2018年10月18日星期四

黑與白-馬來貘 Black and White - Malayan Tapir

黑與白-馬來貘 Black and White - Malayan Tapir

四頻道錄像裝置 four-channel video installation,6'55",2018

The development in Southeast Asia progressed when the British East India Company chose Singapore as a commercial base and started its modernisation. As commercial development took place in Singapore, Europe also rapidly began to gather data and initiate the study of plants and animals, also the establishment of museums. William Farquhar, the first commandant of the British East India Company in Malacca, hired a Chinese painter to do large-scale mapping and sorting of species in the Malay Peninsula. As a result, a black and white creature, Malayan tapir, was recorded.

Due to the rapid development of biology, the naming and data recording of animals and plants had become a competitive field for many naturalists. However, Thomas Stamford Raffles, the commandant of the British East India Company in Penang, and William Farquhar, the commandant in Malacca, stayed engaged in political competition and started scientific disputes. Their recorded collection of animals and plants at the time was shipped from place to place during the colonial era until it returned to Singapore to the National Heritage Board.

Black and White – Malayan Tapir hopes to apply an encyclopedic narrative style to deal with the equality between people and non-humans, man and nature, and to explore the changes in the way modern people view images. The scenes switch from the National Gallery Singapore, the National History Museum, and Singapore Zoo to search engines and multiple windows. The political relationship between the zoo's history in Southeast Asia and the colonial era leads to the drawing of a scientific illustration, biology, civil division and the local legend of Malayan tapir.


英國東印度公司在東南亞開發之際,選擇新加坡作為商業的據點,開始了當地的現代性建設。商業開發的同時,歐洲也同時快速發展動植物學與博物館的資料搜集與建構。英國東印度公司派任麻六甲的第一任司令威廉・法夸爾(William Farquhar)曾雇用中國畫師,針對馬來西亞的物種做大規模的繪製與整理,因而記錄了一種黑白生物:馬來貘。

在生物學迅速發展的時代,動植物的命名與資料記錄成為眾多生物愛好者相互競爭的範疇。然而,英國東印度公司的檳城司令萊佛士(Thomas Stamford Raffles)與麻六甲司令威廉・法夸爾,從政治的競爭關係延燒到科學的紛爭。他們當時候的動植物紀錄收藏歷經殖民時代的海上移動,輾轉回到新加坡,收藏在新加坡國家文物局。

《黑與白-馬來貘》希望從百科全書式的敘事方式處理一種人與非人,人與自然之間,一種平等非主從的關係,並探討現代人觀看影像的方式變化。畫面在新加坡國家美術館、自然科學博物館、新加坡動物園、搜尋引擎與多重視窗的場景間移動,開展出東南亞地區的動物園歷史與殖民時代的政治關係,繼而牽引出科學繪畫、生物學、城市區域劃分與馬來貘在當地的傳說。

    
    



2018年10月16日星期二

黑與白-熊貓 Black and White - Giant Panda

黑與白-熊貓 Black and White - Giant Panda

五頻道錄像裝置 five-channel video installation,2018
第一章:走私 Chapter 1: It's a Pug / 9'46"
第二章:好可愛啊!Chapter 2: So Cute! / 12'40"
第三章:共產熊貓 Chapter 3: A Communist Panda / 7'11"
第四章:黑白熊 Chapter 4: A Black and White Bear / 11'44"
第五章:團圓 Chapter 5: Family Reunion / 11'27"

In Black and White – Giant Panda, a panda is used as the entry point and acts as a connection between politics, history, animals, people and non-humans to tell the history of panda diplomacy.

Pandas can only be found in the mountains of Sichuan in China. In other words, all pandas in zoos in other countries are from China. Pandas even became an essential diplomatic tool in the 20th century. China's panda diplomacy goes back thousands of years to as early as 685 AD when Empress Wu Ze-Tian sent a pair of white bears and seventy furs of the white bear (white bear here refers to giant pandas) to the Japanese emperor. Pandas were smuggled or traded from China at the beginning of the 20th century. Panda fever started when they appeared in the United States and Europe. They played an important diplomatic role in World War II and the Cold War, and still do to this day. Pandas also linked the complicated relationship between the United States, Europe, Russia, Japan, Taiwan, and China. 

The lecture performance, commissioned by the Arts Commons Tokyo in March 2018, was performed at the Taiwan Culture Center of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan. As a result of cooperation with the Manzaishis, the panda's lovely image is used as material for comedy performance; meanwhile, the historical and political issues of panda diplomacy are described amusingly. In Black and White – Giant Panda, performance, historical materials, and the screen window viewing experience reflect and complement each other.


《黒與白-熊貓》以熊貓做為切入點,貫穿政治、歷史、動物等人與非人之間的連接,講述一段熊貓外交的歷史。

熊貓只生活在中國四川一帶山區,換而言之,目前全世界動物園裡的熊貓都來自中國,特別是在二十世紀,熊貓成為重要的外交工具。中國的「熊貓外交」已有上千年歷史。早在公元685年,武則天就曾送給日本天皇兩隻「白熊」和70張「白熊」毛皮,此處的「白熊」就是大熊貓。二十世紀開始,貓熊曾經被偷渡或買賣交易離開中國,當他們現身美國或歐洲時,曾經席捲一股熊貓熱。他們分別在二戰、冷戰時期以及今日,扮演著重要的外交角色,也連結美國、歐洲、俄羅斯、日本、台灣與中國之間千絲萬縷的錯綜關係。

2018年3月由東京藝術公社委託製作的Lecture Performance於台北駐日經濟文化代表處台灣文化中心演出。透過與日本「漫才師」合作,以熊貓可愛的形象為喜劇演出的材料,用詼諧的言語描述熊貓外交的歷史與政治問題。《黒與白-熊貓》結合當時的表演影像、歷史材料與螢幕視窗的觀看經驗相互映照與補充,透過漫才師的敘事重新在熊貓的移動與交換拓展出歷史、國際政治的樣貌。