城市是每一個現代人所生存的特有空間,它承載著現代人的文明成果,也承載著夢想與失望。沒有一座城市只是建築,每一座城市都是由無數鮮活、曲折的個體共同組成。然而,在這個城市的角落,那些生動而又真實的個體身上,我們卻看到任何一個時代的矛盾與荒誕最終都要由個體來承擔,它對每個生活在這個時代的個體的影響是結實的、沉痛的、也是有力的。
在陸先銘的作品中,城市的現代化發展與個體之間的關係不斷顯現。路橋系列是他從上世紀90年代臺灣的城市建設迅速發展開始,他將目光聚焦於這座城市中崛起的現代建築紀念碑。這個工業化的產物象徵著一座城市的精神,然而在這個宏大敘事的現代精神背後,陸先銘將視角拉回這座城市的主體,城市中的人與光陰的變遷。現代化加快了人的生活便捷能力,也加快了現代經濟的高速運轉,它在地球的任何一個角落,似乎都成為勢不可擋的必然趨勢。在這個趨勢背後,在這些光鮮亮麗的榮耀背後,無數個體仍然經歷、承受著自身的流變。
策展論述
「這是最好的時代,這是最壞的時代;這是智慧的年代,這是愚蠢的年代;這是信仰的時期,這是懷疑的時期;這是光明的季節,這是黑暗的季節;這是希望之春,這是絕望之冬;我們擁有一切,我們一無所有;我們正走向天堂,我們都在奔向與其相反的地方…」
-查理斯·狄更斯《雙城記》
狄更斯在《雙城記》中敘述了他所處的那個矛盾的、鮮活的時代。在那個時代中,人們遭遇著前所未有的困境,它既來自於它自身的歷史沿襲,也不斷的接受著當下不斷發生的改變。「雙城記」作為此次陸先銘和郭維國雙個展的歷史隱喻,所指涉的正是在今天我們所面對的現實以及存在的可能。
每一個人心中都會有一個理想的社會或者家園,這種理想往往是對一種積極模式的尋求。在此次展覽中,陸先銘和郭維國的共同展出,正是對人的生存語境和現實遭遇的探討,兩位藝術家從上世紀80年代始終從臺灣本土的現實社會所發生的變遷出發,以審視的態度將社會問題轉為藝術語言的表達動力。或者說,陸先銘和郭維國在通過藝術的方式對現實的回應過程中,都涉及到社會空間、歷史空間、文化空間對個體的擠壓,以及這種擠壓所導致的變異。
在藝術手法上,兩位藝術家的作品都具有極強的象徵性,對形象、空間、符號的錯置與混合,通過戲劇化和場景化的方式將現實中的事物進行再次編排,從而使得現實問題集中化,物與物之間構成了一種新的張力關係,這種關係既構成了一種藝術風格的獨特性,也將對現實問題的思考再次深入。
無論是陸先銘還是郭維國,此次展覽都試圖勾勒出一個關於臺灣社會發展的線索,在城市化和現代化的進程之中,臺灣本土所映射出的關於人的困境、生存的困境。他們都指向在現實之外的理想家園,關於這個時代的種種切片,人與社會的沉浮、個體與群體的失落和幻想,那些發生和正在發生的改變。
陸先銘和郭維國用這個展覽演繹了一個雙城記,這兩座個體之城相互重疊,它是彼此的矛盾,也是彼此的寄託。在臺北當代藝術館的建築之中,我們既能看到這座城市經歷的歷史,也能看到兩位藝術家心中的城池,他們都共同指向關於這個時代在這座城市中生活的人們,所遭遇的發生,那些無聲無息的浮城過影與萬園有靈。
The city is the defining space for all modern people, it carries the cultural achievements of modern man, as well as their dreams and disappointments. No city is just the buildings in it, rather each city is made up of a countless number of living, and complicated individuals. In the corner of this city, we can see on the bodies of those lively and true individuals that any time’s contradictions and absurdities must be shouldered by the individual. It is influential, profound, and forceful for every individual living in these times.
In Lu Hsien-ming’s work, the development of the modernization of the city and the relations between individuals constantly reappear. His road bridge series was started in the 1990s when Taipei was rapidly developing, when he turned his gaze towards the rising modern architectural monuments. This product of industrialization symbolizes the spirit of a city, however behind the larger narrative of this modern spirit, Lu Hsien-ming turned his sights towards the main part of the city, that is the changes to the people and their time spent within the city. Modernization has sped up people’s lives, making things more convenient and has increased the speed of everything. It seems as if it has become an unstoppable trend that has reached every single corner of the earth, but behind this trend, behind the bright and beautiful honors, countless numbers of individuals are still living, and bearing the burdens of the changes and developments in society.
Curatorial Statement
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way…
- A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens
In A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens gave shape to that clashing, vibrant era in which he lived. It was an era when people encountered unprecedented dilemmas; the making of the era stemmed from its own historical lineage as well as the constant barrage of changes it weathered. As the historical metaphor for Lu Hsien-ming and Kuo Wei-kuo’s solo exhibitions, The Tale of Two Cities signifies both the reality we must confront and the possibilities of existence.
There is an ideal homeland in everyone’s heart. Such idealism is often the embodiment of the search for proactivity. The two artists’ works here come together in this manner to explore the context of human life and the circumstances of reality. Starting from the massive social changes happening throughout the 1980s in Taiwan, the artists transform social issues into the impetus for artistic expression while striking a stance of inquisition. Or, we can say that in both Lu and Kuo’s artistic responses to the reality they must live in, they address the pressure forced upon the individual in the social space, the cultural space and the historical space. At the same time, they document the mutation caused by such pressure.
In terms of artistic style, the works of both artists are extremely symbolic in nature; they displace and remix images, spaces and symbols, and reorganize mundane objects through theatricality in order to concentrate and distill real world issues, creating a whole new kind of tension among the everyday objects. Such tension not only contributes to the uniqueness of the artistic style but also further examines the real-world issue at hand.
Both Lu Hsien-ming and Kuo Wei-kuo attempt to trace out the clues to the development of Taiwanese culture, the human and existential predicament on this tiny island under the advent of urban development and modernization. Both point to an ideal homeland outside of reality, where slices of this age mingle with the rise and fall of men and society, the disillusions and fantasies of the individual and the masses, and all that has changed and is still changing.
Kuo and Lu performed a tale of two cities with their exhibitions; these cities of individuals overlap each other, embodying each other’s conflicts and hopes. In the physical architecture of MoCA Taipei, we can at once detect the history that our city weathered and the cities of the artists’ visions. For both artists, the cities of their heart refer to the people and happenings right here right now, all those silent glimpses of cities and gardens of spirit.