第59期 数码消费时代的异像——当代艺术中的动画（2009年）

学术主持：薛保华

主题：顾德新 周啸虎 陈劭雄 邱黯雄 皮三 唐茂宏 孙逊 吴俊勇 叶凌瀚

新作：钟飚 刘一原 薛松 肖斌 卓立

Issue No. 59(2009)

Theme: The Heteromorphy in the Era of Digital Consumption – Animation in Chinese Contemporary Art

Academic Host: Xue Baohua

A.T: Gu Dexin, Zhou Xiaohu, Chen Shaoxiong, Qiu An Xiong, Pi San, Tang Maohong, Sun Miao, Wu Junyong, Ye Linghan

A.N: Zhong Biao, Liu Yiyuan, Xue Song, Xiao Bin, Zhuo Li

数码消费时代的异像——中国当代艺术中的动画

薛保华

正如中国社会的急剧变革不断复制着西方经济领域的奇迹，在对应的文化领域也上演着类似的剧目。源于西方的各类艺术主义和观念在中国轮番演绎，多媒体动画艺术也步后尘而起。媒介的新锐使这一艺术形式迅速获得了广泛的关注，直面本土经验的发展方向，使中国多媒体动画艺术逐渐超越了新媒介的意义而获得先锋艺术的一席之地。在多媒体艺术这一概念的众多外延中，我们所谈及的多媒体艺术涉及各类实验影音作品：实验性的纪录片和情节片、二维和三维的实验动画、建立在互动性之上的CD-ROM艺术品和网络作品，也包括更多地与传统美术的空间特征相关联的录像装置、声音装置等样式。

多媒体动画艺术的兴起，首先是基于中国现代艺术谱系的承继和延伸。其文化心理无疑与其他形式的当代艺术处在同一个背景中，作品中的美学取向和观念诉求与其他当代艺术有着诸多的对应。但是，多媒体动画艺术的观念性、虚拟性、交互性所构成的一种冲突与异化，对受众全面而强烈的官能体验和心理冲击几乎是前所未有的。在多媒体动画艺术中，我们注意到它们对观众接受途径的尽可能调动，例如影像与装置、音响艺术的结合，多种媒介方式的表达，与观众的互动性交流，这些让多媒体动画艺术至少在形式上具有了消费时代的后现代特征。正如同黄丹麾说到的：后现代艺术既不是沃尔夫冈·韦尔施所谓的听觉文化，也不是弗雷德里克·詹姆逊所说的视觉文化，同样也不是瓦尔特·本雅明倡导的触觉文化与视觉文化。后现代艺术是一种融听觉文化、视觉文化、触觉文化于一体的复合型文化，因而多媒体艺术正是这一理论的一个有力佐证。正由于它具备了复合性与多元性，因而代表了当代艺术发展的一个新的趋向。与此同时，最具威力的富于娱乐工业特质的动画对影像艺术的渗透，进一步强化了虚拟性、游戏性、娱乐性，使得多媒体动画艺术具有了更加代表当下文化情境的意味。

多媒体动画创造了一种互动的艺术，在艺术家设定的情境中，在互动中实现了受众对艺术的体验。在这个意义上讲，多媒体动画艺术与其他的影像艺术相比，凸显了异质和距离，多媒体动画艺术通过非静态的、非自在的视听呈现，实现了意义的生成。在传达方式上，多媒体动画突出了与传统视像(绘画)与空间(雕塑、建筑)的差异和分离，对传统艺术形态的超越，多维度、多角度的观照方式，对媒介和技术的资源化运用，使这一媒介的转换为艺术表达带来了多种的可能性。包括新的视觉形态、体验方式以及新的交往方式，承载并拓展了多元化的个人经验和感受的表达。

在由先前的影像艺术向多媒体动画艺术的转换中，基于数码消费时代数字化技术的力量获得了释放，它充当了催生婆的角色。技术下移，并且逐渐向个人转移，影像的制作、复制、传播日益平常化，从而使得主体能够自如地运用这一种工具和媒介。相对于传统艺术技术性、技巧性的压力，多媒体动画艺术具有了普世的民主色彩。

