變形的變形
Carlos Amorales (NetherlandsMexico)
卡夫卡最著名的文學(xué)作品《變形記》（出版于1915年），講述了一位旅行推銷員格里高爾•薩姆沙在某天醒來的時(shí)候突然發(fā)現(xiàn)自己變成了一只“昆蟲”。當(dāng)然，就他到底變成了一只什么樣的昆蟲還存在一些爭(zhēng)論。《變形記》是在德國(guó)中部創(chuàng)作的，在原文中，作者把薩姆沙的非人變?nèi)莘Q為“ungeziefer（害蟲）”。盡管這個(gè)詞被英譯為“vermin（害蟲）”，這個(gè)詞既可以指嚙齒動(dòng)物（rodent），也可以指甲蟲（bug）。20世紀(jì)早期的一些資料將“ungeziefer”定義為：一種不潔的、不適合作為祭品的動(dòng)物（unclean animal not suitable for sacrifice）。卡夫卡認(rèn)為，“昆蟲（insect）”這個(gè)詞（在英譯本的《變形記》中，該詞隨處可見）能夠避免人們的想象僅僅停留在那只蟲子上，因?yàn)樗Ｍ哪莻€(gè)生物是無(wú)法對(duì)其進(jìn)行分門別類的、不可名狀的一種東西，從而讓讀者想象主人公變?nèi)莸目刹馈?/p>
小說的開篇就展示了薩姆沙窘境：當(dāng)他醒來的時(shí)候，想繼續(xù)睡去，但突然發(fā)覺自己動(dòng)身不得。因?yàn)樗纳眢w已經(jīng)變形，只能仰面躺在床上，看著自己“蹬空的小腿兒”那毛骨悚然的樣子?？ǚ蚩ㄓ昧诉@樣一個(gè)開放式的比喻，讓讀者自己想象變形的樣子，當(dāng)薩姆沙的可悲狀態(tài)的形象被內(nèi)化的時(shí)候，讀者就能切身體會(huì)到這種狀態(tài)。關(guān)于這部小說的另外一個(gè)層面也就是通常對(duì)于卡夫卡這部杰作的一貫討論，即認(rèn)為它具有最初的存在主義特征，用蟲子比喻資本主義工業(yè)社會(huì)中的個(gè)人異化，以及一戰(zhàn)后，隨著更新、更大規(guī)模的屠殺方式的出現(xiàn)而積淀下來的集體性焦慮。其中，存在主義的特征體現(xiàn)在作品主人公，這位旅行推銷員的平凡職業(yè)上，以及這種職業(yè)令人想到的陰謀詭計(jì)。另外，作品的中心角色——那只異形——也引起了很多討論：從人到甲蟲的這種可怖變?nèi)菖c化學(xué)藥品引起的對(duì)基因變異的恐懼相吻合。
本次展覽也定名為“變形記”，將卡夫卡的潛臺(tái)詞用作了試金石，尤其是指薩姆沙變?nèi)莸哪：?。如果說原文對(duì)于薩姆沙到底變成了什么——甲蟲、昆蟲、害蟲，隨讀者的想象——含糊不清，那么，我們就能將這種模糊性作為敘事的契機(jī)?！蹲冃斡洝返淖冃我蛩匾苍谟诓煌x者對(duì)其意義的解讀可謂是仁者見仁智者見智。就像卡夫卡所影射的那樣，每個(gè)人都有自己所怕的終生難逃的地獄。如此說來，卡夫卡的小說毫無(wú)疑問也是關(guān)于他者的，也就是說醒來之后突然發(fā)現(xiàn)自己變得丑陋可鄙。因此，也正是在這個(gè)意義上，卡夫卡的這部精彩的小說超越了其歷史語(yǔ)境。當(dāng)然，卡夫卡的其他小說，比如《審判》（1925年）也是如此。這部小說不僅是講一個(gè)人由于某種不知名的罪遭到了發(fā)瘋的匿名權(quán)威的指控，而且也是一種詩(shī)意的，但卻晦暗的評(píng)論，這種評(píng)論指向當(dāng)時(shí)的權(quán)力濫用，而這種現(xiàn)象卻一直延續(xù)至今。“變形記”展覽將卡夫卡式的夢(mèng)魘帶入了當(dāng)代語(yǔ)境之中，表達(dá)了變化無(wú)常的污濁環(huán)境對(duì)生存的影響、全球化帶來的變動(dòng)不居的文化人口狀況，以及變化的、流動(dòng)的、破碎的、不穩(wěn)定的、不統(tǒng)一的身份認(rèn)同引起的心理不安。比如環(huán)境由于工業(yè)和技術(shù)的無(wú)節(jié)制采用而變形，并威脅到了所有人的生存狀態(tài)。同樣，不斷異質(zhì)的地理文化空間也通過移民現(xiàn)象改變著，因此民族、種族，甚至個(gè)人的概念也發(fā)生了變化。另外，隨著科學(xué)和醫(yī)療技術(shù)的進(jìn)步，人類的身體也發(fā)生了物理性的變形，按照笛卡爾的心靈/身體辯證法來看，變形的不僅是身體，也是精神。
