海豹脫下外衣的日子 The Seals Are Shedding Their Coats
2016  

2015年夏天，施昀佑在造訪北極途中遭竊，幾乎遺失了所有素材，這次旅程留下的唯一的證據是一份由瑞典皇家警局歸檔和出具的失竊報告。展覽「海豹脫下外衣的日子」就是以這些材料為起點，重新編織這段旅程，其中真實和虛構、影像和文本之間的關係幾經轉折，讓藝術家從單向關注外部世界，轉向對自身理解事物方式的處理，從對「永恆」概念的探求轉向對當代性時間的思考。這場「轉述」的展覽和原訂計劃作品之間的距離，也體現在展覽的空間設置和藝術家預先安排的觀看和體驗方式中——這裡產生的移動不僅是物理性，或說是旅行者的，也來自敘事在不同時間與空間的跳轉，以及調動人的各種知覺方式時與慣性產生的偏移。

In the Summer of 2015, Ayo visited the arctic circle and got robbed during the trip. What remains were very few video clips and objects. The only existing proof was a police report archived and provided by Swedish Police Authority. The exhibition “The Seals Are Shedding Their Coats” began from here. Within the remaining materials, the relationship between real and fictional, images and text are constantly shifting, which becomes a re-examination for his perception of the experience rather than a linear way of narrating the external world, shifting his focus from “eternity” to “time, turning his story into an underway thoughts of now. The distance between these “re-told” works and the original plan, also reveals in the installation of the space and how audiences will experience it – the shift within is not only physical, or expeditionary, it is also from the switch of the stories in different time and spaces, as well as the digression while the artist maneuvering audiences’ percipience from their usual habit.

Images courtesy of Zheng Yuan, PRACTICE and Long March Space

無題（追拍北極燕鷗）
彩色高清錄像，3’36”，2016

Untitled (Chasing Arctic Tern)
Color HD video, 3’36”
2016

這段長三分三十六秒的影片是藝術家用手機鏡頭緊貼望遠鏡頭所拍攝的視頻，畫面中不斷飛翔的鳥是一種名為北極燕鷗（Arctic Tern）的候鳥。這種鳥是全球遷徙距離最長的動物，每年冬天從地球的南極圈飛往北極孵育下一代，到夏末的時候又啟程飛往南極圈。這段視頻，在整個系列作品中扮演關鍵性的角色，影像的內容和裝置的方式，揭示了「移動」這個貫穿此一系列作品的主題，同時也透過這種追逐日照移動的動物，來隱喻當代藝術家四處移動的一種工作方式。
This is a video made by artist’s cell phone and binocular. The bird constantly flying in this video is a migrant bird named Arctic Tern. This bird is the longest migrant bird in earth. They fly from the Antarctica to the Arctic to copulate in early spring, and migrate back to the Antarctica in the end of summer. The content and installation of this video play a key role and reveal the idea of “moving” in this body of work. And the artist sees this sun-chasing animal as a symbol of how young contemporary artist constantly moving and relocating for new opportunities in the time now.

 

檔案編號：5000-K669841-15
檔案文件（A4檔案文件，共10張）， 展示尺寸可變，2015

File Number: 5000-K669841-15
Archive files (A4 Documents, 10 pieces), dimensions variable
2015

藝術家說服瑞典皇家警局將其失竊的三件錄像檔案視為獨立的物件，並將影像的文字敘述和裝置說明謄寫於警方的失竊紀錄中。文件收錄於瑞典警局檔案室。在展示時，藝術家選擇在文件和觀者之間創造距離，透過無論是望遠鏡，或是牆面的孔隙讓觀眾觀看 。這種觀看方式回應了旅行時距離和移動的問題，同時指涉了檔案文本和視覺素材間的關係。
The artist planned to shoot three video clips and make them a tri-video installation before he got robbed and lost all his footage and apparatus. Instead, he wrote a detailed introduction of the lost footage and his design of the installation on a police lost report, archived in Swedish Police Authority Archive. When he shows this work, artist creates a distance between audience and the archive files through either telescope or peaking through a wall. This way of looking points to the relationship between the visual and the verbal, meantime, corresponding to issues like distance and movement that are essential to the concept of traveling.

