residents smile again." In order to emphasize community participation and create a public character of local charm through artist intervention, he persuaded the public sector to shift the curatorial content to a more community-participatory creative project.

He defined a set of subtitles for the first Mine Art Season: "Art Carnival invited by the mountain." He explained that curation is only an interface, by the artist's creative action, guide visitors and local residents to open a dialogue, let residents believe in the uniqueness of their hometown, re-find pride and hope, such "collaborative mind" can open up new opportunities.

Huang Ting-yao, a social worker, traveled from Tainan to the northeast corner of the city. Through the artist's creative energy, he allowed the lost children of the mine to see the beauty of their hometown again. (Photo/Lin Jiyang) Pride and Loss in the Heart of Jinguashi Residents

"Our Jinguashi is different from Jiufen. Jiufen is the Yan family's private property (Taiyang Company). The gold melon stone is owned by the government. In the Japanese era, it was Taiwan Mining Corporation. The National Government came to Taiwan to set up Taiwan Gold Corporation. To mine here is to eat the road, so the composition of the two sides is completely different."

Under the introduction of Axi, a lover of literature and history of Jinkuashi, Jinkuashi and Jiufen are different. "Chiufen's gold diggers are more likely to be gamblers, bolder, and willing to take a gamble, while the miners of Chinkuashih tend to be more conservative."

In 1971, Jiufen Gold Mine was exhausted, and Taiyang Mining ended Jiufen Gold Mine Mining. It was once prosperous and known as "Little Shanghai", leaving only the sadness of empty buildings. At the same time, Taiwan Gold Company of Jinguashi tried to transform itself into copper smelting and processing, but it finally ended up losing money and closed Jinguashi Mine in 1987. The population of Prosperous Mountain City, which had more than 5,000 people, was completely depleted in an instant, leaving less than one-tenth of its population.

After that, Jiufen became famous for Hou Xiaoxian's 1989 film "City of Sadness" and became a flagship tourist attraction in the northeast corner. Although Jinguashi, a neighboring mining town, was also shot in the film Silent Hills in 1992, 30 years later, Jinguashi still maintains the loneliness of the mining town.

Looking at the prosperous reappearance of Jiufen, the people of Jinguashi inevitably compare their own situation with it. Whether it is a blessing or a curse, although the tourist crowds bring business opportunities to Chiufen, they leave the cultural memories and lonely historical atmosphere of the mine to Chinkuashih.

From this point of view, Huang Dingyao believes that "the unique historical background and environmental conditions of Jinkuashi are very suitable for art festival planning." But it takes time. Someone has to be willing to wait a few years and take a different path."