本次展覽上的藝術(shù)家以其獨(dú)特的方式展現(xiàn)了展覽的變形主題，比如奧里特•阿瑟瑞將自己打扮成一個(gè)正統(tǒng)哈西迪教徒。她的兩件相關(guān)作品就強(qiáng)調(diào)了這一點(diǎn)，其中的一件是名為《作為馬科斯•費(fèi)希爾的自畫像》（2000）的系列肖像作品。其中，阿瑟瑞的易裝不僅是逾越了性別的界限，也逾越了文化和宗教的界限。這些肖像作品所表現(xiàn)的人物都是冷漠的，能夠給人一種私密的感覺：其中的一幅表現(xiàn)了吸著煙的馬科斯隨意地坐在椅子上。另一幅表現(xiàn)了他背對(duì)著觀眾，展示了他的禿后腦勺。還有一幅肖像攝影，其中他的頭型非常古怪——修剪成了包括大衛(wèi)王之星（the Star of David）在內(nèi)的幾個(gè)符號(hào)。在這個(gè)系列中，最引人注目的是表現(xiàn)馬科斯迷惑不解的那幅，他手里托著一個(gè)從板正的白色帶扣襯衫中露出的女性乳房。與這些攝影作品相關(guān)的一部名為《與男人共舞》（2003）的動(dòng)態(tài)影像作品中，阿瑟瑞讓馬科斯的行動(dòng)超出了展覽空間，進(jìn)入了真實(shí)的世界。因?yàn)榘⑸鸩粌H變?nèi)?，而且還扮演了民族志學(xué)者（ethnographer）的角色，因?yàn)樗龓ьI(lǐng)我們進(jìn)入了不允許女人和外人參加的以色列哈西德派宗教節(jié)。艾麗卡•哈利舍通過自然的而非文化的作品也表達(dá)了對(duì)于性別的社會(huì)建構(gòu)問題的關(guān)注。她將蝴蝶和女性生殖器拼合起來，以此反應(yīng)了變形的主題。她現(xiàn)在的作品是將蝴蝶照片和來自此種蝴蝶產(chǎn)地的女性的生殖器拼接起來。藝術(shù)家將霸王蝶和墨西哥女性生殖器拼接起來，并且采用了該品種的蝴蝶從北美到墨西哥的遷徙路線作為背景，這就讓本已具有政治色彩的作品更加政治化了。移民問題與非法移民問題相交織。通過女性生殖器暗示出來的身體變成了家長(zhǎng)制政治的戰(zhàn)場(chǎng)，在美國(guó)仇外心理的區(qū)域內(nèi)進(jìn)行著。這種人與動(dòng)物的組合也內(nèi)在于加布里埃爾德拉莫拉的作品中——他將自己的頭像與狗的身體組合起來。但是，構(gòu)成他作品圖像的能指是用人的頭發(fā)構(gòu)成的，以此，對(duì)人類用自己的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)附會(huì)動(dòng)物的需要進(jìn)行了優(yōu)雅但卻具有顛覆性的評(píng)論。
人與動(dòng)物的辨證關(guān)系在其他作品中也有體現(xiàn)，并且進(jìn)行了更為內(nèi)在的表達(dá)。比如米格爾•安吉爾•雷奧斯的影像作品《阿根廷牛肉卷》（2008）便是如此。作品中的那位舞者融合了多種舞蹈?jìng)鹘y(tǒng)，比如西班牙弗拉明戈、阿根廷舞。他手里拿著阿根廷加烏喬牧人的傳統(tǒng)武器——套索（boleador）。這種武器是投擲使用的，使用者先將這個(gè)栓在繩子末端的鐵球擺動(dòng)起來，然后再突然投出去。而雷奧斯則對(duì)這種致命的武器進(jìn)行了改換，他把鐵球換成了一塊肉。這樣，當(dāng)舞者踩著舞步，悠蕩著這個(gè)套索的時(shí)候，那些狗就會(huì)發(fā)瘋似地追著咬。變形的主題就體現(xiàn)在踩著節(jié)奏的舞者和惡狗之間的互動(dòng)中。這種富有詩(shī)意的互動(dòng)和那種動(dòng)態(tài)的、雕琢的完形心理（gestalt）是一脈相承的。犬與擬人化也是卡洛斯•阿莫拉雷斯的作品《人獸》（2005）的主題。這部高清晰黑白動(dòng)畫向人們展現(xiàn)了一幅世界末日的場(chǎng)面，狼與狗統(tǒng)治了大都市，其中人類活動(dòng)的唯一殘跡就是邊上噴氣式飛機(jī)留下的影子，它仿佛是一個(gè)機(jī)械幽靈一般。
