陳庭 （1993年香港出生）從事影像、聲音（a.k.a. ct1993）和裝置藝術。她致力於光學思索的創作研究，專門由通過視覺對話與環境氛圍，連接觀眾的聲音形象和心理形象，其實踐常常以意識流形式出現。

陳庭畢業於香港中文大學，主修藝術，曾前往瑞典馬爾默大學文化及社會學院進行交流，並獲得美國國家催眠師公會授權的註冊催眠治療師。先後於2019年獲得張氏藝術獎（混合媒介），2020年被Para Site藝術空間選為「NoExit 無償藝術勞動資助計劃」二十五位資助藝術家之一。

陳庭同時為Negative Space（負片空間）的創辦人和策展人，Negative Space是一個由藝術家經營的獨立空間，致力於發展當代影像創作及以鏡頭為本的媒體。

她的作品曾在瑞典，瑞士及香港展出。

 

Chan Ting (b. 1993, HK) works in the fields of image-making, installation, performance and sound (stage name: ct1993). Chan’s research explores luminous mind and contemporary imaging. With a focus on visual dialogue connecting mental image and sound-image, her practice often emerges as a stream of consciousness.

Chan received her BA in Fine Arts from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and went on an exchange program at the Cultural and society faculty of Malmö University in Sweden. She also is a certified hypnotherapist which is recognized by the National Guild of Hypnotists (United States).

At the same time, she is the co-founder and curator of an independent artist-run space Negative Space, dedicated to developing contemporary imaging and lens-based media.

Her works have been shown in Sweden, Switzerland and Hong Kong.

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光學思索

 

表像
影像的背後
攝影作為________工具
我們過往都被性質屬於說明、
描述的影像所圍困
意象
心像
幻像
假象
成為暗房
心的運作
再現／再現機制的外圍
可見／不可見
顯影
暗房
凝視
透視
看／不看
看到／沒看到

 

 

Luminous Transcendence / Luminous Mind

 

Representation
Behind the Images
Photography as a tool for ________
We have been surrounded and trapped by images that are illustrative, descriptive in nature
Imagery
Mental images
Illusion
False images
Becoming a darkroom
The operation of the mind
Reveal / Represent the outer limits of mechanism
Visible / Invisible
Development
Darkroom
Gaze
Perspective
Seen / Unseen
Seeing/not seeing

 

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音樂與攝影：GAS與杉本博司（節錄）

– 18.7.2020

 

若然你已厭倦了節奏強烈、不斷重覆的罐頭電子音樂，試著找個悠閒的下午、或夜闌人靜的晚上，聽聽德國電子音樂家 Wolfgang Voigt (GAS) 的氛圍音樂作品。GAS曲風以極簡 techno beat 、長時間及欠缺起伏見稱。自1997年起，已發行了五張正規專輯，封面以各種顏色反映情緒氛圍。2018年發行的專輯《Raush》，以叢林實境的色調作封面，敍事性與複雜情緒更自然的流露，段落轉變亦更加不著痕跡。

 

沒有主旋律，我們到底在聽甚麼？

一如以往的 dark techno風格，然而《Raush》專輯總長一小時，曲目與曲目之間無間段銜接。似乎要遇上「不趕時間」的聽眾，音樂的意象風景才能開展起來。GAS擅長運用漫長的時間，時間成為了音樂裡各種情感（affect）背後的推動者。

《Raush 1》 以接近8分鐘的長度起首，極度緩慢展開的細微變化，引領聽眾進入這片想像的風景。森林間的日常，於人類而言卻是種種的未知。各種管弦樂器塑造的層次、深度與張力感，與混亂得近乎嘈音的底韻，指向的是氛圍盡頭的空無。

