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《2 Weeks 異度空間 #3》
黃炳豪 —— 淡漠偶像
時間：2018.06.19(Tue.) – 07.01(Sun.), 13:00 – 19:00. 每週二到日開放。
地點：台北當代藝術中心
㊟這是一個過程性展示，將在下列三個場景中轉換，歡迎於開放時間參觀。
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☞ 場景一 ☞ 2018.06.23 19:00 – 21:00 單慧乾行為演出
☞ 場景二 ☞ 2018.06.26 19:00 – 21:00 新書發表 + 策展人黃炳豪與藝術家單慧乾對談
☞ 場景三 ☞ 2018.06.19 – 07.01 淡漠偶像
INDIFFERENT IDOLS 淡漠偶像
身份認同差異當中的分類與呈現一向被視作另類或激進，同時也逐漸到達飽和狀態。這些差異化正在以前所未見的規模被普及、轉移與慶祝，簡單來說，差別被偶像化。儘管對於差異化身體與慣常的視野被拓展，舒緩了長期以來根深蒂固的仇視狀態，但這種大規模對差異的解放是否同時帶來未被察覺的隱形副作用？
特別是當自我標榜文化特質愈發興盛，身體潛在可能的廓形就愈容易被定義固化。差異在此時被濃縮為易於行銷的本質，為了挑起對應的慾望而反覆展演。在這個自願犧牲的棋局中，身份認同差異自願放棄了當中的滲透力與模糊性，被物化的喜悅成為偶像的領袖魅力。
〈淡漠偶像〉是一個全新多面向且持續進行中的策展與寫作實踐，從兩個大相逕庭看似矛盾的想法出發：漠不關心與偶像崇拜。引用文學理論家瑪哈維‧門農（Madhavi Menon）近期出版的《由冷漠至差異：關於酷兒的普世性》中提出的概念 — 以清醒的冷漠態度面對身份認同與文化差異的過度偶像式崇拜。
當前的文化氛圍裡充斥著無謂地為了產生差別而差異化，並且多半是為了凸顯爭議，引發那些隱而未現的他者文化是否有被明星主體完整地考量與容納個人隱私的疑問。進一步而言，這個現象顯示出偶像們策略性的膚淺表象，以及他們深藏的平庸、污點甚至邪惡的本性。偶像在聖壇上被虔誠地膜拜與神化，他們也可以是邪異的明燈：異教徒、被禁止的、屬於民眾的、擁有未卜先知與帶領大眾的能力。更重要的是，延續門農的思考，在這個計畫中，我們應該要冷漠淡然地面對這股身體政治風潮中來勢洶洶、自相矛盾地禁絕自我想像，擁抱在分門別類中嘗試逃逸的姿態。
〈淡漠偶像〉由拆解與重組關於期待、慾望與差異表象的藝術家、寫作者與研究者共同參與，試圖破壞認同與我之間堅不可摧的聯繫，然後重新溫柔地生產一種淡然的模糊性。計畫的第一部份將於2018年六月在台北當代藝術中心呈現，參與者包括：瑪哈維‧門農（Madhavi Menon）、阿史坎 ‧西帕凡德（Ashkan Sepahvand）與單慧乾（Victoria Sin） .
閱讀〈淡漠偶像〉由此去。
策展人與編輯：黃炳豪
策展人簡介 ——
黃炳豪，1991年生於新加坡，為寫作者與策展人。透過出版、寫作、公眾教育活動與展覽等實踐，探索研究身體、表演、身份和替現的概念，特別注重在藝術與生活現實中關於跨國女性主義、酷兒與跨性別理論間的重疊。他╱她現為新加坡國家美術館策展助理與新加坡國家藝術理事會研究員。畢業於倫敦藝術大學藝術史學系，他╱她目前就讀於新加坡國立大學東南亞研究所，研究涵蓋性別議題與超自然的對談。
藝術家簡介 ——
單慧乾在行為、寫作、動態影像與印刷中使用思辨小說的形式，擾亂對於慾望、身份認同與物化的規訓過程。由個人的觀看與想望經驗出發，他╱她的作品中將大量的奇想敘事建構在生理身體內含於社會身體中令人不安的經驗。維多利亞出生於加拿大，現居於倫敦。最近的計畫包括：No Fantasy Without Desire, No Destiny Without a Daddy, Block Universe, 2018, 英國倫敦；A View From Elsewhere, PS/Y Projects, 2018, 英國倫敦；Steakhouse Live, Toynbee Studios, 2018, 英國倫敦；We Share the Same Tears, Whitechapel Gallery, 2018, 英國倫敦；Hybrid Layers, ZKM, 2017, 德國卡爾斯魯厄；Glitch Feminism, ICA, 2018, 英國倫敦； TATE EXCHANGE: GENDER TALKS, 泰特現代美術館, 2017, 英國倫敦； Volcano Extravaganza, I Polpi, 2017, 義大利斯通波利； Dream Babes, Auto Italia Southeast, 2016, 英國倫敦。
#2WeeksatTCAC #2Weeks #IndifferentIdols
展覽過程將持續透過 Instagram 發佈：https://www.instagram.com/taipei.contemporary.art.center/
主辦單位：台北當代藝術中心（TCAC）
組織營運贊助：國家文化藝術基金會、台北市文化局、財團法人RC文化藝術基金會
單慧乾的參與由英格蘭藝術委員會（Arts Council England）的藝術家國際發展補助贊助。
標題圖片由凡尼沙‧班設計，版權所有。
2 Weeks #3
Wong Bing Hao —— Indifferent Idols
Date: 2018.06.19(Tue.) – 07.01(Sun.), 13:00 – 19:00. Open from Tuesday to Sunday.
