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

本次展覽的核心內容，探討人際之間的溝通與訊息傳播，展覽標題【最初與最終】來自本展中的兩件裝置作品，分別指涉了摩斯密碼的啟用和終結。「最初」對應了1844年5月24日，由摩斯本人發出第一封摩斯電碼訊息「上帝創造了何等的奇跡！」；「最終」對應了1997年，法國海軍所傳送的最後一條電碼訊息：「所有人注意，這是我們在永遠沉寂之前的最後一聲吶喊！」

過去幾年，克里斯以摩斯電碼及信號旗語這兩種通訊系統為基礎，先後在歐洲、台灣的海岸與船上，以及2011年受大地震和海嘯嚴重衝擊的日本東北區海岸，創作了一系列結合表演與行為的攝影和裝置作品。他的創作關注不同面向的環境議題，包含：氣候變遷、海岸侵蝕、天災如地震、以及人禍如核汙染等所造成的民眾流離失所…等，從中探討人類因消費需求和欲望擴張，而無止盡剝削自然所導致的環境危機、生態失衡、進而導致自然反撲、人類浩劫等相關課題。

本次個展，克里斯透過102、103展間的兩件複合裝置，來詮釋摩斯電碼的編碼原理，同時敘述了摩斯電碼本身的興衰史。另外的20件擺拍攝影，包括於廊道展出的東海岸所拍六幅照片，依序顯示了〈刻入龜之骨〉的旗語訊息；另外兩張一組的〈暫停〉，分別是他在墾丁夜晚和台東日出時刻，於海灘進行旗語表演的擺拍照片。展間裡，五張一組的〈日本海上的漁船隊〉是日本海域夜間抓拍的縮時照片，呈現出水天相連之處，正進行集體捕漁作業的點點燈光船火，以及一艘以發光線條姿態劃過水面的長船―克里斯透過這個從現實中取景的畫面，呼應也重新提示了摩斯電碼曾經用於海事通訊的歷史意涵和符號趣味。同樣攝自特定現場，但是隱約散發某種象徵訊息的是，以台東糖廠為背景的〈星群〉，呈現了太陽光點在廠房地面緩緩移動的七張連續照片，相對於照片中矗立原地的一根舊鐵柱，這些光點也象徵性地為這個工業遺址發出了「在永遠沉寂之前的最後一聲吶喊！」 The title of this exhibition is derived from the first and last Morse Code messages to be transmitted. The first Morse Code message was transmitted by the inventor Samuel F.B. Morse on 24 May, 1844. His message was “What hath God wrought”. The last commercially transmitted Morse Code message was “Calling all, this is our last cry before our eternal silence”, French navy, 1997.

Over the past few years, Chris Wainwright has used both these systems of communication to make a series of performance based photographic and installation works, often from ships at sea, and in various coastal locations in Europe, Taiwan and extensively in the Tohoku Region of Japan, the area massively affected by the great eastern earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. The messaging elements of the work refer to a range of environmental issues including: climate change, coastal erosion, earthquakes, climate enforced displacement and nuclear pollution. It focuses on the fragility of our relationship with the natural world due to the way we continue to exploit its natural resources in our need and desire to consume that is in turn bringing about irreversible climatic changes.

The 20 photographs displayed in the exhibition were taken when Wainwright did his residency in a Taiwanese sugar factory and when he visited different seashores in Taiwan and Japan. They are images and messages created by Wainwright as he faced his camera in the dark night and made semaphores with traffic batons in his hands. One of the set includes six photographs taken by the sea in Taitung, revealing the semaphoric message of “carved into the bone of a turtle.” The series, Pause, includes two photographs, which are staged photography of semaphoric performance taken on beaches in Kenting in the evening and at sunrise in Taitung. Fishing Fleet includes five time-lapse photographs taken at a Japanese sea coast in night time, revealing bright dots of fishing boats catching fish together near the sea horizon and a long boat sliding across the images as a narrow dash of light. Through these images captured in real life, the artist responded to and reminded audience of the historic meaning and intriguing symbols of Morse Code that was once used in nautical communication. Constellation is another set of photographs taken at a specific site, seemingly conveying a symbolic message. Using Taitung Sugar Factory as a backdrop, this set is comprised of seven consecutive photographs of slowly moving light dots on the floor of the sugar factory. In comparison to the fixed iron post in the images, these bright dots seemed to correspond to the last Morse Code and were giving out their “last cry before eternal silence”!