Rockbund Art Museum 上海外滩美术馆

We have entered the age of digital information overload but our understandings of the others have been gradually dictated by media façades composed of fragmented images and discourses. These facades, spectacular and colorful, grab our attentions very quickly and easily; nevertheless, they, rather than bringing us closer to the others, actually further distance us from sincerely listening to what the others want to say. In order to see through the mirage of media façades, ”Tell Me a Story: Locality and Narrative” aims to bring the spectators to approach the others as close as possible, listening to the others speaking for themselves.

On the other hand, in retrospect of modern histories in nonwestern worlds, we will find that modernization processes in colonial histories in the colonies and the vicissitudes of imperialist histories are two sides of the same coin. However, in today’s world, the old models of imperialist rulings are no longer relevant; the new form of “empire” operates with the dominating power of capital flows; they dominate all kinds of forces and all aspects of life, creating a new form of biopolitical governmentality. The world, being subsumed by this governing logic, has become what Homi K. Bhabha critically conceptualizes as “concentric world” which refers to the inner forms of power and hierarchical relationship in the world. In light of the above analysis, if we would like to have different ways of understanding the material and spiritual worlds in the contemporary era, can we use “locality” as a critical problematic to start with our interrogations? Through delving into the living traces in the marked sites of “shared temporality in different localities,” or “shared localities with different temporalities,” we will become more aware of our interrelated existential dimensions between ourselves and many others.

“Tell Me a Story: Locality and Narrative” first realized at Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai in 2016. In 2018, The exhibition relocates to Turin, Italy. In the cultural context of Europe, Asia seems to be an even more remote concept so how should we reposition the viewing relationships here in Europe? In the exhibition, we seek to depart from a framework dominated by vision, providing alternative epistemological approaches. The audience will enter all kinds of soundscapes—fireworks or gunshots, clement weather where frozen ships crack, running water and river, engines that propel the course of history, voices of the Spirit, sounds of elegies, historical echo chamber in a basketball field…all these soundscapes constitute a multi-layered cosmos of sounds where we hear harmonies as well as dissonances; clamors as well as bellows.

The 12 narratives presented in this exhibition opened up multiple secret paths into historical past. They invite us to revisit memories of war and ethnic assimilation/resistance that are shared by people across generations and regions throughout modern or even contemporary Asia. People migrate for survival and cross borders of nation/culture/ethnicity; stories of these changing flows and transformations of culture, either based upon historical facts or fused with imaginary tales, are all intertwined together and expand on a larger common spatio-temporal horizon. The artists dig out archives, reflect upon existing narratives and finally deploy their own creative descriptions to offer us a reading experience that goes beyond “local narrative” or “ethnography.” Through the artworks, we aspire to create a conversation among the spectators and participants. Each one of us is entitled to form our own perspectives on history, present and the future. We regard every single artwork as a dynamic piece of the narrative structure. In the process of producing a narrative and meaning, the artists, the spectators, and the stories themselves engage in an interactive process—an importance experience in and of itself.

生活在媒体信息时代的我们，对于他者的认识逐渐仰赖于媒体破碎的话语所编织而成一层表象之上，这层表象色彩斑斓，吸引了众人的目光，却阻隔我们更进一步地聆听在那背后唤起的他者之声，即便他者和我们之间的距离那么近。为了超越信息的海市蜃楼，本展试图带领观者尽可能地接近他者，倾听他们诉说他们的故事。从泰北边境到马来西亚与新加坡，从日本、韩国到台湾、香港、澳门，这些地名被我们视为旅游胜地而消费、凝视的同时，我们对其社会历史和现状都知之甚少，甚至在我们所处的城市——上海，摩天大楼背后栖居于河上的生活也仿佛一个来自平行世界的故事。

回顾非西方的近现代历史，殖民历史下的现代化过程和帝国主义的关系往往被看作是一体两面，时至今日，昔日的帝国主义不再，然新的“帝国”却是以资本的流动和驾驭力量统合、凌驾了生活中的各样面貌，它已成为一种新的生命治理型态。世界的样貌在这个涡漩中成为如印度学者霍米‧巴巴（Homi K. Bhabha）所曾批判的“同心圆世界”（concentric world） ，不过这个同心圆世界不只在说一样的商店、一样的音乐或是雷同的生活方式，而更指的是世界内在的权力和阶序关系的形制。基于此，若我们希望对吾人所生存的当代物质世界和精神世界进行不同的思考，是否有可能再次以“ 地方”作为问题意识的起点来探讨前述的提问？事实上，在当下的世界景观（spectacles）中探讨“ 地方”，它可能仍然是充满摩擦错落、挣扎、矛盾和分歧的，但也正因为如此，我们更希望通过“重返地方”来看见当下的生存困惑与危机，并从中体认出更多关于过去／未来的洞见。或者更精确说，通过可能是异地/共时，或是同地/异时的坐标和轨迹，使我们觉察出与彼此生存有所关联的向度。

2018年，“告诉我一个故事”移至意大利都灵展出，在其语境之下，亚洲更是一个陌生疏远的概念，当彼时位于远东的他者近在咫尺，观者该如何与其建立关系？是烟火或又是战火之声，船舶冰封霜冻之声，江水流动之声，六零年代华文电影的配乐，驱动历史的引擎之声，神灵的话语，丧乐之声，回响在篮球场的历史之声，寻找世界的步伐之声……众多声音形成一幅声音景观，时而唱和、时而对立，时而发出爆裂巨响、时而低声吟唱，这些声响、话语取代了人们惯已为常的观看机制，在视觉为主的认知框架之外提供另一种途径与可能性。

这以十二组艺术家的观点出发的“故事”，将带领观者进入各种历史的幽径，作品跨越了近现代乃至于当代亚洲的不同世代所普遍经历的战争记忆、地方文化与族群意识，其中国族／边界／文化的变动、人群的移动与生存，无论是来自历史事证或是参杂了想象，都盘根错结地漫延于更广大却共享的时空中。艺术家挖掘、沉思，运用创造性的描述提供超越一般“地方志”或“民族志”的阅读经验，而展览本身则意图呈现出建构中的地方性以及种种文化、社会关系的特殊组合。我们希冀借由艺术家的作品与整个展览项目本身开启一个对话过程，参与的每一个人，包含观众，都具有能动性建构个人的历史、当下及未来的观点。我们将每件作品视为一个动态的叙事结构，在其叙事意义的生成过程中，艺术家、故事与观众三点之间的相互作用会是一次重要的经历。