2018第一屆泰國雙年展 涂維政作品《甲米神話遺跡》 2018 Thailand Biennale Tu wei-cheng 《Krabi Giant Ruins》

此次雙年展的諸多藝術家重新想像與泰國文化，特別是甲米文化，相關的神話故事。涂維政在場勘過程中，開始其對於甲米起源的研究，由三十年前曾與人類學教授道格拉斯·安德生（Douglas Anderson）共同合作的尼沃先生（Niwat Wathanayomnaporn）負責監督。這項研究追溯至一古老傳說，關於巨人和巨蛇為了爭奪一位漂亮的公主的致命打鬥，最後雙雙死亡，各變成大小兩座山，它們的兩把劍也因此遺落。在1872年，當地村民於 Ban Na Luang 一地挖掘出兩把古劍並將之上呈給政府官員。在 Khao Khanap Nam 鐘乳石洞中，這兩把刀劍雙雙交叉，作為此地區發展的吉祥象徵。最後在省徽中由背景的印度洋和帕儂栟茶山加以襯托。 在此洞穴裡，透過「考古」方法，藝術家「出土」的骨骸成為最後戰役的證據。在此致命現場，一個身高高於六米的巨大人類生物被一隻長達十二米的蟒蛇纏繞，卻不見傳說刀劍的蹤跡。洞裡的指示看板宣稱此為泰國過去幾好年間最重大的考古發現，並證實神話角色和此傳說的確切真實性。這項裝置由一系列「考古」素材所組成，包括物件、文字和偽新聞報導。其中的物件是透過藝術家在台灣所舉辦的兩次工作坊中收集而來的。活動中，他邀請參與的台灣人和住在桃園市的泰國人準備與泰國文化相關的物件，最後組成洞中裝置的一系列具歷史感的文物。偽新聞報導透過 YouTube 平台於此連結公開發布 ，作為考古裝置之輔助。影片中，居住在台灣桃園的泰國人李明倩老師扮演主播，法國藝術家 Félix Blume 扮演考古團隊負責人，尼沃先生扮演當地歷史學者。在作品開幕前，關於發現巨大骨骸的偽新聞報導先是於網路上散佈消息，企圖引起討論。這件複雜與複合形式之作將會被永久放置於洞內，持續受陽光、雨水和動物足跡日漸侵蝕。對於涂維政來說，此裝置毫無疑問地接受大自然的洗禮，隨著氣候和時間消逝塑形。時間愈久愈可能讓作品顯得更逼真。雖然是雙年展特別委託創作，這件作品毫無新穎樣，看似本屬於此場域。就如藝術家所說的，事件發生透過遺留下的雕塑與裝置而成為當地環境和歷史的一部分。在真實與虛幻、存在與幻想、物質與精神、可感受與非塵世之間，作品回歸至屬於它的家。文/姜節泓 A number of artists in this Biennale re-imagined the mythological stories in relation to Thai culture and in particular, the history of Krabi. During his site-visit, Tu Wei-Cheng started his research on the origin of Krabi supervised by Niwat Wathanayomnaporn, who worked with Douglas Anderson, Professor of Anthropology, 30 years ago. This led to the discovery of an ancient myth on the lethal duel between a giant and a huge boa, which took place in order to obtain the love of a beautiful princess. The two creatures both died and turned into the two mountains – big and small – and their swords fell. In 1872, local villagers unearthed two ancient swords at Ban Na Luang and were presented to the governors. These two single edged swords were placed crossing each other in the cave Khao Khanab Nam as auspicious symbols during regional development. Later, depicted against the background of the Indian Ocean and the Phanom Bencha Mountain, they become the provincial emblem. In the same cave, through his ‘archaeological’ approach, the artist ‘excavated’ the skeletons that evidenced the last battle. At that fatal scene, a more than 6-metre tall giant human-like creature is entangled by a 12-metre long boa and yet, the mythical swords are missing. The explanatory signboards in the cave claim that this is the most important archaeological finds in Thailand in the past few years and confirm the real existence of the mythical man and the authenticity of this legend. The installation is furt