编者的话｜辽远的风景 Editor's Note | The Remote Landscapes

Aug 10

封面摄影：曾翰© Zeng Han + NAAA
Cover photo by Zeng Han. © Zeng Han + NAAA

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《同言评论》试刊号是一次共学实验的结果，由参与同言工作坊2025｜评论写作、杂志出版与集体实践的研究者文稿选辑而成。它不是主题先行的约稿，而完全是研究者们的自由写作。“辽远的风景”是根据所选文稿概括出来的主题：辽远，不仅指地理空间之远，也指历史时间之远，更蕴含了因未来、未知或陌生、缺少关注而产生心理上的僻远感。1977年的菲律宾独立电影，韩国离岛上的双年展，日本非中心城市的三年展，伊拉克艺术家所回顾的往事，以及由远渐近而仍然暧昧不明的人工智能生成艺术，正是本期采集的“辽远的风景”。

这个主题表达的并不是前现代的遗绪，也不是要回到旅行条件有限的过去——像启蒙主义者和浪漫主义者那样去想象“远方”。如果说对“远方”的迫近凝视有一点儿“他者化”(othering）的倾向，那只是对“他者”的吸收和学习。学习的中心主体不以西方/东方的二元对立来分割，而是每个人的自我。你的地理定位在哪里，哪里就是中心。尽管全球化时代开启已久，但实际上只有跨国资本才能实现“无远弗届”。对于无数的个人来说，“远方”仍是一个等待的梦。而所谓“风景”，自然造物已经越来越少，大多数都变成了人造风景。你在本期看到的所有艺术，都可以视为一种“造景” (landscaping)。

首先，岳一洲把我们带回到了差不多半个世纪前菲律宾独立电影之父奇拉·塔希米克的首作《甜蜜的梦魇》。这部低成本影片，混合了伪纪录片、电影散文和影像游记风格，用“第三电影”的观念和方法，对资本主义和殖民主义展开批判，充满了率真剖白和自嘲自省。赫尔佐格曾说这是“七十年代全世界范围内最原创和最诗意的电影之一，” 桑塔格则写道: “《甜蜜的梦魇》使人忘记了几个月来沉闷的观影，它提醒我们，发明、粗野、魔法甚至纯真，仍然可以在电影中找到。” 岳一洲以分镜式解读来探索这部经典的魔力，并通过检视菲律宾在马科斯戒严时代纠缠于殖民与独裁的政治生态来揭示了影片的历史基因。

接着，许博文去到远在海角天涯的济州岛。在他的笔下，一个济州岛变成了多个济州岛。在第四届济洲双年展参展艺术家们的发散式想象中，济州岛在浩瀚的太平洋中移动漂流起来，对马岛、台湾岛、吕宋岛、加里曼丹岛……仿佛是济州岛在不同时空下的分身，或是它迷失方向的航迹。本届双年展的主题是“阿波伎漂流记”，阿波伎是济州古国耽罗的王子，他于公元661年被派遣出使和国。在双年展的语境中，阿波伎是济州的肉身象征，却在茫茫大海中迷失了航向，他的旅程变成了漂流。在这“不居”的隐喻中，艺术家们超脱了展览主办地的固定时空，而集体呈现了“岛屿共同体”的星群图像。

下一位作者印帅也曾游于东亚。他在第八届横滨三年展闭幕一年后，回想展览现场，追踪策展人刘鼎、卢迎华的思想轨迹和策展策略，剖析他们如何用鲁迅的名作《野草》来统摄展览并借助93位/组艺术家的作品来构建展览叙事。一个多世纪前曾在日本学医的鲁迅，被日俄战争新闻中冷漠麻木的中国人形象所刺激，决定弃医从文，后来成为中国人尽皆知的作家，对东亚现代思想也产生了巨大影响。《野草》是他在1920年代的个人精神史的写照，在这本薄薄的散文诗小集中，他“肉薄暗夜”，“反抗绝望”，向苦闷的世界发出呐喊。策展人用这本中国现代文学史上的名作来挹注当下全球议题，提醒观众历史的绵延反复，把第八届横滨三年展切换成了一个冷峻、批判的“鲁迅时刻”。