比爾•貝里的《自畫像》（2006）也體現(xiàn)了幽靈意味。藝術(shù)家的頭被塞進(jìn)一只筒瓦，使該作品具有施虐受虐的意味。艾瑪•麥克凱格的繪畫與玄武夸的攝影作品也體現(xiàn)了軀體變形的主題。前者的作品表現(xiàn)了小女孩兒的頭部被移植到了性感的成人身體上，喚起了人們對(duì)于兒童早熟的焦慮。而玄武夸則在自己鮮艷的大幅作品中探討了美與死亡、愛神與死神的社會(huì)性符碼。其他藝術(shù)家，如克萊文森•德奧利維拉借用了曼雷的《眼淚》（1930-32）以及喬治•巴塔耶的代表作《眼睛的故事》（1928）所做的作品。歷史也是薩維與保羅•斯坦尼卡斯的裝置作品《瑪格達(dá)•戈培爾，骨頭女王》（2009）的形式與觀念基礎(chǔ)。斯坦尼卡斯的裝置介于檔案、考古、狂歡節(jié)、歌劇與偵探小說之間，必定是經(jīng)過了深思熟慮的精心制作：墻紙、線條、紙本作品、雕塑和影像交織一處，讓人目不暇接，反映了戈培爾家族的女家長(zhǎng)，這位為了祖國(guó)吞噬了自己親生骨肉的納粹撒旦。回顧歷史也是畫家豪爾蓋•塔克勒創(chuàng)作的必要條件。他的作品在恢復(fù)歷史創(chuàng)傷的同時(shí)也將個(gè)別轉(zhuǎn)化為了一般。他的圖像來自于媒體資源，比如報(bào)道遭戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)或恐怖主義轟炸的城市的攝影期刊。他的圖像看上去模糊不清，令人想起了某些劇變事件。該藝術(shù)家將城市的美景挖空，而以千變?nèi)f化的建筑景觀取而代之。這樣，呈現(xiàn)在我們面前的便是滿眼創(chuàng)傷，無(wú)論是從精神上還是情感上都讓我們聯(lián)想到戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)的廢墟和政治、文化的沖突。沃基特克•烏爾里克名為《SCUM》（2007）的三頻影像裝置也以歷史為題材。這件作品既是原始主義的，也是未來主義的。其中一個(gè)孤單的主角在浩劫之后的廢棄地下室里徘徊，數(shù)著這里的居民：那些軟弱無(wú)力的、飽受折磨和摧殘的和不知姓名的犧牲者，和那些曾經(jīng)有權(quán)有勢(shì)的、作惡多端的人，正是他們制造了這種全面的非人狀態(tài)。
《變形記》展覽借用了卡夫卡的小說的外表，但卻挖掘了比這部小說更多的東西，超越了作者卡夫卡自己的矛盾生活。也就是說，卡夫卡是一個(gè)生活在奧匈帝國(guó)的捷克人，是同鄉(xiāng)人中會(huì)講德語(yǔ)的人，也是講德語(yǔ)的圈子中會(huì)講猶太語(yǔ)的人。他對(duì)猶太教也深表懷疑。如果將這些特質(zhì)綜合起來看待，我們就會(huì)理解為什么他看不起自己那卑微、平凡、而又帶有官僚氣息的職業(yè)了。簡(jiǎn)言之，卡夫卡的生活可比他的這部開創(chuàng)性的現(xiàn)代主義小說。而今天，這部文學(xué)作品必將對(duì)我們?cè)侔l(fā)新意，尤其是在二十一世紀(jì)另一個(gè)十年開始之際。因?yàn)?，毫無(wú)疑問這個(gè)時(shí)代也會(huì)經(jīng)歷自己的嬗變，從而走向充滿存在的不確定性的未來。
Miguel Angel Rios (Argentina)
The Meta, Metamorphosis
The Metamorphosis is possibly Franz Kafka’s most well known literary work. Published in 1915, the plot dovetails around a travelling salesman named Gregor Samsa who wakes up one day only to discover he has been transformed into an “insect.” There is a point of contention, however, as to what kind of creature he became. The Metamorphosis was written in Middle German, and ungeziefer is the word used to describe Samsa’s