如 果 不 再

I   獵奇之眼

如果不再在街上拉屎﹐不再把自己關在籠子或房子外長達一年﹐如果不再以鉤穿刺自己皮膚懸吊半空中﹐如果不再吃自己孩子的胚胎﹐如果不再…不再﹐嗯﹐驚世駭俗﹐不再搞怪﹐不再令人作嘔﹐瞠目結舌﹐那麼行為還能何以為是？

行為當驚世駭俗？當搞怪？當抗爭？當令人瞠目結舌？這些是行為裡的「政治正確性」嗎？若然﹐那麼行為領域裡是不是也存有某種霸權了呢？

如果這世上沒了火山爆發﹐洪氾﹐地震﹐土石流…難道就沒有其他可觀之處嗎？

會不會其實再怎麼「溫和」的行為﹐可能都存有某種洶湧﹐某種對抗﹐在某個角落裡。當畢卡索不驚不奇安靜地在畫室裡作畫時﹐他帶來的是不是繪畫史上的巨大革命﹐而我的包裹全身﹐是不是得付出代價：獨自面對自己的密室空間恐懼症…

會不會除了驚駭怪異抗爭洶湧…﹐行為也可以表現千千百百個別的東西…也許雋永如詩﹐也許讓人發噱﹐也許如禪家般苦行修身…就像所有其他藝術類別一樣﹐行為也可以有無限發展空間與方向﹐並且有其自身歷史脈絡流變。

之所以﹐不能只以獵奇之眼來看行為。

II  是藝術不是技術

「我是做藝術的。」

「哦﹐是哪一種藝術？」

「行為藝術﹐」

？？？？？？？？？？？？對方臉上佈滿這個符號。

「也可以說是表演藝術。」

「表演…嗯﹐是戲劇？舞蹈？音樂？…」

這是我常遇到的情況﹐此外我也常要面對劇場人士的質疑與「失望」：如此之粗糙﹐不精準﹐不專業﹐沒技術…何藝術之有？2008年我到以色列參展時﹐有30年現場行為經驗的Tamar Raban也提到這一點﹐原來這是全世界做行為的都要面對的這樣一個似是而非的極端詰問！有趣的是﹐在同一個活動中﹐我聽到一位來自中國大陸的行為藝術家的另一極端說法﹐那是在耶路撒冷﹐他巧遇一位中國人﹐在市集裡演奏古箏﹐觀眾在他面前碗裡投了一些錢﹐他在我面前酸說：「唉﹐行為是賺不了錢的﹐誰叫我們愛的是藝術﹐而不是技術！」

這表演光譜上的兩極看法說明行為與其他類別的表演藝術（包含劇場）甚或視覺藝術之間的距離有多大！雖然行到光譜中間﹐行為與其他表演或視覺藝術其實多有交疊演譯。無論如何﹐行為既前衛又邊緣﹐論述極少﹐報章上更常以有色偏頗眼光來報導﹐所以世人多半不得其門而入﹐常會以既有的觀看表演/作品慣習來看待評斷行為﹐自然是緣木求魚﹐對行為以及行為藝術家不免有失公允。

基於此﹐特別收錄Marilyn Arsem在台東大學的精采演說《劇場與行為》一篇﹐以期釐清行為與劇場之同異處。

III   請到現場來

這是一本記錄2009年發生在台灣台北﹐台東﹐台南的四場戶外長時現場行為活動﹐以及高雄一場室內集體現場行為實驗的書﹐活動名為「在路上：2009阿川國際行為藝術交流展」。

請記住﹐這是一本記錄﹐而非活動或是作品本身。

現場行為表演的生命在行為發生的過程當中﹐當行為結束時﹐整個作品的生命也跟著告終。在行為現場﹐藝術家與觀者共同經歷了作品的生與死！所有事後的紀錄：照片﹐錄像﹐文章﹐文件展…都無法百分之百的重現行為發生時的「現場」…也許百分之三十都不到…所以根據事後的紀錄來評斷一個現場行為好不好是十分危險的事。因為好的現場行為作品﹐拍（照）起來不一定好看﹐描述起來不一定生動有趣；相對地﹐拍起來好看﹐或描述起來奕奕如生的作品﹐也不一定是一個好的現場行為。推到極點﹐現場行為表演與事後記錄/口述/展覽甚至可以是完全不同的專業。最可靠的方法還是：請到現場來！

這是一本活動紀錄﹐但它不只記錄過去﹐它同時也看向未來﹐一個新生命：我們可以在藝術家爬梳說明自己作品的文字當中﹐看到每一位藝術家的創作路逕是如此迴異多彩…可不可能為台灣藝術論述帶來一種清新的視野與語彙﹐甚至新美學？我們深深期待。（葉 子 啟）

（原文刊載於  《在路上：阿川國際行為藝術交流展》記錄手冊

                             台南：阿川行為群  2010/10/31）  

If   No   More                 Yeh  Tzu-chi 

I  Eyes for Strangeness

If you don’t shit on the street, cage yourself or stay out of any building as long as one year, kneel and hang yourself in the air, eat your own fetis…. If you don’t…well, don’t do anything horrible, strange, astonishing, or disgusting, what else can you do with performance art?

