dA夯 02 : 第三（域外）世界 Third (Other) World

 

書名：dA夯 02 : 第三（域外）世界 Third (Other) World

專欄策刊：曾成德  Chuntei David Tseng      

專題策刊：施向誠  Leslie Shih     

                    劉克峰  Ke-Fung Liou

             何以立  Albert Ho

撰述（按篇章序）：

施向誠               Leslie Shih     

姚嘉珊               Marisa KarSan Yiu                 

羅蘭．古堤海茲    Laurent Gutierrez          

薇拉芮．波特菲斯  Valerie Portefaix           

尼克．吉拉克       Nick Gillock                 

艾米爾．梅索       Emil Mertzel                  

林志明               Chiming Lin          

陳浩揚               David Ho Yeung Chan            

林友寒               Yu-Han Michael Lin                

梁思聰               Sze Tsung Leong           

王志弘               Chih-hung Wang           

程宗賢               Chung-Hsien Cheng   （中譯）

  

出版：2003. 07初版

語言：中英雙語

尺寸：27 cm × 23 cm

頁數：144頁 ∕平裝 ∕全彩

定價：350元

臺北市：田園城市文化事業

ISSN 172-817-7602 (平裝)

 

 

 

【目次】

 

● Editorial  / Leslie H. Shih

    策刊詞  / 施向誠

 

● Behind the Label: the global assembly  / Marisa KarSan Yiu

    商標背後──全球化裝配  / 姚嘉珊

 

● PRD Stories  / Laurent Gutierrez + Valerie Portefaix

    珠江三角洲的故事  / 羅蘭．加提瑞斯＋薇拉芮．波特菲

 

● Mediated Immediacy and the nth-World  / Nick Gillock and Emil Mertzel of Lookinglass Architecture + Design

    中介即時性和第N個世界  / 尼克．吉拉克、艾米爾．梅索／視鏡 建築＋設計工作室

 

● Heterotopia and Cinematic Spac  / Chiming Lin

    異端地帶與電影空間  / 林志明

 

● Behind the "Glocal"  / David Ho Yeung Chan

   「全球在地化」之後  / 陳浩揚

 

◆PROFILE  作品

● Three Projects : The Disappearance of Being  / Behet Bondzio Lin Architects

    三件作品：存有的消失  / 貝西特－邦濟歐－林 聯合建築師事務所

 

◆CRITICISM  評論

● Erasure is a Form of Building :

    Three Recent Projects by Behet Bondzio Lin  / Sze Tsung Leong

    拭去是建築的一種形式 ──

    Behet Bondzio Lin Architects的三件近作  / 梁思聰

 

◆BOOK REVIEW  書評

● A Companion to the City  / 王志弘

 

 

 

【策刊詞】

 

你是否聽過一句話：「好奇心害死一隻貓」？我個人覺得值得深思的是句子裡對追根究底的態度竟抱持如此負面的意涵，它暗示一個悲慘的結果常常源自過度的細問追究。另一方面，我們無疑是活在一個人類自古以來未曾存在的資訊滿載時代，然而不幸的是在面臨即將要被資訊超載所吞噬之下，再沒有比裹藏在熟悉舒適的繭殼與安適的糖衣更能令我們心安。也無怪乎我們眼見許多觸發新意、啟迪思潮的出版品在近年消失無蹤，繼之而起的則是以生活時尚與所謂「引領品味」之類的主題蔚為建築刊物的主流。此一諷刺在於當我們在共同意識裡正要徹底去絕八○年代晚期惡夢般的浮誇張狂之時，卻又再次群集主動追逐搶進另一種更為擴張似如泡泡糖的膠膜狀態：這是否是我們建築界不願肯定知識價值與理論意義的一種怯懦？我將之稱為「味精」（穀氨酸一鈉的有毒變體）徵候群──一種人工合成、易於取得的誘人甘味，表面上只留下難過不適的後勁，其實卻已對身心造成深遠的傷害。耐人尋味的是，味精（食品添加劑）不正是今天第三世界的代表產物？

 

因此本期d'A的主題「第三（域外）世界」，將是一個綜合性的探討──不僅是針對「第三世界」這個（輕蔑的？）標籤，也是針對我們此時所處的一種瞬時性狀態，此一「域外」的世界則挑戰了傳統的標籤化命名。這些來自世界各地的年輕藝術家／建築師和評論者，分別探討了以上議題，並促成了刊登在此的作品及文章。

 

