Artistic signs ask more questions than they answer at Pier-2 Art Center

Artistic signs ask more questions than they answer at Pier-2 Art Center

2022-11-07

A new installation at Pier-2 Art Center is giving visitors food for thought. French artist Clet Abraham makes his art in the medium of street signs. He designed a multitude of creative and puzzling signs for Pier-2. They’re leaving Kaohsiung visitors scratching their heads. These signs are meant to ask questions, not answer them.

Chen Li-chen
FTV reporter
This sign by Light Rail Dayi Pier-2 Station recently sparked debate. Just what does it mean?

Member of public
Maybe it’s like deep thinking? Somebody is thinking deeply at the top, and so is the person below? It’s quite creative! It’s just if you didn’t know, you’d wonder who’s doing graffiti here. It’s a bit like the graffiti you see at the roadside.

Member of public
At first I actually thought it meant toilet. Because this person’s sitting here. I thought it might be a toilet sign. But I hadn’t looked at this bit below. Is it some people are sitting on a sofa? Or, people are lying on the ground reading?

But this is not the only strange sign to have appeared at Pier-2.

Member of public
Could this be a crossroads sign? And you can’t do a U-turn?

Visitors can spend hours staring at the signs without figuring them out. Nearby there’s a whale chasing a car and traffic arrows emerging from nostrils… What’s it all about?

Wu Yen-ming
Pier-2 Art Center
Generally everyone is curious about why we’d have these different creative designs on the signs. Basically our answer is, “This is the artist’s creative method.” Generally his works are hidden away on roads. We invited him to create some signs for us specially. We hope that the public can interpret them in various ways, using their own perspectives. He basically hasn’t set too many limits restricting his artwork.

These thought-provoking signs are the work of French artist Clet Abraham. Their deliberately ambiguous messages leave space for each viewer’s imagination to reframe the world in their image.

蹲馬桶? 高雄輕軌旁謎樣標誌民眾"霧煞煞"

2022-11-07

日前高雄有民眾，在輕軌駁二大義站，看到了謎樣標誌，覺得圖案長得很奇怪，上網求解，每個人答案都不一樣，對此文化局解答，原來只是法國藝術家的翻玩作品，沒有特別含意，讓民眾可以發揮創意，自行看圖說故事。

[[民視記者陳俐臻]]
“輕軌駁二大義站旁邊這塊標示牌，最近引起民眾討論，到底是什麼含意”

[[民眾]]
“可能就是沉思之類的吧，就是一個人在沉思，下面的人也是在沉思吧，是滿有創意的啊，只是不知道的話，會覺得說誰在那邊亂畫，比較像那種我們在路邊看到塗鴉的感覺”

[[民眾]]
“其實我一開始以為是廁所，因為有一個人坐在那邊，我以為可能廁所標誌，但那時候還沒看到下面啊，就有些人坐沙發，有些人可能趴在地上看書這樣”

駁二藝術特區這裡，這樣的搞怪標示牌還不止這一個。

[[民眾]]
“難道這是平交道，然後不能彎進來這裡嗎”

圖案看了又看，還是摸不著頭緒，另一邊的鯨魚追汽車，或是分道箭頭連結鼻孔，到底都是什麼意思。

[[駁二駐村代理組長吳晏銘]]
“大部分大家都是比較好奇說，為什麼會在指標上面做這些不一樣的創意表現，那我們基本上的回答就是，這是藝術家的創作方式，那他的作品一般來說，都會藏在大街小巷裡面，這次特別邀請他來，做了幾面的這種號誌牌的作品，然後也希望民眾用自己的觀點，去做一些不一樣的詮釋，他基本上沒有受限太多意義，侷限他的作品”

搞怪標示牌，出自法國藝術家Clet Abraham之手，其實沒有特別意思，讓民眾可以跳脫框架，各自發揮創意，看圖說故事。

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