The uploaded document is the PDF print of the homepage of the online exhibition "Traces of Guanyin: In Search of Untold Stories and Practices in Museums". Below the abstract that is contained within the homepage, both in English and in Mandarin. Please refer to the URL of the exhibition for further reference. The exhibition is one of the deliverables of WP3 of the MSCA-CZ project "Processual Decay Paradigm: Problematizing Museums and Asian Religions", funded by the OP JAC Project "MSCA Fellowships at Palacký University II." CZ.02.01.01/00/22_010/0006945 at Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic. Abstract “Traces of Guanyin” is a research journey undertaken by the anthropologist Valentina Gamberi. It starts with Chinese folk religious statues that present hollows in their backs in the collections of the Museum of Chinese Art and Ethnography in Parma and the Religionskundliche Sammlung of Philipps-University Marburg. The two museums were inaugurated in the 20th century and were part of or connected to Catholic and Protestan missionary collecting. How and by whom were these statues hollowed? In Chinese folk religion—practised by the Han and Hakka ethnicities in China, Taiwan, and other areas in Southeast and East Asia—ritual specialists introduce sacred substances into a cavity carved into the back of the statues to reinforce the power of the gods. Clearing these substances from the statues’ cavities is therefore part of a process of deconsecration that establishes their afterlives as collectable artefacts. Unsealing the statues’ hollows is ambiguous: it could reflect local knowledge for spiritually protecting collectors and previous owners from bad luck, but it could also be part of a process of religious conversion and, therefore, iconoclasm. Through a combination of ethnography in contemporary Taiwan and archival research, “Traces of Guanyin” highlights the importance of negotiating local, conflicting views on the treatment of sacred artefacts. The exhibition decenters Valentina’s narrative by bringing in other voices and experiences from fieldwork—her friend, Chang Yuhua, and the contemporary artist Peng Hung-Chih. It acknowledges that collecting these objects is inherently problematic. Acknowledgments This exhibition is part of the research project “Processual Decay Paradigm”, funded by the OP JAC Project “MSCA Fellowships at Palacký University II.” CZ.02.01.01/00/22_010/0006945 and based at the Palacký University Olomouc. Valentina Gamberi would like to thank Yuhua Chang and Hung-Chih Peng for their active contributions to the exhibit’s realisation. A huge thanks to the director Yu-Chih Kao, the Tudigong Museum in Taoyuan, the Museum of Chinese Art and Ethnography of the Xaverian missionaries in Parma (Italy) and his curator Maurizio Salvarani, the Religionskundliche Sammlung of the Philipps-University Marburg and the conservator Heike Luu for allowing Valentina to use pictures from their artwork and collections. Valentina also thanks Ms. Anting Cheng and Ms. Yinrui Su for their help during the field visit, Xiping Cai for proofreading the Chinese text, and Cuiying Sheng for checking the religious terminology used.Last but not least, Valentina is grateful for the fieldwork informants, in particular the committee members of Daitian Gong temple in Keelung, Daoist priests Lin Abing (林阿秉), Zhu Fugui (朱富貴), and Zhang Wenzhen (張文政), as well as woodcarver Chen Zongwei (陳宗蔚), for allowing the publication of pictures of them and their activities in this exhibition. (中文) 摘要 《觀音的蹤跡》是人類學者夏芸庭 的一段研究旅程。此旅程始於帕爾馬中國藝術與民族誌博物館,以及馬爾堡菲利普大學宗教收藏館中的中國民間宗教神像,這些神像的背部皆留有挖空的痕跡。這兩家博物館皆於 20 世紀成立,分別來自天主教與基督新教的宣教士收藏。這些神像究竟由誰、又是如何被掏空的? 在華人民間宗教中,儀式專家會將具有神聖意涵的寶封存於神像背部的內部空腔內,以此賦予神像靈力並完成開光儀式。當寶被移除時,神像便經歷了一個「退神」的過程,使其從宗教崇拜的對象,轉化為可被收藏、展示與研究的文物或藝術品。然而,將神像退寶並非單一意義的實踐。它既可能源於在地信仰中對靈性安全的考量,藉此避免神像在離開原有信仰脈絡後帶來不祥;同時,也可能反映宗教轉換或信仰中斷的過程,帶有解除神聖性、甚至象徵性破除神像的意涵。 《觀音的蹤跡》透過結合當代台灣的民族誌與檔案研究,凸顯在面對神聖事物的處理時,協調彼此矛盾的在地觀點的重要性。為避免敘事侷限於夏芸庭個人視角,展覽亦引入田野調查中的多方觀點與經驗,包括她的友人張玉華與藝術家彭弘智,同時提出蒐藏此類文物本身即具問題性。 歡迎您一同踏上這段線上展覽的探索旅程。 致謝 本展覽為研究計畫「過程衰變範式」的一部分,該計畫由OP JAC計畫「帕拉茨基大學MSCA獎學金II」資助,並於帕拉茨基大學奧洛穆茨分校執行。夏芸庭(Valentina Gamberi)想特別感謝張玉華與彭弘智對本展覽的積極協助。同時,也衷心感謝高峪志館長、桃園土地公博物館、義大利帕爾馬聖方濟沙勿略會士(Xaverian missionaries )中國藝術與民族誌博物館及其策展人Maurizio Salvarani、馬爾堡菲利普大學宗教收藏館以及其文物修護師Heike Luu允許使用其館藏與藝術品之影像。夏芸庭也感謝 鄭安婷小姐和蘇胤睿小姐在實地考察期間提供的幫助, 蔡熙平對中文文本的校對,以及盛翠穎對所用宗教術語的檢查。 最後,夏芸庭向所有田野研究中的諸位受訪者致謝,特別是基隆代天宮的委員會成員,道士林阿秉、朱富貴、張文政,以及木雕師傅陳宗蔚,謝謝諸位同意在本展覽中刊載他們的照片與其活動的影像。