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005Remarks from the JuryBy Professor Chen Kuan-Chun, Department of Fine Arts, NCUEThe panel of judges for the “2025 Taiwan Emerging Art Awards” consists of seven members: Chuang Ming-Chung (Convenor), Hung Ken-Shen, Huang Ming-Chu, Lin Pey-Chwen, Chen Kuan-Chun, Wei Yen-Shun, and Chen Yi-Fan. This year, a total of 135 entries were submitted, and 46 works were chosen after the preliminary review. After the selected works were installed on-site, they underwent a second round of review that included three rounds of voting, through which the final award winners were determined.The art exhibition features a diverse range of works within a defined space. Despite the diversity of themes, narrative logics, and material expressions, beneath the abundance of fragmented images and objects, there still emerges a collective form that constitutes an \Since the \medium, size, and age in 2016, each artwork can now receive independent attention. The exhibition format changes based on each creator's perspective, allowing for more flexible modes of viewing. This diversity and fluidity foster a wider range of viewpoints and creative imaginations.Anonymous created by the artist Tsai Yu, winner of the Taiwan Emerging Art Awards, serves as a microcosm of any city, with its reduced scale suggesting characteristics of a man-made landscape. A signboard represents a profession, a community; even if the space behind it is not visible, it may still exist embodying a state of growth and living. This unseen state alludes to the \The use of materials in this work aligns with its conceptual context; the mirrored surfaces, found on the streets, facilitate a transition from external reality to internal reflection. Set against the backdrop of night, the overwhelming noise and chaos of the city fade away, leading the viewer to a realm where space and memory converge.Winner of the Grand Jury Prize, Chien Yu-Cheng’s work Emptiness in Reality combines 3D-scanned objects with virtual environments to construct an imaginary landscape. The viewer experiences a bird’seye perspective, moving forward and guided by ambient sounds. They sense a world where nature and ruins coexist, but space lacks a coherent narrative. Instead, the viewer is compelled to collect strange objects that appear along the way, trying to identify what they are. As they navigate this pre-set path, they must continually put together fragmented images in search of an unfinished imagination.The second Grand Jury Prize went to Fang Shih-Ho for the work Returning to the Source. In this work, the artist skillfully combines inkdrawn chrysanthemums, pomelo peel, and wire to capture the unique qualities of each material. The linear abstraction of the artwork unfolds in various dimensions, with each dimension creating its own sensory imagery. The title Returning to the Source evokes a feeling of returning or rediscovering something meaningful. This sentiment may arise from the artist’s intuitive creation, mastery of technique, or a sense of inner grounding. Together, these elements make the implied meaning of the work feel light and stressless.The third Grand Jury Prize was presented to Chuang Chun-Liang for his work System in Us. The work displays a post-apocalyptic scenario of technology, depicting a world where technological advancements have abandoned human civilization. The artist created fourteen mimetic creatures that spread uncontrollably throughout space. Chuang is good at using materials and their intricate surface textures, resulting in a visual experience that closely resembles reality. However, \implies that the biological prototypes do not actually exist the creatures are merely self-reproduction without purpose. Therefore, to express the agency and authenticity of living beings, how should their structural relationships and organic nature be presented? In the details of the work, the joints are fastened with metal screws ironically, these become points of doubt regarding the biological nature of the creatures.Observing the award-winning works in various national art exhibitions today, it is clear that the “academic” tradition of fine arts still dominates the mainstream. However, many submissions to the Emerging Art Awards go beyond conventional frameworks, revealing a clear sense of breakthrough. These works are characterized by a personal tone of a beginner’s spirit, evident in both artistic concepts and techniques. They carry an unpolished quality, with imprecise narratives, unconventional approaches, and freedom from reliance on any single material. If independent of the matter of winning awards, these qualities might offer grounds for reflection: What defines the paradigmatic model of an art exhibition? Is the exhibition the starting point of artistic production or its end? Does the younger generation’s aesthetic thinking lean toward critical inquiry or toward sophistical reasoning?