藉著GAS的音樂忽發奇想，對於時間與空間、光學意識的思索，筆者是次選了杉本博司《Abandoned Theater》系列一同閱讀，與大家一起欣賞。

《廢墟劇場》快門時間與放映片長特地設置成相等，拍下來的照片就只剩一片長方形空白，而這裡的空白，指向的是時間盡頭空無。而人類走到當代藝術、以及後現代主義的時代，當我們雙眼置於白光前，能不能看到更開闊的時間觀念？時間更接近以一種更高層次的形式呈現開來，光線四散劇院各處，乃至於觀眾席。既然返回過去亦是邁向未來，而對於未來的畫面，就在我們腦海的影像開始。

氛圍音樂與東方哲學的相通之處，在於透過耳朵或身體感受另類氛圍，去體驗無限制的空間經驗。心打開了，就能聽到未曾聽過的聲音，以心當作感光元件，就能看到未曾見過的景象。而不昔一切走往狂亂的盡頭，是限制性思維的釋放，是死板建制的瓦解。

（⋯⋯）

專輯封套背面附帶一首詩：

Rausch with no name / My beautiful shine / You are the sun / This is where I want to be /

Rausch with no morning / This is where we burn / The Stars sparkle / In a sea of flames /

Horns and fanfares / Fanfares of joy / Fanfares of fear /

The wine we drink through the eyes / The moon pours down at night in waves /

Careful with that axe Eugene / Personal Jesus / No beginning no end / 

Eighteenth of Oktember / The night falls / The king comes / The hunt starts /

Freude schöner Götterfunken / The long march through the underwood / Trust me there’s nothing /

Once upon a time there was a bandit / Who loved a prince / That was long ago /

Spring Summer Fall and Gas / There is a train heading to Nowhere /

Drums and Trumpets / Future without mankind / Warm snow / Alles ist gut /

The bells toll / You are not alone / The murmur in the forest / The murmur in the head /

Light as mist / Heavy as lead / Music happens / To flow like gas /

A clearing / Heavy baggage / Debut in the afterlife / Death has seven cats /

World heritage Rausch / Finally infinite”

（⋯⋯）

“Finally infinite”指向的是永恒的積極，在如此荒謬的日常、崩壞的新自由主義世界，勞勞役役地過日子，還是覺知自已的渺小，仍奮力前進，以新蓋舊？一切都從腦裡所描繪的想像開始。

 

Music and Photography: GAS and Hiroshi Sugimoto

– 18.7.2020

 

If you’re tired of conventional electronic music with strong beats and loops, try listening to the ambient music of German electronic musician Wolfgang Voigt (GAS) in a leisurely afternoon or a quiet evening. GAS is known for his minimal, long and undulating techno beat. Since 1997, he has released five regular albums with covers in a variety of colours to reflect the mood, and his 2018 album ‘Raush’, with an image of a jungle on the cover, has a more natural flow of narratives and complex emotions, and smoother transition between passages.

 

What are we listening to without a main theme?

‘Raush’, a dark techno as ever, is an hour long album with no intervals between tracks. It seems that the imagination of the music can only be developed if the listener can take his/her time.  GAS excels at using expansive amount of time as the driving force behind the affect in his music.

 

Raush 1 begins with a length of almost eight minutes, with extremely slowly developed nuances that lead the listeners into imagination. Daily life in the forest is a mystery to humans. The layers, depth and tension created by the various kinds of orchestral instruments, and the chaotic, almost strident undertones point to the emptiness in the depth of the atmosphere.

The music of GAS inspires me to think about time, space and awareness of light, therefore, I choose to share Hiroshi Sugimoto’s Abandoned Theater series with you.

The shutter time of Abandoned Theater was set to be equal to the length of the screening, leaving a rectangle of blankness in the photograph, which points to the end of time and nothingness. In the era of contemporary art and post-modernism, can we visualize a broader concept of time when we fix our gaze on the white light? In Sugimoto’s work, time is presented in a higher form, with light scattered all over the theatre, and even in the auditorium. Since returning to the past is also a step towards the future, the sense of the future begins with the images in our minds.

The connection between ambient music and oriental philosophy lies in the ability to experience alternative atmospheres and an unbounded space through listening or embodiment. When the mind is open, one can hear the unheard sounds, and when the mind is used as a light sensor, one can see the unseen vision. By going to the extreme of chaos, one can liberate the restricted mind, disintegrate the rigid establishment.

