Wu Mali: Watersheds, Kitchens, and One Cubic Centimeter of Land

This episode introduces the practice of Taiwanese artist Wu Mali （吳瑪悧）as an early anchor for regenerative artivism in East Asia. Moving from a polluted suburban creek at the edge of Taipei to river basins, a former naval kitchen on Cijin Island, and finally a project focused on one cubic centimeter of soil, the episode traces how Wu treats art as environmental infrastructure rather than isolated objects.Listeners will hear how Art as Environment: A Cultural Action at Plum Tree Creek turned a neglected waterway into a watershed commons through walking, mapping, school programs, and breakfast gatherings with residents and hydrologists; how river projects such as By the River, On the River, Of the River and Taipei Tomorrow as a Lake Again reframe Taipei as a vulnerable floodplain; how Cijin Kitchen and Cijin’s tongue use cooking and storytelling in a former naval dormitory to surface maritime labor, migration, and coastal change; and how To Reconstruct 1 cm³ of Land, It Requires a Centennial foregrounds soil timescales and micro-acts of cultivation. Across these cases, the episode situates Wu’s work within ecofeminist, community-based strategies that link environmental repair to everyday care, pedagogy, and local governance.KeywordsWu Mali, Taiwan, socially engaged art, community art, eco-art, environmental humanities, regenerative artivism, regenerative aesthetics, ecofeminism, watershed commons, Plum Tree Creek, Cijin Kitchen, Cijin’s tongue, To Reconstruct 1 cm³ of Land It Requires a Centennial, river city, climate adaptation, soil and land, art and governance, public pedagogyKey referencesBamboo Curtain Studio. “Art as Environment: A Cultural Action at Plum Tree Creek.” Project documentation. Bamboo Curtain Studio Website. https://bambooculture.com/en/project/2004.html. ecoartspace. “Member Spotlight: Mali Wu.” Online feature. ecoartspace Blog. https://ecoartspace.org/Blog/13030578. Goto, Reiko, Margaret Shiu, and Wu Mali. “Ecofeminism: Art as Environment – A Cultural Action at Plum Tree Creek.” Women Environmental Artists Directory (WEAD) Magazine. 2014. https://directory.weadartists.org/plum-tree-creek-action/.Harff, Amy Spencer. “Artist Series: Wu Mali, The Godmother of Taiwan’s Socially Engaged Art.” Eurasia Review. Last modified August 3, 2021. https://www.eurasiareview.com/03082021-artist-series-wu-mali-the-godmother-of-taiwans-socially-engaged-art-analysis/.Tung, Wei-Hsiu. “From Social Art Practice to Environmental Aesthetic Awakening and Civil Engagement: The Case Study of Cijin Kitchen.” Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art 7, nos. 2–3 (2020): 307–324.Wu, Mali and Bamboo Curtain Studio. “Art as Environment – A Cultural Action at the Plum Tree Creek.” Case summary for the Taishin Arts Award. https://www.taishinart.org.tw/en/art-award-year-detail/2012/463. Zheng, Bo. “An Interview with Wu Mali.” FIELD: A Journal of Socially-Engaged Art Criticism, no. 4 (2016). https://field-journal.com/no4/an-interview-with-wu-mali.Special note: Chinese names in this episode follow local convention, with the family name given first and the personal name second.My academic website: http://csun.academia.edu/MeiqinWang