Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening by Silas Fong

Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening S戈中日尸ilas Fong

Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening

雪夜林邊 S戈中日尸ilas Fong

方琛宇

The Freedom to Be Still Hera Chan The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep. — excerpt from Robert Frost’s Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening The text of the poem was written in one fell swoop after Frost stayed up all evening till sunrise. It describes the internal musings of a lone rider, taking pause to watch the snow drifting in the woods. This pause can only be kept for a moment, with the rider reminding himself of his promises to keep. Often used in eulogies, this poem captures the spirit of Silas Fong’s work, which acts as a soft reflection of the possibilities of slowness within urban life in Hong Kong. In mobilizing the trappings of expanded cinema, Fong produces an installation that creates breathing space and experiments on the feeling of being in time. As a prime example of where accelerationist ideals can be taken to its maximum, the fantasy of stillness becomes a radical gesture. Fong describes his creative process as one that emerges from boredom, where one’s mind is not directed by neon signs but by nuances in shifting sunlight. It is a quest for the freedom to be still.

In speaking of duration, it is always referred to as a deeply felt time. Duration is time embodied, usually in a feat of endurance. The differential temporality and differentiation of time will be taken up by privileging the embodied rather than finding its clarity in spatialization. The confusion of temporality – defined more hegemonically in its quantification, and more nebulous and unrecognized in the form of qualitative heartbeats – is that in all that, it still marches forward. Then, to resist the spatialization of time would be a refusal in bracketing off the past, present, and future as separate ropes, for they actually form an entanglement. In a banal conversation, duration becomes a form of endurance, giving the semblance that for time to be felt, it must be a form of suffering. People are deemed to be ‘taking up space’ in discourse, yet what they are really doing is taking up time. Historical memory and trauma is attached to the materiality of physical space, yet the vocabulary for describing the sense of shared time remains evacuated. Space is considered to be given and and taken up, yet time must be managed and harnessed. As Adrian Heathfield asks, “what does it mean for an artwork to present life, to be a life, or to remain in the present tense?” Through slow-moving videos, images, and objects that are oft missed, Fong creates an encounter with the everyday in a controlled environment to allow the visitor to be with the urban in a different way. Many of the images are personal to Fong, and he brings in three textual perspectives (including this one) to obscure this narrative of his memories, opening them up to be shared. Bringing in media art theory into more traditional image-making practices, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening employs a light touch in a grand gesture toward a place where we can choose to be still.

面向安穩的自由陳思穎

森林又暗又深真可羨，但是我已經有約在先，還要趕多少路才安眠，還要趕多少路才安眠。

－節錄自羅伯．佛洛斯特（Robert Frost）《雪晚林邊歇馬》，余光中譯本。佛洛斯特在某個清晨熬夜至破曉，撲倒在地上時寫下此詩 — 孤獨的旅人

暫歇時看林裡飄雪，內在的靈感正在喘動。他回想起曾經許下的承諾，結束這短暫的休止。常見於悼詞，此詩捕捉方琛宇作品的靈魂，對香港城市生活緩慢節奏的可能性作出省思。作為擴延電影概念的靈活運用及延展，方氏的裝置創造出一個喘息的空間，實驗人在時間之中的存在感。當加速主義理想達至極致時，對於寂靜的幻想成為一個激烈的反動。方氏指其創作過程源自其沉悶的時刻，當思緒被一縷縷陽光所導引而非喧鬧的霓虹，自由此刻想要變得安穩。

時間可以是短暫片刻的，又可以是綿綿不斷的，給予耐性你或許能夠感受其本質。對於時間，人們對其質性概念上的理解以及量性量度的方法皆存

在著差異，取決於我們放任身體去感受時間或以理性計算著時間兩者間的選擇。

時間的概念彷佛是絕對的，時鐘裡秒針逐格向前走，一秒、兩秒、三秒，在重覆的節拍下世界如此運行著。時間的概念可以是相對嗎？我心每分鐘跳八

十次，你心每分鐘跳一百二十次，你我所感受的時間從不相同。時間是如此交織著，無論如何，時間一直在向前走。

「時間」一詞逐漸成為耐性的一種體現，似乎一段足以讓人感受到其本質的「時間」定必是一場苦難。在日常的論述當中人們總是被視為佔有著空間，實則人們佔有著的是時間。歷史回憶及創傷往往與現實的物理空間掛勾，

