Between Real and Unreal

游本寬 BenYU
2001年1月1日
讀畢需時 11 分鐘

已更新：9月1日

《閱讀台灣──真假之間》台北 / 影像視覺藝術有限公司 (2001)

一本可以展開的影像書。一種異於傳統的新閱讀。

作者以展開長達18公尺的方式呈現「真假之間」的「動物」與「肖像」兩大系列影像，讓閱讀書籍如同觀賞展覽一般，藉以表達作者對於台灣獨特視覺意象的影像探索與人文思考。

出版前言

接受西方藝術教育期間，曾多次返於東、西兩地間，有較多的機會比對不同的文化差異，因而真的想多認識自已所生長的環境。轉眼間，《真假之間》這個系列，在不同主題之下在竟已前後進行了將近十五個年頭。其中，與其說有多階段的藝術成長，倒更像自己學會如何以“本地的心”；不帶著“泊來的太陽眼鏡”觀看台灣的影像手記。畢竟，人不可能由自己來了解自己；只能藉各種參考點找到遺忘的記憶、位置，甚至未來的可能性。《真假之間》便是我的影像途徑。

雖然，透過鏡頭的「鏡像」結果，往往猶如地圖般，具有文化索引的功能。然而，把成堆台灣當代視覺文化環境的影像給記儲存起來，以便將來成為歷史、文化的考據資料，並不是個人對該主題持續拍照的意圖。相反地，是想讓照片中的人工對象能和真實環境，能做更即時、哲理的對話──人模倣自己所創造出的模型。

《真假之間》_宜蘭縣礁溪 1998	《真假之間》_屏東縣車城 1994
《真假之間》_台北縣新莊 1998	《真假之間》_苗栗．通宵秋茂園 2001

回顧，最早期1986-1994年的《Made in Taiwan》系列，影像是如此氣憤、鄙視地抓取台灣的視覺混亂。中期1994至1996年在《真假之間》三人聯展前後，則盡心的思索西方「新地誌型」（New Topographics）平淡的攝影美學；學習如何把一件原可大做文章的議題，用最輕描的形式來呈現。接著，1997-98年，在中、歐當代藝術家的《你說我聽》聯展時：則更確定「即興快拍」美學和個人台灣景緻的必然性。並且，此時羅蘭．巴特的 “影像刺點論”更深得我心。於是，在中歐聯展中的巨幅影像拼貼，以及1999年「入→ZOO」聯展裡的超大恐龍形式便順勢而出。

除了假動物之外，環境中的各式肖像也同時大量的入鏡。其中，道路旁的假警察能否叫人減速雖不得而知，但微妙微俏的檳榔西施看板，卻必能讓大卡車不分晝夜的靠邊停。台灣人，世紀前或世後，無時無刻不發揮他們在地的創意。

《真假之間》也扮演藝術幻象的源頭。照片中，對象和所處環境間的驚豔，往往使得觀者潛意識的想把它們從真實環境中給抽離而出。換句話說，影像既讓人懷疑信照片的真偽，也拒絕接受那樣的真實。加上，置身在影像前的感受，大不同於躲在觀景窗之後的想像。

因此，《真假之間》除了彰顯圖象上的“小刺點” 或個人文化中的大心痛之外，那種讓人在真假之間踱步的心境，又是另一種超現實的盈溢。

游本寬 / 2001年．秋．政大指南山下

Between Real and Unreal

Ben Yu

When I was a studying art abroad, I traveled repeatedly between the East and the West. This necessity gave me the opportunity to compare two vastly different cultures and fostered a deeper level of knowledge for my own. At once, I realized the photographs that completed the Between Real and Unreal series had been in the making for nearly fifteen years albeit with various themes.

Throughout many stages of artistic growth I visualized the vernacular with a “localized” heart and was not influenced by Western aesthetics and education. After all, personal understanding is not an isolated effort - people rely on various cultural identities and individual points of reference to forget memories and locations and even future possibilities. Between Real and Unreal is my way.

Although a lens-based image has the mapping effect of a cultural index, that is not my intent. My art does not visually represent an historical document of contemporary Taiwanese environments, nor are the photographs intended for cultural studies and criticism. Conversely, the main concept of this series is to conduct an instantaneous philosophical dialogue between the uniquely “real” or actual scene of the photograph and the numerous artificial phenomena found therein. A person’s experience of the culturally constructed falsification serves as a model to be examined.