(…)

A poem is included on the back of the album sleeve:

Rausch with no name / My beautiful shine / You are the sun / This is where I want to be /

Rausch with no morning / This is where we burn / The Stars sparkle / In a sea of flames /

Horns and fanfares / Fanfares of joy / Fanfares of fear /

The wine we drink through the eyes / The moon pours down at night in waves /

Careful with that axe Eugene / Personal Jesus / No beginning no end / 

Eighteenth of Oktember / The night falls / The king comes / The hunt starts /

Freude schöner Götterfunken / The long march through the underwood / Trust me there’s nothing /

Once upon a time there was a bandit / Who loved a prince / That was long ago /

Spring Summer Fall and Gas / There is a train heading to Nowhere /

Drums and Trumpets / Future without mankind / Warm snow / Alles ist gut /

The bells toll / You are not alone / The murmur in the forest / The murmur in the head /

Light as mist / Heavy as lead / Music happens / To flow like gas /

A clearing / Heavy baggage / Debut in the afterlife / Death has seven cats /

World heritage Rausch / Finally infinite”

(…)

“Finally infinite” points to the eternal positivity of living in such an absurd mundane, crumbling neoliberal world; one is aware of his/her own insignificance in busy everyday life, should we still strive to move forward, create something new out of the old? It all starts from the imagination of the mind.

 

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音樂與繪畫：You’ll never get to heaven 與 Peter Doig

-10.4.2019

 

全球最不快樂城市，香港排第七。夜闌人靜間，聽聽來自加拿大的ambient dream-pop 二人組合，You’ll never get to heaven (下稱YNGTH) 2014發行的EP《Adorn》，找回一片心靈所屬的喘息空間。對於極端的情緒直接冷處理，繼而使用多重飽滿的音色質感取而代之，dream pop 與 ambient曲目的比例可各佔一半，加上celeste 及 grand piano與bass 的使用，令《Adorn》比其餘專輯有種淡淡的與別不同。

 

兩者之間

逃脫現實本身就帶著現實的托架，最觸動心靈莫過於兩者之間(In between)。〈Caught in time, so far away〉猶如天使在人睡夢中耳邊細語，半夢半醒間，時而清晰，時而曖味含混。人使用語言把事物區間開來，方便認知，同樣地，愈分隔就愈覺疏離。當歌詞不再重要，含混的言語可否將聆聽音樂推進更感性的層次？

Alice Hansen的聲線引出框外的美麗，是一種未定的狀態，隨著聽者的實際情景與當刻心情而浮擺不定。Dream pop 總是給人一種帶離現實的印象，而他們的音樂卻來回穿透外在與內在的世界，抑或，來回穿梭於天堂與人世間。

有些音樂很強烈、明確地向聽眾塑造某些情感，然而YNGTH獨有的氛圍與質感飽滿的音色，隨著時間推移，每每總引起不同層次的聯想與感受。

筆者選了魔幻寫實主義(magical realism)畫家Peter Doig的作品一同閱讀，與大家一起欣賞。

 

時間、空間與回憶

如果說藝術站在哲學與神學之間，於筆者而言，YNGTH的背後大概隱含著既內疚又渴望救贖的情緒。Adorn字面上意即「裝飾」，當Alice Hansen 唱出「Wash my hands, clean my soul…」，冷處理下帶來一種既無助又深切的呼喚，難以片面形容的情感。

僅僅用無形的聲音便能勾起腦海種種影像、幻想與回憶，實屬聆聽 dream pop的一貫經驗。而重新編曲下的〈By this river〉，相比Brian Eno 沉實的聲線與簡潔的 grand piano，再現了另一種體驗。當我們談論回憶，總離不開 「time and space」相關的議題。而同樣的東西，人類一直透過科學、哲學、史學、地理學、社會學等等各種框架下，不斷扣問。同樣地，當人站於大海面前，總驚覺自身的渺小。

 