從為求滿足第一世界的消費品味而生的大量生產機制的殘酷現實中，到一對來自洛杉磯的建築師藉此探究所謂的真實／擬像，同時併同了第一／第三世界的二分法；從香港年輕藝術家以反諷手法探求其在快速轉變的涵構中不斷被模糊的身分認同，到一對法國移居者檢視一個因變遷而繁榮的新興區域實體。從這些作者的分析中我們可以發現一個新的模式：各種空間尺度的邊界不斷被侵蝕，而任何強加絕對的實質界限和分野的嘗試，實際上都將是徒勞的。不管是地理政治的、經濟的或文化的，新的地景都是可滲透的、流動的，因此身為空間塑造的相關元素的觀察者和製造者，我們必須準備好從不同層面來理解我們所做決策帶來的影響，而這需要我們所有人重新評估現今的空間觀念。我認為特別是現在還有二個尖銳的次要主題，將進一步闡明於下文。

 

從姚嘉珊「品牌蜘蛛」的個案中，我們可以一瞥服裝產業的狀況及其與建造業間奇特的鏈結；但是這不再只是新的工廠類型而已，而是整個生產和消費體系在過去兩個世紀來發展成了一頭巨獸。自19世紀以來我們承襲了建築上的傳統，亦即一個代表了最終獨斷式的空間幻想的機械整體：從政治經濟的總體系統到身體各部份的紀律都必須履行看不見但卻到處存在的消費體系的節奏，一直到了20世紀末期，工廠的體制依舊是社會上重要的但卻通常被忽略的部分。姚嘉珊研究的重要性在於顯示了數位時代的來臨，使得逃避法律的監督變得更為容易，同時對時尚世界反覆無常的索求之滿足，也因此能減少時間落差，這些都使得工廠體系更為普遍。因之空間被視為同時由內部和外部築起（血汗工廠位於世界首要城市的正中央，而尖端高科技的製造工廠卻暗地存於世界最貧窮的區域裡），也因此「無場所狀態」的詭異想法更加令人迷惑。同樣地情形可以適用於 Laurent Gutierrez 和 Valerie Portefaix對珠江三角洲地區的觀察，它可以被詮釋為都市尺度下的生產機制的最終寫照。

 

另一方面，Nick Gillock 和 Emil Mertzel的文章〈中介即時性和第 n 個世界〉，提出精神脫離了當下置身的環境的矛盾觀念及其對我們的意義；有趣的是它剛好和陳浩揚對年輕藝術家們的觀察相呼應，這些藝術家嘗試著在一直拒絕記錄他們「真實」存在的實質環境中留下蹤跡／評論。雖然大眾傳媒在過去二十年來已經開始利用我們這時代的這種真實／非真實的二分法，然而當William Gibson的小說處女作 Neuromancer 在1984年出版的時候，才能藉由「系統駭客」（稍後被評論家稱為 "cyberpunk"）的典型："Case" 在未來（千葉、阿姆斯特丹）的「真實」位址和幻覺般的位元空間母體間的界面，來刷新老舊的「肉體／心靈」二元對立疑旨。Gibson 運用大量的文學技巧來描繪人類意識利用電腦系統作為進／出之代理人，而與自主的資訊本體產生互動的世界，這點是相當重要的：在未來世界耀眼的表面下，Gibson 成功地反思了一個速度、超資訊和快速的視覺影像都成了妄想及當代社會的文化符碼的世界。這是我們無法忽視的議題，因為它正反映了我們這個時代。我在最後也想藉這個機會來釐清 "Cybernetics" 一詞，它源自希臘文："kubernetes"，意指飛行員／領航員，他們毫無畏懼的冒險，刻畫了未知的領域，激發出人類成就的新高點。因此與其說貓因好奇而亡，我更願意申明漫遊的精神才會將我們領向未來，身為d'A的策刊群，我們仍然相信建築師依然會是此一探索的領航者，祝一路順風。

 

施向誠  2003年6月 台北

 

 

 

【Editorial】

Have you ever heard of the phrase "Curiosity Kills the Cat?"  I personally find it to be significant that inquisitiveness is treated with such negative connotation in this phrase thus hinting that excessive scrutiny can often lead to a tragic end.  On the other hand, there is no denial that we are now living in an information-laden era that is unprecedented in the history of human existence, however unfortunately it is often more reassuring to hide underneath the cocoon of familiarity and comfort when information-overload threatens to engulf us.  Thus it is not surprising that the past few years witnessed the demise of many thought-provoking publications and in their stead lifestyles and so-called "taste-making" topics have become the norm of architecture journals.  However isn't it ironic that just when the nightmarish excess of the late Eighties was about to be fully banished from our collective consciousness we are once again rushing voluntarily, herd like into the protective wrappings of a much more pervasive, bubblegum like existence: a reluctance to affirm the values of intelligent and meaningful discourse in our field?  I call this the MSG (the toxic variant of monosodium glutamate) syndrome - accessible yet synthetic attractiveness that when the effects fade away it leaves you with a nasty aftertaste if not fundamentally detrimental to your physical and mental health. Now isn't it interesting that MSG (the food additive) is very much a staple of the Third World?

