“Microscopic Narrative”

《微觀敘事》

2018-2020

Printmaking & Video Installation

Dimension Variable

Lightbox installation: digital print on transparent films, round magnifiers, wood, matte acrylic board, fluorescent light tubes

Printmaking & video installation: digital output on zinc boards, corrosion on aluminium boards, videos, intaglio print on papers, square magnifiers

Image installation: windows, digital print on matte acrylic boards, light boards, wood, concrete, sand

Video installation: A. B. Dick offset printer, 3-channel video, readymade object drawings, wood

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版印錄像裝置

依場地而定

燈箱裝置：數碼輸出透明片菲林、圖形放大鏡、木、磨砂亞加力膠板、光管

版印錄像裝置：數碼輸出鋅版、腐蝕鋁版、錄像、凹版紙本版畫、方形放大鏡

影像裝置：窗戶、數碼輸出磨砂亞加力膠板、光板、木、水泥、沙

錄像裝置：A. B. Dick柯式印刷機、三頻道錄像、現成物素描、木

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“Local Culture”, “Core Values”, “Smart City”…

We see the world through the looking glass called “knowledge”. We appropriate and spread general values which encompass us to form a set of thoughts. Steadily, this process becomes our ideology. We are used to living under these cultural beliefs, so what is real and what is unreal? How do we judge a value? A macroscopic narrative can easily become an emotional outlet that preaches, and is prone to homogenization. A macro perspective is an effort to spare the particulars, since particulars have no place in “as a whole”. The grand narratives are no longer able to explain the world when we now adopt the postmodern approach which promises to pursue multiculturalism and deconstruct our common beliefs. We came to realise that post-industrial technology can empower but also enslave us. A linear narrative has to be reshuffled.

Through delicate observation and interpretation, we may return to the basics to review what our cognition consists of. “Little stories” of everyday life can actually help us address bigger social issues to counter this monolithic ideology. From eras of “pre-industrial” to “industrial” up till “post-industrial”, many techniques have disappeared. We remember printmaking was once a cutting edge invention, and printing was a great step forward in civilisation whereas the printing industry facilitated communication and knowledge spreading. Even if they did “disappear”, they are not “lost”. Printing is like an exposure light, though obscured and covered in dust, still shines brightly.

A printmaker son returns to his family-run printing house for a final clean-up. In this last episode, three generations are once again connected. Through a micro-lens, traces are identified and experiences are revisited. Perhaps it is the time to reshape the viewpoints and values from different generations while reconsidering one’s role in the world.

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「本土文化」、「核心價值」、「智能城市」... 

長久以來，我們透過知識看待世界，習慣接收和提出宏觀的價值。這些價值帶來美好的生活想像，植入我們的意識中，漸漸變成安穩的思考模式，形成社會的意識型態。 活在這種社會主旋律，多少是虛幻？多少是真實？我們應如何判斷價值？宏觀的敘述很容易成為一種口號，是具宣傳意味的宣洩，甚至傾向同質化。宏觀之下, 整體性的構成難免會忽略很多細節，亦只有犧牲細節才能成就整體。當我們視後現代為解構主旋律、追求文化多元的特質，後工業的科技媒體成為控制人的力量時，「大敘事」已無法充分解釋世界，線性的敘事亦應重新鋪陳。

透過細緻觀察和演繹，回到事物的原初狀態，重新審視構成我們認知的元素，透過敘述「小故事」來切入大議題才是現今應對單一意識型態的辦法。從「前工業」到「工業」以至「後工業」，無論是曾經最先進的版印技術、推動人類文明的印刷術，或是加速知識傳播的印刷工業，都在後工業時代中消失。然而「消失」不等同「失去」，印刷術的價值猶如一盞積滿灰塵的曬版燈，縱使燈泡的外表遮蔽著，耀眼的光芒仍能為日後的媒介顯影。

一位從事版印創作的兒子，一所家庭式印刷廠。在掃除灰塵的同時，橫跨了三代親情的情感脈絡，在微觀的角度中尋拾工廠裡所遺留的痕跡，重塑不同世代的價值觀、對世界的理解和應對時代的處世之道。