2005
installation___裝置
(metal, old windows, light bulb, motor___金屬, 舊鐵窗, 燈泡, 馬達)
“This is the reason for this journey into hyper-reality, in search of instances where the imagination demands the real thing and, to attain it, must fabricate the absolute fake; where the boundaries between game and illusion are blurred.”
from “Travels in Hyper-Reality, Faith in Fakes” by Umberto Eco
The sun was strong on the top of my head, like an oven. And the sand on the ground was burning the soles of feet. The reflection of the sunlight made my eyes almost unable to open. I am a traveler, my whole body covered with sand and dust, already forgetting how many days I have been walking in this barren desert place. Merely, I kept walking and walking, through space and time, and my own years. At this moment, the sun was on my back, pushing my shadow forward, like a phantom hauling my tired, mechanically-moving, body.
The indistinct scenes before my eyes became clearer in the mild breeze. Gradually, that city resplendent in hearsay emerged finally out of the sandy sky, undulating and weightless floating in the air. It seemed ready to evaporate soon, both illusory and real.
When I stepped in that city, it was evening. The colour of the sky became deep blue, the moon rose lazily from the horizon. The moonlight was only a trifling ornament in the whole scene, because all the buildings in the city were densely inlaid with thousands and thousands of light bulbs, multicoloured neon lamps and invaluable crystals and precious stones. The glitter and resplendent brilliance was lighting up the whole city, brighter than in the day time. The noise and excitement of joyous music and songs, sounds of laughter and cheering filled every corner of the city. These mixed sounds together created a kind of happy-go-lucky and forgetful atmospere. There were various odors filling the air at times, ambiguous but infatuated.
Not only this, but the citizen also were richly bejewelled, surpassingly beautiful and eye-dazzling. I am not sure whether it was because of the influence of the lights or the brilliance from the people themselves but I felt that the colour of their faces was as white as snow, and glittering and limpid like glass. They were very tall, I needed to look up when I talked to them. Their expressions, words, attitudes and behaviour showed unwittingly their pride, even though I know they were friendly and hospitable. They were very good at discussing all sorts of subjects, and enjoying a good time with fine wine. The free-minded and high spirited mood matched closely the tincture of the whole city.
I suddenly understood that the decoration, sounds, odors and people together made up a reputable and dazzling city.
Next day, I woke up at noon, and went out from the hotel. It was my first time to see the city in day time. It should be blazing under the midday sun, but it was not, it was even a bit cold. I looked around. All huge buildings had become murky grey, like banks of dark shadows hovering each area in the city. Even though they were huge, I felt that they were as weightless as ghosts. There were no more cheerful noises and marvelous odours, only a city full of yellow dust. Intermittently, sounds of wind from far away could be heard. Fu! Fu! Fu……!
The people were still covered all over with jewellery, but under the sun, those glaring stones became very dim. However, the colour of their faces was still white and limpid. I noticed clearly the upper part of their bodies was quite puffy, particularly the head. Nobody here got any wrinkles. when I looked downward at their feet, I found they were bloody, the hypodermic flesh exposed before my eyes. Some of them had begun to melt away. Their skin was peeled off from the flesh, from the body, by an upward pulling force.
Finally, I understood why the upper part of bodies was puffy, it was because their skin was like a balloon, inflated constantly with hydrogen gas, slowly being forced from the flesh. And this explained why the colour of their faces was white and limpid - as the skin was pumped up with gas, so it became extremely thin, nearly transparent. I recognized why people here were very tall, as they were like balloons with hydrogen gas, rising upward at an unconscious rate. But they did not seem to feel pain, maybe the speed of peeling off was too slow, or they had got used to.
Confronting this circumstance, suddenly, I did not want to stay this city anymore. I packed up and left. When I reached a certain distance, I looked back. The whole city was like a dark shadow, both illusory and real as at my first sighting. It was clear that the whole city was rising upward at a very slow rate, like the inhabitants. Everything was becoming weightless, like a ghost floating in the air - one day in the future, it would be blow away by a breeze.