 

Therefore the theme of this issue of d'A "Third (Other) Worlds" is meant to be a combinative investigation not only on the (derogatory?) label the "Third World" but also the very transient states of existence of our time, the "other" worlds that defy conventional labeling and the results are published here as projects and articles by several young artists/architects and critics who have been independently exploring these issues from around the world.

 

From the brutal realties of massive production mechanisms set up to fulfill the very First World appetites for trend consumption to the probing of the real / simulation that a pair of Los Angeles based architects find could conflate with the First/Third Worlds dichotomy; from the irony of young Hong Kong artists finding their identities continued to be blurred amid rapid contextual changes to a pair of French expatriates' examination of an emerging regional entity that literally thrives on changes; gleaning from the contributors' analyses we can see an emergent pattern: that boundaries continue to erode at all spatial scales and any attempt to impose absolute physical limits and demarcations is practically futile.  Be it geo-political, economical, or cultural, the new landscape is porous and fluid.  Therefore as observers and producers of elements pertinent to the crafting of space we must be prepared to realize the repercussive effects of our decisions at many levels and this requires all of us to re-evaluate the notions of space today.  In particular I think two sub-themes are poignant today and I would like to spend some time to elaborate.

 

From Marisa Yiu's "Brand Spider" project we are able to get a glimpse of the state of apparel manufacturing and its peculiar connection to the architecture of production; however it is not just simply a new factory-type anymore but an entire system of production and consumption that has evolved into a behemoth over the last two centuries.  Since the 19th Century we have inherited the legacy of architecture of production, a machine ensemble that represented the ultimate positivistic spatial fantasy: from the macro-system of political economy to the discipline of the body parts that must perform to the rhythm of the invisible yet pervasive system of consumption, the factory system has continued to remain an essential yet often ignored element of late Twentieth century society.   What is significant with Ms. Yiu's research is that the arrival of the digital era has made the system pervasive by being nimble enough to evade the scrutiny of the law yet simultaneously reducing the time-lag needed to fulfill the whimsy demands of the fashion world.  So space is seen nested from both within and without (sweatshops located right in the middle of the world's capital cities while state of the art high tech manufacturing plants are creeping up in the poorest regions of the world) and therefore the uncanny notion of "placeless-ness" is made all the more fascinating.  The same can also be said about Laurent Gutierrez and Valerie Portefaix's observations of the Pearl River Delta region, which can be interpreted as the ultimate manifestation of the production mechanism at an urban scale.

 

On the other hand the paradoxical notion of psychological detachment to one's immediate surroundings and what it means to us is brought up by Nick Gillock and Emil Mertzel's article "Mediated Immediacy and the nth-World," which interestingly enough also resonates in David Ho's observation of young artists attempting to leave traces / commentaries on a physical realm that steadfastly refuses to register their "real" presence.  Even though the mass media has already exploited this kind of real/unreal dichotomy of our time over the last two decades, however when William Gibson's ground breaking novel Neuromancer first came out in 1984 he was able to update the age-old "Mind / Body" problem through the prototypical "system hacker" (later to be coined by critics as a "cyberpunk") Case's interface between the "real" sites of the future (Chiba, Amsterdam) and the hallucinatory matrix of cyberspace. That Gibson devotes much of his literary skill in portraying a world where human consciousness could interact with autonomous bodies of information by utilizing the computer system as an agent of entry/exit is significant: Underneath the glittering surface of a futuristic world, Gibson has successfully reflected upon a world where velocity, hyper-information and rapid visual images are becoming the obsessions and cultural codes of contemporary societies, this is an issue that we cannot ignore because it is a reflection of our time.  Finally I would like to take this opportunity to clarify that the term "cybernetics" is derived from the Greek word kubernetes - pilot/navigator whose fearless adventures mapped out uncharted territories to propel human achievements to new heights.  Therefore I would like to suggest that instead of curiosity killing the cat it is the wanderlust spirit that will lead us towards the future and here at d'A we would like to believe that architects could still be navigators in this quest.  Bon Voyage.   

 

 

Leslie H. Shih   June 2003 Taipei