2020年，鍾正（Mark Chung）在香港德薩畫廊（de Sarthe）進行藝術家駐留項目，並以個展《不宜呼吸》（Wheezing）作總結。商廈的辦公室空間裡，他對場地的大膽介入、對都市生活的批判，獲得本地藝術圈頗為正面的評價。2022年，他再開個展，標題設定為《思想是負擔》（Dead End），強烈的宣言令人期待——話說，島聚今期月末評票選推薦展覽，鍾正個展明顯領先。期待的，不只觀眾，也包括藝術家本人。鍾正說，德薩之後，一直未有展覽邀請，有想法也無法實踐，最終決定租下富德樓六樓的檔期。規模雖然不及德薩的萬尺空間，但富德樓的數百尺單位（編輯注：一百平方英尺約為九平方米）所營造的份量，依然沈厚，帶人走進思想的迷宮。
牆壁和地板分別包上白色膠袋和瓦通膠板，用封箱膠紙黏合拼貼。一幅幅大格子，鋪天蓋地，極像監控鏡頭下的天羅地網。走廊盡頭懸掛一張鐵絲網，迫出狹窄的通道。觀眾必須側身而過，倍感幽閉和壓抑。內裡空間大致分成兩半，先黑後白。暗黑裡，電路板不修篇幅地曝露人前，指示燈閃爍不定，推動甚麼正在運作。繞過電路板的牆，一片刺眼的強光襲來。白光裡，屏幕循環播放鏡面高樓大廈反光的錄像，中間部分總是耀眼得雪白，似是被掏空的缺口；三面牆壁掛著鏡面高樓大廈反光的相片，相中建築外牆約化成一堆幾何線條，紋路交錯有如電視故障的雪花。
鍾正強調，展場裡所有影像不經後製，沒有加入特別效果。錄像中間的「雪白」，相片畫面的「雪花」，全都是紀實拍攝的結果。意念源於數年前，他發現每日下午2點至4點 ，太陽漸沉之際，日光打在中環一帶的大廈玻璃幕牆，反光幕牆互相折射輝映的狀態。「光」是鍾正偏好的媒介，質疑繁榮和批判都市向來則是他創作的主軸命題。由2015年的《去年煙花特別少》到2020年的《迷惑的光》，還是「幻彩詠香江」的激光到鏡面大樓的反光，不難找出藝術家一路走來的創作脈絡。
「思想是負擔」的展題比上次個展的「不宜呼吸」來得更沈重。再看英文展題，由「Wheezing」（喘息）到「Dead End」（死胡同），連喘息回氣的空檔都沒有，迫到幾近絕望。兩年間，我們是怎樣鑽入死胡同的呢？2020年，《不宜呼吸》展覽開幕之後，鍾正接受《明周》訪問時說過，「光很單純，本身沒有意義，意義由人賦予」。或許，思想之所以成為「負擔」，在於思想教人追求「意義」。
《不宜呼吸》的排氣喉和水管各自糾纏，《思想是負擔》的網格佈局和大廈影像卻梳理出垂直的線條。從打結到直線的轉變，視覺呈現理應變得井然有序，但偏偏鍾正用上粗糙的方法去完成精準——小幅LED屏幕併合象徵繁榮的影像，人手量度監控系統似的網格包裹展場。做法大概不是偶然，而是經過思考賦予意義的行為。他試圖營造「筆直的權威是建在無盡可接受誤差之上的假象」，似在探問：權威看起來堅實完美，會不會都是背後陽春？
昔日紫醉金迷的追憶不再，如今剩下黑與白的峻酷。如果白光部分象徵五彩斑斕的繁榮幻覺，暗黑部分就是推動繁榮的齒輪鍋爐。電路板上紅燈綠燈輪流閃動，電線互相糾纏。有觀眾問：「掂唔掂得㗎？」（可不可以摸的呀？）總是嬉皮笑臉的鍾正竟突然認真起來，「唔得，會觸電㗎」（不行，會觸電的！）。危機四伏，本就是繁華背後的血肉。在欲望橫流的繁華都市裡掙扎，人就可能難免陷進這麼一條死胡同。黑白光暗，展場利用光暗營造觀感對比，鍾正形容是「取消了太陽」、「取消了夜晚」。或者，在無分晝夜的日子裡，只有無盡的徒勞。徒勞無功地過活，日復日的意義何在？做快樂的豬，還是痛苦的人，到底選擇在不在我們的手？
思想是負擔，帶人鑽進死胡同。唯有借一刻微醺兌換自由。鐵線欄網下，瓦通膠板的地面上，放著展覽開幕當日留下來的酒樽和膠杯。迷糊裡，我不期然地哼起歌：
「鐵鎖敲響節奏，我們起舞後喝杯酒
標本通電後又，再次向動物園回頭」
——黃衍仁《裝睡的人》
本文是對藝術家鍾正在香港灣仔富德樓個展《思想是負擔》（Dead End）的評論，展期是2022年2月19日至2022年3月27日。
作者吉暝水是一名藝評人。
And who wants to make trouble for themselves?