non-human transformation. Although the English translation is vermin and could broadly mean rodent as well as bug, the early twentieth-century source defines ungeziefer as “unclean animal not suitable for sacrifice.” Kafka thought the use of the word insect, which is ubiquitous in English versions of the book, would foreclose what the human imagination may concoct as to the entity referred to that gives The Metamorphosis its title. For its author wanted Samsa to morph into an indescribable bug without a distinct species, consequently allowing the reader to envision the horror as to what the protagonist turned into upon awakening?
At the story’s onset, the reader is immediately made aware of Samsa’s predicament; he awakes and tries to go back to sleep, but cannot do so because his newly configured body forces him to remain flat on his back all the while encumbered and mortified by the sight of his gruesome “little legs in the air.” Yet by using this open ended trope where liberty is given to the reader to individually visualize the resulting metamorphosis, an intimacy is created as the image of Samsa’s abject state becomes internalized. Another dimension to the story is the purported grander themes that run through Kafka’s masterpiece. Some have recognized it as being a proto-existential metaphor of individual alienation in a burgeoning industrial society, as well as encapsulating the collective anxiety felt from World War I with its newer and more efficient forms of mass killing. The former is underscored in Samsa’s rather banal occupation as salesman and the attendant, bureaucratic machinations germane to it. There is also much discussion as to the monstrous shape-shifting central to the narrative: does the mortifying mutation of human to bug pander to the fear of genetic aberration resulting from the use of chemical warfare?
