Making Fantasies - Pei Shih TU Solo Exhibition
想像的製造－杜珮詩個展
2013.11.08 ~ 12.22
想像的製造－杜珮詩個展
2013.11.08 ~ 12.22
Animation could be taken as illusion created through quickly playing continuous images based on the characteristics of persistence of vision. It is a type of non-realistic, animated effect that is molded by human imagination and ability to create and give forms and shapes. One could even say that it is “a man-made imaginative structure.” Making Fantasies is an exhibition that explores human imagination and the essence of animation. With three animation works that do not seem to relate to each other, the exhibition is contemplation on the role of imagination in the structure of animation as well as how imagination embodies human existence, memory, and the relationship between fiction and reality through narrative.
The first single-channel video, “Last Wills,” is a collection of the last words of seven celebrities in history. With textual descriptions, Tu imagines the realization of their dying wishes in the video and put these wishes together into an animation. These last wishes vary from Franz Kafka asking his best friend, Max Brod, to destroy all his manuscripts after his death, to Beethoven wishing to have a day of pure happiness by listening to the joyful, profound sounds in nature, to Rodin hoping to have a room dedicated to Camille’s work in the Rodin Museum, etc. Whether these last wishes became true or not in history, the imaginary scenarios in this work depart from the characteristic structure of innocence (or youthfulness) in the historical development of animation, but shift its focus to the delineation of death.
The second work, “Making Fantasies,” is a three-channel video that shares the same title with the exhibition, which is created out of a large amount of documentary photographs by famous photographers. The technique is similar to a story relay of images. The artist attempts to create connections between the settings and persons in these photographs, and by doing so, forming a moving and fantastic narrative despite the fact that the narrative itself does not produce any meanings. Documentary photography emphasizes its objectivism that brings out the truthfulness and purpose of documentation of the images, which is fundamentally different from the imaginative quality of animation. By combining these two art forms, Tu aims to produce a kind of structural shift of the images.
The last video, “King Kong,” is a single-channel video based on the fictional monster film of the same title in 1933. The film largely adopted model animation technique at that time, and there were remakes in both 1976 and 2005. Tu mixes the shots on King Kong from the 1933 and 2005 versions, and dubs the video with the music scores from the 1976 version, making the work almost a clip of the best features of the three films. However, underneath the imaginative style of representation, one can detect the advancement of animation effect from looking at the stop-motion model animation in the early 1933 movie to the simulation of CGI effect in the 2005 film.
Incorporating the concept of making fantasies, this exhibition not only pays attention to the new possibilities between images and narrative, but takes a step further to ask the audience to rethink the essence of animation.
想像的製造-杜珮詩個展
動畫，一種透過人類視覺殘留的特性，將連續圖像快速播放而產生的幻覺；一種經由人為想像與形塑造型的能力，所生產的非寫實動態效果，可以說是「製造而出的想像結構」。《想像的製造》是一個探討想像與動畫本質的展覽，藉由三件在主題上看似無直接關聯的動畫作品，思考想像在動畫影像結構中所扮演的角色，想像如何透過敘事脈絡體現我們的存在與記憶，以及虛構與現實間的關係。
第一件單頻道錄像《遺願》首先收集了七位名人的遺言，透過文字描述，藝術家幻想這些臨死前的心願一一在影像中實現的樣貌，並串聯成一部動畫。這些遺願包括了作家卡夫卡要求死後其好友布勞德能將他的手稿銷毀；樂聖貝多芬渴望能有一天純粹的快樂，在自然中傾聽歡樂深遠的聲音；以及雕塑家羅丹希望在羅丹美術館中成立ㄧ間專屬展示廳，放置卡蜜兒的作品…等等。這些遺願無論最後是否實現，在此作品中，製造出的想像都脫離過往動畫在發展史中特有的純真（或說青春）結構，而立基於對死亡的描繪。
第二件與展覽同名的三頻道錄像《想像的製造》由大量紀實攝影名家作品接續而成，手法類似影像的故事接龍。藝術家試圖讓這些紀實攝影裡的場景與人物彼此產生關聯，進而形成一條感性而夢幻的敘事軸，即便這個敘事軸本身並沒有述說任何意義。紀實攝影顧名思義是強調客觀，突顯真實與記錄性的影像形式，與動畫的想像本質截然不同。結合二者，藝術家的目的在於讓影像的結構產生異動。
最後一件單頻道錄像《金剛》取材於1933年同名的虛構怪獸影片，而此片大量使用了模型動畫的技術，並在1976與2005年皆各有一部同名的重拍電影。藝術家在作品中混合了1933年與2005年電影中金剛的特寫片段，同時搭配1976年的電影配樂，整體而言像是一部精華版影片剪輯。然而，從1933年早期電影定格拍攝模型動畫，到2005年擬真的CGI質感，幻想風格背後對比的是動畫特效的時代推移。
在製造想像的概念下，本展覽不只關注影像與敘事之間新的可能性，更進一步欲使觀者重思動畫的本質。
The first single-channel video, “Last Wills,” is a collection of the last words of seven celebrities in history. With textual descriptions, Tu imagines the realization of their dying wishes in the video and put these wishes together into an animation. These last wishes vary from Franz Kafka asking his best friend, Max Brod, to destroy all his manuscripts after his death, to Beethoven wishing to have a day of pure happiness by listening to the joyful, profound sounds in nature, to Rodin hoping to have a room dedicated to Camille’s work in the Rodin Museum, etc. Whether these last wishes became true or not in history, the imaginary scenarios in this work depart from the characteristic structure of innocence (or youthfulness) in the historical development of animation, but shift its focus to the delineation of death.
