採硫日記．上卷 于吉
二○一二年初來台灣，在友人的引領下我去到北投硫磺谷。那天下午陰雨，粉綠色的 灘水靜止，水面飄著白煙。刺鼻的礦物氣味令眼前一切怪異好看。 時隔半年，為了一些未完的工作，再到台北又去了北投。這次，在友人家酒足飯飽已 近凌晨，大家摸黑夜遊硫磺谷。我們搖搖晃晃，點了煙，想像眼前的彌漫有多繚繞， 把濃密的刺激吸進肺葉。 我喜歡在現實裡追逐那些通過文本有所觸及的虛實，生活是體察的園地，那些虛實不 定的灰塵偶爾讓生活和現實飄渺起來。我的北投記憶短暫，好像很深但是破碎，無法 串聯成某種身體上的領悟。二○一五年，在關渡生活和工作一個多月，我重訪北投， 去尋找硫磺出沒的地點。雖然接近硫磺困難重重，就像郁永河當初在《裨海紀遊》中 所經歷的，採硫計畫失敗了，裨海一遊光怪陸離卻像發現新大陸一般驚心動魄。這大 自然的魔幻，在社會化進展三百多年之後想必減弱很多，但帶給我的身體經驗持續出 奇。 來自閱讀與學習，進而身臨其境，我歸攏稱之為「採硫日記」。
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Dairy of Sulfur Mining – Pataauw * Yu Ji
During my first visit to Taiwan in 2012, I was led to Liouhuang Valley at Beitou by local friends. It was an overcast and rainy afternoon. The pond there was pastel green and perfectly still with white mist floating above it, and the irritating mineral smell made everything beautiful in a strange way. Half a year later, I came back to Taipei for some unfinished works and revisited Beitou. This time, it was almost midnight after a nice dinner at a friend’s place, we came to Liouhuang Valley in the darkness. Staggering, with cigarettes in our hands and smoke before our eyes, we imagined the surreal, permeating nature of the ambience and inhaled the substantial stimulation deep into our lungs. I love to pursue the real and the unreal that are touched upon by texts, literary or historical. Life is a solid ground of experience, the indecisive textual dusts occasionally bring out the spectral, uncanny aspect of things. My memory of Beitou seemed to be profound but also short and fragmented, which failed to form any solid bodily sentiment. In 2015, I took the residency in Guandu Museum of Fine Arts and stayed for work over a month so I visited Beitou again, attempting to seek out traces of the sulfur. It was difficult to approach the sulfur mine - like Yu Yong-He wrote in The Small Sea Travel Records, failing the mission of sulfur mining but was astounded by the variegated scene of the Small Sea area. The nature’s marvel must have been compromised in the three hundred years of civilization between Yu Yong-He and me- nature does not cease overwhelming me with fascinating bodily experiences. From reading, learning, and from advancing into the depth of the Small Sea, I name this summary Dairy of Sulfur Mining.
* Pataauw means “Shaman” in the language of the Ketagalan Austronesian people, who inhabited mainly in northern Taiwan. The toponym, Beitou, is a phonetic translation from Pataauw and is one of the 12 districts of Taipei.
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