The exhibition titled The Metamorphosis uses as touchstone Kafka’s myriad subtext; especially the amorphous nature as to what Samsa turned into. If the original text is unclear regarding what kind of creature Samsa became—be it bug, insect, vermin or whatever the reader imagines—then one could use this ambiguity as narrative linchpin. The transformative element of The Metamorphosis underscores how its meaning can be varied as are the people who read it. Everybody, as Kafka’s story alludes, has their own private hell that he or she is afraid of spending an eternity in. When viewed from this perspective, Kafka’s novella is also undoubtedly about the other; about waking up one day and discovering one has become what one finds disdainful, be it animal or human. It is in this sense that Kafka’s brilliant story transcends its historical context. This is also true for Kafka’s other literary works such as The Trial (1925), for example. This novel is not only about an individual being prosecuted for some unknown crime by an anonymous authority gone amok, but it is also a poetic, albeit dark commentary on societal abuse of power within Karka’s historical milieu that nonetheless remains topical today. The exhibition titled The Metamorphosis updates the Kafkaesque nightmare into a contemporary context by addressing, among other things, the effects of living in a protean, though unstable and polluted environment; an ever shifting cultural demographic triggered by globalization; as well as the psychological unease in acknowledging identity as malleable, fluid and fragmented rather than fixed, stable and unified. The landscape, for example, is increasingly under metamorphosis at the hands of abusive industries and technology resulting in potentially dire consequences for all; and this also holds true for accelerating heterogeneous geo-cultural spaces ostensibly altered via migration consequently rearranging notions of nationalism, ethnicity, and even the self as well. There are also questions of physical metamorphosis of humans via that advancement of science and medical technology that has allowed reconfiguration of body and ultimately of the psyche too, if one ascribes to Cartesian mind/body dialectic.
The artists in the exhibition engage the thematic of metamorphosis in unique and idiosyncratic ways including Oreet Ashery and her masquerading as an orthodox Hasidim. Two of her related works underscore this: one is a series of portraits titled Self Portrait as Marcus Fischer (2000) where Ashery is performing a kind of transvestitism that broaches not only gender categories, but also cultural and religious ones. The portraits are intimate as they are revelatory in their nonchalant demeanor: Marcus is seen smoking a cigarette while sitting casually in a chair; in another picture he is facing opposite the viewer exposing his bareback; in another photograph he is portrayed with a rather strange, buzzed haircut that has been manicured into symbols including the Star of David. The most visually arresting component to this series, however, is when Marcus looks bewildered upon discovering what he holds in his hand: a female breast protruding through his starchy, white, buttoned-down shirt. In Dancing with Men (2003), which is a video work related to the photographs, Ashery has extended Marcus’ activities beyond the exhibition space and into the real world. For Ashery not only dons her alter ego, but also plays the role of ethnographer as we accompany her into Hasidic festivals in Israel where women and outsiders are prohibited from participating. Similarly addressing questions of the social construction of gender, but through a framework of nature rather than culture are the works of Erika Harrsch. Harrsch engages the theme of metamorphosis by conflating a butterfly with female genitalia. Her ongoing project consists of photographing butterflies and the genitalia of women who also originate from the areas native to the butterflies’ species. The work is, however, already charged with political subtext, but this becomes more apparent when the artist conflates the monarch butterfly with a Mexican woman’s sex while using the backdrop of the monarch’s migratory patterns across North America to Mexico. Questions of migration morph into issues around illegal immigration; the body, here signified via female genitalia, becomes the battle ground of patriarchal politics played out across the register of American xenophobia. The convergence of the anthropomorphic and zoomorphic is also intrinsic to Gabriel de la Mora’s renditions of canines on which he has graphed his head onto their bodies. But the signifiers that constitute his iconography are built up from human hair creating an elegant, yet subversive commentary on the human need to anthropomorphize animals.
