活動日期：2022-11-29 至 2022-12-07
地標：OCAC 打開-當代藝術工作站 （25.05891，121.5129）地址：103 臺北市台北市大同區甘州街25號從 12 月 07, 2022 2:30 下午到 12 月 07, 2022 5:00 下午The MONOLOGUE Trilogy by VANDY Rattana |《獨白》三部曲放映會
日期｜2022.12.07 時間｜14:30-17:00
此次放映的《獨白》三部曲含《獨白》、《… Far away, over there, the ocean》和《Funeral》於2015年至2019年三個影像作品；；作品反映了柬埔寨藝術家Vandy Rattana在歷史創傷和韌性的獨特觀點。
與之同名的的首部曲《獨白》，源於藝術家在發現從未謀面的姐姐，與其他五千名紅色高棉受難者一同長眠之地時所湧現的情感與反思；而這個痛苦「遇見」下的見證者，則是藝術家姐姐埋於其下的兩棵芒果樹。延續及呼應藝術家過去的作品自越戰炸彈坑所記錄下的《戰爭池塘》過去留下痕跡但又逐漸不可見，風景反倒成為影片中主要的角色。一片如常的稻田，由如同意的村民如常耕種著，沒有任何跡象顯示那裡躺著，成千上萬在動盪中失去生命的軀體。與世界各地一樣，風景帶有歷史的傷痕。Vandy Rattana通過與歷史洪流相互交織的家族歷史，賦予這片寂靜風景一個主觀的聲音。
在另外的兩部作品中，風景仍舊延續在影像中扮演重要的地位。在《… Far away, over there, the ocean》中，一位年輕的畫家正在尋找風景的本質，卻一直沒有成功。在路程中，他看見持續消退的森林之美，金邊肆無忌憚的城市化，將過去痕跡一掃而空。這部作品同時也可以被視作是為Vandy Rattana早期，對於金邊第一座摩天大樓和城市迫遷之攝影系列作品的延伸。這部作品同時也是對身處在歷史創傷下和充滿幻象的未來之間，後紅色高棉青年世代的反思。「風景無處可尋，我看著自己，為什麼要尋找自己？也許風景是一面鏡子，我可以透過光粒子看到自己。在鏡子裡我的映像沒有味道，沒有氣味，沒有溫度。相反的，這是像要成為某種東西的痛苦。我總是想知道，風景是否是一個無限的夢想。」（摘錄自影片）
《Funeral》一片，從被釋放奴隸的腳步聲開展。「我正在建立一個避難所……一個高到我可以與神相遇的避難所。這是我的夢所告訴我的。其他也正在做著夢，做著那些將會摧毀我的夢。這也是我的夢所告訴我的。由夢而生的文明正在消逝中……一直一直消逝，直到化為灰燼……一點一點，我的夢想正在凋零，我的記憶也在墜入深淵，墜入不可思議的虛無之中。我依然記得所有我所建設的。我的聲音已然完全消逝。這就是我夢想結束的地方。」（摘錄）作為三部曲中的最後一部分，《Funeral》透過情感質疑我們的存在。人類難道不是想像、神話中的奴隸嗎？也許過去的灰燼正在孕育重生，儘管每一個創作行為的本身，也是包含著自己的目的。 直面跨越時空的殘酷－成千上萬的死者被埋在稻田裡，土地投機者對於景觀的破壞，野心勃勃的夢想最終成為了死胡同－Vandy Rattana回應哲學家Albert Camus，呼籲我們面對現實，並接受我們存在的荒謬，並要不斷質疑自己在這變化世界中的位置。
藝術家｜VANDY Rattana 柬埔寨藝術家，1980年出生在金邊；2005年開始影像創作。近年參與的國際重要展覽包含釜山雙年展（2020）、新加坡雙年展（2019）、東京森美術館《太陽雨：1980年代至今的東南亞當代藝術》（2017）、東京現代美術館《他者的時間》（2015）、 紐約古根漢主導的研究型巡展《越域：南亞及東南亞當代藝術展》（2013-14）、以及第13屆卡賽爾文件展（2012）等。 ※影片配有中文字幕。 ※映後座談以英文進行，如有需要，現場可以協助翻譯。 ※完整作品介紹請參閱下方資訊。
================================= The MONOLOGUE Trilogy by VANDY Rattana
Date｜2022.12.07 Time｜14:30-17:00
The MONOLOGUE Trilogy, produced between 2015 and 2019, includes three films: MONOLOGUE (co-produced by Jeu de Paume and the CAPC Bordeaux), … Far away, over there, the ocean (produced by the Singapore Art Biennale), and Funeral (self-produced). This trilogy reflects Cambodian artist Vandy Rattana’s unique vision of historical trauma and resilience.
