Heller Lecture
Tehching Hsieh:
Free Thinking
Heller講座
謝德慶：自由思考

Thursday, June 3 | 4 PM PST OR 7 PM EST

Free and open to all

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Presented in partnership with Centre A, the Vancouver Art Gallery’s 19th Heller Lecture features New York-based, Taiwan-born artist Tehching Hsieh.

How is art sustained over time? How does the body localize agency? These questions guide us in examining the intermingling of discipline and desire on the body and the construction of a performative citizenship.

Connecting his lived experience, Hsieh will discuss his artistic practice, specifically his performance works, and the exertion of the body as a counter history and site of protest in the context of migrational flows of identity, labour and late capitalism in the twentieth century.

This distinguished lecture is presented in collaboration with Centre A (Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art). Hsieh will be in conversation with Henry Heng Lu, Executive Director/Curator, Centre A, and Melissa Karmen Lee, Director of Education and Public Programs, Vancouver Art Gallery.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Mandarin will be provided.

The Heller Lecture is generously supported by Paul and Edwina Heller in memory of Kitty Heller.

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Tehching Hsieh was born on December 31, 1950, in Nan-Chou, Taiwan. Hsieh dropped out of high school in 1967, and took up painting. After finishing his compulsory military service (1970–73), Hsieh had his first solo exhibition at the gallery of the American News Bureau in Taiwan. Shortly after, he stopped painting. He made a performance action, Jump, in which he broke both of his ankles. He trained as a seaman, which he then used as a means to enter the United States. In July of 1974, Hsieh finally arrived at a small port near Philadelphia. He was an illegal immigrant in the U.S. for fourteen years until he was granted amnesty in 1988. Between 1978 and 1986, Hsieh made five One Year Performances: the artist spent one year locked inside a cage, one year punching a time clock every hour, one year completely outdoors, one year tied to another person, and, lastly, one year without making, viewing, discussing, reading about, or in any other way participating in art. Hsieh’s final performance piece, Thirteen Year Plan, was completed in 1999 after a process lasting thirteen years. Using long durations—making art and life simultaneous—Hsieh achieved one of the most radical approaches in contemporary art. His first four One Year Performances made Hsieh a regular name in the art scene in New York; the last two pieces, which led to him intentionally retreating from the art world, set a tone of sustained invisibility. Since the early 2000s, released from the restriction of not showing his works during the thirteen-year period, Hsieh has exhibited in North and South America, Asia and Europe. In 2017, he represented Taiwan at the 57th Venice Biennale. Hsieh lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Heller講座 謝德慶：自由思考
2021年6月3日
4:00 pm (PST 太平洋標準時間) / 7:00 pm (EST 美國東部標準時間)

溫哥華美術館Vancouver Art Gallery與溫哥華國際當代亞洲藝術中心Centre A: Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art合作舉辦第19屆Heller講座，邀請旅居紐約的台籍藝術家謝德慶Tehching Hsieh先生主講。

隨著時間流逝，藝術如何延續？身體如何作為媒介？這些問題引領我們去檢視，在建構公民身分的展現中紀律與渴求的交織。謝德慶將結合自身經驗來討論他的藝術實踐，特別是探討行為藝術，以及在二十世紀身分認同、勞工與晚期資本主義遷移流動的脈絡之中，以身體的運用做為反面歷史與抗議的載體。

本講座將與溫哥華國際當代亞洲藝術中心合作舉辦，由藝術家與盧恆 Henry Heng Lu（溫哥華國際當代亞洲藝術中心執行董事/策展人）和林嘉敏Melissa Karmen Lee (溫哥華美術館公共教育主任)進行對談。

本活動將提供中英文同步翻譯。

我們誠摯感謝Paul和Edwina Heller的慷慨支持，以此講座紀念Kitty Heller

關於演講者：

謝德慶，1950年出生於台灣南州鄉。1967年高中輟學，開始學習繪畫。服完義務兵役後（1970年－1973年），1973年在台灣的美國新聞處舉辦首次個展，此後不久便停止繪畫，做了第一件行為藝術作品「跳」，還因此雙踝骨折。謝德慶在1974年成為船員，以此進入美國，同年7月，終於抵達費城附近的一個小港口。之後他以非法移民的身份在美國生活了十四年，直到1988年大赦才成為合法公民。1970年代末至今，他在紐約的工作室與戶外完成了五件「一年行為表演」和一件「十三年計畫」。通過以『年』為作品的時間單位，使藝術與生活同時實現，謝德慶實現了當代藝術中最激進的方法之一。前四件「一年行為表演」使謝德慶成為紐約藝術界的常客；最後兩件作品期間，他刻意淡出藝術界，為隱身定下了基調。2000年後，謝德慶解除了為期十三年不發表作品的限制，陸續在北美、南美、亞洲、歐洲展出作品。目前居住於紐約布魯克林。