In 2020, Mark Chung concluded his residency at de Sarthe Gallery with his solo exhibition Wheezing, where he won the favour of the local artist circle with his bold interventions on urban life inside the office space. In his comeback in 2022, he developed a solo exhibition named Dead End. The highly anticipated show led the votes on the Daoju Monthly Review for the most anticipated show to be reviewed. Mark, too, anticipated the show very much, as the lack of solo invitations after de Sarthe deprived him the opportunity to develop his ideas. In the end, he decided to rent out the space on the 6th floor of Foo Tak building that measures around 9m2 (100ft2). The narrowness of the venue created a sense of gravity that coaxed the viewers into a labyrinth of thoughts.
The walls and floors were taped together with white plastic bags and tiled plywood. The large grids covering the ceiling and the ground simulated the pixelated vision of a surveillance camera. A wall of wire bisected the end of the corridor, forcing out a narrow passage. The audience must squeeze through it sideways, giving a sense of claustrophobia and oppression. The inner space was divided roughly into two halves, first black and then white. The back circuitry of the LED panels was exposed in the darkness, lights flickering, as if mobilising certain operations. Brilliance seeped through on the inverse of the circuit boards. Washed in white light, the screen played a looped video of the sun reflected on a mirrored high-rise. The central part of the loop turned white from brilliance, hollowed out like a gap. The three walls were hung with reflective photographs of the mirrored buildings – transformed into an entanglement of geometric lines, interlaced like snowflakes from a television signal failure.
Mark emphasised that none of the images underwent post production or special effects. The whiteness in the middle of the footage and the distortion in the reflective photographs were the realistic effects of photography. These ideas originated a few years ago when he realised the sinking sun from 2-4pm created an interplay of light between buildings in Central. Light is one of Mark’s favourite mediums, and his main subjects of critique is the prosperity of urban life. From The Shortest Summer in 2015 to Crippling Light in 2020, the laser rays from The Symphony of Lights to the refraction of light against mirrored buildings – it was not difficult to find Mark’s sources of inspiration.
Dead End is thematically heavier than Wheezing. Compared with “wheezing”, the words “dead end” denotes complete despair and suffocation. How did we end up in a dead end in two years? In the Mingpao interview on Wheezing in 2020, Mark had said that “Light is very simple. It has no meaning itself. It’s people who give it meaning.”
While Wheezing was composed of an entanglement of ventilation and drainage pipes, Dead End is organised by vertical lines. The present form of organisation should have given a sense of visual order to the show. And yet Mark insisted on a raw contextualisation: the integration of fragmented LED panels created images of prosperity, plastic sheet interiors that resembled a surveillance system – this presentation was not coincidental but premeditated. As he wrote, “the verticality of power rests on illusions built on an infinite tolerance of error”: while power gives the appearance of solidity and perfection, is it actually insubstantial and empty?
The glorious reminiscences of the past are no more. All that is left is the austerity of monotone. If the white lights symbolise the dizzying colours of consumerism, the monotone colours are that which propelled the gear wheels of prosperity. The green and red lights flickered alternately on the back circuitry, its wires entangled. Viewers asked: “Could you touch them?” And the ever-fun-loving Mark suddenly turned severe, “No!!! You will be electrocuted!!” The ubiquity of danger is what constitutes the blood and flesh of prosperity. It’s impossible to avoid a dead end if one were to struggle in a metropolis overflowing with desire. Mark described the contrast of black and white, darkness and light as the “cancellation of the sun” or the “cancellation of night.” Or – there is only endless work when the distinction between night and day disappears. What is the meaning of life if one were to work in vain? How can the repetition of days contain any meaning? To exist as a happy swine or lead a painful existence as a human – is that a choice that we could make after all?
The burden of thoughts takes us into a dead end. The only way out is to drink. Under the wire fence and the tiled plywood were the whiskey bottle and plastic cups leftover from the opening. In a daze, I couldn’t help but hum:
‘’We danced and drank
in the rhythm of the iron locks.
As electricity flowed through the taxidermies
We turned our heads towards the zoo again.”
Wong Hin Yan – those who pretend to sleep
This essay is a critique of Mark Chung’s solo show Dead End hosted at Foo Tak Building. The show took place from 2022 February 19 to March 27.
The writer Gut Ming Water is an art critic. English translated by Joy Zhu.
