Microsoft Word - Tuo Wang interview.docx

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1 Tuo Wang s Project Vanitas- A Study for Human Opera By Chelsea Liu Vanitas Real and Natural, single-channel HD video (b/w, sound), 8'30", 2014

2 Still from Vanitas Death of A Naturalist, single- channel HD video (b/w, sound, loop), 7 33, 2014 In Brecht on Theatre, Bertolt Brecht believes that when taking an incident or a character from the situation of which makes it obvious, familiar or readily understandable, then the wonderment and curiosity of audiences are created. He calls this the Verfremdungseffekt (alienation effect). Phryne revealed before the Areopagus, byline of Joseph, 2014, photograph, 23.4 x 16.5 inches

3 Tuo Wang s recent project Vanitas- A Study for Human Opera ( ) is founded on Brecht s alienation effect, combining with his knowledge and understanding of literature, unifying an interdisciplinary work with multiple layers of narration. Wang transformed two European fictions in the 19 th century Effi Briest (a realist novel by Theodore Fontane, ) and Thérèse Raquin (a naturalist novel by Émile Zola, 1867) and placed them into a contemporary social context. By changing the time and space in which the original stories occur, Vanitas alienates the audiences from their existing knowledge and entrust the stories with new significance. Brecht s dramatic theory preserves and establishes a distancing that estranges and separates the audience from the play, which provides audiences a strong consciousness of that they are watching an illusion. While in Vanitas, viewers are forced to stay in a difficult position where they continually remain skeptical about the truth of the story. Still from Vanitas Sophie s Aria, two- channel HD video (color, two- sound track, loop), 3 30, 2014 Wang creates a character of a fictional artist Joseph, inventing a unique methodology for his artistic practice and create several series of works on his behalf, in order to perform a relatively manipulated and passive impulse in creation, which is fused with Wang s own practical experience as an artist. The whole project will ultimately end up as a retrospective exhibition of Joseph, includes a sequence of videos of his performances, as well as paintings, photographs, texts and objects. By reading these different layers, audiences will realize that the artist of the show Joseph was a conceptual artist who committed suicide a while ago, and also comprehend a brief history of his life and a methodology of his artistic practice.

4 The tale of Joseph mainly plays out in a film (Vanitas, single channel HD video, 19'20", featuring William Corbett, Laura Marris, Mike Hickey and Tuo Wang) at the end of this exhibition. The film starts with a man and a woman presenting their monologues seemingly in a stream of consciousness -- their unhappy marriage, adultery and murder. Temperament, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 40 inches, 2014 Actually, what the man narrates is based on the story of Effi Briest, while the woman's tale is set on Thérèse Raquin. When the actor and actress narrated the plot of the novels, they were actually required to fill out the details with their own emotional experiences, intimate relationships, as well as traumas. The narratives are interspersed with a literature professor discussing and criticizing realism versus naturalism in 19 th century literature as well as the two aforementioned novels. This arrangement urges viewers to keep questioning whether the two actors are recalling their own experiences or retelling the fictions. A key character Joseph connects two stories. This figure is created from Laurent in Thérèse Raquin an artist and the lover of Thérèse. In the latter part of the film, viewers are led into a vision of the hero's imagination and time travel. The two versions of

5 narrative finally merge into one story, and a solution for the preceding contradiction is also provided. Paolo and Francesca, Pyramus and Thisbe- favorable relationship, acrylic on canvas, 44x44 inches, 2014 Wang sets up a connection between the trace of modern life and the memory of human heritage through interdisciplinary combinations of media. In performance-like arrangements, aspect of the contemporary society simultaneously initiates a humorous and absurd interaction with literary reference.

