Cultural Sediment, a public art on the fourth floor of the Kaohsiung Main Public Library, was made using recycled books to mirror the world’s first suspension-type green building.
Artist Chen Long-bin has a talent for recycling and transforming discarded books and outdated magazines into busts that gives these publications new appearances. Cultural Sediment introduces two semicircular walls built from books. In front of one wall is a book sculpture of Bodhidharma, a Buddhist monk who faced a wall for nine years in a Shaolin Monastery on Mount Song before he internalized his knowledge into wisdom who brought Chan Buddhism to China. In front of the other wall is a book sculpture of Da Vinci, a learned representative figure of the Italian Renaissance and a genius who excelled in various domains. This artwork conveys to visitors that reading is a process of accumulating moral character, city culture, and civilization in both Eastern and Western culture.
落成於2014年的高雄市立圖書館總館是全世界第1座懸吊式綠建築,透過建築設計手法達到環保減碳訴求,而位於四樓的公共藝術《文化積澱》,也是利用回收書籍作為創作媒材。
藝術家陳龍斌擅長將回收廢棄書本和過期雜誌,堆砌雕刻成各式頭像,將書本賦予嶄新面貌,重生於世人面前。作品《文化積澱》在兩個半圓書牆各放置以書本砌磨出的佛教禪宗達摩及文藝復興代表人物達文西,博學的達文西是橫跨各領域專業的傑出人才,達摩則於嵩山少林寺面壁坐禪九年,將知識內化為智慧。這件作品對來到圖書館的人傳達:無論東西方文化,閱讀都是個人品德、城市文化、國家文明積澱的過程。
作品名稱:文化積澱Cultural Sediment
作者:陳龍斌Long-Bin Chen
創作年份:2014
材質尺寸:回收書籍
設置地點:高雄市立圖書館總館