我们终于看到这样的一种转变，在多媒体动画艺术中，影像与其作为客观、精确的纪录的初衷几乎背道而驰，转化成具有超现实的、欺骗性和不确定性的拟像，从由影像到拟像的过程，影像的真实性被不断异化，直至逼真呈现出虚拟的异像。正如恩斯特·卡西尔所强调的：绘画是对世界的模仿，照相和电影是对世界的复制，数字图像则是自由创造的可视世界的产品。在数码视觉文化时代，人们借助视觉机器及其技术不断丰富“看”的方式和艺术，追求更好地看见、透视世界及其自身。艺术家对于艺术的“多种可能性”追求正被技术“无限可能性”所替代。事实上，从架上绘画、装置艺术到影像艺术、多媒体动画艺术，人类的艺术不断演绎着新的形式，艺术的发展正在验证着技术导向之下人类想像力的解放。

另一方面，多媒体动画艺术是在数码时代，大众文化、消费文化、娱乐文化的浪潮裹挟之下的产物。法国作家里古斯·黛布雷认为，就传播媒介的更替可以划分为三种不同模式的时代：书写的时代、印刷的时代和视听的时代。这三个时期分别对应着神学、美学和经济。今天，在对应着经济的视听时代，视听公共图像成为其重要的表征。公共视听图像温柔、谄媚而又无孔不入包围着今天的我们，我们每一天都接受着电视、电影、娱乐文化、网络、广告等视听图像的刺激，它充斥着当代社会并前所未有地改变着当代人的生存体验和文化环境。

机械复制技术的发展和市场化消费时代的降临，使得大量的消费形象被制造和传播，图像成为消费时代一种沟通、交流的中介和符码，甚至成为支配我们、控制我们的一种无形力量，对我们的日常行为方式乃至消费意识都产生影响。正如同海德格尔对来势汹汹的世界图像时代的警觉：“从本质上来看，世界图像并非意指一幅关于世界的图像，而是指世界被把握为图像了”。以下几位中国多媒体动画艺术家分别用自己的方式和角度表达了对这一事实的理解和态度，他们无一例外地选择了数码消费时代都市背景中，主体不同的记忆、体验及感受，并加以个人化的审美表达：

周啸虎的作品往往从生活中日常化的信息入手，把它的杂芜与无序整合成超现实的视觉体验。从《蜜糖先生》、《乌托邦机器》到《美丽云团》，“操纵与反操纵”是其很重要的主题，同时使他的作品具有寓意性、反讽性。“媒介信息本质上是重重人为包装、修饰、剪裁过后的产品”，实质上是对大众的一种操纵，世界就是一个包含着操纵和被操纵的辩证场所，人与人之间的、权力与大众的、媒体与大众之间的博弈、操纵与反操纵。周啸虎的作品如一台又一台大戏，隐含了“日常泛政治化”的生存语境，游戏上演，玩偶上场，而从动画图像制作中的易操纵性，到观众在动画、场景互动中的反操作，观众的加入进一步延展了作品的意义。顾德新的动画艺术在新的媒介中延续了他上世纪80年代以来先锋作品独立而锐利的批判意识,用直白简练的语言表达了对生命和人性的思考以及对权力及意识形态等问题的隐喻。在近作《模拟人生》中，顾德新用网络游戏般的情境对话，虚拟的、不连贯的、涵义隐晦的情节反反复复，似乎表达了生活中无尽的乏味与无聊，令人联想起塞缪尔·贝克特的荒诞派戏剧《等待戈多》。