Venue: Taipei Contemporary Art Center
㊟ This is a process-based exhibition. 3 scenes are presented as the following schedule. Come visit at the opening hours.
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☞ Scene 1 ☞ 2018.06.23 19:00 – 21:00 Performance by Victoria Sin
☞ Scene 2 ☞ 2018.06.26 19:00 – 21:00 Launch of Publication + Artist Talk with Victoria Sin & Wong Bing Hao
☞ Scene 3 ☞ 2018.06.19 – 07.01 Indifferent Idols
INDIFFERENT IDOLS 淡漠偶像
Categories and representations of identitarian difference, often conceived of as ‘alternative’ or ‘radical’, are reaching a saturation point. They are exponentially popularized, mobilized, and celebrated on an unprecedented scale. Difference is idolized. While a broadened sightline of diverse bodies and customs can potentially salve longstanding antagonisms, what are the unexamined, insidious side-effects of such a liberal massification of alterity?
Despite the proliferation of these self-proclaimed cultural idiosyncrasies, the contours of what a body can be are increasingly calcified into definition. Difference has to be condensed into marketable essence, repeatedly rehearsed in order to incite its desired reactions. In this devotional gambit, identity simultaneously relinquishes its permeability and obscurity. Objectified bliss is an idol’s demagogical allure.
Indifferent Idols is a new, multi-platform curatorial and editorial project that takes as its points of departure two ostensibly conflicting ideas: indifference and idolatry. Drawing from literary theorist Madhavi Menon’s recent book Indifference to Difference: On Queer Universalism, it proposes a sobering indifference to the excessive idolization of identity and cultural difference.
In a present cultural climate that pointlessly overloads on anomalous differences for the sake of controversy, it questions if cults of oblique Others take into account the privacy and holistic integrity of their superstar subjects. Furthermore, it uncovers the strategic superficiality of idols themselves, exhuming their deeply banal, blemished, and even monstrous nature. For although idols are religiously worshipped and aggrandized on pedestals, they can also be heretical beacons: pagan, prohibited, belonging to the people; possessing powers of prescience and collectivisation. Most importantly, following Menon, this project suggests that we should be indifferent to an inexorable identity politics that paradoxically embargoes the horizons of possibility for self-imagination, gesturing instead towards a categorical leakiness.
Indifferent Idols will feature artists, writers, and researchers who dissemble and re-assemble expectations, desires, and appearances of difference, tampering with the invincible destiny of identity with a capital ‘I’ and tenderly regenerating its insouciant undecidability. The first iteration of this project was realized in June 2018 at Taipei Contemporary Art Center, and featured contributions from Madhavi Menon, Ashkan Sepahvand, and Victoria Sin.
Read the full Indifferent Idols publication here.
Curator & editor: Wong Bing Hao
Curator Bio:
Wong Bing Hao (b. 1991, Singapore) is a writer and curator. Through publications, texts, public programs, and exhibitions, they articulate ideas around bodies, performance, identity, and representation. In particular, they research global feminist, queer, and transgender realities and theories in art. They have recently held research positions at the National Gallery Singapore and National Arts Council. They received a BA in Art History from University College London in 2015, and are currently an MA candidate in Southeast Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore, where they research and write about the confluences between gender and the occult.
Artist Bio:
Victoria Sin is an artist using speculative fiction within performance, moving image, writing, and print to interrupt normative processes of desire, identification, and objectification. Drawing from close personal encounters of looking and wanting, their work presents heavily constructed fantasy narratives on the often unsettling experience of the physical within the social body. Victoria was born in Toronto (CA) and currently lives in London (UK). Recent presentations include: No Fantasy Without Desire, No Destiny Without a Daddy, Block Universe, London (2018); A View From Elsewhere, PS/Y Projects, London (2018); Steakhouse Live, Toynbee Studios, London (2018), We Share the Same Tears, Whitechapel Gallery, London (2018); Hybrid Layers, ZKM, Karlsruhe (2017); Glitch Feminism, ICA, London (2017); TATE EXCHANGE: GENDER TALKS, Tate Modern, London (2017); Volcano Extravaganza, I Polpi, Stromboli (2017); Dream Babes, Auto Italia Southeast, London (2016).
#2WeeksatTCAC #2Weeks #IndifferentIdols
The exhibition is constantly on view on Instagram：https://www.instagram.com/taipei.contemporary.art.center/
Major support is provided by the National Culture and Arts Foundation, the Department of Cultural Affairs, Taipei City Government and the RC Culture and Arts Foundation.
Victoria Sin’s participation is generously supported by Arts Council England’s Artists’ International Development Fund.
Banner Image© Design by Vanessa Ban.