The eponymous first part of the trilogy, MONOLOGUE, stem from the flood of emotions and reflections of the artist when he found the place where his sister, whom he never knew, lies, alongside five thousand other victims of the Khmer Rouge. The main witnesses of this painful “encounter” are two mango trees, under which his sister is buried. Echoing his previous work Bomb Ponds on the bomb craters of the Vietnam War, leaving traces that have become almost invisible, the landscape appears as one of the main protagonists of MONOLOGUE. A simple rice field, cultivated by almost amnesiac villagers, without any indication reminding that thousands of deceased lie there. As everywhere in the world, landscapes carry the scars of history. Vandy Rattana gives this silent landscape a subjective voice, through the history of his family, which intertwines with the great History.
The landscape is also prominent in the other two films of the trilogy, which extend the first film through fiction. In … Far away, over there, the ocean, a young painter is searching for the essence of landscape, without ever succeeding. Along the way, he witnesses both the beauty of the forest, which nevertheless continues to recede, and the unbridled urbanization of Phnom Penh, sweeping away the traces of the past. It can be seen as an extension of Vandy Rattana’s photographic series on the first skyscraper in Phnom Penh and the urban evictions ten years earlier. This film is also a reflection on post-Khmer Rouge youth, between the traumas inherited from history and a future paved with illusions. “The landscape is nowhere to be found, I’m looking at myself, that’s it. Why am I looking for myself? Maybe the landscape is the mirror in which I can see myself through the light particles. My image in the mirror has no flavor, no smell, no warmth. Rather, it is the pain of wanting to become something. I’m always wondering if the landscape is an infinite dream” (excerpt).
Funeral opens with the sound of footsteps of freed slaves. “I am building a refuge (…) a refuge that is so high I will meet the gods. This is what my dream has told me. The others are also dreaming, dreams that will destroy mine. The civilization born of dreams is fading away (…), it is disintegrating until it becomes ashes (…). Little by little, my dream is withering, my memory is falling into abyss, into an inconceivable void. I still remember all the things, what I have built. My voice has completely faded. This is where my dream ends” (excerpt). Last part of the trilogy, Funeral, through emotions, questions our existence. Aren’t human beings slaves to their illusions, to their myths? Perhaps the ashes of the past are incubating a rebirth, although every act of creation also contains within itself its own end.
Facing the cruelty that crosses places and times – thousands of dead buried under rice paddies, the destruction of landscapes under the steamroller of land speculation, ambitious dreams that turn out to be dead ends – Vandy Rattana, echoing Albert Camus, appeals us to face the reality, to accept the absurdity of our existence, and to continually question ourselves about our place in this changing world.
VANDY Rattana Born in Cambodia in the aftermath of the Khmer Rouge and having grown up in Phnom Penh, Vandy Rattana began his photography practice in 2005. His first works straddled the line between photojournalism and artistic practice. His recent works mark a shift in philosophy surrounding the relationship between historiography and image making.
Since the photographic work and documentary Bomb ponds (2009), in which his photos of bomb craters articulate the psychological wounds of Cambodians who survived American carpet bombing between 1964 and 1973, Vandy Rattana has been scanning the idyllic Cambodian countryside with his viewfinders and revealing its traumatic past. After his first short-film MONOLOGUE (2015), he released the short-film Funeral in 2018, and …far away, over there, the ocean, in 2019. Together, these 3 short films form the MONOLOGUE trilogy.
From 2007 to 2012, he contributed to the creation of art spaces in Cambodia. Vandy Rattana is now living in Taiwan. His photography and video works are exhibited and shown worldwide : Japan, Okayama Art Summit (2022), Singapore Museum of Arts (2019), Taiwan, TheCube (2016), France, Jeu de Paume (2015), Cambodia, Sasa Bassac Gallery (2015), United States, Asia Society Museum NYC, 2013), etc.