GALLERY

2023.10.16

在十年的冒險中, 勇者欣梅爾和他的夥伴成功擊敗了魔王。然而,當他在數十年後去世時,他的精靈夥伴芙莉蓮依然活著,帶著一位年輕的徒弟穿越了森林。這片森林裡的魔物會讓人看到他們珍愛的人的幻影。

芙莉蓮自言自語著:“這次是欣梅爾啊,我還以為又會是師父呢。這表示我或多或少有些變了吧?”

欣梅爾的幻影對她淺笑道:“芙莉蓮,動手。”

“沒錯,欣梅爾一定會這麼說的。”她的魔法轟然響起,半片森林,連同魔物,都被消滅殆盡。

——《葬送的芙莉蓮》
In the course of a decade-long odyssey, the valiant hero, Himmel, and his companions achieved the triumphant defeat of the malevolent demon lord. Yet, decades later, when he departed this world, his elven adventure partner, Frieren, still walked among the living. She journeyed forth with a youthful apprentice through the depths of a forest shrouded in mystery, where spectral apparitions of their cherished ones would materialize.

Frieren muttered to herself, "This time, it's Himmel. I had thought it might be my mentor once more. Does this signify that I have changed, to some extent or another?"

The phantom of Himmel responded with a gentle smile, "Frieren, do it."

"Indeed, Himmel would surely say just that." Her magic resounded with thunderous power, obliterating half the forest and its malevolent denizens.

— "Frieren, the Final Farewell to the Dead"

***

遺忘的能力。

記憶的能力。

列車穿越富山的舊站,窗櫺已經老舊脫漆,夜晚降臨,車門打開,車廂內空無一人。不知道有什麼東西上了車。

不知道下了車的妳回到的家是否依然如常。而我們的列車在妳漆黑的玻璃上閃爍,宛如游魚的光芒。

如常。

押井守的大樓鏡面,今敏的電車側影……也許就是這樣的景象。

時代的鏡面,地區的側寫。

我想到我們聊美國RKO黑色電影是如何折射哥德並反映出美國特色的精神:逃避與屈從於一個「它」(群體的壞毀性、遙遠的戰場而「戰爭」卻無所不在),但不逃避不行,不逃避等同死亡。而我是這麼聯想到折射著巴塔耶的丸尾末廣:巴塔耶的「父親作為怪異的權威」(因為是廢人卻更顯權威),在丸尾末廣筆觸下成為一種頗具民族性和歷史陰影的被動攻擊精神酷烈性,潔癖與污穢混為一談(塞糞給純真絕美少年少女,但糞的線條再軟爛汙臭也有其銳利和太過象徵性的表現力)。那,「我們」呢?我們的「現在」呢?

游魚閃爍的頃刻,「時代精神」與對現下的疑問點綴如鱗片。

在各個娛樂或藝術領域中越來越頻繁的時間迴圈……那些需要重新誕生的理由……當人類時間和生命第一次親密地疊合,到與時間疊合的生活被時間侵蝕,過了多久?

生命像在軌道上擦出火花般的刺耳。或是激情:激越,對抗,幻滅,被剝奪。宛如(最早的)哥德式的,屈服於一種新的自然。但所有所有都來得更快。

而遠離都市、社群、和這些所付出的代價,葬送時間摩擦出的火花的代價,就是活在精靈芙莉蓮那樣的尺規吧。

The power to forget. The power to remember.

As the train traversed the antiquated stations of Toyama, its weathered windows peeling with age, night descended, and the carriage stood empty. Uncertainty crept in – what had boarded the train, and did your home, once you disembarked, remain as it always was? Our train shimmered on your opaque glass, akin to the glimmer of fish darting through water.

As usual. The reflective architecture of Mamoru Oshii, the silhouette of Satoshi Kon's trains, perhaps this is the scene: a mirror of the era, a portrayal of the region.

It brought to mind how we discussed American film noir, how it refracted the Gothic and reflected the distinctive spirit of America: escapism and submission to an "it" (the destructive force of the masses, distant battlefields yet omnipresent warfare), for not escaping was akin to death. And I thought of how, in the hands of Maruo Suehiro, it became a passive assault of intense national character and historical shadows, where cleanliness and filth coalesced (feeding filth to innocent, exquisitely beautiful youths, with even the most grotesque and putrid of substances displaying its sharp, excessively symbolic potency). So, what about "us"? What about our "now"?

In the fleeting moments of the fish's shimmer, the zeitgeist and the questions of the present adorned themselves like scales.

In the increasingly frequent time loops across various fields of entertainment and art... the reasons that require rebirth... How long has it been from the first intimate intertwining of human time and life until our lives, entwined with time, have been eroded by time itself?

Life, like a spark struck on a rail, resounded jarringly. Or perhaps, it was passion: intense, combative, disillusioned, deprived. It was as if (the earliest) Gothic surrendered to a new nature. But everything, absolutely everything, happened much more quickly.

And the cost of distancing oneself from the city, from the community, and bidding farewell to the sparks created by the friction of time, was to live on a scale akin to that of the elven Frieren.

***

傾,刻
Go/Between

***

我想起清水崇的新作。他執著地重複「記憶-體」作為硬碟、網路技術、怪談、鬼魅等各種載體,重複到一種無聊又無法深思的美麗:潮濕如海浪與風的記憶,奇怪地被數位空間複製,讓集體的陰影如病毒世代潛伏下去。

夏已過站。夜幕藍沈沈的,酸楚而隱密的煩憂,彷彿都不復存在。

於是,車子有著星際戰艦的儀表板,3D建模和攝影術的差異讓人們反思影像的本質,曾經名人展覽館和墓誌銘已經成為 IG;我們目送朋友們像星星一樣遠去,同時感恩人事物被我們消化,並希望自己的文字也能被消化,餵養 AI 和你們,成為美麗又成熟的怪獸。血緣變得稀薄,但整體人類變得更加親暱。那是在遙遠如宇宙尺規的行旅。

I'm reminded of Takashi Shimizu's new work. He persistently repeats the concept of "memory-body" as a medium encompassing hard drives, internet technology, ghost stories, and various carriers, repeating it to a point of a beautiful yet thoughtless monotony: the memories, moist like ocean waves and winds, strangely replicated in digital spaces, allowing the collective shadows to lurk like a viral generation.

Summer has passed its station. The night is deep blue, filled with a hidden melancholy that seems to have vanished.

And so, our cars have dashboards like interstellar spaceships, the differences between 3D modeling and photography make us reflect on the essence of images, places once famous exhibition halls and tombstones have become Instagram posts. We watch our friends fade into the distance like stars, all the while grateful for the things and people we've digested and hoping that our words can be digested too, feeding AI and you all, becoming beautiful and mature monsters. Blood ties have thinned, but humanity as a whole has grown more intimate. A journey on a scale as vast as the cosmos.

Location/ Toyama. Tadeyama. Kanazawa.
Photo Credit/ A.D.S.
Words and edit/ Han Tien