 

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我看見三隻藍鯨潛入海中，二零一五年六月二十五日
斯瓦堡德，國王灣
美國郵政總局訂製郵票，快捷，47美分
5.3 x 3.3 cm
2016

I saw three blue whales dive in the ocean, June, 25th, 2015,
Kings Bay, Svalbard.
Customized stamp from USPS, first priority mail, 47 cents
5.3 x 3.3 cm
2016

 

摸一下二角五分（一）
化石，基座 ，20 x 20 x 21.5 cm ，2016

Touch The Fossil……25￠(I)
Fossil, plinth ，20 x 20 x 21.5 cm，2016

這是一枚在約一億年前成型的化石，是藝術家在北極圈內無主地所撿拾的物件。”摸一下二角五分”是回應19世紀末美國探險家羅伯．貝里（Robert Peary）將從北極的格陵蘭島上搶奪到的一塊重達三十四噸的隕石運回美國時，參觀民眾觸摸這塊隕石的收費標準；同時這塊化石也是該作品另一個組成部分——一則混合了歷史事件、個人經歷和虛構情節的故事的索引和參照。

This is a fossil shaped 1000 million years ago. Artist picked up this fossil in a terra nullius in the arctic circle. “Touch The Fossil……25￠” is a work response to a story which American expedition Robert Peary robbed a 36-ton meteorite from Greenland in the arctic. 25￠ was the fee he charged people of touching the meteorite while he shipped it back to New York. This fossil is also an important component of the show: a reference and index mixed historical event, personal experience and fictional narration.

 

摸一下二角五分（二）
兩組彩色高清錄像，三張照片以及聲音文本
尺寸依現場裝置而定

Touch The Fossil……25￠ (II)
Two sets of Color HD videos with sound, Three picture and sound documents,
Dimensions Variable

本件作品是一則文本，呈現方式可以是現場表演，或是影像的聲音旁白。這件作品在每一次展覽時都會重新書寫，並以前一次展出的文本為主體，疊加上新的層次。
這系列文本的起點是一則故事，故事的起點是關於美國探險家羅伯．貝里（Robert Peary）在19世紀末如何從北極的格陵蘭島上搶奪了一個重達三十四噸的太空隕石以及七位因努特人回到紐約，並以四萬美金的高價賣給了紐約自然歷史博物館。藝術家從這裡開始，牽引出藝術家自身如何在過去兩年間參與國際藝術駐留的經驗——兩種看似性質截然不同的「移動」之間的關聯也在敘述中逐步展開。通過這種比照和交匯，藝術家也討論了當代作品如何生成，機構、資金來源對藝術家的影響 。而每一次展出在文本上的疊加，則讓這件作品伴隨著藝術家新的旅程，不斷有機成長。
2016年五月是第一則文本發表，在紐約，藝術家把Robert Peary的探險故事作為藝術家的移動比照穿插，並藉此追問機構在個體移動中扮演的角色，檢視自己旅行的軌跡。
2016年九月，在台北飛往上海的飛機上，藝術家邀請一位聽眾戴上耳機，聆聽五月時講述的故事，將自己置身故事之外對它進行評述，此時 「我」的故事漸漸變成了「我們」的故事，移動並不屬於個人，而是集體的話題 。
在2016年的十二月，藝術家又再次遭遇新的觀眾，他決定提供出現實世界的證據，同時建構一個平行的世界，並用一位探險家獲救後擺拍的放大照片作為整個系列文本的終結，讓故事於此嘎然而止。

This work is a body of text, presented through live performances or videos with subtitles. When this work is shown, artist always re-writes the text based on the previous one.
It starts from a story, a story of how 19 century American expeditioner Robert Peary robbed a 34-ton meteorite from Greenland along with seven Inuits and sold them to the American Museum of Natural History for forty thousand US dollars. Artist compare his international residency experience with this story, and reveals the idea of “moving”. By merging these two stories together, he discusses how institution and funding resources affect artists’ practice.
He shows his first text in 2016, May, in New York. He compared his experience of relocating with Robert Peary’s expedition story, and asked what role institution plays to examine his passage of traveling.
In 2016, September, on his trip from Taipei to Shanghai, artist invited an anonymous audience to listen to his previous story and record his face. Then artist made comments alongside with the video. At this moment, “I” became “We” in his stories. Moving, is not a story of his, but a collective experience.
In 2016, December, artist met his new audience again. In this exhibition, he provided evidences from the real world but provide a parallel narration. And he decided to conclude this series of text by a cropped image — one man greeting the other for his return of two-year drifting on the Arctic ice.

（一）
摸一下二角五分（二）
高清錄像，演出記錄，
18分40秒
2016年5月，於紐約PRACTICE

(I)
Touch The Fossil……25￠(II)
Color HD videos, sound documentation of a performance
18’40″
2016, May, performed and recorded in PRACTICENYC.ORG

2016年五月是第一則文本發表，在紐約，藝術家把Robert Peary的探險故事作為藝術家的移動比照穿插，並藉此追問機構在個體移動中扮演的角色，檢視自己旅行的軌跡。

He shows his first text in 2016, May, in New York. He compared his experience of relocating with Robert Peary’s expedition story, and asked what role institution plays to examine his passage of traveling.

