螢幕人(Flatlanders) / 12min / 柯鈞耀 Ko Chun-Yao / 2015

 

      因為旅居他鄉，視訊似乎成為維繫家人關係的唯一途徑，可是電訊的影像關係仍有無可確言的空虛，此種「不完全」的存在不只將家人壓縮為一只平面的發光體，連藝術家本身也成為了幽魂。《螢幕人》紀錄藝術家與家人的視訊關係，透過哥哥、奶奶與愛貓，試圖呈現三種不同面貌的視訊關係。旅居日本東京的哥哥，同為誕生於數位時代開端的一員，透過童年的動畫記憶，導演為「遠端」的處境找到了原型。住在台灣新北的阿嬤，是數位時代的邊緣人，即使學會數位裝置的操作使用，在影像中我們仍可覺面對科技的失語和不適應證。目前在台灣台北的愛老貓，面對數位影像，愛貓眼中的「依舊缺席」道出最真實的數位的幻象本質。在裝置中，主人的影像與思念夢境等價，只能循著似曾相似又遙遠的聲音，不停的尋找、不停的喵叫。

 

      Studying abroad made video chat the only way to stay in contact with one’s family back home. However, the relationship built on telecommunication seems to be indescribably empty for the artist. During the video chat, family members are compressed into a flat illuminant. For the artist, his family member’s existence on screen is “incomplete” and ghost-like. Flatlanders attempts to record three different dimensions of telecommunications between family members, ranging from the artist’s brother, grandmother, to his 17-year-old cat.Both born in the beginning of the digital age, the artist reconnects with his brother who lives in Tokyo through childhood memories of animations. In their conversation, the artist discovers his creative archetype and obsession with images runs deep in the animations he saw as a child.His grandmother, currently living in Hsin-Pei city in Taiwan, is a marginalized figure in the digital age. Despite that she has learned to use digital devices, her aphasia and mal-adaptation can still be detected during their video chat.The artist’s cat back in Taipei confronts the digital image on screen in the most honest way. The sense of absence felt by the cat pronounces the truth of the digital image, an illusion in essence. The video image of the owner(artist) on the digital device is but a dream to the cat. Instead of responding to the image on screen, the cat replies only to its owner’s similar yet distant sound. Only the voice itself can keep the cat searching and meowing.