陳文成事件紀念廣場
Dr. Chen Wen-chen Memorial Square
Tân Bûn-sîng Kì-liām Kóng-tiûnn
陳文成博士（1950-1981），1972年本校數學系畢業，1978年取得密西根大學統計學博士學位，隨即擔任卡內基美隆大學統計系助理教授，學術表現相當優異。
在美國求學與任教期間，關心臺灣，積極參與同鄉會和人權會，支持臺灣民主運動。以此，成為臺灣海內外情治單位的監控對象。
1981年陳文成攜妻、子返臺探親，遭受跟蹤與嚴密監控。7月2日為警備總部人員帶走，作第二度約談。7月3日被發現陳屍臺大研究圖書館草地上。
事件當年美國校方與2020年促進轉型正義委員會的調查報告均指出：陳文成係遭殺害。這裡是陳博士罹難的紀念場域，同時也是轉型正義的地標。
Dr. Chen Wen-chen (Ch’en Wen-ch’eng, 1950-1981) graduated from the mathematics department of National Taiwan University in 1972. He received his doctorate in statistics from University of Michigan in 1978, and went straight into an assistant professorship in the statistics department of Carnegie Mellon University, illustrating his academic excellence.
While he was pursuing his academic career and teaching in the USA, he was also concerned about Taiwan, and actively participated in an association for fellow Taiwanese and in a human rights association, and he supported the Taiwanese democracy movement. Because of this, he became a surveillance target for the Taiwanese domestic and foreign intelligence units.
In 1981, when Chen brought his wife and baby back to visit family in Taiwan, he was followed and put under close surveillance. On the 2nd of July 1981 he was taken away by members of the Garrison Command, to be questioned for a second time. On the 3rd of July, Chen’s corpse was found on the lawn in front of the Research Library at this university.
Both his American university in 1981 and the 2020 Transitional Justice Commission recorded the same thing in their investigatory reports: that Dr. Chen Wen-chen was murdered. This square respectfully marks the site of his murder, and it also marks a milestone in transitional justice.
紀念廣場的由來
2011年臺大學生會、研究生協會開始於此處舉辦陳文成博士紀念晚會，翌年在校務會議提案立碑紀念，經過持續努力，以及校內師生和社會的支持之下，終於在2015年3月定案，通過「陳文成事件紀念廣場」的命名和立牌。2019年由陳文成博士紀念基金會獨立募足款額，廣場於翌年7月動土，2021年2月落成啟用。
The background to the creation of the commemorative square
In 2011 the undergraduate and postgraduate student associations of this university began to hold evening events here in memory of Dr. Chen Wen-chen. The following year they put forward a motion to the university’s governing committee, requesting that a memorial monument be erected. Through their perseverance, and the support from teachers and students in the university, as well as from broader society, the motion to name the area “The Chen Wen-chen Incident Memorial Square” and to erect a memorial plaque, was finally granted in March 2015. In February 2019 independent funding for the memorial square was provided by the Dr. Chen Wen-chen Memorial Foundation and in July 2020 work commenced. The memorial square and its sculpture was completed and inaugurated in February 2021.
設計理念
面臨死亡時，生命迎接一段空白，這段空白，也蔓延到接獲死訊的親友心中。陳文成事件，官方充滿破綻的話語對照著人民的不信任，空白散佈在事件的真實裡。時空的空白使人焦慮，促使觀看者試圖去填入一段事實、一段詮釋，然而，事件的殘跡，讓試圖填補的過程無法完成。
黑色實心的立方體與周遭景色形成對比，走入其中，唯一的窗戶框出圖資系館的樓梯。在「空」的體驗中，我們彷彿看到了一些什麼，卻什麼也沒看見。
Some concepts that guided the design of the square and the art installation in it
At the time of death, life meets a blank space. This blank space spreads outwards to the family and friends who receive the news of the death, to their minds and hearts. With regard to the Chen Wen-chen Incident, the authorities’ explanations were full of holes and were met with distrust by the populace, and thus the blank space extended into the truth about the incident. Gaps in time or space generate anxiety in people, and propel the spectators to try to fill in the gap with facts and explanations. However, the paucity of traces left from the Incident means that the attempted process, of filling in the blanks, cannot be completed.
The black cube contrasts with its surroundings. When you walk inside it, the sole window frames a view onto the formal Research Library’s staircase. In experiencing that emptiness, we seem to see something, but actually we are seeing nothing.
原文出處 周婉窈