陈劭雄和邱黯雄的多媒体动画艺术都选择了水墨的形式，创作的过程也惊人地相似。陈劭雄水墨系列作品描绘了消费时代城市文化、常态生活、物质以及时空的个人经验，他放弃“他者”的沉重意识形态，转向对“轻”而“微”的日常化生活的展示。生活的细节、平常之物、地标式的建筑，叙述性、流动性的画面构成了当代都市体验的记忆图景。快门、相片、打印、水墨、再拍摄、编辑、声音、最后形成动画，独特的创作过程，水墨加动画的呈现方式，成为了陈劭雄《墨水城市》、《墨水日记》、《墨水东西》标志性的艺术语言，水墨的绘画语言在四维的时空中重新编辑，它显示了传统文化在当下展示的有效探索。邱黯雄的《新山海经》探讨了人类生存的自然环境、社会环境的变迁，作者借力中国古代神话典籍的不羁想象，衍生出与当代生活相关联的奇异图景，在荒诞杜撰的情境中，严肃地揭示了科技文明所带出的副作用以及人类正在走向的某种危险。皮三的作品则一般是动画与真实影像结合的形式，传递了都市消费文化情境中的生存体验、个人感悟，时尚、动感、愉悦，凸显了动画艺术的商业气质。

唐茂宏线描的图像具有某种传统工笔画的色调，同时也摄入时尚卡通的流行元素，凸显了多样化资源的挪用。不可否认的是，我们看到了性的暧昧呈示，人体、花卉、昆虫、鱼、橡皮管、蘑菇、天使等图像，轻快而随意地细腻刻画，也延续了个人奇幻、超现实的心理表达。而吴俊勇的作品如同一个魔术师的舞台、神秘主义的剧场。一批头戴尖红帽的裸体卡通小丑——这个小人物在不同的舞台、场景如木偶般演绎着或无厘头，或滑稽古怪，或者微带情色的剧目，以零星的碎片汇聚了当下现实的社会剧。作品对于当下的指涉、批判，也更多地是富有智慧的冷幽默，隐含的是一丝感伤而非愤世嫉俗。

叶凌瀚的作品隐喻了时间和空间的关系。他的作品营造了一种时空穿梭的关系。图像和语言背后表达了一个流转的空间，而这个空间蕴藏的虚空、永恒只能被猜测，而永远也不能确定。孙逊其艺术元素涉及的范畴从世界历史、政治到自然的生物，永远的黑白基调，发黄旧报纸的背景，弥散着历史的苍凉气质。孙逊的动画语言，在流动的动画里追求绘画性，同时又带着鲜明的版画特征。孙逊个人认为对于历史的再现的《英雄不再》，陈述了对历史的追问，构建一种与历史交流、交谈、交往的方式，也暗示了个体一种批判、质疑的态度。他将找来的与自创的视觉图像与个人想象结合在一起，通过刺激官能使观者与历史接近并用自我的思维完形这些历史与图像的空隙。

这是一组数码消费时代的异像，数字技术、主体异化、物质丰裕、消费文化……芜杂的当代文化特质在一帧一帧虚拟的世界得到共生。

2009年6月

 

The Heteromorphy in the Era of Digital Consumption – Animation in Chinese Contemporary Art

XUE Baohua

Just like the drastic reformation of the Chinese society copying miracles of the Western economic field, the corresponding cultural realm staged the same act. After rounds and rounds of presentations of varied western arts and concepts, the multi-media animation art followed their course. The cutting-edge medium swiftly won wide attention for this art form. The development towards the native experience helped Chinese multi-media animation art transcend the mere meaning of a new medium and acquire its position in the avant-garde art. Among the many extensions of the concept of multi-media art, the multi-media art we talked about involve all kinds of experimental audio and video works, experimental documentaries and feature films, 2D and 3D experimental animations, CD-ROM art works and internet works based on interactivity, as well as video device and audio device, which are more connected to the space features of the traditional fine arts.