再接下来，是闫书勤在芝加哥当代美术馆对西亚“冲突区”伊拉克的“远眺”。这里正在举办瓦法·比拉尔的个展，他是一位在33年前因批评萨达姆政权而被迫流亡到美国的伊拉克裔艺术家，至今仍无法摆脱他的伊拉克身份和经历的影响。闫书勤批评展览对比拉尔关于2007年伊拉克战争的行为艺术旧作的档案式展示减损了现场艺术的激进性和本真性，同时也指出了比拉尔在美国这一“舒适区”的创作总是沉溺于伊拉克的回忆以及他在美国当代艺术体制中作为“内部他者”的尴尬处境。比拉尔经常使用最新技术进行创作，包括网络摇控射击、植入脑部的摄影装置、互动游戏、把3D扫描拉玛苏雕像所得的数字DNA编码到小麦种子中等等，最新的计划是要把萨达姆的雕像发射到地外空间，这将成为本期文章提及的最遥远的艺术作品。

最后，席文月对正在冒起的人工智能生成艺术进行了跨地理的收集，并讨论其在原创性、版权以及创作伦理等方面的争议。作为艺术家的一种新兴创作媒介，AI正在逐渐吸引主流艺术机构和媒体的关注，但它所带来的争议仍未有定论，所以在价值评估、市场化、收藏等方面仍属于一个相对晦冥不明和有距离感的事物。席文月建议回到艺术史去借鉴对新事物的应对方法，她引用了本雅明的《机械复制时代的艺术作品》关于摄影、电影对绘画、戏剧的冲击的论述，来类比今天AI对艺术的影响。此文把本期内容从地理的遐陬僻壤，到历史的厚土深根，进一步拉阔到了正在迫近的未来。

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The pilot issue of 𝘐𝘚𝘖𝘎𝘓𝘖𝘚𝘚 𝘙𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 is the result of a mutual learning experiment, compiled from the contributions by the research fellows who participated in the ISOGLOSS Workshop 2025. "The Remote Landscapes" is not a preset theme but is coined from the free writings by the fellows. The adjective "remote", not only refers to geographical distance but also to timely distance, and furthermore, it also encompasses the psychological sense of remoteness engendered by the future, the unknown, the unfamiliar, and the lack of attention. This issue captures the "Remote Landscapes" of the Philippine independent film in 1977, the Biennale on South Korea's outlying island, the Triennale in Japan's non-central city, the Iraqi artist reflecting on the past, and the generative AI arts, which gradually approach from afar yet remains obscure.

This theme is not an echo of premodern era, nor is it about going back to a past of limited travel—to the Enlightenment and Romanticism imaginations of the "far". The close gaze upon the "far" in the writings here is not a kind of "othering", but an absorption and learning from "others". The center isn't defined by the West/East binary, but rather the individual self. The center is just where you are geographically located. Although the globalization has long been underway, only transnational capital can claim "there is no far place that can't reach". For many individuals, the "far" remains a dream to be reached. And for the so-called "landscapes", the natural creations are becoming increasingly rare, with most becoming artificial. All the arts you see here can be considered as kind of "landscaping".

In 1977, Kidlat Tahimik, the "Father of Philippine Independent Cinema", produced the semi-autobiographical mockumentary and film essay, 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘦, which was regarded as "one of the most original and poetic works of cinema made anywhere in the seventies" by Werner Herzog, and claimed by Susan Sontag: "the 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘦 makes one forget months of dreary moviegoing, for it reminds one that invention, insolence, enchantment—even innocence—are still available on film". After almost half century, Will Yue reviews this masterpiece again. He uses storyboard-style interpretation to explore the magic of this classic, and reveals the film's historical genes by examining the political ecology of the Philippines entangled in colonialism and dictatorship during Ferdinand Marcos' martial law era.