靜默的話語

天堂這個概念，背後也許反映著著人類既自大狂妄又內疚卑微的一面。《Adorn》當中ambient歌曲的長度比dream pop歌種相對地短，依其次序下聆聽整張專輯，又發現這種安排恰到好處。

有種說法，時間是種主觀的概念，連續的意識使人感覺時間流逝，比方說當人感到焦急時，時間像過得很慢似的。筆者會形容〈Unravel〉以扭曲又反覆的sample一再形塑時間可長可短，片刻或永恆，沒有絕對的答案。

結尾前，〈Enfantillages Pittoresques, Bercuse〉以鋼琴獨奏別開生面，是低調地呼應著甚麼嗎？尾曲〈Closer〉屬較為內歛的表現，猶如一場靜默的話語，聆聽內在的聲音。Peter Doig的〈Orange Sunshine〉總是提醒著筆者，光從不在遠方，唯心內有光，且勇於面對沒有光而帶來的恐懼，才能看得見外界的光。

 

Music and Painting: You’ll never get to heaven and Peter Doig

-10.4.2019

 

Hong Kong is the seventh unhappiest city in the world. In a quiet night, I listen to the Canadian ambient dream-pop duo You’ll never get to heaven (hereinafter: YNGTH)’s 2014 EP Adorn, to find a breathing space where your mind and soul belong. Adorn is comprises half Dream pop and half ambient tracks, with the use of celeste, grand piano and bass, making Adorn slightly different than the other YNGTH’s albums.

 

In Between

One cannot escape from reality without the recognition of reality, and nothing touches the heart more than the status of In between. Caught in time, so far away is like an angel whispering in one’s sleep, half asleep and half awake, sometimes clear, and sometimes ambiguous. Language differentiates things for ease of perception, in the same manner, separation reinforces alienation. When lyrics are no longer important, can the ambiguity of words take music to a more sensual level?

Alice Hansen’s voice evokes an extraordinary beauty, a state of uncertainty that is ever-changing according to the listeners’ situation and mood; Dream pop always gives the impression of a detachment from reality, while YNGTH’s music goes back and forth between the outer and inner worlds, or, alternatively, between heaven and earth.

In the album, some of the music pieces are very strong and explicit in portraying certain emotions, YNGTH’s unique atmosphere and full-bodied sound always evoke different levels of associations and feelings as time goes on.

I  hereby share the works of magical realism painter Peter Doig in addition toYNGTH’s music.

 

Time, Space and Memory

If art stands between philosophy and theology, I personally think, YNGTH probably implies a feeling of guilt and longing for redemption. ‘Adorn’ literally means ‘decoration’, and when Alice Hansen sings ‘Wash my hands, clean my soul…’, the minimalization brings a helpless and deep call for redemption, it is difficult to literally describe that kind of emotion.

The tangible sound evokes images, fantasies and memories in the mind, which is the usual experience of listening to dream pop. The new arrangement of By this river is another experience compared to Brian Eno’s subdued vocals and simple grand piano. When we talk about memories, it is always about ‘time and space’. The same thing has always been asked in the framework of science, philosophy, history, geography, sociology and so on. Similarly, when one stands in front of the sea, one is always surprised by one’s own insignificance.

 

Silent Words

The idea of heaven may be a reflection of the arrogance and yet humility of human. The ambient songs on Adorn are relatively shorter than the similar dream pop songs, and listening to the whole album in that order, one finds that this arrangement is just right.

It is said that time is a subjective concept, a continuous consciousness that makes one feel that time is passing, for example, when one is feeling anxious, time seems to be passing very slowly. I would describe Unravel as a distorted and repetitive sample that portrays time as either long or short, momentarily or eternal, there is no absolute answer.

Lastly, Enfantillages Pittoresques, Bercuse features an exceptional piano solo, is it an understated echo of something? The closing track, Closer, is a more introspective performance, like a silent conversation of the inner voice. Peter Doig’s Orange Sunshine reminds me that light is never far away, but only when there is light in the heart; only when we have the courage to face the fear that comes with the absence of light, we will see the light from outside.