Over time spaces become imbued with the joy, laughter, tragedy and tears which occur within them. Somehow the effects of the latter stick better than the former, at least in abandoned houses – but perhaps that is because some chain of tragedies has to happen in order for a home to be forsaken and eventually become a ruin. Because Kinmen is full of these abandoned houses, it causes me to wonder about the painful or difficult histories which may have cause such an exodus.
…WE LEARNED ABOUT ITS HISTORY THROUGH THE OBJECTS WE DISCOVERED…
‘Pop-Up Shop Kinmen’ was a project investigating this while also attempting to exorcise the space of any tragic remnants which might remain. 黃妤萱 (YuHsuan), my business partner in the pop-up shop, as well as 劉舜傑 (Shun-Jie), our wonderful friend/volunteer, and myself spent one day cleaning up one such abandoned house and another day to create displays including tables, shelves, and a counter. Through this cleansing of the space, we learned about its history through the objects which we discovered among the debris while we met the neighbors as they noticed us working there. Through our daily interactions with the surrounding community, we learned more about the history of the house – it used to be a hostel primarily used by soldiers who would buy alcohol across the street at the wine store, it was also a carpenter’s workshop, it was a restaurant, it was used by a frame-maker who still has a studio next door and also sat unused for a long time. Through the artifacts we found, we learned that the last people who lived upstairs in the house were some young boys who hid a 1984 bikini calendar and a baseball glove in a space behind the wall. As we cleaned the house physically, we quieted the ghosts that haunted it, giving space for new energy to inhabit the space.
…A HYBRID SPACE EXISTING AS A SMALL STORE A MUSEUM AND A CABINET OF CURIOSITIES…
Following the cleanup, we opened the space to the public as a hybrid space existing as a small store, museum and a cabinet of curiosities. We had regular visitors such as Teacher Wu, the friendly gift-giving uncle and one of the boys who used to live there but who is now in his 50s. Most people who dropped in just took some pictures and left but quite a few chatted to us as we tried to explain the histories contained within the space, illustrated by the artifacts on display. The smiling grandpa from down the street would invite us over for tea every day, we went on his roof a couple of times to collect longan fruit and we even had dinner with him one night.
…THE ACTION WAS EPHEMERAL BUT IT SEEMED TO INSPIRE PEOPLE…
The action of ‘Pop-Up Shop Kinmen’ was ephemeral but in the end it seemed to inspire people and provoke locals into their own actions towards changing other spaces. It takes work to silence the ghosts which haunt a place but anyone can do it. There is an incredible, abundant resource in the abandoned spaces of Kinmen which is rare to find in many other places which I have been to. It seems to me that embracing these lost structures for purposes of tourism, economy and general purposes instead of allowing them to rot further or tearing them down, is a better use of them. In this process of revitalization new economies can arise while simultaneously preserving heritage and minimizing the environmental impact that is created through the construction of new buildings. These spaces can be used as they are rethought in terms of their structure and renovated to give them new purpose.
…THE RUINS WHICH PERMEATE KINMEN ARE PART OF THE HISTORY WHICH HAUNTS THE ISLAND…
The ruins which permeate Kinmen are part of the history which haunts the island and is also what makes it interesting to people from away. Kinmen is small and dry, without much in terms of agricultural or material value but it has a rich history. It would be a shameful situation for the monuments and the museums to exist as the only spaces where the island’s legacy to be felt while these old houses will be either knocked down or left to fall on their own. There is a magic in Kinmen and it hides in the spaces which have been forsaken by time.
See information and photos of ‘Pop-Up Shop Kinmen’ at: https://justintylertate.weebly.com/pop-up-shop-kinmen.html See a short video about the Pop-Up Shop here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH8ArHJDB-A&feature=youtu.be
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