然而關於那段時光的意識卻被忽略。我們佔有或放棄空間，與此同時，我們必須意會時間的存在，並加以治理。正如亞德里安‧希斯菲爾德問道：藝術品要如何去展現生活、成為生活、抑或只停留在此時此刻？

透過在日常常被忽視的錄像、圖像及物件緩慢的移動，方氏在特定的環境

內讓觀眾以日常以外的方式感受城市。作品中源用方氏私密的圖像，他引用了三個文本作為作品的切入點，混淆了對其回憶的敍述，開放予觀眾加

以幻想。結合媒體藝術理論及傳統製圖方法，雪夜林邊壯麗地輕描淡寫出選擇安穩的空間及狀態。 (本文由姚玠廷從英文原文翻譯。)

Diary of a Thermostat Fei Liu For a short period of time in my early twenties, I was afraid of going to sleep. Prior to this strange phase, I had thoroughly enjoyed slumbering, and could do so at almost any hour of the day: power naps, deep REM cycles, accidental nodding-off, you name it. It happened when I had moved home for a month from the city to live with my grandparents, whose consistent way of starting their days around 6:00 am and punctuating them with meals of heavy stews and thick pork trotters, left me horizontal and snoring by 10 pm. I felt calm, as if time was suspended. The streets were often empty and the air crisp. All the worries of my city life flitted away. I had no dreams. But then suddenly this very natural act pained me. When I lay down to close my eyes, my lids wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t stay closed. It felt like the mucous of my epiretinal membrane was evaporating and my eyeballs turning into volcanic ash. In this tense space between agitation and repose, a film of mundane sequences playing repeatedly, each time zooming into some part of the image that clearly was missing some details and pausing, as if to challenge me into remembering what they were. The same image--muddy tracks from dirty boots across the steps leading to the buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s door, how deep was each step, how grey were the marks, at what angle was the light coming from?--would rise up behind the half-closed curtains of my eyelids. I suppose they were dreams but felt more like tests. And I kept failing them. I tried letting my convoluted cycle take its course, catching an hour or two of rest against an orange-red sky right as the sun was coming up, when my body was so labored from trying to relax and shut itself off.

There was one time I couldn’t do it anymore. I put on my thermal pants and a jacket and went into the subzero dawn, narrowly slipping and falling on a frozen puddle, and walked around in circles. Aimless, I was led by the clouds of my breath. My knuckles quickly turned red and I stopped feeling my toes and my knees. My lips were chapped and I kept wetting a crack in the corner of my mouth with my tongue. The sun was rising, going from purple, to red, to orange, to finally, blue. I squinted my eyes and tried to count the steps between the gradients where the colors merged. I tried to memorize this for the barrage of tests I’d have to face when I went back to bed. But the tests never came. I stayed outside for so long that when I finally undressed and got into the covers, my body had given up its sleepless battle. Defenseless against the brutal morning, I got a fever and fell into an almost catatonic sleep. Magically, that degree of sleeplessness has never happened to me ever again. I still stay with my grandparents from time to time in that same room, but now that apartment complex is just one amongst many that block out the sky. Sometimes I still catch myself while winding down after a long day with the camera, thinking it’s as if though taking photos relieves me of the burden of having to see when I don’t need to. To sleep, one has to unsee. But in my case, sleep didn’t come unless I saw.

恆溫器的日記劉斐

在二十多歲的一段短時期裡我很害怕進睡。在這以前，我幾乎可以在任何時刻享受睡眠：打盹、深層快速動眼期、意外瞌睡，應有盡有。

一切發生於搬往與祖父母同住的一個月內。他們恆常以每餐燉肉和豬手，

着墨早上六點開始的日子，放任我躺臥打盹至晚上十時。街上往往空蕩，時間彷彿懸停。一切如斯平靜，伴隨乾脆的空氣，生命中的各種憂慮遠去，而我卻沒有夢。

然而這日常倏忽叫我痛心。每當我躺下想要閉眼時，眼簾卻未肯關上。黃斑前膜的黏膜彷彿逐漸蒸發，眼球乾燥如火山灰。緊密的躁動與休止之間，世俗的序列千覆一律，影像的某部分被放大，缺失細節與停頓，如同挑戰我想起記憶何從。半開的眼廉後總是浮現同樣影像：靴子的泥污交錯前往大樓

