藝窩瘋記錄手冊 前言

出身中國大陸﹐旅居德國﹐美國多年後﹐今落腳於新加坡大學任教﹐並於杭州中國美院攻讀博士的行為藝術家蔡青﹐將於八月偕妻返回台中渡假﹐七月初我收到他的電郵詢問可不可能在八月底他離台前在台南一起做個行為。我和蔡青相識於印尼的行為藝術活動中﹐他對行為的熱情遠高於我﹐行進坐臥間想的都是這玩意兒﹐而且主動出擊尋求做作品的機會﹐此次他找我便是一例。相較於他﹐我真是疏懶太多…

他積極﹐我被動。他節奏快﹐我緩慢。他雲遊四海﹐我執著一地。差很大。但是我願意呼應他的召喚﹐放下自己的習性與該是全然放鬆休息的空檔期間﹐為共同的志趣再次全力以赴。

令我十分感動的是﹐幾位年輕的本土藝術家也願意放下自己手邊的工作﹐前來參與我們迫在眉捷的活動。而且我屬意的「IN ART加力」畫廊﹐也竟剛好有一個空檔可以配合我們的時間﹐提供場地﹐真是銘感於心。 

然後便是命題了。該為此次活動取名為何？傷透腦筋﹐許多像樣不像樣的名號指間流過﹐就在幾乎被亂碼攻克﹐即將當機彌留之際﹐突然亮出三個字—藝窩瘋！！！想想﹐這幾年﹐國內外現場行為/表演藝術的確有愈來愈興盛的態勢﹐去年巡迴台北﹐台東﹐高雄﹐台南「在路上國際行為藝術交流展」時﹐更讓我看到現場行為表演對青年學子產生的莫大魅力。那麼就在極有可能的「一窩蜂」來到之前（可能嗎？不可能嗎？你是在自我陶醉/催眠吧！好吧﹐就算是吧）﹐何妨先讓我們「藝窩瘋」一下呢？！ 

此次策展主軸在於藝術家先個別後集體﹐亦即活動初始由藝術家們同時但個別在展場裡或周邊街廓盤據一方進行個人作品﹐然後漸次回返至展場融入集體行為﹐與其他藝術家/作品/物件/觀眾/空間/環境…產生關聯互動﹐可集體可個別﹐可深陷可抽離﹐可凝具可崩散﹐在行為表演現場形成一股由不同意識或潛意識或無意識構成的（趨）動能﹐往一個無法預知﹐無以名狀﹐但精彩可期的某種發生/總體表演樣貌走去… 

這對藝術家是一個艱難挑戰﹐他必須要在無數個當下出招/拆招或是結構/解構；對觀眾也是一個挑戰﹐他將沒有一張固定舒服的椅子可坐﹐沒有一個清晰感人的故事/文本/敘述可以遵循﹐他必須在空間裡隨藝術家遊移不定﹐在觀看的過程裡陪同藝術家不斷感知一切立即的發生：現場的氛圍﹐溫度﹐空氣﹐光影﹐同情﹐意義﹐反思﹐疑問﹐抗頡﹐療癒﹐幽默﹐諷刺﹐理性﹐感性… 

於是﹐「藝窩瘋」將如「阿川行為群」一直以來的策展風格﹐尋求實驗當代現場行為表演可以往未知發展/探究到何等境地…是關心當代前衛藝術者﹐與視覺藝術和表演藝術相關科系師生所不能錯過的一場夏日表演盛事。

葉子啟  〈前言〉﹐《藝窩瘋記錄手冊》﹐ 阿川行為群﹐2013
 

 

Preface, Catalogue of A(rt) Nest of Nuts

                                        

In early July, I received an e-mail from Cai Qing, a friend I met in a performance art event in Indonesia.  He was coming to Taiwan for a holiday with his wife and asked if he could do something with me before he left in the end of August.  Cai Qing, born in China and living for a long time in Germany and USA, is now teaching in Singapore and undergoes his PhD program in Hang Zhou, China.  He is much more passionate for performance art than me.  He thinks about it everywhere and every minute.  Compare to him, I am really too lazy…..

He is active, and I am passive. He is fast, and I am slow.  He roams and lives everywhere, and I persist in one place.  We are so different.  But I am willing to echo his call, laying down my habit and my relax time, to work for our common interest.  

What touched me is that some young local artists are also willing to stop their own works to join us.  And luckily enough, In Art Gallery which I would like to have the event happens to be free at the time we pick and is therefore able to offer us the venue.  I couldn’t be more appreciative for all of these. 

Then is the problem of naming.  What should we name this event?  I spent a lot of time thinking about it.  Many proper and improper names flew among my fingers.  When I almost broke down by all the wrong codes in my head, three words suddenly showed and sparkled in my mind: Yi Wo Fong ( 藝窩瘋 ).  That’s it!  I recalled in recent years performance art has been more and more popular domestically as well as internationally.  Yi Wo Fong is originally 一窩蜂 ( a nest of bees) in Chinese, connoting the phenomenon that people swarm in doing something in a short period of time.  But it can also be a pun of 藝窩瘋 ( art nest of nuts/crazy guys ), which seems fit to our coming event with group performance as a key form. 

In Yi Wo Fong, artists will do solo performance first.  They can do it inside or outside of the gallery simultaneously, after which they come back to the main venue, the 1^st floor of gallery, and do the group performance.  Their performance will correlate with other artists/objects/audience/space/environment, etc.  They can form a group, or do a solo; deep involve with others, or evacuate from it; can highly concentrate, or fall apart as they will.  A kinetic impulse is expected to form on the spot of live performance by different consciousness, sub-consciousness, or non-consciousness and lead them to an unpredictable and unnamed, but adorable total happenings/performance….. 

It’s going to be a tough challenge for the artists.  They have to figure out what to do/what not to do, or construct/deconstruct at numerous immediate moments.  It’s also a challenge to the audience.  They will have no comfortable chairs to sit, and no touching plot/story/text/narration to follow.  Instead, they have to follow and move with the artists all the time.   And what’s more, in the process of watching the performance, they have to constantly feel and perceive like the artists do about what happen on the spot: the atmosphere, temperature, air, light, compassion, meanings, reflection, doubt, revolt, therapy, humor, irony, rationality, emotion… 

Thus, Yi Wo Fong will follow the style of events that ArTrend Performance Group has organized before, looking for how far contemporary experimental live performance can go.  It’s definitely a summer event that can’t be missed by those who concern contemporary avant-garde art and the teachers and students of visual art or performance art co-related fields. (by Yeh Tzu-Chi)

'Preface,'   Catalogue of A(rt) Nest of Nuts, by Yeh Tzu-Chi, ArTrend Performance Group, Taiwan, 2013