6 王拓的虚空画 (Vanitas) 项目 Vanitas 一词来自拉丁语, 意为空虚浮华 ; 亦是世纪盛行于尼德兰的一种静物画流派, 以其强烈的象征手法和隐喻风格风靡一时, 被译为虚空派或虚空画在王拓看来,Vanitas 更是一种修辞方式, 将事物偏离其原本的指称与形态以期具有新的含义王拓的虚空画 (Vanitas) 项目的创作历时一年 ( ), 其中以一部 46 分钟长的同名影片为主, 并包括一系列的影像, 绘画, 摄影, 实物和文本, 最终呈现出的是一个媒介庞杂且多层叙述的作品影片虚空画一共分为两部分第一部分运用黑白纪录片的形式, 记录男女主人公意识流式的独白, 并以一位教授对文学流派的评析穿插其中 ; 第二部分以男主人公的第一人称视角, 引领观众经历了他的臆想和时间旅行事实上, 男主人公的叙述是根据 19 世纪批判现实主义小说艾菲布里斯特 [1] 的故事创作而来, 女主人公的叙述则以自然主义小说德蕾丝拉甘 [2] 为原型王拓巧妙地将两个经典故事重新建构, 使其在当代语境下进行了一场隔空对话两部小说在初始情节上十分类似, 均是女主角对婚姻不满而发生外遇而文学上的递进关系 ( 从现实主义到自然主义 ) 使这样典型的故事在价值判断和世界观上大相径庭在叙述的过程中, 艺术家要求男女表演者在还原故事大框架的前提下, 运用他们自身的生活经历和情感经验填充框架内的所有个人化细节因此在某种程度上, 两个口述的故事已经脱离了

7 虚构的范畴, 而游走于虚构与真实之间与此同时, 贯穿其中的文学教授对原著小说的评述, 既是一个对口述故事真实性与否的提示, 也是一个连接文学虚构和真实世界的线索通过把经典故事以当代人的第一人称口吻叙述, 以达到对原著文学的陌生化, 同时, 意识流式的独白又让口述的故事与原著产生间离, 使之真实化德国戏剧家布莱希特的陌生化 [3] 戏剧理论中, 强调间离观众和戏剧的关系, 使观众脱离情节的包裹进而意识到戏剧的本体而在王拓的虚空画里, 观众与戏剧的关系则是, 观众会自始至终被情节卷裹却不得已的保持怀疑这种处理是对原著文学与看似真实的口述故事的双重陌生化在男女表演者两个版本的口述故事中, 一个名为约瑟夫 (Joseph) 的角色把两个故事连结在一起他是丈夫多年的艺术家好友, 后来成为妻子的情人这个关键性人物是由小说德蕾丝拉甘中德蕾丝的情人洛朗 (Laurent) 的形象塑造而来然而有趣的是, 除了在影片中的艺术家身份之外, 约瑟夫更是虚空画整个项目中其他所有行为影像, 绘画和摄影作品的署名作者也就是说, 虚空画项目里的每一件作品实则是由一个虚构出来的艺术家约瑟夫创作而成的 ; 而 46 分钟的影片虚空画则更应该被看成是由他人口述的约瑟夫生前故事的回忆录 ( 他在故事结尾处自杀 ) 王拓将文献 ( 如文学艺术 ) 与当下社会的戏剧性场景关联, 试图展现虚构与现实之间不稳定的却互为因果的联系他依据已有的知识设定了一个框架

8 ( 如两部小说的基本情节虚构的艺术家约瑟夫 ), 而放松对具体细节和内容的约束整个虚空画项目中, 他营造出一种场域, 把不同媒介的艺术不同形式的叙述层层铺垫进去每一件作品不仅完成了独立的运行, 而且又与其他作品紧密地交织为一体王拓通过创造一个复杂而充满情感的幻象, 揭露了一个个浮动的当代瞬间 ; 运用超现实的暗示追溯当代社会如何从它过往的记忆当中繁衍而来, 并如何适应周遭不断更新的环境, 从而引发对当下社会人类境遇的种种思考注解 [1] 德国批判现实主义作家台奥多尔冯塔纳 (Theodor Fontane, ) 的代表作 [2] 法国自然主义作家埃米尔左拉 (Émile Zola, ) 的代表作 [3] 陌生化, 又称间离效果 (alienation effect, 德语 :Verfremdungseffekt), 是由德国戏剧家诗人贝托尔特布莱希特 (Bertolt Brecht, ) 提出, 首次出现在其 1936 年发表的论文论中国戏剧表演的间离效果 (Alienation Effects in Chinese Acting)

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