Channel, Film, and The Machine

Water, iron, stainless steel, pump / single-channel video
Dimensions variable / 11’ 39”
2019

This work creates a microscopic view for audiences to rest sights on specific objects, and bring them to further read in the interpretation of old tape recorder and film tapes. It blends the imagination of exhibition space with the revisit of life scene, and targets on the discussion of the meaning of specific objects toward one’s life experience.

The artist vaguely remembers that there used to be a family videotape that recorded some of the significant moments in his young life. The reason why this video is special is that it was filmed by the artist’s stepfather. Through the eyes of the stepfather to record the family’s life, the contradiction hidden behind can be felt from the shaking image. Those yearning memories came back to the artist when he moved up north. He realized the tape was left inside of the recorder afterward. Those people, incidents, and places in the video that once existed were exposed again after the passing six to seven years.

Located in a basement where audiences can only enter through a downward one-way entrance, its low ceiling, crossbeam, exposed pipelines, staggered structures, and the air conditioning system all bring a clandestine and mechanic character to the exhibition space. In this work, the artist, as the photographer like his stepfather who recorded his family before. The sight took place from a photographer’s eyes looking toward a gigantic tin factory built by reinforcement, filled with piled-up furniture, catering equipment, and metal products, indicating the environment where the mother of the artist worked and lived. The factory is also the place where the artist lived when he was young. The two scenes above corresponded with one another. In the video, the mother slowly dismantled the tape recorder one by one in the house-like factory building until it could never be repaired. The flashback childhood image memory then broke and disappeared. At this moment, he returned to his former role as his stepfather, watching his family's life through his eyes.

渠道、膠卷與機器

水、鐵、不鏽鋼、泵浦 / 單頻道錄像
尺寸依場地而定 / 錄像長度 11分39秒
2019

本件作品向觀眾展示了一種微觀的視野，藝術家試圖將視線聚焦在個人生命中特定物件的觀察上―舊式錄放影機與膠卷錄影帶的想像與重新詮釋。其中，揉雜展場空間的想像以及生命經驗場景的重新觀看，聚焦在「特定物件之於個人的生命意義」上。

曾有一卷家庭錄影帶，記錄了藝術家年幼生命中一些重要的時刻，這卷錄影帶之所以別具意義，因為它是由繼父所拍攝的，透過繼父的雙眼紀錄家人的生活，從搖晃的影像中可以感受到隱藏在背後的矛盾。直到他北上一人生活，想起了那些令人懷念的年幼時光。原來，那卷錄影帶被擱置在當初拍攝的錄影機中。六七年過去了，影像中的人、事件及地方又重新地被顯影出來。

位處地下室的展場空間，須經由向下延伸的單一通道方能進入，低矮的天花板、橫樑、裸露的管線、交錯的結構或是安置其中的空調系統，帶有某種幽閉的機器性格。與此呼應的，是投影於展場深處的錄像作品，藝術家以拍攝者的身分，紀錄一座由鋼筋鐵皮搭建而成的巨大廠房，其中堆置各類樣式繁多的傢俱、餐飲設備和金屬製品，那是母親日復一日工作與生活的場所，同時也是藝術家年幼時曾經生活過的家。影像中，母親在家屋般的廠房內，緩慢地將錄影機一一拆解，直至永遠無法修復，回閃的兒時影像記憶，隨之斷裂與消逝。此刻，藝術家如同回到了從前與繼父相同的視角，透過雙眼觀看著家人的生命。