台北當代藝術館 官方網站 Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei

1980年代初期，錄像藝術在台灣與香港同時崛起，藝術家不約而同地藉由即時、即拍即播的媒介表徵，積極介入社會議題。相較同期的港台劇情片與紀錄片，此種結合創意與政治表態的錄像藝術作品形態在當時尚未引起廣泛關注，顯得弱勢而邊緣。回望1980-1990年代港台錄像藝術，鑒於其歷史事件所展現的獨特感性與洞察力，為當前兩地與中國處於愈顯緊張與對立的政局，帶來重思歷史的契機。

2018年形似歷史事件的回望點，香港回歸足滿20週年，台灣解嚴也超過30年；兩地雖走往政治光譜不同的兩端，但其實卻共同經歷了1984年「中英聯合聲明」、1987年「台灣解除戒嚴令」，1989年「六四天安門」、1997年「香港回歸」。此次參展的17位港台創作者、共計20件作品，本身就是一紙永遠有效的政治聲明與歷史文件。

政治，無疑是所有作品的共同題旨，且與冷戰格局息息相關。自「中英聯合聲明」開始，香港藝術家思辨身分認同危機，試圖在已被人決定的命運中找尋出口，反思未來；台灣創作者則在威權體制期間，彰顯批判國家與媒體的異議人民形象。「六四事件」成為兩地藝術家共同的創痛史：陷於前途未卜與疑懼將來的困境，憶往與出走、省思與批駁，構成回歸以前的香港錄像藝術的雙重基調，而台灣錄像藝術則在批評兩岸國家暴力之際，展露兼容在地國際政局的多重觀點。

如何與歷史事件對峙，音像調度成了藝術家的詩學部署：影音錯體、圖文並置、眾聲喧嘩，在一鏡到底、章節式及蒙太奇等修辭中，繁複且象徵地輪番上陣，炫目迷人。檔案影像與歷史現場連成一氣，在主旋律中突圍逆轉，重塑記憶。

作為政治批判與美學試驗的1980-90s港台錄像藝術，面臨30年後歷史事件的完而未了，它不只是飽含現實意義的歷史文件，更是源起與當代的再次相遇，重啟互動與多元的跨地對話。 Video art arose in Taiwan and Hong Kong around the same time in the early 1980s. Artists employed media that allowed convenient filming and immediate broadcasting to actively intervene in social issues. Comparing to the narrative films and documentaries produced in Hong Kong and Taiwan around the same period, the video art form that combined creativity and political statements did not catch too much attention, and because rather disadvantaged and marginal. Taking a retrospective look on the video art in Hong Kong and Taiwan during the 1980s and 1990s, the unique sensibility and insights demonstrated about historical incidents, in fact, introduce an opportunity to revisit and reflect upon the history given the tense political situation among Hong Kong, Taiwan and China nowadays.

The year 2018 serves as a vantage point to look back on historical incidents; it marks the twentieth anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong as well as the thirtieth anniversary of the lifting of martial law in Taiwan. Although the two places seem to have moved towards opposite ends of the political spectrum, Hong Kong and Taiwan have both undergone the Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984, the lifting of martial law in Taiwan in 1987, the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 and the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997. This exhibition features seventeen Hong Kong and Taiwan artists, together with twenty video artworks that are regarded as historical documents, of which their political statements will be forever effective.

Politics is unquestionably a common subject in these works, and it is closely related to the Cold War. Since the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, Hong Kong artists have started a dialectic process regarding the crisis of identity, contemplating on the future and trying to find a way out against the fate that seems predetermined by others; artists in Taiwan have attempted to honour the image of dissidents who have voiced their critique of the state and media under the authoritarian regime. The Tiananmen Square massacre has become a shared trauma by artists in Hong Kong and Taiwan: the unknown future and probable predicaments, remembrance and expatriation as well as reflection and critique consequently formed the duo tones of Hong Kong video art before the handover of Hong Kong; on the other hand, video art in Taiwan demonstrated multiple perspectives that encompassed both local and international political situations while criticising state violence across the Taiwan Strait.

To confront historical incidents, artists have adopted poetic deployment to construct their videos, such as unmatching image and sound, juxtaposing text and picture, and the ensemble of different voices. Furthermore, cinematic rhetorical schemes including long take, chapter, and montage have been used alternatively in an elaborate and symbolic way to create mesmerising works. Archive images and historical scenes are interwoven together to create surprising results and reconstruct memory.

Hong Kong and Taiwan video art in the 1980s and 1990s as a form of political critique and aesthetic experiment is still faced with unresolved historical incidents after three decades. These artworks are not merely historical documents with realistic meanings; they are also a re-encounter between the beginning and the contemporary, which will re-initiate an interactive and diverse cross-regional dialogue.