生活作為形式 LIVING AS FORM 在地篇 2013.8.24~9.27
文化干政十七年 Seventeen Years of Cultural Intervention
黑手那卡西文件展 An Exhibition on Black Hand Nakasi Workers’ Band
文化干政十七年 黑手那卡工西人樂隊目前主要成員為陳柏偉、楊友仁、莊育麟、劉自強、王明惠、張迪皓與姚耀婷。他們自成 「進入現場」、 「故事工作 立以來即堅持「音樂從群眾來，也要到群眾裡去」的中心思想，並發展出「集體創作」、 坊」等音樂創作與呈現方式。這種生產方式造就了黑手那卡西作品的獨特形式，也是他們得以超越一般樂團 的精神所在。 據說，傳奇歌手李雙澤曾在1977年的淡江大學演唱會裡喊出民歌運動最響亮的口號： 「我們要唱自己的歌」。 不過， 「我們」是誰？什麼又是「自己的歌」 ？這在戒嚴的年代是簡單的問題，但也是不能深究的問題，否則，當 楊祖珺於1978年企圖將民歌帶進社會運動之時，就不會遭到掌權者的全面封殺。直到解嚴九年之後，黑手那 卡西工人樂隊才將這兩個問題往前推進，把被民族主義綁架的「我們」解放出來，用人民、群眾、工人、受壓迫 者、抗爭主體等等意涵來重新想像「我們」和「自己的歌」。 重新擺放「我們」的位置靠的不是理論，而是長期的實踐與投入。當文化行動者進入社運現場與群眾之中，得 隨時面對著與群眾磨合的問題。為了避免成為英雄主義式的音樂家或藝術家，黑手那卡西在許多時候選擇了 最基進的位置：不是「為」群眾發聲，而是「讓」群眾發聲，甚至把歌曲生產過程民主化。在黑手那卡西17個年 頭的實踐過程裡，他們堅守著核心精神，在不同的時期中，探尋各種「唱自己的歌」的可能性。 在《生活作為形式》所討論的「社會參與式藝術」，在本地脈絡上，是否有更多可能的範式？本展覽邀請黑手那 卡西，其不可忽視的實踐成就，正可提供一個討論面向。歷史上，他們承衍了「唱自己的歌」的民歌運動精神， 銜接上台灣九○至今的文化行動主義。他們以音樂進行的文化介入，不單單是反應在曲詞內容，也深化於歌 曲生產過程之中。台灣社會運動的形態、議題與群眾，在最近幾年已產生戲劇性的變化，黑手那卡西的文化生 產形式是否能夠乘著這個趨勢走進另一個階段？其推展，除了黑手那卡西，還需要靠更多行動者投入思考與 實踐。
黑手那卡西的音樂實踐 文/黑手那卡西 1987年台灣解除戒嚴，被壓抑了幾十年的台灣人民，不論是思想上或是經濟上，都開始要求取得合理且公平 的對待－－這是個工運蓬勃發展的年代。1988年，新光紡織的女工，改編主流歌曲在抗爭中傳唱，工人文化 就從此展現與萌芽。在此背景下，社會運動成為孕育出黑手那卡西的實踐場域。1996年，黑手在「工人立法行 動委員會」催生下成立，於之後數年參與各種關廠抗爭行動。黑手一路走來，都與甘苦人站在同一戰線，思辨 著如何翻轉主流社會的文化模式。 過去十幾年來，黑手累積的文化協同創作方法，是相互投入的「對等關係」，而非專業權威的「上下關係」。這 種文化協作方法，是具體的社會運動與組織的文化鬥爭形式，展現在歌曲與音樂生產關係的過程裡，就是「 集體創作」－－稍具音樂能力的工作者，與蘊含豐富文化內涵卻缺乏文化資本的工人/底邊弱勢群體之協同 創作－－其文化生產方式並不企圖要像專業者那般精練高雅，對黑手來說，重要的是基進民主的文化生成過 程。而黑手在社會運動的脈絡裡發展出來的集體創作工作坊，也是一種基進的民主實驗，緩慢但深入。 人民火大行動聯盟成員賴香伶在其論文《走自己的路！一條台灣左翼工運路徑的回看》中，試著提出「慢政治」 的理解框架：
「慢政治」是一個個體政治意識的生活脈絡，與集體（社群）意識的階級性力量間緩慢而複雜的接合互 生。此一接合互生的過程，有著個體與個體或個體與集體間的相互參看與理解，涵容了我/群、自身/他者 的差異，來自不同背景與政治歷史的個體於運動社群中相互碰撞、衝突，看似遲滯、反覆、無序的作用中， 轉化自身與社會變革的關係得以被行動者搭連起來。 「慢政治」即是行動者得以辨識自身的政治性並與 他者建立起一推移社會變革的實踐取逕。 黑手那卡西與弱勢者一起創作出來的音樂，即是在這樣的「慢政治」中，緩慢但深刻地穿透意識形態與主流文 化所建構出來的單一面向的政治經濟結構，各別的生命經驗得以彼此看見，而不同的經驗差異又彼此碰撞、 對話與參看。
Seventeen Years of Cultural Intervention: An Exhibition on Black Hand Nakasi Workers’ Band The current core members of the Worker’s Band Black Hand Nakasi include Bo-Wei Chen, You-Ren Yang, Yu-Lin Chuang, Tzu-Chiang Liu, Ming-Hui Wang, Di-Hao Chang and Yao-Ting Yao. Since the forming of the band, they have been affirming their belief “music comes from the public and goes to the public” and developing their peculiar creative process and presentational approach, such as “collective practice,” “going to the site,” “story sharing workshop,” etc. Their production grammar shapes the unique form of their work, and sets them far apart from other bands. In 1977, legendary singer Shuang-Tze Lee made a piercing call for “we want to sing our songs” in a concert in Tamkang University. Who does this “we” refer to? What are “our songs”? Simple might these questions be, yet they were considered as political taboo during the Taiwanese Martial Law period. It was of no surprise that TzuJiun Yang’s attempt in bringing folk songs into social movements was completely banned by the government. Nine years after the Lifting of Martial Law, Black Hand Nakasi responded to these two questions to liberate the concept of “we” from its strong tie with nationalism. “We” and “our songs” are reinterpreted and reimagined by subjectivities of people, workers, oppressed groups and protesters. “We” are not positioned by theoretic speculations, but pronounced via long-term practices and engagements. Cultural activists always confront the complexity of working along with different publics when entering scenes of social movement. To avoid such possibility of becoming some heroic musician or artist, Black Hand Nakasi often consciously chooses the most progressive position: they do not sing or voice for the public, but let the public sing and voice out by themselves. With their firm belief, the band democratizes their music production to seek for alternative possibilities to “sing our songs” throughout different phases of their seventeen years’ practice. “Living as Form” investigates questions around socially engagement art, and hopes to explores more examples from the local context. The achievement of Black Hand Nakasi provides us with profound reflections on cultural production. They inherit the historical folk song spirit to “sing our songs,” continuing the momentum of cultural activism from the 90s. Not only through their lyrics, their cultural intervention is reflected and cultivated in the process of music production. It would be interesting to note how these recent dramatic changes of Taiwanese social movements, in terms of forms, topics and the public, will further transform the cultural production of Black Hand Nakasi. More inputs from activists may be required for its future progress and practice.
