視盟將於此屆2018 Art Taipei 台北國際藝術博覽會之樂讀藝術區策劃藝術推廣展覽《知識、獸跡與道路》，歡迎有興趣的觀眾前來參觀！

策展人｜簡子傑
藝術家｜劉秋兒、李旭彬、吳思嶔、戴宛蓁、洪誼庭、劉文琪

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當印刷術為知識平權創造出條件，藝術也從黝暗的宮廷深處獲得公共性的光亮，但相較於平權導致的除魅，藝術卻讓人覺得它仍試圖保有神秘，這種神秘感有時不過是為了一些極為基本的事物。

 

基本一如起源，例如在〈說文解字序〉中，許慎曾以「黃帝之史倉頡，見鳥獸蹄迒之跡，知分理之可相別異也，初造書契。」這段話，來說明華語文字的起源，這種起源觀與差異的發現不無關聯——文字原是為了區分山林鳥獸足跡的媒介，這也是象形文字基於圖像相似性的感性根源，然而，當人從痕跡學會了辨別不同物種進而發明文字，可以想見，他們也將沿著這些痕跡繼續追尋鳥獸的移動路徑，在許慎的句子中，「迒」字既有鳥獸足跡之意，也意指著道路，一條基於差異的道路——在這個時代，文字只專屬於極少數的一群人，文字仍緊緊跟隨著它的對象，知識意味著進入充滿神靈的自然的路徑，而非體現了人類與自然間的工具化關係。

 

到了印刷術與出版的年代，文字卻更多的是以差異關聯於另外一個字，一本書，先是區別於另一本，這個作者正是基於不同於其他作者而獲得身份，知識如今成為自己的道路，文字游離成為自身的載具，就如同藝術在今天仍被緬懷的自主性想像，這卻也是一個讓自然透過知識轉化為材料的時代，當印刷術創造出一整個世代的讀者，他們當時仍不清楚自己的名字正是民族主義。

 

但藝術擁有的不過是在這個失去對象的世界中一點可感可觸的神秘力量：有一群藝術家，在鳥獸絕跡以前駐足在這些痕跡旁，努力感受它們未被分化為文字前的樣貌，在獸跡或道路的縫隙中，讓知識偷渡一點神靈或魔力。

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Knowledge, Animal Tracks, and Paths

Curator | JIAN Tzu-Chien
Artist | Leo Liu, LEE Sih-Pin, WU Sih-Chin, TAI Wan-Chen, HONG Yi-Ting, LIU Wen-Chi

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As the publishing industry ushered in the era of knowledge equity, art has been liberated from the sacred temple of aesthetics. In contrast to the disenchantment caused by equal rights, art nonetheless conveys an impression that it tries to retain a sense of mystery, a sense sometimes kept for the sake of nothing but certain extremely basic things.

 

In the preface to Shuowen Jiezi (Explaining Graphs and Analyzing Characters), for example, Xu Shen indicated the etymology of Chinese characters as follows: “observing the tracks of different birds and animals, Cang Jie, a scribe for the Yellow Emperor, realized that these patterns and their implications are distinguishable while shapes and meanings are mutually referential. Then he started to create graphs accordingly.” This point of view is closely linked with the recognition of differences. Chinese

characters were invented to distinguish the tracks of different birds and animals as well as their meanings in the first place, which was also the sentient origin of the similarity shared by pictographs and pictures. As one can well imagine, ancient people would trace the migration paths of birds and animals after they learned to differentiate different species by the tracks and then invented graphs. The word “háng” (迒) in the aforementioned quotation ergo carries a twofold meaning: tracks of birds or animals; and paths. At the time when graphs were newly contrived, these graphs trod on the heels of their referents as the shadow follows the body, and knowledge implied not so much humans’ instrumental relation to nature as a path to it.

 

In the present era of knowledge equity, a word is related to another by difference. A book is firstly differentiated from another (there may even be different versions of the same book), and then its author acquired the authorship on account of his/her difference from peers. Serving as a strategic move indispensable for producing cultural content, publishing, or, circulation of knowledge, has become a path in its own right, creating a labyrinthine world of knowledge that knows no bounds. However, languages and characters have been consequently ionized as sheer symbols.

 

When it comes to art, adequate background knowledge is a necessary commodity to grasp its contemporary incarnations. Be it the most enigmatic abstractions, concept-guided works, or installations that highlight their immediate surroundings, contemporary art has rendered this intricate maze palpable, in which a path is marked for art to navigate amid the tracks of birds or animals and the world of characters without referent.