Urban Guerrilla Episode 9 (Part 2): Guerrilla Tricycle Pilgrimage Around Taipei, China

Continuing from the previous post, the gorilla's tricycle procession had reached 7:30 in the morning; after refueling, the gorilla set off once more!

[4 Turning the Corner into Vegetables]

For the fourth guerrilla spot, we chose the corner wall of a coffee shop next to a breakfast shop. Using fallen leaves and stones from the nearby park, plus the floral cloth and chili peppers we had brought, we created a cute "Turning the Corner into Vegetables" city bento. Corners and boundaries are where all possibilities meet, and where visibility and impact are greatest; just like corner storefronts or Tainan's Cape of Good Hope project, in all spatial design, corners and boundaries are absolutely crucial.

The making of this guerrilla installation took a bit longer. First we searched the park for suitably sized stones, then everyone decided on the area and shape to enclose with the floral cloth, weighed down the edges with stones, poured soil into the enclosed area, planted the chili peppers, and finally covered it all with fallen leaves. On this blank city corner, we planted small chili peppers; encircled by the red line, she looked especially delicate and in need of protection. We hope she can become the start of a corner movement.

 
(Left: the finished Turning the Corner into Vegetables, the chili peppers stretching out adorably in the sunlight. Right: seen from afar, the flower bed looks so tiny.)

[5 A Gift for a Friend]

As the saying goes, connections mean no problem. Heh heh, we had a friend living nearby, so of course we had to give him a gift!

Our group squeezed into an even narrower alley, where surrounding plants grew lushly and the air-conditioner metal rack looked especially cold. We took a discarded flower pot we found on a nearby planter and used it to hold taro, hung it on the air-conditioner rack, and left a message for our friend telling him this was a mysterious gift, and also a gift that needed to be cared for. We hoped this taro would have the chance to slowly grow strong. Sometimes a small potted plant can be the best, most vital, most sincere gift of all.

 
(Left: leaving behind blessings and reminders for our friend. Right: one last look back, hoping you can grow up safely.)

[6 Empty Flower Beds]

Next, we discovered the most common "empty flower beds" in the city. Narrow, enclosed and unconnected to other flower beds, with hard soil, poor drainage, half-day sunlight, and constantly under threat from human activity, these planters set between arcades and roads are perhaps just products of people's psychological comfort.

The city is often the opposite of nature, yet people need nature, so ever since the father of landscape architecture, Frederick Olmsted, natural elements have taken hold in urban spaces, becoming seemingly indispensable elements. But at the same time they have changed the originally pure relationship between nature and people, and framed in the possibilities of nature and wildness. Natural elements presented in this form have become the main face of "nature", while truly unrestrained nature has instead become an unapproachable unknown and danger in people's minds. That said, with no way to completely change this state of affairs yet, such pitiful spaces urgently need rescuing!

Time to get to work. Water was the most difficult thing here, so we split up: the scooter support team went to a nearby park to fetch water and mulch, while the others began loosening the soil and preparing planting materials and planning where to plant.

We chose to plant imperial crown vegetables (loofah), a crop that grows well and needs a small trellis. We used the already withered thin tree trunks as supports, and likewise used the thick-soil planting method, finding a good resident for the flower bed. During the busy rush of commuters and traffic, as we planted we also smiled and nodded at the scooter riders, hoping to convey our meaning. Also, a young woman stopped as she passed by to express her support for our action. We told her we hoped she would pay more attention to the plant's condition, and she readily said, "So this patch is mine to take care of!"

And so, this tiny adoption relationship began, just like that, with no contract needed, only a smile.

 
(Left: we worked hard loosening soil, adding water, and adding dead branches and leaves. Right: after finishing, the gorilla departed with a flourish.)

Through streets and alleys, our journey wound its way to the Dunhua-Ren'ai roundabout. In this concrete jungle, the tricycle looked especially out of place, as if this were a meeting point of ancient and modern, or a world reached by Doraemon's time machine. Though we weren't sure whether we had gone to the future, or whether our past selves had come to today.

 
(Left and right: the tricycle and bicycle appear before a modern glass-curtain building, seemingly protesting the changes in the city.)

[7 Eslite and Papaya]

In a planter beside the Dunnan Eslite store, we found a small gap just big enough for a papaya seedling to settle down and make a life.

We squatted down and began planting the papaya in this most bustling of places. While we were planting, a woman ran over and told us, "You shouldn't plant here! Management here is very strict, it'll be removed in no time. You should plant somewhere else." We just smiled and said, "Let's give it a try!"

Actually, I think even that papaya knows in its heart that our mission isn't to live well and grow up, but to push, challenge, and break through. What we need to think about isn't how to find a nurturing environment, but how to see possibilities in the cracks; and those possibilities are something we must strive to create ourselves.

Maybe we are just too different from the weeping fig trees beside us, but we have our own special qualities; maybe we will grow up and bear fruit, or maybe we will turn into nutrients and return to the soil, but having once existed is enough. Every attempt becomes the best nutrient, letting more people see and hear us; that too is another kind of flowering and fruiting.

  

[8 Traffic Island and Sapling]

Finally, we rode onto a traffic island and planted the last little life of our day: a tangerine seedling.

This made me think that each of us should have a tree that belongs to our own memories, right there in parks and streets and alleys. Parents bring their children to plant a tree with their own hands and watch it slowly grow; this is their secret together, and it also creates a relationship between space and people. Together we planted this seedling, giving it all our remaining water and materials, and drawing the tricycle procession project to a close.

  
(Left: giving you all the last of the water. Middle: hoping you can grow up safely together with the surrounding large trees. Right: artwork -- Garden Outside the Birdcage)

After planting, we looked up and saw that famous artwork -- Garden Outside the Birdcage. Though it seemed very beautiful, why do we imprison green trees in the middle of the city? And what exactly is the relationship between nature and the city, art, and people?

This action let us explore the city's street spaces at a pace neither fast nor slow, just right, and also made us reflect: from what angle and with what mindset should we face the diverse relationship between the city and nature? We also hope that the people who see these plants struggling to grow may thereby form different ideas, and face the spaces of my life with a more open mindset.

Urban Guerrilla 9: Guerrilla Tricycle Procession Around Taipei (Part 1)

Gorilla ✖ Urban Guerrilla Tricycle Team➚ Activity Record Video http://youtu.be/CXKyN9RAFhs