Should performance art be horrible, strange, astonishing, or disgusting? Should it fight against somebody or something?  Are these the “political correctness” in performance art?  If they are, then isn’t it referring to an existence of hegemony in this field?

If there were not volcano explosion, flood, earthquake, or mood flood any more, would there be nothing left to see on this planet?

Could it be possible that there is always some sort of turbulence and revolt in some small unnoticed corners?  Isn’t that Picasso brought a giant revolution in the history of paintings when he painted quietly and unsurprisingly in his studio?  And haven’t I faced my own claustrophobia when I enveloped my whole body with that giant heavy god-damned black cloth?

Could it be possible that performance art can show hundreds of thousands of other factors than just frightening, astonishment, revolt, anger or turbulence?  Could it be otherwise poetic, funny, or full of the spirit of zen, etc.……. Just like all the other art categories, performance art can have boundless space and orientation to develop and form its own specific traits of history.

That’s why one can’t see performance art only with the eyes for strangeness. 

II  It’s art, not skill

“I do art.”

“Oh… What kind of art?”

“Performance art.”

???????????????????  That’s the mark full in the face of the inquirer.

“Well, it’s a kind of performance.”

“ Performance?  Mmmm.  Theatre? Dancing? Or Music?”

That’s usually the case I met.  I also have to face from time to time the doubt and “disappointments” from the theatre people: so rough, so un-precise, and unskilled….. How can you call it art?  Surprisingly, when I joined a performance art event in Israel in 2008, Tamar Raban, who has been doing performance for 30 years, also mentioned this kind of accusation from the theatre people in her country.  So is this the utmost doubt for every performance artist to face around the world?  However, in the same event, I heard another extreme viewpoint from a Chinese artist.  He came across another Chinese man playing zheng, an old Chinese instrument, in one of the busy streets of Jerusalem.  Before the man, there was a bowl with coins inside.  In other words, that street musician made money with his art, which never happens to most of us, live performance artists.  I remembered how cynical he was when he said “Performance art can’t make money.  We deserve it, for we love art, not skills!” 

These two opposite perspectives on the spectrum of performance explain how far it is between performance art and other categories of performance/art, among which theatre included!  It doesn’t blur the fact, though, that performance art indeed overlaps with other types of performances and visual arts when coming to the middle of the spectrum.  Yet perhaps because performance art is always both avant-garde and marginal, there are so little discourses about it and even worse the reports on the newspapers are often sensational slanted.  It’s no wonder that most people don’t know how to see/appreciate the so-called live performance.  They often see and judge it with the habit of watching a theatre or a visual art piece.  The result is just like what Chinese people would say to catch fish by climbing a tree.  It seems quite unfair to this art form and the artists who devote their life and passion to it.

The Lecture on Theatre and Performance Art by Marilyn Arsem in Taidung University is thus included here to clarify the similarities and differences between theatre and performance art. 

III  Please Come to the Scene

This is a documentary of ON THE WAY: 2009 artrend international performance art meeting.  It documents durational performances in Taipei, Taidung, and Tainan, together with an indoor group performance in Kaohsiung.

Please remember that this is a documentary, not the event itself or the original works that happened in the event.

Live performance lives in the process of performing/happening.  It dies at the very moment that it comes to the end.  The artists and the spectators co-experience the life and death of the works on the very scene/spot of the live performance.  All the documentaries: photos, videos, writings, exhibitions afterwards, etc. can never fully restore the scene itself, not even to the 30% of it, perhaps.  It’s therefore very dangerous to judge if a performance is good or bad according to the documentation afterwards, because a good performance does not necessarily look “good” on a photo or sound “good” by a description/narration; and vice versa.  We can even say that live performance and documentation/exhibition afterwards may be two different disciplines.  The most dependable way would be: please come to the scene!  

Yes, this is a catalogue documenting an event of the past, but we hope it also looks toward the future, a new life.  By reading what the artists wrote about their own works, one can see how various the routes of creating performance can be.  Could it be possible to bring a new perspective and vocabulary, or even a new aesthetic, to Taiwan’s art practice, discourse and research?  Heartily we hope so. 

(originally published in  the documentary catalog of On The Way: ArTrend International Peformance Art Meeting    Tainan, 2010)