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藝術文件與(不)可加速的生命:論謝德慶的身體—機器、時間性及其抵抗潛能 Art Documentation and the (Un)accelerable Life: Reviewing Teching Hsieh’s Body-Machine, Temporality, and Potentiality of Resistance

作者
王聖閎
Author
WANG Sheng-Hung
摘要

本文是對謝德慶(1950-)行為藝術作品的重新探討,特別是《打卡》(1980-1981)及日後衍生的影像文件、裝置(譬如2017年威尼斯雙年展臺灣館的版本),進一步將其所蘊含的批判性意義從上世紀80年代,更新至資本主義加速狀態無所不在的今日。寫作策略上,首先是為了遠離以往相關評介中,過於英雄化、崇高化的舊有論述。其次是為了針對「時延美學」(durational aesthetics)的詮釋觀點提出批判,指出其理論空缺。最後,藉由重返謝德慶作品的直接討論,從中挖掘出值得開發、擴充的評論關鍵字。

本文欲指出,儘管初步觀之,《打卡》顯現某種講究規格化、執行上必須分毫不差的身體行動方略,但謝德慶打造的身體—機器並不指向古典資本主義預設的勞動情境和時間性。事實上,它的重要意義在於打開全新的問題場域:當代加速度政治的隱密憲章。也就是原本仰賴固定順序、連續性、需要緩慢沈澱與醞釀的一切事物,如今都必須讓位給一種可立即給予整體、可快速跳過或重新編組的文化邏輯。《打卡》一方面突顯其內在暴力,但另一方面,也提供一種足以激發「速差」思考的抵抗路徑。據此,藉由重新閱讀謝德慶,我們能夠具體反思,是什麼誘使當代人擁抱加速度的快感與激情?同時也能進一步指出,究竟什麼是藝術實踐裡不容遺忘的「不可加速之物」?因為那將會是我們回應資本主義加速機器的重要基石。

Abstract

This paper is a re-exploration of Teching Hsieh’s artworks, particularly One Year Performance 1980-81 (‘Time Clock Piece’) and subsequent visual documents and installations (including the 2017 version at the Taiwan Pavilion in Venice), to further update the implied critical meanings from the 1980s to the present day, when capitalism is everywhere accelerating. In terms of writing strategy, the first objective is to maintain distance from those too often heroized, or from sublimed arguments posited in previous reviews; the second objective is to criticize ‘durational aesthetics’ and point out its theoretical flaws. Finally, by returning to the direct discussions of Hsieh's work, we will uncover crucial keywords worth developing and expanding.

This paper aims to point out that although, at first glance, ‘Time Clock Piece’ presents a certain kind of standardized physical strategy that must be executed without fail. But the body-machine created by Hsieh does not target the labor situation and temporality of classical capitalism. In fact, its significance lies in opening up a whole new field of questions: the hidden constitution of contemporary politics of acceleration. That is, everything that was dependent on a fixed order, continuity, and slow contemplation and meditation, must now give way to a cultural logic driven by rapid skipping, fast re-editing, and an immediate experience of wholeness. ‘Time Clock Piece’ not only reveals its inherent violence, but also provides a path of resistance that can lead to the politics of speed discrepancy. In this way, in reviewing Hsieh's works, we reflect on what induces people to embrace the pleasure and passion of acceleration. At the same time, we further point out what is the “unaccelerable” thing that cannot be forgotten in artistic practice. That will be the cornerstone of our response to the capitalist acceleration machine.