易術碎碎唸，郭昭蘭Jau-lan Guo

Melancholy in Progress

Amy Cheng and Jau-lan Guo


Melancholy in Progress, the curatorial concept of the third Taiwan International Video Art Exhibition, re-examines notions of progress in modern societies, which are characterized by quests for technology, speed, systematization, production and consumption. By exploring different historical and cultural contexts and their value systems, as well as the experience of modernization in different regions of the world, the exhibition also reflects on living situations in the age of biopolitics and envisages ways of constructing new value systems.

Taiwanese writer Lai He, when recalling his experience of progress brought to Taiwan by Japanese colonizers, once noted, “An era’s progress is often in stark contrast to the well being of its people.” Here Lai He echoes Rousseau's critique of the Enlightenment concept of instrumental reason, which followed developments in the sciences and has been foundational in constructing mainstream notions of progress today. Intent on re-examining this foundation, Melancholy in Progress invited nine local and international artists to exhibit works, and selected sixteen works from a pool of submissions garnered through a call for entries. All works focus on concepts of progress through the lens of each artist’s unique experience.

Following the nineteenth-century, western-led age of imperialism, modernization spread to the far corners of the world. Since then, so called developing regions have both consciously and unconsciously emulated western modernism and, in a quest for accelerated progress, have risked losing their own histories. Today, this notion of progress knows no bounds, and economic growth and expanding markets have dominated the world such that many marginalized regions and third-world countries envision progress based solely on western modernization. At this point we must ask: Is there only one vision of progress? Should we pursue a mode of progress other than the one suggested by western models?

Melancholy in Progress looks back at director Ming-Chuan Huang's films which document transformations in the cultural landscape of Taiwan since the 1990s, and presents artwork by Chung-Li Kao, who is concerned with the history of image production extending back to the era before film, as well as reconstructing his own narrative image history. Also included is an audio-video presentation about the architect Ying-Chun Hsieh, whose revolutionary architectural practices re-conceptualize human habitation with respect to consumerism, homogenization and cultural identity.

Also presented is the work of Venezuelan artist Alexander Apóstol which investigates utopian ideals in Latin American urban planning, the work of German artist Harun Farocki, who explores technological evolution and connections among the mechanical gaze, production and war. Farocki's videos push us to reconsider latent ideologies by opening a discursive space between technological progress and the ethics of production with images of factories without workers and warfare without soldiers.

Spanish artist Antoni Muntadas's two videos examine fear in the geopolitical or sociocultural ideologies concealed within borders, and how states of fear and these ideologies inform political and technological operations. Indian filmmaker Meghna Halder explores the psychological boundaries which cause one to reject something as filthy, or accept something as clean. In her documentary film, Indian artist Iram Ghufran describes states of madness and melancholy through a series of dream sequences, the presence of spirits and the disappearance of women; as the drama unfolds, a shrine becomes a site for the expression of both guilt and desire. The Kyrgyzstani duo Gulnara Kasmalieva and Muratbek Djumaliev, through a five-channel video installation, discuss how modern advances have influenced the lives of Kyrgyzstanis after the disintegration of the communist system, and also how economic and political disturbances have changed living environments, local economies and ways of making a living.

A total of sixteen works from Taiwan, China, USA, Sweden, Greece, Pakistan, Israel, Ireland,　Spain, Germany, Portugal, Poland and Italy were selected by a jury through the open submission process. Various genres of video work are represented, from documentary and narrative cinema to experimental forms, and explore the exhibition theme from the multi-layered perspectives of history, memory, culture, economics and industrial development.


憂鬱的進步Melancholy in Progress

鄭慧華、郭昭蘭

2012台灣國際錄像藝術展以「憂鬱的進步」為主題， 以另一種角度探討現代社會追求的技術、速度、系統、生產與消費諸面向的「進步」觀，特別是從非單一歷史與價值觀點、從世界不同區域所處之現代性發展歷程切入，反思當代人類的處境與生活價值的可能性。

日據時代的台灣文學家賴和曾從台灣庶民的角度觀看殖民者所帶來的「進步」，說道：「時代的進步與人們的幸福原來是兩回事」。賴和的看法呼應了盧梭在啟蒙時代針對隨著科學進步而興起的 「工具理性」的批判，而工具理性也正是現今主流進步觀的基石。從這一層反思基礎開始，「憂鬱的進步」展覽將以九位國內外藝術家的邀展作品，以及十六件國際徵件入選作品，從不同的經驗面向來進入這個主題。

西方主導的現代化經驗於十九世紀隨著帝國主義擴張至世界各地，後進國家為追逐與模彷西方現代發展，甚至不惜違背自己的歷史經驗以換取快速進步。時至今日，進步的意涵已為無止境的經濟增長與市場擴張所壟斷，第三世界國家將西方現代性作為進步的唯一想像。今日，我們應該重新探討，「進步」是否只有一種？在複製西方進步之外，我們是否應該追尋和思考另一種進步觀？

「憂鬱的進步」將回顧黃明川導演對台灣人文地景轉變的紀錄影片；高重黎的作品從影像的工具史出發，一方面向電影的史前史挺進，一方面重建屬於自己的影像敘述歷程。本展也將以影音呈現謝英俊建築師如何通過體現他的人文思想於建築實踐中，對當今人類居住行為的消費化、單一化及居住的文化主體性提出反思與改革。

國外藝術家方面，委內瑞拉的亞歷山大‧亞柏斯托（Alexander Apóstol）從城市規劃的視角審視拉丁美洲的現代烏托邦概念。德國的哈倫‧法洛奇（Harun Farocki）從人類技術的演進，探討「機器的視覺」（mechanical gaze）與生產、戰爭之間的關係；從沒有工人的工廠到沒有軍人的戰爭，在技術進步與生產倫理之間打開一個空間，使觀眾反思背後的意識形態。

另外，西班牙安東尼‧蒙塔達斯（Antoni Muntadas）的作品檢視現代人的恐懼，勾勒隱藏在「邊界」中的地緣政治意識型態，和人們的「恐懼」之間如何形成政治與技術性的操作。印度的美娜‧哈德爾（Meghna Haldar）則探討另一種心理的邊界，建立在「骯髒」的排除與「潔淨」的觀念之間。伊蘭‧古芙蘭（Iram Ghufran）的紀錄片描述「瘋癲」和「憂鬱」，透過夢、靈的顯在和女身的不在，戲劇展開，廟宇聖堂變成表達渴欲和罪疚的地方。吉爾吉斯坦雙人組古那拉‧卡斯馬里法與慕拉特貝克‧朱馬里佛（Gulnara Kasmalieva & Muratbek Djumaliev）則探討共產主義瓦解後，現代化的文明進展如何影響無數吉爾吉斯人的生活，同時檢視經濟和政治動盪如何改變生活型態、在地經濟和謀生方式。

國際徵件部份，則有來自台灣、中國、美國、瑞典、希臘、巴基斯坦、以色列、愛爾蘭、西班牙、德國、葡萄牙、波蘭、義大利的共十六件作品，從歷史、記憶、文化、經濟和工業發展史的不同角度，以介於紀錄片、劇情片等多元創作方式，圍繞在相關主題上來討論與呈現影像的實驗。