Si So Mi  
ZHANG XU Zhan Solo Exhibition
{ Si So Mi }  張徐展個展
​2017.12.09-2018.01.20

Project Fulfill Art Space is pleased to present artist ZHANG XU Zhan’s solo exhibition Si So Mi opening in December. This exhibition follows the artist’s 2015 solo exhibition and will feature his new work developed over the past 2 years, continuing his long-term, large-scale animation Hsin Hsin Joss Paper Store Series. Exhibited will be the fourth and latest installment Hsin Hsin Joss Paper Store Series Room 004 – Si So Mi. The opening reception will be on Saturday 9 December at 4pm, and an artist talk will be held on Saturday 23 December at 3pm with guest Nobuo Takamori.
 
“The line between life and death impressed deeply on my childhood as I recall a vivid memory of a sun-soaked day at noon, a bucket of water filled almost to the brim, with a cage of newly caught rats half submerged struggling for freedom, until exhaustion grants them with an inevitable death”
 
In the new work Hsin Hsin Joss Paper Store Series Room 004 – Si So Mi, ZHANG XU Zhan choreographs a dance performed to the German folk song ‘Ach wie ist's möglich dann’[1]. The imagery portrayed unfolds in time with the song, revealing a mirror’s reflection, items used for a birthday celebration, the dwelling place of spirits, a funeral band performing in a forest, and an obscure diary filled with the logic of existentialism. The work centers on the lowliest of animals, dry and squashed flat, neglected within the city; humble mice revel in a celebratory dance, telling the story of their own lives while examining the relationship between life and death.
 
The work’s reference to death not only refers to the spiritual body, but like the reinterpretation of the German folk song, the work also refers to the changes in our cultural landscape and material objects becoming obsolete. The artist considers this as a form of death, however when viewed from another perspective, what was obsolete undergoes a process of change, transforming into a new form of existence and identity, finding a new approach when confronting death.
 
ZHANG XU Zhan’s artwork consists of animation and film, extending the exploration of image, video and installation. The artist combines the diverse experiences of existence in contemporary society into absurd and grotesque imagery collectively enclosed within each scene, portraying the juxtaposition of revelry and loneliness that comes with an ending. The artwork focuses on the changing perspectives of every day life, integrating myth, celebration, funeral ritual, puppetry, music and image, responding to the historical memories of the joss paper industry, the experience of contemporary life and its ever shifting meanings. Referencing the perspectives of life and death, the artist depicts a kind of self-depreciating black humor, subtly responding to the awkwardness of existence within reality.
 
Artist Introduction
ZHANG XU Zhan (b. 1988) was born into an ancestral history of the traditional paper sculpture craft, making and selling paper effigies for religious rituals and ceremonies for over a century. His family’s home and business, the ‘Hsin Hsin Paper Sculpture Store’ in Xinzhuang produces paper offerings in the form of spiritual houses, spiritual dolls, mythical animals, flowers and birds among others. After discovering his love of animation while studying at university, he combined both influences to create his own unique art practice. ZHANG XU specializes in using animation, video installation and multi-channel experimental film to expand his creative imagery. By changing the intention of the cultural objects used at times of celebration and mourning, the artist explores the rituals of everyday life, staging dramatic scenes like a mythical comedy that closely examines these daily rituals and the aesthetics of death.

Solo exhibitions: Si So Mi - ZHANG XU Zhan Solo Exhibition, Project Fulfill Art Space, Taipei, Taiwan (2017); Inferiority Bat, Taipei Digital Art Center, Taiwan (2015); Ritual of Cathode Ray Tube, Taiwan National Museum, Taiwan (2012)
Selected group exhibitions：Resurrection, Surplus Space, Wuhan, China (2017); Kau-Puê, Mutual Companionship in Near Future：Folk Art Parade, Soulangh, Tainan, Taiwan (2017); Kuandu Biennale 2016 - Slaying Monsters, Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei, Taiwan (2016); Expanded Experimental Animation Festival III ─ Endocrine, Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei, Taiwan (2016); Transformations: Contemporary Media and Manifestations, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan (2016); 5th Asian Art Biennial, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan (2015); Street Fun, Fun Street- MOCA X Community Art Festival, Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei, Chi Feng street, Taiwan (2015)
Film Festival: Fantastic Fest -〈DRAWN AND QUARTERED〉special program, America (2014); 26th Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film (ITFS) – Cult Night Animated Horror, Germany (2014); Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia, Tokyo, Japan (2014); The 7th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art -APT7 Cinema, Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) and Queensland Art Gallery (QAG), Australia; 28th International Short Film Festival Berlin, Berlin, Germany (2011)
Awards：ART·SANYA - HUAYU YOUTH AWARD, Selected, Sanya, China (2016); Tianmei Art Foundation, Artist visit the Venice Biennale (2015)、2015 Made In Taiwan-Young Artist Discovery, Selected (2015); S-An Art Award, S-An cultural Foundation, Taipei, Taiwan (2015); 37th Golden Harvest Awards for Outstanding Short Films, Animation selected (2015); 7th Digital Art Awards Taipei, First Prize (2012)
Collections: Permanent Collection, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan; Ministry of Culture Art Bank, Taiwan; Taiwan, Japan and Thailand private collections.

[1] “Ach wie ist's möglich dann” (How can I leave thee), can also be interpreted as “true love”. In Taiwan folk culture the song was often performed at funerals, marking the era in which Western instrumental bands were introduced into Taiwan. The first three notes of the song ‘Si So Mi’ became synonymous with funeral bands, an amusing and stark contrast to the song’s original use in the 1935 German literary film as the soundtrack for a love story.

