TEXTS ABOUT THE PRANKS
"Dolls" is perhaps the word some people may choose to describe the nine actors in my
theatre. I myself call them performers. Otherwise I think I prefer the term marionettes;
puppet theatre characters is not really the correct term either, as it is glove puppets
that are most commonly used in a puppet theatre. But the most serious objection I
have to the term "dolls" is that it implies something you play with, playthings whose
sole purpose is mere amusement. Calling them marionettes enhances the importance
of these figures. Admittedly, there is no getting away from the fact that they are indeed
"dolls" - figurines used for entertainment - but first and foremost they are artists per-
forming in a play. Someone pulls their strings, guides their movements, controls their
lives. By making this distinction, I am also making the point that I am investing part of
my life in work that is deadly serious, even when it is fun. This is not child's play! "
或许,有些人会把我剧院里面的九个演员戏称为"玩偶"。而我自己则称他们为"表演者"。我甚
至喜欢使用"牵线木偶"来描述他们;虽然"木偶剧演员"这种称呼其实并不太贴切,因为木偶
剧院里使用的木偶大多是手套木偶。然而我反对使用"玩偶"这个称呼的最重要原因是这个词
意味着他们是被把玩的东西,也就是别人的玩物,仅仅供人消遣。如果称其为"牵线木偶"则增
加了他们作为雕塑作品的重要性。固然,他们的确是"玩偶"--做娱乐之用--但是首先他
们是在剧场中进行表演的演员。有人在幕后操纵,指引其动作,控制其生命。通过这样区分,我
同时强调自己把生命的一部分用于制作极其严肃的作品,即使作品看起来搞笑。这可不是小孩 子的游戏!
When day has turned to night,
at the rising of the moon
we see the world
anew. Contours, silhouettes, patterns ...
indicative yet indistinct, indeterminate,
clouds scurry across the sky.
Then shadows darken the Earth.
This is the night when things will happen!
夜幕降临，月亮升起时，
在我们的视野中，世界变了样。
轮廓、剪影、图案......
具有象征性却模糊不定，
云在空中匆匆飘过，
洒下的影子笼罩大地
夜晚到了，多事之秋降临了。
Thoughts about the title Pranks in the Moonlight.
"2014, I wrote a short text that I published on my website:
"Clouds scurry across the
sky.
Then shadows darken the Earth.
This is the night when things will happen ...".
The words took shape in my mind at around the same time as the title of the exhibition, and that, too, has exerted a huge influence right from the start of this project. The title has, in a way, set the course for the contents. Listen! Pranks in the Moonlight. A prank is a trick, a joke, buffoonery. Similarly a prankster is a practical joker, someone who plays tricks on us - we are manipulated into believing his artifice. Mister Punch, the main character in the traditional puppet show is a prankster, but also a jester, someone we can poke fun at ... There is a timelessness in these words, a fundamental humanity. They are a primeval mirror held up to the truth, revealing the world to us
- but upside down, as indeed the world truly is! It's the same thing as with Snowden and the USA: "Stop the thief!" cries the thief. For me the word "pranks" represents the theatre in my current projects and its performers, its "players"."
"2014年,我在自己的主页上发表了一小段话:云在空中匆匆飘过,洒下的影子笼罩大地。夜晚到 了,多事之秋降临了。
这些文字基本上是与展览的名称同时成形的,而展览名也从其起始之刻就对我影响很大。在某 种程度上,展览名称给展览的内容定了调。听!月光下的恶作剧!恶作剧也有戏法、笑话和滑稽 的意思。同样的,开玩笑的人(prankster)是一个喜欢逗弄我们的人,他操纵我们去相信其伎 俩。庞奇先生(Mister Punch)是传统木偶戏里面的主角,这种木偶戏源于16世纪意大利的面具 舞台表演。庞奇是一个恶搞的人,一个喜欢开玩笑的人,我们可以用来取乐的人。由此我们有 了"哏"(punch-line)这个词,在表演结束时可以用它描述一个笑话、一个故事或者交换一下看 法。恶作剧(prank)和开玩笑的人这两个词已经被用了很长时间,没有人知道它们有多久的历 史。对我来讲,这令人深思。我发现这两个词很有感染力。这些词中有永恒和基本人性的意味。 它们是事实最原始的镜子,把世界展示给我们,不过是通过颠倒黑白的方式,而世界的确也是是 非颠倒的。这就像斯诺登与美国的关系一样:贼喊捉贼!对我来讲,"恶作剧"代表着我目前项 目里面的戏院,其表演者及"操纵者"。
About the Moonlight
"The title also includes the word "moonlight". The moon brings light to the world in a
different way from thesun.Sunlightdiffersfrommoonlight.