The dialectic of human and beast appears in other works as well yet can take more visceral articulations, as is the case with Miguel Angel Rios and his single-channel video piece titled Matambre (2008). This work consists of an individual dancer who incorporates a myriad of dance traditions including Spanish Flamenco, Argentine dance, and the traditional weaponry of the Argentine gaucho called boleador. The boleador is a type of weapon used in a sling-like fashion. It consists of steel balls that hang at the end of a rope, which is then swung and released. Rios has reworked this very deadly tool by replacing the steel balls with chunks of meat. As the dancer swings these around while violently kicking his heels in staccato tempo on the floor, dogs attack him in a frenzied attempt to eat the meat; metamorphosis, in this instance, concerns the poetic reciprocity between rhythmic dancer and frenetic state of the carnivorous canines that cohere into a kind of kinetic, sculptural gestalt. The canine and anthropomorphism are also a leitmotif in Carlos Amorales’ Manimal (2005) as well. Amorales’ high definition, black and white animation is set in an apocalyptic mise-en-scene where wolves or dogs seem to have taken over the metropolis; yet the only remnants of human activity are silhouetted jets that ominously taxi the tarmac like mechanical apparitions.
The phantasmal is also intrinsic to Bill Berry’s Self Portrait (2006); a work simply consisting of a cast of the artist’s face stuffed into a sock; a contemporary memento mori with subtext to sadomasochism. Somatic metamorphosis is what is also articulated in the paintings of Emma McCagg and the photographic work of Koh Sang Woo. The former consists of images of baby girls that have been transplanted onto promiscuous bodies of adults that bring to mind a plethora of anxieties about the eroticization of children. Koh, on the other hand, investigates the social codes of beauty and death, of Eros and Thanatos, in his lush, large-scale pictures. Other artists approach the fragmented body via history as is the case with Cleverson de Oliveira’s citation of Man Ray’s Tears (1930-32) and Georges Bataille’s banned text Histoire de l'oeil [Story of the Eye] (1928). History is also the formal and conceptual ground zero of Svai and Paul Stanikas’ installation titled Magda Goebells, Queen of Bones (2009). Existing somewhere between the archive, archaeology, the carnival, opera and the detective novel, Stanikas’ installation is a tour de force: wallpaper, fine line drawing, works-on-paper, sculpture and video all mesh into a breathtaking spin on the Goebells family whose matriarch was a female Nazi Saturn who devoured her children for the Fatherland. The revisiting of history has also been the sine qua non of the painter Jorge Tacla. His works recover historical trauma while universalizing the particular. His iconography is culled from media sources including photojournalism of bombed out cities ravaged by war or terrorism. There is, however, nothing transparent about his methodology: for Tacla empties the content of his beautiful cityscapes and presents us something akin to architectural phantasmagoria. In doing so, we are left with traumatic vistas brimming with the detritus of military, political and cultural conflict. The past is also intrinsic to Wojtek Ulrich’s three-channel video installation titled SCUM (2007). SCUM is a primal yet concomitantly futuristic work in which a lone protagonist wanders through a post-apocalyptic underground labyrinthine wasteland as he encounters its naked denizens: the infirmed, the tortured, and the victimized as well as the unknown, authoritarian perpetrators responsible for what appears to be total, systemic dehumanization.
The Metamorphosis uses as foil aspects of Franz Kafka’s story; but the exhibition not only mines Kafka’s work as it also draws from the author’s own conflicted biography, however subliminally it may appear in the tale of Gregor Samsa. That is to say, Kafka was a Czech in the Austro-Hungarian Empire; a speaker of German amongst his countrymen and a Jew amongst German-speakers; he was also skeptical of Judaism. Compounding these idiosyncrasies was his disdain for his menial and banal, bureaucratic vocation. In short, Kafka’s life was somewhat analogous to the narrative of his groundbreaking, modernist novella; a work of literature that will continue to speak to as anew; especially now as a new decade begins in the twenty first century, an era that without a doubt will undergo its own metamorphosis to a future of exceedingly existential uncertainty.
【編輯：張瑜】
