IN-PERSON London Heritages. Section A

Abstract

This research examines institutional debates on the classification of crafted objects as artistic works within fine art museums and the evolving art-historical narratives shaped by heritage practice. Engaging with the concept of ‘non-art’—which signals the frontier, the edge of art’s horizon—this study explores how the notion of ‘heritage’ establishes a non-dualistic framework that disrupts the discursive disciplines of art museums, revitalising cultural spaces as sites for manifesting creative substance. Focusing on Yen House, this research explores the “An Ode to the Sun and the Moon” exhibition’s curatorial practice on re-establishing the house’s significance in bridging seemly independent fields of fine art, architecture and handicrafts. Through a critical heritage praxis, I argue that the dialectical processes emerging from intersubjective conversations—often ambiguous, irregular, and flexible—offer transgressive perspectives for reassessing museums’ institutional narratives on the concept of ‘fine art.’ Yen House was the residence of the painter Yen Shui-long and represents a collaborative architectural project between Yen and the architect Yang Yi-bing. It stands as a landmark of the Taiwanese craft movement, which Yen spearheaded. The house’s eclectic design converges Yen’s ethnographic localism with a ‘modern look,’ reflecting his engagement with Western modernist aesthetics, particularly the British Arts and Crafts movement and the Bauhaus. The “An Ode to the Sun and the Moon” project reconstructed an architectural model and a digitalised three-dimensional video based on Yang’s architectural drawings, historical images and oral archives. This initiative exemplifies the collaboration between art historians and architects, expanding the normative boundaries of artistic value and fostering a renewed understanding of creativity within the cultural domain.