的路途，每個腳步的深度，每個痕跡的灰度，每束光線的角度。比起夢境，這更像是一場不斷失敗的考驗。我曾放任繁贅的生活週期，在疲於嘗試放鬆和停歇後，尋覓橙紅色的晨曦下的一兩小時休息。

我曾感覺難以負擔。我穿上隔熱褲與夾克，走進冰點下的晨曦，險些跌進凍結的水坑。我無目的地繞圈行走，追隨呼吸的氣息。指關節冷得通紅，無從感覺腳趾與膝蓋；嘴唇皴裂，只好以舌尖濡潤嘴角。太陽徐徐昇起，慢慢變紫、紅、橙，最後變成藍色，瞇睎的雙眼計算著顏色漸層的數量。我緊記一

切，只為通過睡床上的重重考驗，然而考驗從未出現。在戶外太久，更衣後我的身體已無力失眠。我開始發燒以及墮進幾近緊張的睡眠，彷彿無力抵抗殘暴的早晨。

神奇的是我自此再沒有過同樣的失眠。偶爾我仍在同一間房間與祖父母同住，但那棟公寓只是芸芸阻擋天空的建築的其中一棟。有時一天的拍攝結束，我發現自己仍在想，拍照會否減輕了我那負擔－我要看見我不需要看的東西。

當你睡眠，你需要看不見；而我，要看見才能睡眠。 (本文由鄭梓鋒從英文原文翻譯。)

a) Digital print on paper, A5, 32 pages, 3 in a set, 2018 b) Digital print on vinyl banner, 460 cm x 280 cm, 2018 c) Digital printed vinyl on plexiglass, 30 cm x 20 cm, 2018 d) Digital printed vinyl on plexiglass, 30 cm x 20 cm, 2018 e) Lamda print, 18 cm x 13 cm, 2018 f) Photo & rainbow film on stainless steel, motor, 40 cm x 40 cm, 2018 g) Mixed media tucked in You Come Too, 21.1 cm x 14.5 cm x 1.8 cm, 2018 h) Dye sublimation print on voile, 140 cm x 260 cm, 2 in a set, 2018 i) Lambda prints, table, chairs, carpet, size variable, 2018 j) Digital photo projection on screen, 2018 k) Digital video on TV, HDV, colour, 16 minutes, 2018 l) Digital video projection on wall, HDV, colour, 20 minutes, 2018 a) 紙上數碼打印, A5, 32 頁, 3本1組, 2018

b) 帆布橫額上數碼打印, 460 厘米 x 280 厘米, 2018

c) 亞加力膠片上數碼貼紙打印, 30 厘米 x 20 厘米, 2018

d) 亞加力膠片上數碼貼紙打印, 30 厘米 x 20 厘米, 2018 e) 能達相片, 18 厘米 x 13 厘米, 2018

f) 不鏽鋼片, 相片, 彩虹膜, 摩打, 40 厘米 x 40 厘米, 2018

g)《你也來》書中混合媒介, 21.1 厘米 x 14.5 厘米 x 1.8 厘米, 2018 h) 透明紗上熱昇華印刷, 140 米 x 260 厘米, 2件1組, 2018 i) 能達相片, 檯, 櫈, 地氈, 可變尺寸, 2018 j) 屏幕上數碼相片投影, 2018

k) 電視機中數碼錄像, 高清, 彩色, 16分鐘, 2018 l) 牆上數碼錄像投影, 高清, 彩色, 20分鐘, 2018

At the entrance, visitor picks up one of the catalogues and misses out the two others which look seemingly identical. In fact, each catalogue contains a different text that guides the visitor to an alternative experienceｓ of the ｓａ same exhibition.

參觀者在展覽入口拿起其中一本場刊，錯過了貌似完全相同的另外兩本。實際上

，每本場刊內有不同的文本，引導觀眾在同一個展覽裏經歷不同的體驗。

Exhibition Guide Silas Fong I一mportant note i.

If you feel the visit too long or too short, you could increase or reduce the time by half.

ii.

