J 東南亞關鍵辭典 The Critical Dictionary of Southeast Asia

東南亞關鍵辭典
The Critical Dictionary of Southeast Asia

2017,單頻錄像,13分13秒
Single-channel video, 13'13"
何子彥
HO Tzu Nyen

新加坡 1976年生於新加坡,現於新加坡生活及工作
Singapore 1976 born in Singapore, now living and working in Singapore

今日生活線上影像俯拾即是,新加坡藝術家何子彥的作品《東南亞關鍵辭典》為一個通過演算法即時生成的影像作品。藝術家根據自身對於東南亞這一地域產生出的26個概念,以不同角色、概念及類型之敘述及許多在線影像剪輯構成。在每次的展出播放中,影像會不斷地被重新剪輯並即時生成。在藝術家的說法中,這令他感到影像海洋中某種不斷自我革新的部分。此件影像作品亦可以在線觀看於(https://cdosea.org)。

所謂東南亞,北臨東喜馬拉雅山脈,隨地勢斷裂島嶼冒現,向南一直伸展,止於蘇門答臘和爪哇的廣闊環形島群。由眾多島嶼群組成的區域從未由單一的語言、政體、傳統或宗教的力量所主宰。《東南亞關鍵詞典》始於一個簡單問題:「是什麼構成這地區的統一?」作品邀請東南亞或研究東南亞的知識份子和藝術家參與,探討一系列的主題;計劃不單跨越國家的邊界,也游走於不同學科的界線。集體共振譜奏出的東南亞之歌,體現的不是理性,而是共鳴。

Online images are everywhere in today’s life. Singaporean artist Ho Tzu Nyen’s artwork, The Critical Dictionary of Southeast Asia, is a real-time video work generated through algorithm. Based on the 26 concepts generated from the artist’s own experience toward the region of the Southeast Asia, the artwork is edited and composed with narratives of different characters, concepts, and genres as well as various online images. The video is edited and generated in real-time in each screening and exhibition. According to the artist, it allows him to experience the part of the ocean of images that keeps renovates itself. The video work is available online as well: https://cdosea.org

The so-called Southeast Asia borders the Eastern Himalayas in the north with islands emerging due to terrain ruptures, extending southward until the vast circular islands of Sumatra and Java. The region made of various islands has never dominated by one single language, regime, tradition, or power of religion. The Critical Dictionary of Southeast Asia begins with a simple question: “what constitutes the unity of this region?” The work invited the intellectuals and artists in Southeast Asia or studying Southeast Asia to dive into a series of issues. The project not only transcends the borderlines of states, but traverses in between different disciplines. The concordant song of Southeast Asia played together embodies not reason, but resonance.