（二）
摸一下二角五分（二），這不是一則故事
高清錄像，有聲，
29分08秒
2016年9月

(II)
Touch The Fossil……25￠(II), This Is Not A Story
Color HD videos, with Sound
29’08”
2016, September

2016年九月，在台北飛往上海的飛機上，藝術家邀請一位聽眾戴上耳機，聆聽五月時講述的故事，將自己置身故事之外對它進行評述，此時 「我」的故事漸漸變成了「我們」的故事，移動並不屬於個人，而是集體的話題 。

In 2016, September, on his trip from Taipei to Shanghai, artist invited an anonymous audience to listen to his previous story and record his face. Then artist made comments alongside with the video. At this moment, “I” became “We” in his stories. Moving, is not a story of his, but a collective experience.

 

（三）
摸一下二角五分（二），恭喜
三張攝影作品，尺寸皆為24 x 18 cm，無酸相紙噴墨輸出，聲音播放器，耳機中播放人聲
2016年12月

(III)
Touch The Fossil……25￠(II), Greeting
Three photographs, dimension 24 x 18 cm each, Inject print on acid-free photo paper, sound player, headphone with human voice
2016, December

在2016年的十二月，藝術家又再次遭遇新的觀眾，他決定提供出現實世界的證據，同時建構一個平行的世界，並用一位探險家獲救後擺拍的放大照片作為整個系列文本的終結，讓故事於此嘎然而止。

In 2016, December, artist met his new audience again. In this exhibition, he provided evidences from the real world but provide a parallel narration. And he decided to conclude this series of text by a cropped image — one man greeting the other for his return of two-year drifting on the Arctic ice.

 

（三張照片圖左）
照片翻拍，原圖為《小孩向帳棚石致敬，第二大顆的隕石》，攝影者為約翰森・布萊爾
相紙噴墨輸出，聲音播放器，耳機中播放人聲
24 x 18 cm 2013, 2016

(Left image of the three images)
Re-photograph of “Young admirers pay tribute to Ahnighito, the second largest meteorite.”, original photo taken by Jonathan Blair
Inject print on photo paper, sound player, headphone with human voice
24 x 18 cm 2013, 2016

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（三張照片圖中）
屏幕截圖，擷取自施昀佑於2015年5月24日於瑞典亞斯伯核廢料儲存隧道拍攝之畫面
相紙噴墨輸出，聲音播放器，耳機中播放人聲
24 x 18 cm，2015

(Middle image of the three images)
Screenshot from Yunyu “Ayo” Shih’s video footage of The Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory of Sweden, May 24th, 2015
Inject print on photo paper, sound player, headphone with human voice
24 x 18 cm, 2015

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/

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（三張圖右）
局部圖，原圖為「南森（右）巧遇傑克森之擺拍握手照片，傑克森歡迎南森造訪他在佛羅拉角之基地站」，翻拍自費洛夫・南森於1897年出版之航海日記《最遠的北方》
相紙噴墨輸出，聲音播放器，耳機中播放人聲
24 x 18 cm
1896, 2016

(Right image of the three images)
Detail of “A posed photograph of the fortuitous meeting between Nansen (right) and Frederick Jackson, shown welcoming him to his base at Cape Flora”, re-photograph from Farthest North, published by Fridtjof Nansen in 1897
Inject print on photo paper, sound player, headphone with human voice
1896, 2016

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海豹脫下外衣的日子
精裝書冊（剪貼文本，三十六張照片，中文翻譯，檔案文件），共120頁，
14.5 x 20.5，cm2016

The Seals Are Shedding Their Coats
Hard Cover (Archive, 36 photographs, Chinese translation, Documents), 120 pages,
14.5 x 20.5 cm, 2016

書名頁文字 / Text of the Front Page

海豹脫下外衣的日子
一本虛構的六月日記，由1806到1909年間三十位失敗的北極探險家日記構成。由一位在2016年遇搶失去一切物件的藝術家所寫成。
三十七張圖片，施昀佑提供。
附錄包含了日記和圖說的中文翻譯，以及施昀佑在瑞典斯德哥爾摩遇搶後的報案紀錄，包含了《請收藏我所失去的》（原名為《開始與結束》，由《我們讓它永恆》、《開始與結尾》、《漂浮》組成。）

Te Seals Are Shedding Teir Coats
A Fictional June Diary, written by thirty failed ARCTIC EXPEDITIONERS from 1806 to 1909.
Selected and composed by an artist who was robbed and lost all his belongings on his way to the arctic circle in June, 2016.
Tirty-Six Photographs by Yunyu “Ayo” Shih
Appendix includes Chinese Translation of the Diaries and Captions, and Yunyu “Ayo” Shih’s police report of his robbery in Stockholm, Sweden, with a detailed description of “Please Archive What I lost” (previous title “Te Beginning and the End”, includes “We Made It Eternal”, “Te Beginning and the End” and “Drifing”.)