The whole visit lasts at minimum 10 minutes.

iii. There is only one guidebook. Before the end of your visit, please don’t put down the book. iv. If you feel uncomfortable or time-wasting upon entering the exhibition, please don’t stay reluctantly. You could put the guidebook back to the original location and push the door to leave. Send an email to info@silasfong.com to complain the exhibition has wasted your time. 1.

Turn your back to the exhibition venue, stand and balance at the mat in front of the entrance on your left foot, scrub your right foot to the back for 3 times; now stand on your right foot, and scrub your left foot to the back for 3 times. If the mat is dislocated after the procedures, please put it back to the original location. (15 seconds)

Face to b) and stay 1 metre in front of it, bow down your head at 45 degree angle, stare at b) in the order of bottom right, top left, top right, bottom left, and the centre, respectively for 15 seconds, and rest for 15 seconds. You could repeat this step for once or skip to 尸廿水心step 3. (1 minute 30 seconds - 3 minutes)

3. Walk to 10 cm in front of b), crouch down. Observe c) and d) as described in step 2. (1 minute 30 seconds - 3 minutes) 4. Inspect the distance between c) and d), memorize the measurement. (5 seconds) 5. Walk to 50 centimetres from the right of b), examine once b), c) and d) together. Think about their relationship and meaning. If you think of nothing, you could think about it after you are back home or stop thinking. (30 seconds - 1 minutes)

6. Stand in front of e) for 30 seconds, stare at the person in the photo. After 30 seconds, you find yourself not knowing the person. Proceed to the next step. 7.

Unwear your shoes and put it aside, walk to the centre of b) and lie down. Count from 1 to the measurement between c) and d), that is multiplied by 10. For example 10x10=100, therefore count from 1 to 100. Do nothing when you lie down. (1 - 2 minutes)

8. Walk between b) and the wall for 3 metres. Keep your eyes open to the rotating f), observe how many times f) rotates in a minute (1 minute). 9. Continue walking to f), get your face near it and feel the breeze generated by the self-rotation of f); when the light of the projection reflects from f), close your eyes. (30 seconds) 10. Sit on the cushion in front of the table of g), take the photograph in the book and put it aside, skim through the book until you find an interesting page. Put the book back to its original location while opening the book on this page. Align a longer edge of the photograph to the gutter of the book. Finally pick a pencil on the table, draw a vertical line of 1 cm 人弓人on anㅛy part of the table topㅛ. (1-5 minutes) 11. At 30 centimetres from the front of h), inhale deeply while facing i), blow up h) from left to right. Observe h) being blown up and afterward falling down. (15 seconds) 12. Walk to i廿 ), sit on the chair ㅜㄷㅌㅅnext to h) . Examine every photos on the table and arrange the order according to your preference. Keep observing j) and k) together, try to visualize the spaces of images in your head. (1 minute) 13. If the artist is present and available, you could ask him to make a coffee or tea for you, chat with him and kill time; if he is absent, you could put this guide back to its original location, hence ending the visit. (0-45 minutes) Translated from Chinese to English by Leo Cheng

導覽方琛宇

注意事項 i.

ii.

若嫌過程太長或太短，可以自行將建議時間加倍或減半。整個導覽過程最短為10分鐘。

iii. 導覽手冊只得一本。直到看畢整個展覽之前，請勿隨意放低。

iv. 進場時如感不安或浪費時間，請勿勉強逗留。可將此冊放回原處，儘速 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

推門離開。然後發電郵到info@silasfong.com投訴此展覽浪費青春。

背向展場，在入口前的地氈上用左腳站穩，右腳向後擦三下；然後用右腳站穩，左腳向後擦三下。完成後若地氈移位，請放回原位。(15 秒)

面向 b) 距離一米前將頭垂低45度，順序由 b) 的右下、左上、右上、左下及正中位置各注目15秒，休息15秒。可重覆此步驟1次或跳至步驟 3.。 (1分30秒-3分)

走到 b) 前方10厘米，蹲下來。以步驟 2. 所描述的方式觀察 c) 和 d)。 (1分30秒-3分)

目測 c) 和 d) 之間的距離然後把數字記住。(5 秒)

走到 b) 右邊距離50厘米的位置，將 b), c) 及 d) 同時檢視一次。思考它

們的關係和想表逹的意義。若未有任何想法可看完展覽回家後再想或不用再想。(30秒-1分)

在水e) 前駐足30秒，其間凝視相中人。30秒過後發現不認識此人。可繼

將鞋脫下放在一旁，然後走到 ㅠb) 的正中心躺下。由1數到剛才記

8. 9.

