Discourse

Social values are materialised by craft, becoming part of the material culture. Individuals inherit ideology by using the objects. ‘Crafting Desire: Queering the Red Sleep Bed’ is a project that explores how an artefact carries on group consciousness arranged in the domestic environment. Narrating from a queer perspective, I reveal the untold, oppressive stories of the Red Sleep Bed. Through critical making, I transform this artefact from assisting patriarchy to embracing gender diversity.

Red Sleep Bed (紅眠床) is traditional Taiwanese bed furniture. As a dowry, the craft of the Red Sleep Bed documents the ideal projection of marriage from family and society – gender role, patriarchy, fertility, heterosexuality. As a bed, the design of the Red Sleep Bed entangled with Taiwanese languages, customs, and religions, affording a standard way of living.

As a (Taiwanese) queer designer, I deconstruct the power structure embedded in the bed norm, using personal narrative as the critical eye to evaluate the inequality of past society. By reconfiguring the elements used in the Red Sleep Bed, I build a queer heritage to reflect and respond to the exclusivity in material culture.

‘Crafting Desire: Queering the Red Sleep Bed’ stimulates individuals to break down binary thinking through witnessing the transformation of an artefact. This project also provides a solution for institutions to examine the problematic ideology within the material culture. Piece by piece, this project takes steps to break down the patriarchal system for reconstructing a more diverse and inclusive future.

社會價值觀透過工藝被實體化，成為物質文化的一部分，人們使用物件的同時也傳承了思想。

｢慾想工藝：紅眠床的酷兒新生｣ 探討人造物如何繼承群體意識，佈局於私人空間。以紅眠床－一個臺灣傳統社會中的物件－作為介質，揭示其父權敘事的角色，進而打造一張，擁抱多元價值觀與酷兒身分認同的新紅眠床。 作為嫁妝，紅眠床的木雕紀載著社會與家族，對婚姻生活的理想投射－性別角色、父權、生育、異性戀；作為寢具，紅眠床的設計與臺灣的語言、習俗、信仰息息相應，賦使床主人遵循一致的生活規範。

身為一位酷兒設計師，我解構嵌入在｢床｣這個物件裡權力結構，以主觀敘事展開，思辨過往社會中的不平等。藉由重構紅眠床使用的文化符碼，我從頭打造一張不一樣的紅眠床，作為對此議題的創造性回應。 ｢慾想工藝：紅眠床的酷兒新生｣ 希望透過展示紅眠床轉化的過程，激發人們對性別二元論的反思。本作品也提供相關機構，檢視物質文化中，不合時宜的意識形態；並藉由創作，構建一個多元與包容的新現實。