The second work, “Making Fantasies,” is a three-channel video that shares the same title with the exhibition, which is created out of a large amount of documentary photographs by famous photographers. The technique is similar to a story relay of images. The artist attempts to create connections between the settings and persons in these photographs, and by doing so, forming a moving and fantastic narrative despite the fact that the narrative itself does not produce any meanings. Documentary photography emphasizes its objectivism that brings out the truthfulness and purpose of documentation of the images, which is fundamentally different from the imaginative quality of animation. By combining these two art forms, Tu aims to produce a kind of structural shift of the images.
The last video, “King Kong,” is a single-channel video based on the fictional monster film of the same title in 1933. The film largely adopted model animation technique at that time, and there were remakes in both 1976 and 2005. Tu mixes the shots on King Kong from the 1933 and 2005 versions, and dubs the video with the music scores from the 1976 version, making the work almost a clip of the best features of the three films. However, underneath the imaginative style of representation, one can detect the advancement of animation effect from looking at the stop-motion model animation in the early 1933 movie to the simulation of CGI effect in the 2005 film.
Incorporating the concept of making fantasies, this exhibition not only pays attention to the new possibilities between images and narrative, but takes a step further to ask the audience to rethink the essence of animation.
想像的製造-杜珮詩個展
動畫，一種透過人類視覺殘留的特性，將連續圖像快速播放而產生的幻覺；一種經由人為想像與形塑造型的能力，所生產的非寫實動態效果，可以說是「製造而出的想像結構」。《想像的製造》是一個探討想像與動畫本質的展覽，藉由三件在主題上看似無直接關聯的動畫作品，思考想像在動畫影像結構中所扮演的角色，想像如何透過敘事脈絡體現我們的存在與記憶，以及虛構與現實間的關係。
第一件單頻道錄像《遺願》首先收集了七位名人的遺言，透過文字描述，藝術家幻想這些臨死前的心願一一在影像中實現的樣貌，並串聯成一部動畫。這些遺願包括了作家卡夫卡要求死後其好友布勞德能將他的手稿銷毀；樂聖貝多芬渴望能有一天純粹的快樂，在自然中傾聽歡樂深遠的聲音；以及雕塑家羅丹希望在羅丹美術館中成立ㄧ間專屬展示廳，放置卡蜜兒的作品…等等。這些遺願無論最後是否實現，在此作品中，製造出的想像都脫離過往動畫在發展史中特有的純真（或說青春）結構，而立基於對死亡的描繪。
第二件與展覽同名的三頻道錄像《想像的製造》由大量紀實攝影名家作品接續而成，手法類似影像的故事接龍。藝術家試圖讓這些紀實攝影裡的場景與人物彼此產生關聯，進而形成一條感性而夢幻的敘事軸，即便這個敘事軸本身並沒有述說任何意義。紀實攝影顧名思義是強調客觀，突顯真實與記錄性的影像形式，與動畫的想像本質截然不同。結合二者，藝術家的目的在於讓影像的結構產生異動。
最後一件單頻道錄像《金剛》取材於1933年同名的虛構怪獸影片，而此片大量使用了模型動畫的技術，並在1976與2005年皆各有一部同名的重拍電影。藝術家在作品中混合了1933年與2005年電影中金剛的特寫片段，同時搭配1976年的電影配樂，整體而言像是一部精華版影片剪輯。然而，從1933年早期電影定格拍攝模型動畫，到2005年擬真的CGI質感，幻想風格背後對比的是動畫特效的時代推移。
在製造想像的概念下，本展覽不只關注影像與敘事之間新的可能性，更進一步欲使觀者重思動畫的本質。