續下一步。

下 c) 和 d) 之間距離的數目乘以10。例如 c) 和 d) 的距離是10厘

米，10x10=100 那麼就由1數到100。躺下期間甚麼也不用做。(1-2分)

沿着 b) 與牆之間的通道走3米。對着旋轉中的 f) 保持眼睛睜開，觀察1 分鐘內 f) 自轉了多少次。(1分)

繼續沿着通道走到最近 f) 的位置，將面頰靠近，感受 f) 自轉時所造成的微風；當投影的光線從 f) 反射進眼睛時及時合上雙眼。(30 秒)

10. 坐在 g) 檯前的軟墊上，拿起書中照片放在旁邊，隨意翻書閱讀直至發現感興趣的一頁。將此頁攤開平放原位，並沿着照片較長的一邊與書

溝對齊放好。最後執起檯上鉛筆在檯上任何位置垂直畫一條1厘米的直線。(1-5分)

11. 在 h) 前30厘米面向 i) 的方向用力吸一口氣然後由左到右將 h) 吹起。觀察 h) 被風吹起再掉下來的形態。(15 秒)

12. 走到 i) 並坐在 h) 旁的櫈上，逐一閱覽檯上照片並隨個人喜好排列次序。串連 j) 和 k) 來回觀看，嘗試在腦中組織影像空間。(1分)

13. 如果作者在場又有空，可找他為你沖一杯茶或咖啡，跟他聊天打發時間；如果他不在場或沒有空可以將此冊放回原處，而這次導覽亦就此結束。(0-45分)

Silas Fong (b.1985) is a contemporary artist born in Hong Kong. He furthered his studies in Academy of Media Arts Cologne from 2013- 2015. He received his MFA from Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2012 and BA from Hong Kong Baptist University in 2008. His video, installation and photographic works have been invited to be presented in exhibitions and festivals including Hong Kong Museum of Art, Goethe-Institut Hongkong, Alternative Space Loop, Seoul International New Media Festival 2011, Taipei Soka Art Center, City Gallery Wellington, ZKM, Saatchi Gallery London, Liverpool Biennial 2010, Dresden Cynetart 2013, Microwave International New Media Festival and Animamix Biennale. Fong is invited to work as Assistant Professor in the Department of Photography, College of Arts, Chung-Ang University in Seoul starting from September 2017. He currently lives and works in Hong Kong and Seoul. 方琛宇生於1985年,是香港土生土長的當代藝術家。2013-2015 到德國科隆媒

體藝術學院進修。2012年於香港中文大學藝術系取得藝術創作碩士學位。2008 年於香港浸會大學視覺藝術院畢業。他的錄像、裝置及攝影作品受邀參與多個展覽及藝術節,包括香港藝術館、香港歌德學院、Alternative space Loop、首

爾新媒藝術節、台北索加藝術中心、威靈頓市立美術館、卡爾斯魯厄藝術與媒體中心、Saatchi Gallery London、利物浦雙年展2010、德累斯頓媒體藝術節

CYNETart、微波國際新媒體藝術節2013及動漫美學雙年展。於2017年9月開始, 方琛宇受邀於韓國首爾中央大學藝術學院攝影系出任助理教授。他目前在香港及首爾居住和工作。 www.silasfong.com

Published by

S戈中日尸ilas Fong

方琛宇 on the occasion of the exhibition FUSE Artist Residency:

Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening

雪夜林邊 2 February - 11 March 2018

T反he artist would like to thank: Hera Chan Joseph Chen King Yuen Leo Cheng Ken Chung Hye Kyoung Kwon Isaac Leung Fei Liu Kelvin Yiu 錄映太奇

Unit 13, Cattle Depot Artist Village 63 Ma Tau Kok, To Kwa Wan, Kowloon Hong Kong 12:00-19:00, Mon木日卜day - Sunday

Supported by

資助

「香港藝術發展局全力支持藝術表達自由，本計劃內容並不反映本局意見。」 “Hong Kong Arts Development Council fully supports freedom of artistic expression. The views and opinions expressed in this project do not represent the stand of the Council.”