When I first began photographing the Made in Taiwan series from 1986 to1994, the images revealed Taiwan’s disarray and disorder. From 1994 to 1996, when I was working on photographs for Between Real and Unreal, the aesthetics of New Topography was at the forefront of my mind. I was primarily concerned with how to assign serious subject matter to an unchallenging presentation form. In the Taiwanese and European contemporary artist group exhibition “You Talk/I Listen” in 1998, I combined the snapshot aesthetic and personal interpretation of Taiwanese scenery with more certainty.

Currently, I have been particularly influenced by Roland Barthe’s term “punctum” and, as a consequence, the huge collage of images exhibited in “You Talk /I Listen” as well as the large-scale dinosaur photographs in the 1999 “Enter → ZOO” exhibition, were completed without difficulty.

In addition to finding and photographing fake animals in the environment many statues and cultural icons also pass through my camera lens. We cannot know whether or not the bogus policeman guarding the highway will cause drivers to slow down, but it is fairly predictable that the sublimely pretty girl selling beetlenuts will stop truck drivers both day and night. Before and after the 20^th century, moreover, throughout the ages, Taiwanese have developed culturally specific manifestations of their time.

Between Real and Unreal is an artistic undertaking. In photography, the environmental landscape often generates a spectacular impression.

But the Between Real and Unreal series provokes a subconscious and overwhelming desire to physically remove pretense from the environment. In other words, an image permits the possibility of doubting the veracity of a photograph and also refuses to accept the reality of the scene.

Furthermore, there is an enormous difference in comprehension between looking at the image and the imagination behind the viewfinder.

That photography not only shows the “punctum” on the picture, and creates confusion and conflict, by allowing one to oscillate between the veritable and the simulated, is very surreal.

這是真的嗎？

專訪呂清夫博士／劉明珠整理（2001年5月）

乍看《真假之間》系列影像，令人感到突兀和疑惑：

這些東西是真的擺在那裡的嗎？再細看，不禁令人莞爾，記憶中的畫面逐一被喚回。

是的，這些看似不尋常的影像其實是那麼平易近人，那麼真實的存在我們的生活當中。只是因它們太平常了，平常得讓人忽略了它們的存在，當然也就沒有留意到在這樣平常的物像中，卻能表現出一種不知不覺的超現實力量，如今被有意的呈現在眼前時，反而讓人在真假之間擺盪。這是台灣次文化現象中，很有趣的一面，也是作者的創造性所在。

或許有人會認為如此真實的呈現出台灣的次文化景象，是作者有意嘲諷台灣粗俗的一面。但是我們從畫面構成元素間的協調性來看，只會讓人有“想當然爾”的親切感，而不會有因嘲諷所張顯出來的沉重壓力，因為這就是台灣感，就是我們生活環境很真實的一面，也是這系列作品可愛的一面。

談到次文化，一般人總以比正統文化還低層次的態度來看待，因而有意無意的忽視它。

事實上，次文化正是一種常民文化，代表著一般人最生活化的一面，所以現階段整個藝術的發展，對於次文化都投以最大的關注。

而作者想必對台灣的視覺文化有相當深入的瞭解，才能挖掘到這多有趣的景象，並將它們看似平常、混亂卻充滿台灣生命力的一面，如此深刻的表現出來。因此，與其說是嘲諷，倒不如說是有幽默感更貼切些。

除了有趣之外，《真假之間》系列影像中，另一個值得探討的是，影像中所傳達出來的一種環境意識。

對於現代人來說，“現在”環境和“現實”並不一樣，因為現在很多的現實其實不是現實，傳播媒體的強勢力量已經把現代人的視覺緊緊框住，使得真正的現實退居幕後。

現今我們對於所謂的“真實”大都是透過媒體來認知，當你真正面對真實時，反而有了不真實的突兀感，就像《真假之間》一開始所帶給人的視覺反應一般。而這就是我們的環境；現代很特殊的一個環境。或許作者就是意識到環境所反應出來的意義，所以在其目前仍持續創作中的《真假之間》系列影像，不只在影像內容上表達了對環境的關注外，也在作品的展現形式上，以“大影像”來製造出一種環境效果。