就在藝術空間將於十二月份推出代理藝術家張徐展「Si So Mi」個展，這是藝術家繼2015個展後，睽違2年的全新發表。將展出已持續創作數年《紙人展與新興糊紙店系列》大型偶動畫的第四件作品『紙人展與新興糊紙店系列-靈靈肆《Si So Mi》』。開幕活動訂於12月09日(週六)下午4點，並於12月23日(週六)下午3點舉行座談，此次邀請與談人高森信男和藝術家進行對談。
 
「印象深刻對死亡擦身的記憶，是烙印在童年回憶裡那陽光灑落的中午，一桶裝9分滿的水，以及浸在籠子裡尋求脫逃的老鼠。」
 
在新作『紙人展與新興糊紙店系列-靈靈肆《Si So Mi》』中，張徐展編織了一支舞蹈，並翻唱一首德國詩歌「Ach wie ist's möglich dann」[1]，影像於這首歌的時間軸線裡映照著自我的鏡子、生日用的派對道具、亡靈的同歸所、叢林演奏的喪葬儀隊，以及一本瀰漫著存在主義邏輯的荒謬日記。內容關於那些被晾在城市裡乾扁、卑微的動物，述說他們對自己生命的描述，同時思考著死亡與存在。
 
這裡指的死亡不只是描述靈魂肉體的生命，而是如同那首意義被轉譯的歌曲，同時指的是文化意義的質變與物質本體功能性的喪失，這亦是張徐展認為的死亡的消逝，透過觀點的挪移，這種消逝的同時也在質變的過程中，變換成另一種身份的存在，找到另一種新的面對的態度。
 
張徐展的創作致力於動畫與電影、擴延影像、錄像、裝置的突破探索與延伸，將各種當代生存經驗，假以一種荒謬、怪誕的影像，集體包覆著場場關於存在的腐朽，以及那從未結束的狂歡與寂寞。內容關注從這些日常生活經驗裡從觀點的變換，融合了神話，慶典，喪葬紙紮，魁儡戲偶，音樂，圖像，回應紙紮的歷史記憶、當代生活經驗與意義的質變；觸及生命與死亡的看法，以一種自我解嘲的黑色幽默，隱隱回應現實裡的那些尷尬的存在。

[1] 「Ach wie ist's möglich dann」(How can I leave thee)（中文也翻譯為「我怎能離開你」，英譯為「真實的愛」(treue liebe gedicht)），在台灣的民間流傳這首歌的前三個音"Si、So、Mi"，成為當年西樂隊後來傳入台灣，用來被當作避諱講述跟死亡有關葬禮儀隊，而稱呼的喪葬儀隊代稱，相對於這首歌在1935年的德國文藝片本身被配樂於愛情電影的身世，意義上形成了有趣的對照。
 
藝術家簡介
張徐展(b.1988)出生於新莊百年祖傳專門販售託夢靈厝、靈異紙娃、紙糊神獸、等靈花靈鳥等精緻紙紮民俗手藝的"新興糊紙店"，在大學時發現以動畫創作為他的最愛後，便試圖將兩者結合，成為他極為特殊的創作風格。張徐展擅長透過動畫藝術、錄像裝置、實驗電影等多頻道擴延影像創作，挪用婚喪喜慶文化裡的神話慶典，探索日常生活中的各種儀式性．並建立一場場似神話的荒謬劇，探索關注的日常儀式與死亡美學。
重要個展：「Si So Mi張徐展個展」，就在藝術空間，台北，台灣 (2017)、「自卑的蝙蝠 一 張徐展個展」，臺北數位藝術中心，台灣 (2015)、「陰極射線管的神祕儀式」，國立台灣美術館，時光天井多頻幕，台灣 (2012)
重要聯展：「復活II:幽靈的面容」，剩餘空間，武漢，中國 (2017)、「近未來的交陪：2017蕭壠國際當代藝術節」台南，台灣 (2017)、「第五屆 關渡雙年展」，關渡美術館，台北，台灣 (2016)、「超越實驗III-內分泌影展」，臺北當代藝術館－當代影像聚場，台北，台灣 (2016)、「變材無礙：當代媒材與表現」，高雄市立美術館，高雄 (2016)、「第五屆 亞洲藝術雙年展」，國立臺灣美術館，台中，台灣 (2015)、「台灣新媒體藝術展 – 波蘭返台展」，台北市立美術館，台北，台灣 (2015)
影展放映：「美國奧斯汀奇幻影展Fantastic Fest〈DRAWN AND QUARTERED分屍〉」，美國(2015)、「德國斯圖加特國際動畫影展 - 恐懼動畫之夜-特別放映企劃 - 第二十六屆」 德國 (2014)、 「東京國際短片節Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia」，東京，日本 (2014)、「第七屆亞太當代藝術三年展-APT7 Cinema」，澳洲電影館，昆士蘭現代美術館，澳洲 (2012)、「德國柏林短片節」，柏林，德國 (2011)
獲獎：「第四屆 華宇青年獎」提名 (2016)、「天美藝術基金會-台灣當代藝術家海外參訪計畫」獲選威尼斯雙年展海外參訪 (2015)、「2015 MIT 臺北國際藝術博覽會」-新人推薦特區獲選 (2015)、「2014 世安美學獎」造型藝術創作類」(2015)、「第37屆 金穗獎」(2015) 、「第七屆 臺北數位藝術獎」不分類首獎 (2012)
典藏：國立台灣美術館新媒體藝術類永久典藏、台灣藝術銀行購藏、台灣、日本、泰國等私人收藏

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