罗蔷Luo Qiang

陈黎

《爸爸》是罗蔷最新的一个影像装置作品。她的作品描述了一个人在黑暗时期，或者说在“丢失”眼睛的失明状态下，跟随着一位“爸爸”努力熟悉周围环境、努力生存的场景，因为这位破窗而入的“爸爸”说会带他去寻找眼睛。这位失去眼睛的男人不知道周围发生的任何事情，他唯一的选择便是：相信这位“爸爸”。

作品《爸爸》是罗蔷在新冠疫情发生期间创作出来的。这段时间，我们每个人都像房间中失去眼睛的男人一样，被隔离在世界的每个角落。距离社交在不同程度上改变了我们的生活，从如何在国内外旅行，到如何在城市范围甚至在个人空间内活动。这一大型的流行性传染病破坏了世界的连续性：我们无法理解全球规模的疫情是如何发生的，我们，失明了。我们像盲人一样迷失在黑夜之中，在这个突然陌生的世界里我们无力、无方向。所以，“爸爸”到底是谁？他要带我们去哪？我们应该相信他么？

“希望我们能够从梦中醒来，发现一切都恢复了原有的生机样貌。但我们却失明了，我们应该去哪？”

《爸爸》以其缥缈的氛围和超现实的叙事手法告诉我们，这场疫情的爆发就像是一场梦，或者用噩梦来形容更为贴切。像亨利·富塞利的《噩梦》一样，我们都睡着了，我们的周围似乎充满了一些奇怪的生物。隔离中，这些支离破碎的时间片段强化了这种感觉：时间一直在流逝，但却不知流向何处。为何会发生这些？否认让位给了愤怒，愤怒继而又给讨价还价腾出了空间：是否存在一种魔力，一种能够重回2019年的魔力，想要上天告诉自己这一切都是一场梦，希望我们能够从梦中醒来，发现一切都恢复了原有的生机样貌。但我们却失明了，我们应该去哪？

最终我们接受了这个现实。罗曼罗兰说,“世界上只有一种真正的英雄主义，那就是认识生活的真相之后依然热爱生活。”我们现在能做什么？也许是时候信任“爸爸”了，试着去相信别人，去寻找失去的“眼睛”。

By Chen Li

Father is Luo Qiang’s latest work of video art. There, the artist tells the story of a man who suddenly realizes, after waking up, that he’s gone blind. He calls for “father” in the dark: A man then enters by breaking the window-glass. This figure suggests the man that they should go look for his eyes. For the man can’t see anything that happens around him, he has only one choice: Relying on “father.”

Father was created by Luo Qiang during the outbreak of Covid-19. In this period, just like them man in his room, we have been isolated from the rest of the world. Social distancing transformed our lives at different levels, from influencing how we can travel nationally and internationally, to how we can practice urban spaces and even our personal enclosures. The pandemic has broken the continuity of the world: We are blind in front of a phenomenon which we can’t fully comprehend in its global scale. Just like a blind person, we are left in the darkness, powerless, incapable of navigating a world that has all of sudden became unknown to us. Who is “father”? Where does he want to take us? Should we trust him?

“We want to wake up from this dream and see the world as it was. But we are blind. Where should we go?”

With its ethereal atmosphere and its surreal narrative, Father suggests us that the outbreak is like a dream – or, perhaps, even better, a nightmare. Just like Henry Fuseli’s The Nightmare, we are all asleep, surrounded by what appear as monstrous creatures. The broken sense of temporality that we experience in quarantine just reinforces that feeling: A time flow that is always present but that, at the same time, goes nowhere. Why did this happen? Denial leaves space to anger. Anger makes room for bargaining: Can a magic spell take us back to 2019? We want to wake up from this dream and see the world as it was. But we are blind. Where should we go?

But the power lies in acceptance. “There is only one heroism in the world,” Romain Rolland writes, “to see the world as it is and to love it.” What can we do now? Perhaps it’s time to trust “father,” to trust another, and to go look for our eyes.