I was walking down the pavement where half of it was occupied. It’s a typical Taiwanese street view, people are sitting in front of their door chatting with neighbours, the goods of the store stack up on the pavement and the other half will be the unofficial parking lot for mopeds. I was focusing on walking through and not bumping into anything, then the wooden door under the warm yellow light caught my eyes. “SIDOLI RADIO 小島裡” the black-framed golden sign written on the glass door and the set brought me back to the past just in a second.
An exhibition called <STORY PROJECT VOL.1｜Sound Scene In Dadaocheng> had been brought to SIDOLI RADIO. This is a nicely designed space for sound experience, a room filled up with stories of Dadaocheng(大稻埕). Through this room, you could see the value of Dadaocheng in the young generation’s mind, what’s the memories within them and what does the golden age brought to their life made them into who they are now.
Dadaocheng is a significant area of history. The business activities started in the early 19th century by the Chinese who moved from the southwest coast of China to avoid the attack of pirates. After the Chinese government lost in the Second Opium War, they were forced to open the business to United Kindom and France. Through Tamsui port(淡水港), Dadaocheng became the commercial centre of north Taiwan and also part of international business, especially well-known for our tea, sugar and camphor products.
That was the beginning of the glory. More foreign businessmen came around, they started to build their connections and the agencies for trades. After WWI, the whole world was hit by the revolution of new thinking, and Dadacheng was the place where scholars, politicians, artists and pioneers gathered. Everything was rapidly growing, there were new publishers, new restaurants, new clinics and new theatres. Dadaocheng was blooming, so did Taiwan.
小島裡文化 (SIDOLI) designed this storytelling project, sharing the story in 15 minutes, collecting more than 30 stories to compose the whole experience, the exhibition was curated by 方序中 (Joe Fang) and 陳澍宇. The team built the time machine within the cassettes, just put on the headphone, you will see the busy streets of Dadaocheng unfolding in your mind. Push the door, the soft lighting and wooden tone of interior design brings me the retro vibe. On the left side, you have the coffee bar and on the right-hand side, there was a booth for a listening experience just by the door and a seating area. Further down, there were two sections are also for the listening experience. Plus basement for you to browse the collection of pop music cassettes. The whole space is divided into five parts, Local Tunes, New Waves, Old Fashioned, Sound Menu and Record Store.
To start, the staff will guide you to the seat and suggest you read the introduction on the wall by the door. Then you are free to walk around the room and pick a station to listen to the stories. Each station has a set of headphones, a cassette player and a series of stories recorded into tapes for you to explore.
In Local Tunes, you have the locals who have been worked or lived in Dadaochang for years, they are here to tell you how did their relationships with Dadaocheng begin, how it is like to live around these lovely streets and friendly residents, how their life became inseparable with Dadaocheng.
Move to New Waves, there are new generations who fell in love with the charm of Dadaocheng. From the owner of the bar to the fabric print designer, they are bringing the innovative visions back to this historical place without destroying its beauty. The 60s vintage Dutch herbal tins contain their new history with Dadaocheng.
Turn around, you will see the set of a dark brown palette velvet sofa, which gives you a hint of old souls. Relax into the tenderness of the velvet texture and the stories through generations. There are owners of Chinese herbal stores, restaurants, bakeries, etc. But one common point within them, the family business they are running are all been there for decades. They are not just telling the story of their family but also the history.
Heads up, a square table standing on a light olive carpet with a menu lying above is in front of you. That’s Sound Menu, a set menu carefully selected for the audience. From the appetizer, entree, main courses to the desserts, all selected from Dadaocheng most recommended cuisines. And I am pretty sure you could taste the amazing flavour through the stories.
Walking down the stairs, the mysterious basement is where Record Store sits. Loads of cassettes and vinyl of pop music are hanging on the wall, from 小虎隊(The Little Tigers) to 言承旭(Jerry Yan), from The Carpenters to Britney Spears, it’s like walking in the tunnel of time. At the end of the room, it has the neon lights written in “Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.” on the wall. It seems the best line for me to wrap up this wonderful time travel, the golden age that I dream of being in, I don’t need roads, the sounds will be more than enough.
To wake more awareness of recognizing our beautiful history within the new generation, we couldn’t travel back through riding a car, but we can always review these stories to remind us of where we came from and who we are. From the entrance to the basement, from the visual design to the interior, you can see every detail is well designed just to bring the retro vibe to the audience, so you could get closer to the glorious time of Dadaocheng.
Honestly, I don’t know much history of Dadaocheng, but there is a bonding between Dadaocheng and me since my year one of being a fashion student. I always feel calm while lost in the fabric market for material hunting, there is a noodle stand opened in my second year, I went there for their stinky tofu every time and the 霞海城隍廟(Taipei Xia-Hai City God Temple) I went with friends, wishing for a good relationship during Chinese New Year. Maybe one day, I will record my story within the tapes and share it with my kids.
One interesting question: Do you prefer the past or the future?
I think we don’t want to forget about either, just trying to find the balance between them. I like how the space is all around the past and apply so many quotes from the film <Back To The Future>. Human beings are sentimental, we will never forget the past because of the emotional bonding, but the time is forever moving, there will only come the future. So we carry the memories while moving on, live on the stories and create new ones.
Here’s the link to SIDOLI RADIO, due to the pandemic situation, the exhibition is only open for reservation. You could easily book the reservation through Facebook or call them to check available time slots.
https://www.facebook.com/sidoliradio/?ref=page_internal
And here’s the official website where you could listen to selected stories online.
https://sidoli.tw/
SIDOLI RADIO
STORY PROJECT VOL.1 ｜Sound Scene In Dadaocheng
擬聲現場in大稻埕
2021.08.25 — 10.24
Every Wed — Sun 11:00–18:00
№245, Chang’an W. Rd., Datong Dist., Taipei City
Booking reservation for 09.29–10.03 (link will be renewed weekly)
https://reurl.cc/emEqex
*以上為個人觀展經驗，如有資訊傳達錯誤的部分歡迎指導更正，謝謝。
