鐵甲元帥－龜島 Marshal Tie Jia - Turtle Island

鐵甲元帥－龜島 Marshal Tie Jia - Turtle Island 

單頻道錄像、攝影一幅、文件兩張 single-channel HD video (16:9), one photograph 120cm×80cm, two documents，6'35"，2012

Chia-Wei Hsu's video installation engages with the history of a tiny island off the coast of Matsu, which is situated in the Taiwan Strait. During the Qing Dynasty, the island was the site of a small temple. When Chiang Kai-Shek retreated to Taiwan, the temple was dismantled and relocated to a larger neighbouring island, and a bunker was constructed in its place. At present, the bunker is a ruin and ownership of the island has been transferred again to the proprietors of the original temple. The island is also under the commandment of a local god called the " Marshal Tie Jia," a frog deity. This deity originated from a temple on Wu-Yi Mountain in China, which was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution when the deity migrated to Matsu.

In Hsu's work, the island is used as a stage. Employing the cinematographic device of the "green screen" - a generic background replaced in the post-production process with any other background image - Hsu places a fictional version of the original tiny temple on the island. Slowly, the camera zooms out and reveals that green screen on the island. This scenography forms the backdrop of a performance in which a local senior citizen sings a form of folk opera found only in the south of Fujian Province, recounting the experience of WWII. He is the last person capable of performing the opera, which has a long tradition and was known to be Marshal Tie Jia's favourite pastime but has now fallen into oblivion.

Next to the video is a letter written by Hsu installed on the wall. He asks Marshal Tie Jia for permission for his action, lays down his vision of contemporary art's historical agency, and documents the god's response.

許家維的錄像裝置新作所表陳的主軸環繞在一座小島，該島位於台灣海峽上的馬祖外海。此作涉及這島嶼的歷史。在清朝，這座島上有間小廟。當蔣介石撤退到台灣後，小廟被拆解遷移至鄰近一作更大的島嶼，其原址上則建造了一座碉堡。現在，碉堡荒廢頹圮，島嶼的所有權也再度被轉讓到原本的廟方手上。這座島嶼受當地一位青蛙神明「鐵甲元帥」管轄。祂原本駐紮在中國五夷山上的廟中。當文化大革命毀了那座廟後，祂就被流放到了馬祖。

在許家維的作品中，這座島嶼被當作是舞台。藝術家運用電影製作的「綠幕」技術（一種拍攝期間使用的替代背景，而後在後製過程中以其他背景合成取代），將虛擬的小廟重新放回島上，卻隨著攝影機緩緩地拉遠而揭露這蒙太奇手法，讓設置在島上的綠幕一目了然。如此的寫景手法構成了一項表演場景，其中，一位當地的老人唱著流傳於福建南方的民俗歌謠。據說，這是鐵甲元帥在閒暇之餘最喜歡聽的曲目，只是現在已經被眾人遺忘了，而這老人是碩果僅存的傳述者。

旁邊牆上則貼了一封許家維寫的信，陳述了他作為當代藝術的歷史代言人的願景，請鐵甲元帥應准他的行為，並展示神祇回應的攝影。