Moonlight is the opposite of sunlight, even though we know that moonlight reflects
the light of the sun. When the sun disappears behind a cloud, the world remains
well-lit. When the moon is obscured, everything is plunged into darkness. Things look
different by moonlight, taking on different contours, evoking different associations.
Moonlight is the fictitious world that we can compare with the world we are more
used to seeing. In the moonlight everything becomes ambiguous, without necessarily
becoming any less true.
But then what I am producing is, after all, an artistic narrative. I want to retain the poet- ic, the romantic and the realistic through poetry. I want my audience to experience a deeper awareness, a heightened consciousness by using my fantasy world to open up paths to new thoughts and phenomena in the world around them. I want them to be the true performers when they stand and look at the theatre. The act of witnessing how the marionettes are manipulated - seeing how someone pulls the strings - reminds us that we, too, are being manipulated. Can we see our own movements? Movements that we determine? Can we set ourselves free? Or, to put it another way: if we can, indeed, see our own movements, then we can also set ourselves free! "
Moonlight
shadows
contrasts
The world
we create
is not exempted from
the prankster's mockery
The prankster
The friend of truth:
"We would all be fools
but for the sake of this
paradox!"
"展览的标题还有"月光"二字。月亮给我们的世界提供光亮的方式与太阳不同,阳光和月光也不 同。月光是日光的反面(即使我们知道月亮反射太阳光)。太阳躲到云后时,这个世界依然明亮。 但是月亮被遮住时,一切陷入黑暗之中。物体在月光下看起来不同,有不同的形状,引发不同的 联想。月光给我们一个虚拟的世界,与我们熟悉的世界互为参照。
但是,我所创作的毕竟只是一个艺术叙事。我想通过诗歌般的文字留住一种诗意、浪漫和真实。 我希望我的观众可以得到一种更深层次的感受,通过我的幻想世界打开新的思路和现象,获取 更深的觉悟。当他们站着,直视剧院时,我希望他们成为其中真真正正的演员。目击牵线木偶如 何被操纵的,线是如何被拉拽的,提醒我们在日常生活中是否也如此被操纵。我们能够看到自己 的行动吗?我们的行动是自主的吗?我们能解放自我吗?或者,换一种说法,如果我们的确可以 审视自己的行动,我们也能够得到解放!"
月光
影子
对照
我们创造的
世界
没有脱离
搞恶作剧人的愚弄
搞恶作剧的人
是真理的伴侣，言道：
如果没有这些似是而非，
我们都会成傻瓜。
"I have some vivid visual impressions from the theatrical world, not only as a member of the audience, but also from behind the scenes, in the theatre's storerooms, the fly loft, the props store - the theatre as a scenographic model with all of its fascinating little details.... And I'm also searching for the imagery that I found so overwhelming when I came into contact with the theatre as a child, the magical cyclorama with its wonderful starry firmament."
我对剧院的视觉印象栩栩如生：作为剧院观众，无论是对舞台的幕后、剧院的储藏间，还是舞台上空或者其道具储藏间--犹如速记法模型，我对剧院的各个有趣的细节都熟悉。而且，我在寻找儿时进入剧场所发现的那些令人震惊的意象--以苍穹为主题，星星为点缀的迷人的弧形舞台背景。
