亦安畫廊 瞿廣慈個展《天堂游戲》│Qu Guanci Solo Exhibition《Playing in Heaven》

天堂實行集體主義 文/黄亚纪

我這麼猜想，天堂實行的也是集體主義，我們活著時在群體中渴望同儕的認同，我們死以後在天堂裡接受神的庇佑，我們身穿相同的白袍，一起擁抱天使撒落下來的金色福音。

人類是虛弱的動物，無法離群索居，因此我們對於天堂的渴望，只是我們現世那份集團感需求的再延伸，所以地獄是可怕的，除了刀山油鍋外我們必須承擔永遠的孤寂，在忍受疼痛後，我們雙腳踏著冷卻下來的熔岩，一個人。

或許正因如此，我們對於藝術表現出來的孤寂總是沈默地、小心翼翼地觀察著，我們擔心若太過於投入，我們自己也將陷入那孤寂的風景之中。孤寂的五官是緊縮的，這緊縮感還繼續傳染到肩膀、手臂、胸脯、雙腳，緊縮到把我們從背景中擠壓出來，讓我們變得完完全全的孤獨。

為了避免成為沒有背景的孤獨個體，我們開始尋找同伴，只是我們的野心已經比亞當夏娃大太多了，我們除了要找另一個伴，我們還不能欠缺讓我們有歸屬感的親密集團，於是乎宗教產生了、民族產生了、國家產生了，結果我們找到了太多的「同」，迫使我們再也無法忍受一丁點的「異」。中世紀基督教指控猶太人不相信聖餅為基督聖體的化身，甚至故意以尖刀刺穿、蹂躪麵餅以褻瀆這個信仰，因此基督教在舉行彌撒時特別展現聖餅轉變為血塊的神蹟，在看不見神蹟是信仰不夠堅定的心理壓力下，神蹟成為集體主義的幻覺。

到了現代，集團間的衝突轉變為血淋淋的個人暴力，那些傷害者的憤怒從大我降至小我，野蠻往往起源於一種親密感的背叛，例如當發現工作伙伴竟是對手企業的臥底、當發現枕邊人竟是謀財的騙子，我們一旦在所熟識的個人肉身面具背後，揭示出令人憎恨的、官方定義的身分，發現與自我定義相違背的「異」，那接踵而來的深刻背叛感將足以讓我們喪失應有的理性。

因為集體而無法忍受的孤獨、因為認同而發生的愚昧、因為親密而無法原諒的背叛，這些人類盡其一生避免的情節與情緒，都在瞿廣慈的雕塑中排列出來。瞿廣慈引用的歷史故事與象徵把這些情緒墊高放在一個尖端上，我們還必須為隨時會滾落下來的自己捏一把冷汗。對的，我們不知為何，很容易把自己與瞿廣慈作品中的人物同等，或許是因為那不完美的肉身，或許是因為那幾乎要取代我們氣息的氣氛，我們發現我們的確與他們共通著，我們在「他們」之間，找到了「我們」的群體情感。

大的物語正在結束，小的神話正在開始，我們身上潑淋著這時代的唐突與戲謔，但是我們仍希望變成下一個集體神話的主角。我們準備好姿態，我們嚴陣以待。

天堂游戲Playing in Heaven

盛大開幕酒會grand opening: 2011年1月27日 6pm - 9pm
傳媒訪問media briefing: 1月27日 3pm - 4pm
展覽日期exhibition date：1月27日-2月27日
展覽時間exhibition time：mon-sun. 10am-7pm
展覽地點location：香港九龍尖沙咀梳士巴利道半島酒店MW3店
shop MW3，M floor the peninsula hotel salisbury road kowloon，hongkong


**春節假期：2011年1月31日—2月8日畫廊閉館休息，將於2月9日恢復營業。屆時歡迎您的光臨！
aura gallery closed from 31 jan.-8 feb.2011 for the spring festival,re-opening on 9 feb.2011
亦安畫廊

In Heaven, collectivism prevails...
Text by Huang Ya Ji
Translate by Jing Yuan

I wonder, could even Heaven be a collectivist-dominated society? While we are alive, we yearn for recognition from our groups. After we die, we enjoy God's beneficence: we wear identical white robes and bask in the resplendent blessings of the angels.

Human beings are weak animals that cannot bear living alone. Our longing for heaven is an extension of group recognition from our earthly life. Hell is dreadful to fear, but worse than the eternal fire-and-brimstone, the weeping and gnashing of teeth, is the absolute loneliness. Ultimately, even physical torture doesn’t bring us atonement: the individual will still be left alone, barefoot, standing on top of frozen magma.

This might explain why we tend to be reserved and discrete when faced with art that conveys loneliness. We worry we could get trapped in this lonely landscape if we were allow ourselves to be too involved. The face of loneliness is tense and anxious; it transforms and infects other parts: our shoulders, arms, chest, feet. It becomes so intense that we are pushed out from the background, fully alienated.

To escape the fate of being a lonely figure without a ground, we start to look for companions. We are much more ambitious than Adam and Eve: our other half is not enough, we need our group. Hence , we have inventions such as religion, ethnicity, and nation. As a result, we have found too much commonality, which in turn finds difference to be increasingly unbearable. In the Middle Ages, Christians accused Jews of not believing in the Holy Bread as the embodiment of Jesus and of intentionally insulting and blaspheming their belief by abusing bread. In the Christian Mass, priests demonstrate how a piece of bread can turn into a host for the very body of Christ, as part of the Eucharist. Anyone who cannot see this miracle will be deemed uncommitted and lacking faith. Under such pressure, to be able to see such transubstantiation become a collective delusion.

In the Modern era, wars between different groups manifest themselves through brutal personal conflicts. A victim’s anger comes from a more personal cause and violence can come from betrayal in a close relationship: when your workmate turns out to be a spy sent by your competitor, or when your life partner is found to be a cheater and out for your money. Once one's identity has been publicly, officially marked as unworthy, especially within the familiar environs of our close friends, the feeling of being betrayed can be so shocking and hurtful that one can act unreasonably.

Guang Ci’s sculptures lay bare before us emotions and narratives we strive desperately to avoid: the loneliness brought on by our longing to live collectively, the fatuity ensuing from one's desire for group recognition; betrayals made unforgivable after being intimate. Directly referencing historical annotation and symbolism, Guang Ci focuses and intensifies these emotions to a most extreme and acute point, endangering the spectator by the constant risk of falling from such a breathtaking height. We locate ourselves in his figures between the imperfect physical beings and their aggressive attempt to replace us. We find thus the “we” -- the safety created from being in a group of “them”.

While the grand narrative is ending, still-developing myths are ready to emerge. No matter how much we are affected by the upheavals and the irony of our times, the hope to become the luminaries of the next myth never decays. We are making ourselves ready, thoroughly and resolutely.