大，是我們這個時代的特質，因為大才有震撼力，才具有達到迅速收、授訴求的效果。而《真假之間》的部份大影像作品，大到破除了畫框的侷限，除了是顯現時代的特質外，也製造了一個相當強烈的視覺效果，提供一個我們從來沒有過的視覺經驗，這對藝術家來說是一個很重要的追求點。此外，這樣的大影像不僅可以呼應影像的內容，更在展場中造成一種錯覺，讓人覺得展場不像展場，作品彷彿就是展場環境中的一部份，或說展場是作品中現實環境的延申，像這樣把作品融入環境中，打破了作品與環境間界線的呈現形式，使得展場的空間起了異化作用，變得和我們印象中的展出空間不一樣。這是一個很適切的表現手法，如果說，《真假之間》仍以傳統一張一張裝框的呈現方式來展出的話，那就把作品和環境孤立起來，使得展場仍舊是展場，而削減了環境意識的張力了。所以，這樣的大影像呈現意義不在於單純的形式上，而是具有環境意識與打破作品和環境距離的雙重意義。

從《真假之間》的影像內容和展現形式的相互呼應中，我們感受到的是現代藝術中所強調的一種力量的美感，雖然這也許無法滿足於一般民眾從過去觀看攝影展的經驗中，對於沙龍式美感的期待；不過若有一個展覽可以提供觀者另一種視覺美感的思考管道，同時也讓我們回頭對於自己所居住的環境，再感覺一次，再熟悉一次，這不也是挺好的嗎？

呂清夫博士　　國內資深藝評家，師範大學工業科技教育系專任教授

Is it real?

Transcribed from an interview with Ph.D. Lu Ching-Fu by Liu Ming Chu.（2001,May）

First glance. The Between Real and Unreal images cause a feeling of uncertainty - do these things really exist? Look again. One cannot help smiling. One by one the frames jog my memory. Yes, these unusual images actually exist amiably in our lives but their ordinariness and familiarity allows them to be ignored by most. An ordinary object can exhibit surreal qualities authoritatively, yet once the photographs are looked at again, people sway between truthfulness and falsehood. That is the intriguing aspect of Taiwan’s sub-cultural phenomenon and the creative concept behind Ben Yu’s work.

Perhaps some will think Yu is sarcastic. But because the pictorial elements are so well arranged it is apparent that he is intimate with the subject and not working within the confines of irony. Because this represents the “sense” of Taiwan and our actual real surroundings, the photographic series Between Real and Unreal is enchanting.

Society regards its subculture contemptuously. In fact, subculture is found among everyday communities and represents the most common lifestyle. It is also a recent focus of contemporary art currents. Presumably Yu has a sincere understanding of Taiwanese visual culture so that he is able to unearth the scene, combine ordinariness and disorder to express himself. Sarcastic, possibly, but more likely, humorous.

Aside from visual interest, Between Real and Unreal also presents another view about environmental consciousness that merits discussion. Because the force of mass media is such that it can control a society’s vision, a person’s comprehension of his “current environment” is often different from reality. In actuality, many current realities are not real.

Today, so called “truth” is a product of the mass media. Whenever we face reality, on the contrary, there is a sense of it being unreal, as if seeing the Between Real and Unreal for the first time again. This is our environment - a very unique, modern environment. Perhaps Yu realizes this and has continued to make art over the years, not only to express his concern for the environment but also to construct another kind of environment through his use of large-scale photographs.

In our time, large-scale art is a specialization. Large work is powerful and has an immediate effect. Between Real and Unreal photographs are huge and break the limitations imposed by tradition of print size. This shows their contemporary quality and provides a strong visual effect never experienced before. This is a very important point in Yu’s work. The big image not only echoes content but it also creates the illusion that the show is not in the exhibition space. The image becomes the exhibition space.

On the other hand, the large size prolongs the realism of the environment. Such work blends environment, breaks the boundaries between exhibition space and environment, and changes our impressions about exhibition spaces. Imagine if Between Real and Unreal were exhibited with traditional frames and mats, the work would become isolated in the environment. The exhibition room would remain the same and the tension Yu has created between environment and consciousness would be greatly reduced. Therefore, the meaning from Yu’s large-scale work is not only about form. It is also about environmental consciousness and closing the gap between artwork and the real environment.

Content and form echo each other in Between Real and Unreal.

The strength of Yu’s sense of beauty from modern art is apparent. This may not satisfy the popular audience who are well acquainted with salon-type photographic exhibitions. But, if an exhibition can offer insight into another kind of visual beauty and simultaneously propel us to reflect on our living condition, to feel once, to know once again, isn’t it also quite good?

Lu Ching-Fu, Ph.D is a full time professor at National Taiwan Normal University, Department of Industrial Technology Education