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current–wave exhibition

What is the impact of ‘old’ and ‘new’ development in coastal areas? How do histories of industrial pollution and corporate influence shape what kinds of transitions are considered possible, desirable, and just? What are the visions of fisher people and how do they organize for change? How do artists and researchers visualize the dynamics of just transitions on the ground?

These questions are at the center of our exhibition Current–Wave: Reaching for Just Transitions in Coastal Communities, organized in two parts:

The first part, wave, is a series of photographs by Cheng-Tang Hsu that tracks changes along the coastline of central Taiwan. The photos draw out the intimate relationship between heavy industries and local communities, onshore and offshore. Hsu also asks whether unintended consequences of the rapid expansion of the wind energy industry are comparable to the routine pollution of the petrochemical industry, as these impacts often overlap within coastal communities. 

The second part, current, extends from ongoing research in coastal Changhua County and the Texas Gulf Coast. The work juxtaposes collective efforts to revitalize local fisheries, fight against plastic pollution, and handle the development of the energy transition. The stakeholders and geographies involved in these movements allude to greater questions about the fossil dependency of industrial development, where seemingly separate demands for just transitions are related through the interindustrial flow of material. The question remains: are these markedly different ‘waves’ to be viewed within the same ‘ocean’, as part of the same struggle for a just transition? 

沿海地區的「舊」和「新」發展有何影響? 工業污染和企業影響的歷史如何塑造了人們對可能性、可取性和公平性等轉型的看法?漁民的願景是什麼?他們如何組織及改變? 藝術家和研究人員如何視覺化地面上的公正轉變的動態?

這些問題是我們展覽「當前浪潮:實現沿海社區的公正轉型」的核心,該展覽分為兩部分:

第一部分「浪」是許震唐拍攝的一系列照片,追蹤台灣中部海岸線的變化。 這些照片描繪了重工業與當地社區、陸上和海上之間的密切關係。 許震唐也詢問風能產業快速擴張的不可預期的後果,是否可跟石化產業的常規污染比較,因為這些影響往往在沿海社區內重疊。

第二部分「潮」源於在台灣彰化縣沿海和德克薩斯州墨西哥灣沿岸進行的持續研究。 這部分結合了振興當地漁業、對抗塑膠污染和應對能源轉型發展的集體努力。 參與這些運動的利害關係人和地理位置都暗示了工業發展的石化能源依賴性的重大問題,其中看似獨立的公正轉型需求透過工業間的物質流動而相互關聯。 問題依然存在:這些明顯不同的「浪潮」是否應該在同一個「海洋」中被視為同一場爭取公正過渡的鬥爭的一部分?

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