In Xu Bowen's writing, one Jeju Island becomes many. In the divergent imaginations of the participating artists, Jeju Island starts drifting on the Pacific Ocean. Tsushima Island, Taiwan Island, Luzon Island, Kalimantan Island... seem like incarnations of Jeju in different time and space, or perhaps even traces of its lost voyage. The title of this Biennale, "The Drift of Apagi", referring to Apagi, a prince of the Tamna Kingdom, who was sent on a diplomatic mission to Japan in 661 AD. In the context of the Biennale, Apagi is a physical symbol of Jeju, lost in the vast ocean, his journey becoming a drift. Within this metaphor of "the unsettled", the artists transcend the immobility of Jeju, collectively presenting a mega picture of the united islands.

One year after the closing of the 8th Yokohama Triennale, Yin Shuai reviews the exhibition, follows the ideological trajectory and curatorial strategies of curators Liu Ding and Carol Yinghua Lu, and analyzed how they used Lu Xun's 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘴 to unite the exhibition and construct the narrative with the works of 93 artists/groups. Lu Xun, who studied medicine in Japan more than a century ago, was stimulated by the indifferent Chinese in the news of the Russo-Japanese War and decided to give up medicine and start his writing career. He became a literary giant in China, which also had a great influence on the modern thoughts in East Asia. 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘴 is a portrayal of his personal spiritual history in the 1920s. In this thin collection of prose poems, he approaches the dark nights, resists the despair, and cries out to the depressed world. The curators infused this masterpiece of China's modern literary history to the current global issues, reminding us of the continuity and recursivity of history, and turned the 8th Yokohama Triennial into a solemn and critical "Lu Xun Moment".

The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is currently hosting a solo exhibition by Wafaa Bilal, an Iraqi-born artist who was forced into exile to the United States 33 years ago for criticizing Saddam's regime and remains affected by his Iraqi identity and experiences. Diana Yan criticizes the exhibition's archival presentation of Bilal's previous performance 𝘋𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘛𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 on 2007 Iraq War, saying this diminishes the radicalism and authenticity of his live art. She also points out that Bilal's works in the "comfort zone" of the United States is often obsessed with memories of Iraq and his awkward position as an "internal other" within the American contemporary art system. Bilal frequently utilizes the latest technologies in his works, including web-based remote-control shooting, brain-implanted camera, interactive games, and encoding the digital DNA of the Lamassu into Iraqi wheat seeds. His latest project involves launching a bust of Saddam into outer space, making it the most remote artwork mentioned in this issue of 𝘐𝘚𝘖𝘎𝘓𝘖𝘚𝘚 𝘙𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸.

Suzie Xi collects emerging generative AI art across geographic regions and discusses the controversy surrounding originality, copyright, and creative ethics. As an emerging creative medium for artists, AI is gradually attracting the attention of art institutions and mass media, but the controversy remains unresolved, making it a relatively obscure and distant subject in terms of valuation, marketization, and collection. Suzie Xi suggests looking back to art history for insights into how the new things were handled. She cites Walter Benjamin's 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘔𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘙𝘦𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, which discusses the impact of newly emerging photography and film on the traditional painting and drama, to draw parallels with the impact of AI on art today. This article broadens the scope of this issue of 𝘐𝘚𝘖𝘎𝘓𝘖𝘚𝘚 𝘙𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 from its geographically remote and historically far views to the near future.

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岳一洲

同言评论｜奇拉·塔希米克的菲律宾炖菜：把第三世界作为方法

Will Yue

Kidlat Tahimik's Filipino Stew: Utilizing Third World as a Methodology

许博文

同言评论｜济州漂流记：想象另一种岛屿

Xu Bowen

The Drift of Jeju: Imagining Another Kind of Island

印帅

同言评论｜野草复燃：横滨的鲁迅时刻

Yin Shuai

The Reburning Wild Grass: Yokohama’s Lu Xun Moment