「這就是為什麼沉迷於超現實之旅，追尋想像所要求的真實，為了得到真實，必須創造絕對的虛假。這樣才能模糊遊戲與幻覺之間的邊界。」
選自「超現實之旅 -對虛假之信賴」by Umberto Eco
太陽在頭頂上熱烘烘的，地上的沙正在煎燙著我的腳，反射在沙上的刺眼強光令人幾乎睜不開眼來。我這一個滿身風沙塵埃的旅客，早已忘記在這種鳥不生蛋的地方走了多少天。只是，一直走，一直走，走過了時空，走過了我的歲月。這一刻，太陽已經落在我的背後，將我的影子推向遠遠的前方，像一縷幻影拖著我疲勞的身軀機械般前進。
隱約間，一陣陣微溫的風將我眼前的景象變得清晰。慢慢地，那座傳聞中璀璨的名城終於顯現在黃沙漫天中，呈波浪起伏，毫無重量似的漂浮在大氣中，像快要被蒸發掉似的，似幻似真。
踏進那座城中，已是傍晚時分，天空已染上深藍色，月亮在地平面上懶洋洋地升起，可惜，它的光彩也只是很微不足道的點綴。由於，整座城市的建築物都密密麻麻鑲嵌滿成千上萬的燈火，五光十色的霓虹燈和價值連城的水晶和寶石。它們所發出閃耀璀璨的光華將整座城照明得比白天還更光亮。喧騰但歡樂的歌樂聲，笑聲，喝采聲充滿了每一角落。這些混雜聲響的大合奏帶出一種無憂無慮和忘卻自我的感染力。空氣也不時飄散出好幾種不同的氣味，曖昧但令迷戀。
不僅這樣，城中人人珠光寶氣，瑰麗奪目。也不知是燈光的影響還是他們自身散發出的光彩，總讓人覺得他們的面色雪白，像玻璃般晶瑩剔透。身軀好像特別的高，我總是需要仰著頭跟他們談話。一種自豪的感覺不經意地流露在他們的神態，話語和行為舉止當中，即使知道他們是非常友善和熱情好客，也擅長談天說地，把酒言歡。一種忘憂而興高采烈的心境正正吻合整座城市的氣息。
我突然地明白，充斥在這裡的裝潢，聲音，氣味和人，堆砌出一座聲名遠播的璀璨城市。
直至第二天的中午，我才起床。走出酒店門口，第一次在白天中與這座城會面。正午的陽光本應給人一種熾熱的感覺，但奇怪的是，我感覺不到，還有點兒冷。再望向周遭的景物，所有龐大的建築物變得灰暗暗的，像一團團的黑影縈繞在城中各個地段。即使很巨大，但還是給人一種沒有重量的感覺，輕飄飄的，像鬼魅。空氣中彌漫著的，不再是任何歡樂的喧鬧聲和奇妙的氣味，只有細微的黃土塵埃和陣陣遠處傳來的風聲間歇性地響起，呼！呼！呼．．．．．．！
這裡的人還是滿身珠寶，但太陽下，這些耀眼的石頭變得暗淡無光。但他們的面色還是一樣的雪白，一樣的晶瑩剔透。我還清楚看到他們的上身都是漲漲的，尤其是頭部，不論男女老幼都沒有皺紋。再向下看，看到他們的腳都是血紅色的，皮下的肌肉暴露在我的眼前，甚至有些已開始融化掉。原來皮膚正在以一種往上拉扯的方向剝離開他們的肌肉，甚至身體。
終於，我明白為何他們的上身都是漲漲的，因為皮膚像一個不斷充氣的氫氣球一樣，慢慢地迫使它向上剝離肌肉。由於這樣，也知道為何每一個人的面色雪白而晶瑩剔透，因為面上的皮膚被充扯得很薄很薄，差不多近乎透明。也了解到為何有這樣的身高，因他們也真的像氫氣球一樣，正在以一種察覺不到的速度往上升起。但，他們一點也不感覺疼痛，可能剝離的速度太慢，或者，已經習慣了。