■ 天 問 ─ 董承濂 x 張永達
Re-sensing the Cosmos ─ Nick DONG x CHANG Yung-Ta
2022.08.20 –10.02
策展人 Curator │ 劉俊蘭Chun-Lan LIU

• 08/20 Sat
14:30-16:30
策展人劉俊蘭專題講座Lecture
藝術的微觀細察與宇宙大問
16:30
開幕 Opening

• 08/26 Fri
17:30-19:00
董承濂藝術家分享會
Nick DONG Artist Talk

• 09/03 Sat
15:00-16:30
張永達藝術家分享會
CHANG Yung-Ta Artist Talk
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文/ 劉俊蘭
國立臺灣藝術大學教授

戰國時期詩人屈原的《天問》，以宇宙之始、世界創生的扣問為開篇，前後一百七十多問，超越時空、視野恢弘，從天地生成、自然秩序，及於對人生、社會與歷史的深切思考和探討。

宇宙的探問，向來不只是科技，也是哲學，跨越世代與歷史、不限學門與文類，關乎時代演進也涉及觀點變異。從古代神學到現代科學的宇宙觀，在科技進展下，其認知框架一再地被拆解，反覆地歷經重新發現與再次定義。古往今來，對宇宙的探索、感知和想像，也不斷引現突破框架、解放思維的美學實驗與諸多課題。二十世紀早期結合科學與靈性的超空間哲學和宇宙意識、推翻傳統透視的「多維立方」和四度空間觀，激發前衛藝術的創新實驗；戰後的太空研究、宇宙技術，不論在西方或在臺灣都驅動了現代性的藝術想像和實踐。美國NASA於2022年季夏最新發佈之璀璨全彩的宇宙深空影像，不只是視覺美感與科技進步意義，更具體重啟宇宙議題，撼動既定認知與慣常想像，也引人再度思辯均質性與中心化的世界思維與模式。

本展援引先秦古詩名為題，呈現董承濂和張永達的最新創作，即著墨於其中的宇宙觀點和探索意識，聚焦於兩位藝術家藉由各自的技術調度、媒介語言和美學轉化，所體現的時空感知、所引現的殊異感性，以及對環境、對存在的根本思考或追問。轉借兩千多年前的長詩名，非僅突顯宇宙大問這個人類母題開放的跨時空（乃至跨文化）意義，更意在藉此宏觀脈絡對照藝術家在當代語境下的獨特表現和觀點延異，並思索其中的變與不變。

Curator: Liu Chun-Lan (Professor, National Taiwan University of Arts)

Heavenly Questions by the poet Qu Yuan during the Warring States period, with its first question about the genesis of the cosmos and the creation of the world, poses more than one hundred and seventy questions manifesting a grand vision that surpasses space and time, while conveying profound thinking about and exploration of the formation of heaven and earth, natural order, life, society, and history.

The question about the cosmos has always been a focal point in technology as much as philosophy. It transcends generational differences, history, disciplines, and genres, as well as involves both the progression of times and changes of viewpoints. From ancient theology to modern sciences, our cosmic views and cognitive framework have undergone a recurring process of re-discovery and re-definition. Since the ancient time, human exploration, perception, and imagination of the cosmos have also been a driving force behind aesthetic experiments and multiple topics, which enable us to break through existing frameworks and ways of thinking. In early 20th century, hyperspace philosophy and cosmic consciousness, which combined science and spirituality, and the concept of the tesseract and the fourth dimension, have brought forth innovative experimentation carried out by the avant-garde art. Moreover, space research and cosmic technology after the war have also driven artistic imagination and practice informed by modernity in the Western society and Taiwan. In the summer of 2022, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the U.S.A. announced the latest images of the deep space. The splendid, colorful pictures are not simply visually pleasing and emblematic of technological advancement, but also re-launch the issue of the cosmos in a more tangible way, shaking our current perception and customary imagination, while encouraging people to re-examine our homogenous, centralized thinking about and mode of the world.

Borrowing the title of the poem from the ancient Pre-Qin period, the exhibition features the latest works by Nick Dong and Chang Yung-Ta, and concentrates on the artists’ viewpoints and investigation of the cosmos. Furthermore, the exhibition focuses on their respective technical deployments, medium languages, and aesthetic conversions, placing an emphasis on the spatial-temporal perception and unique sensibility embodied and introduced by their works, along with their fundamental reflection of and inquiry into the environment and the subject of existence. Using the title of a two-thousand-year-old poem, the exhibition not merely highlights the transtemporal (and transcultural) implication of the cosmic question –a motif to all humanity indeed – but also aims to view the artists’ distinctive contemporary expressions and different viewpoints in a macrocosmic context to further ponder on things that are eternally unchanged or constantly changing in the cosmos.

REFERENCE

【采泥藝術官網】天 問 ─ 董承濂 x 張永達