The burgeoning of multi-media animation art was first based on the continuance and extension of the Chinese contemporary art pedigree. Its cultural psychology sharing the same background with other forms of contemporary art, its aesthetic orientation and conceptual pursuit corresponded with other contemporary arts quite a lot. However, the conflict and dissimilation constituted by the concept, virtuality and interactivity of the multi-media animation art, brought on the audience a physical and mental impact, the totality and intensity of which were unprecedented. We noticed that the multi-media animation tried to create as many ways for the audience to receive as possible, such as the combination of video and device and audio art, the expression of various media forms, and the interactive communication with the audience, all of which endowed the multi-media animation art the post-modern trait of the consumption ear, at least in the form. Just like HUANG Danhui noted: The post-modern art is neither the so-called audio culture brought up by Wolfgang Welsch, nor the visual art by Frederic Jameson, nor the tactile culture and visual culture advocated by Walter Benjamin. The post-modern art is a complex art with the audio, visual and tactile arts fused as one, a theory strongly proved by the multi-media art, the complexity and diversity of which represented a new tendency of the development of contemporary art. Meanwhile, the penetration of the most powerful and entertaining animation into the video art, further strengthened the virtuality, gaming quality and entertainment of the multi-media animation, making it more a representative of the current cultural situation.

The multi-media animation created an interactive art, enabling the receivers to experience the art through interaction in the situation set by the artists. In this sense, the multi-media animation presented its distinction and distance from other video art, creating a meaning through non-static and non-free video and audio presentation. The multi-media animation highlighted its difference and departure from the traditional vision (painting) and space (sculpture and architecture) in the form of expression. The transcendence over the traditional art form, the multi-dimensional, multi-angle visual approaches and the application of media and technologies, helped this transformation of the medium bring a multitude of possibilities to the expression of art, including new visual forms, ways of experience and ways of communication, carrying and expanding the diverse expressions of personal experiences and feelings.

In the transition from the former video art to the multi-media animation art, the power based on the digital technology of the digital consumption era was released, assuming the role of a midwife. The “moving down” of technology, and its gradual transfer to individuals, along with the production, copying and broadcasting of video becoming more and more commonplace, enabled the subject to freely and smoothly use this kind of tool and medium. The multi-media animation art possessed an ecumenical democracy compared to the pressure on the technology and skills of the traditional art.

We finally got to see this kind of transition: in the multi-media animation art, video went almost completely against its original intent as an objective and exact record and transformed into a surreal, deceptive and indefinite virtual image. The reality of the video was continually dissimilated in the process of video transforming into virtual image, until it presented vivid virtual heteromorphy. Just as Ernst Cassirer emphasized: The painting is an imitation to the world, photography and films a copy of the world, and digital images the freely created products of the visual world. In the era of digital visual culture, people pursue better vision and perspective of the world and themselves with the aid of visual machines and its technology continually enriching the forms and art of “seeing”. Artists’ pursuit for “a multitude of possibilities” was being replaced by the “infinite possibilities” of technology. In fact, from the painting on the easel, device art to the video art, multi-media animation art, human arts have staged new forms incessantly. The development of art stands proof to the liberation of human imagination under the guidance of technology.

On the other hand, the multi-media animation art is a product of the waves of digital era, mass cultural, consumption culture and entertainment culture. French writer Regis Debray thought the alternation of broadcasting media could be divided into three eras of different modes: writing era, printing ear and audio and video era. The three eras respectively corresponds to theology, aesthetics and economy. In today’s audio and video era, which corresponds to economy, the public audio and video image has become its important token. The tender, flattery and penetrating public audio and video images surrounded us with their daily stimulation of TV, films, entertainment culture, internet and advertisements, flooding the current society and changing the existence experience and cultural environment of people in an unprecedented way.

The development of mechanical reproduction technology and the advent of market consumption era resulted in the production and broadcasting of mass consumption images. Images became the medium and symbol of communication of the consumption era, even an intangible power to manipulate and control us, exerting influence on our daily behaviors even consumption awareness. Just as Heidegger warned about the raging world image era: “In the essence, the world image does not point to an image of the world, but rather the world being grasped into an image.” The following artists of multi-media animation respectively expressed their understandings and attitudes towards this fact through their own ways and angles, without exception they all chose the different memories, experiences and feelings of the subjects in the background of city of digital consumption era, plus their personal aesthetic expressions:

ZHOU Xiaohu’s works always start with the daily information of life, integrating its complexity and disorder into a surreal visual experience. In Mr. Honey, Utopia Machine and Beautiful Clouds, the important theme of “manipulation and anti-manipulation” endowed his works allegory and satire. “Media in essence is a product packaged, furnished and trimmed by people,” in fact a manipulation of the mass, and the world is just a dialectic place of manipulation and anti-manipulation, full of games, manipulation and anti-manipulation between human and human, power and mass, and media and mass. Like dramatic plays, ZHOU’s works implied the existence context of daily politicization, with games starting and puppets taking the stage. From the manipulation of the production of animation images to the anti-manipulation of audience in the interaction of animations and sets, the participation of audience further extended the meaning of the works. GU Dexin’ animation art employed the new medium to continue his independent and sharp critic awareness of the pioneering works since the 80’s, expressing the thoughts on life and humanity as well as the metaphors on ideology through straightforward and concise languages. , in his latest work Imitation of Life, GU adopted and online-like dialogue, with repetition of virtual, incoherent and obscure plots to present the infinite boredom of life, reminding people of the absurd play Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett.

CHEN Shaoxiong and QIU Anxiong both chose the form of ink painting to present their multi-media animation art, with astonishing similarity in the process of creation. CHEN’s serial works of ink painting depicted the city culture, normal life and material and personal experience of the consumption era, abandoning the heavy ideology of the other while shifting to the presentation of the “light” and “minute” daily life. The details, normal things and landmark buildings of life, together with the narrative and flowing image constituted the memory landscape of current city experience. Shutter, photo, printing, ink, re-shooting, editing, sound, finally coming down to animation, the unique process of creation plus the expression of ink painting and animation became the symbolic art language of CHEN’s Ink City, Ink Diary and Ink Things, with the painting language of ink being re-edited in the 4D space, displaying the effective exploration of traditional culture in the current society. QIU’s New Shanhaijing (The Books of Mountains and Seas) discussed about the change of the natural and social environments people live in. From the unchained imagination of Chinese ancient myths, the author derived peculiar images closely related to current lives, seriously revealing through the absurd and fabricated situations the side effects brought by technology and some danger towards where human beings were marching. PI San’s works, on the other hand, are a combination of animations with real images, delivering the existence experience and personal feelings under the consumption cultural context of the city. Its fashion, liveliness and cheerfulness made the commercial temperament of animation art stand out.

TANG Maohong and WU Junyong’s animation works possess the cool feature of animation generation. The line-drawing images of TANG showed the touch of some traditional claborate-style painting, added with fashionable element of animation, showing the diverse application of varied resources. Irrefutably, we observed the obscure presentation of sex in the works, images like human bodies, flowers, insects, fish, rubber tubes, mushrooms and angels, along with the swift and random depiction, continued his personal fantastic and surreal psychological expression. While WU’s works could be compared to the stage of a magician, or a theater of mysticism. A bunch of nude animation jokers with pointy read hats – a group of nobodies performing the absurd, weird, or even slightly pornographic plays like puppets on different stages and sets, a social play of current reality constituted by bits and fragments. The author’s reference and criticism of the current society is more of a cold humor of wisdom with a touch of grief than cynicism.

YE Linhan’s work is a metaphor of the relationship between time and space. His work created a transwarp relationship. The image and language expressed a flowing and shifting space, the void and eternity of which could only be guessed, but never determined. The filed that SUN Xun and its artistic elements dabbled in ranged from world history, politics to natural creatures, its eternal black and white keynote and the background of yellowed old newspapers were permeated with the bleak temperament of history. The animation language of SUN pursues the quality of painting in the flowing animation with a striking feature of print. SUN thought his reproduction of history – No More Heroes, presented the examination of history, building a way of communication and talking, also implying a critical and questioning attitude of the individual. He combined the visual images he found and created with personal imaginations to stimulate the senses, enabling the viewers to approach history and filling the gap between history and images with the thinking of oneself.

It’s a group of heteromorphy of the digital consumption era, digital technology, dissimilation of the subject, affluent material, consumption culture … the complex contemporary cultural features coexisting in the frames of virtual world.

June  2009