The Music Practices of Black Hand Nakasi by Black Hand Nakasi When Martial Law was lifted in Taiwan in 1987, Taiwanese people who had suffered from oppression for several decades began demanding reasonable and fair treatment whether in terms of thinking or the economy. It was a period when labor movements flourished. In 1988, the female workers of Shinkong Textile Co. Ltd. adapted
popular songs and sang them during protests. This was how a workers’ culture evolved and came into being. Against this background, social movements produced an arena for Black Hand Nakasi. In 1996, Black Hand Nakasi was founded at the initiation of the Committee for Actions on Labor Legislation. In the years that followed, it participated in various protests against factory closures. Black Hand Nakasi has always been on the same battlefront with the underdogs, and reflected on how to subvert the cultural patterns of mainstream society. Over the past decade or so, the cultural collaborations of Black Hand Nakasi have been one of “equal partnership”, rather than adopting a “top-down approach”. These cultural collaborations are a form of cultural struggle launched by social movements and organizations. Manifested in the production relations of songs and music, they take the form of “collective practice”, where practitioners with some knowledge of composition works with workers/disadvantaged groups rich in cultural value but lacking in cultural capital. This mode of cultural production does not attempt to be as sophisticated and high-brow as professionals. For Black Hand Nakasi, what matters is the process of the cultural production of progressive democracy. The collective practice workshop developed by Black Hand Nakasi in the context of social movements is also a progressive democratic experiment that is slow but profound. In her thesis “A Reflection on my Political Journey in a Left-Wing Labor Movement in Taiwan”, Hsiang-lin Lai, a member of “Raging Citizens Act Now!”, attempts to provide a framework for understanding “slow politics”: “ ‘Slow politics’ is the slow and complex joining together of the context of an individual’s political consciousness with the class power of the collective (community) consciousness and their mutual growth. This process of joining together and mutual growth involves the mutual reference and understanding between individuals or between individuals and the community, reconciling the differences of “me”/”us” and self/other. Individuals with different backgrounds and political history collide and clash with one another in movements. In the seemingly slow, repetitive and chaotic process, the activists develop relations that transform themselves and bring about social reform. (Slow politics) is a means through which activists recognize their political nature and develop a way of pushing for social reform together with others.” Even in this kind of “slow politics”, the music created by Black Hand Nakasi and the disadvantaged slowly but surely penetrates the one-dimensional political and economic structure built by ideology and mainstream culture. Individuals see the life experiences of each other, while different experiences collide, form a dialogue and become references for one another.
立方計劃空間 TheCube Project Space 策展人 Curator | 鄭慧華 Amy CHENG 專案管理 Project Manager | 羅悅全 Jeph LO 專案助理 Project Assistant | 梁以妮 Ini LIANG 行政助理 Exhibition Assistant | 董淑婷 Dale DONG 展場技術 Technical Support | 藝術戰爭公司 Art War Company 翻譯 Translator | 呂岱如 Esther LU, 錢佳緯 Leonard LIAO 特別感謝 Special Thanks | 蔡家榛 Jia-Zhen TSAI 主辦 Co-organizers 贊助 Sponsors