溫暖、溫暖、溫暖的泉口 Warm, Warm, Warm Spring Mouths
2013
單頻道影片 Single channel HD video
12’50”
埃德・阿特金斯出生於1982年，是成長於電訊及網絡加速發展時代的藝術家。作為「數位時代」所蘊育與啟蒙的創作者，在過去的創作歷程裡，擅長以動畫為基礎，以數位媒介進行對數位／物質、精神／身體、虛擬／現實等本質性生存議題的反身性思考。2013年發表的單頻道作品〈溫暖、溫暖、溫暖的泉口〉中已然具備如此的特質，阿特金斯以自己為原型，創造了一個具象的「數位化身」（digital avatar），他運用動作擷取裝置和臉部辨識軟體描繪了一個既像是在海底，又像居於「無處」（no-place）的男性角色，這個男子有著一頭神秘、反地心引力、時而讓人覺得有些困擾的飄動長髮，長髮暗示了他處在有別於我們所熟知的物理世界，男子赤身坐在椅子上喃喃敘述，反覆地背誦著美國作家吉爾伯特・索倫蒂諾（Gilbert Sorrentino）的詩句，開頭是「我不想在收音機裡聽到任何關於週末天氣的消息」。這聽來頗為平凡，但卻帶著拒絕態度的陳述予人怪奇的疏離感，冷冽並帶著一種死亡氣息。
阿特金斯的影像與聲音有著超越表相的魅惑力與穿透力，形體與意識是一體的兩面，在簡約流暢的形式中總承載著複雜而迂迴的感情，它可能來自於對於生命及生存形式的疑問，及難以言說的抑鬱；然觀者眼前的影像世界，卻又是如此地光滑、細緻、充滿流動感。今日，在「元宇宙」被高度談論及可能來到的世紀裡，阿特金斯的創作，早已預示了那迴盪於有限與無限之間，既想期待又顯露不安的「意識漂流」的虛無狀態。（文／鄭慧華）
Born in 1982, Ed Atkins is an artist who came of age in an era of accelerated developments in telecommunications and internet technology. As a creator nurtured and inspired by the digital age, he has adeptly used animation as a foundation in his creative journey, using digital media to reflexively contemplate issues of essence and survival such as digital/material, mental/physical, virtual/real. These characteristics are also embodied in his 2013 single-channel work Warm, Warm, Warm Spring Mouths, where Atkins himself serves as a prototype for the creation of a figurative “digital avatar.” Using motion capture devices and facial recognition software, he portrays a man who is seemingly at the bottom of the sea, or in “no-place.” This man’s head is covered with incredibly long, swirling hair that is mysterious, gravity-defying, even disturbing. The movement of his hair indicates that the man is located in a physical world unfamiliar to us. Sitting naked on a chair, he murmurs a repeated refrain of a quote by American poet Gilbert Sorrentino, which begins: “I don’t want to hear any news on the radio about the weather on the weekend.” This ostensibly mundane narrative accompanied by an attitude of refusal, conveys an uncanny sense of alienation, coldness, and death.
Atkins’s images and sound have a seductive and penetrative force beyond what initially meets the eye. Form and consciousness are two sides of the same coin. There is a complex and circular sentiment embodied by the simplicity and fluidity of form that may originate in questions on life and modes of survival as well as an unspeakable despair. However, the visual world presented to the viewer remains smooth, exquisite, and fluid. Located in a century when discussions of an impending metaverse have reached new heights, Atkins’s works have long portended the state of void in the anticipated yet anxiety-inducing “flow of consciousness” that undulates between the finite and infinite. (Text/ Amy Cheng)
埃德．阿特⾦斯
埃德．阿特金斯，現生活與工作於丹麥哥本哈根。2021年6月底在紐約的新當代藝術博物館（簡稱新美術館）舉辦個展《獲得生命／愛的工作》（Get Life/Love’s Work），接著將陸續參與在上海油罐藝術中心及英國泰德不列顛美術館的展覽。近年個展經歷包括：布雷根茨美術館及杜塞道夫K21當代美術館（2019年）；馬丁－格羅皮烏斯博物館，柏林、現代藝術博物館，法蘭克福、DHC／ART當代藝術基金會，蒙特婁（2017）；利沃利城堡當代藝術博物館及桑德雷托．瑞寶迪戈當代藝術基金會，杜林；廚房實驗性藝術空間，紐約；丹麥國立美術館，哥本哈根（2016）；阿姆斯特丹市立博物館，阿姆斯特丹（2015）；蛇形畫廊，倫敦（2014）；尤利婭．斯托舍克收藏，杜塞道夫（2013）；紐約現代藝術博物館PS1分館（2012）。其他參展經歷則有第56屆及第58屆威尼斯雙年展、第13屆里昂雙年展、第13屆及第19屆現場表演藝術雙年展。
Ed Atkins
Ed Atkins lives and works in Copenhagen, Denmark. Atkins’ solo exhibition Get Life / Love’s Work opened at the New Museum in New York at the end of June 2021. Forthcoming exhibitions include TANK Shanghai, and Tate Britain. Recent solo exhibitions include Kunsthaus Bregenz and K21 Düsseldorf (both 2019); Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin; MMK Frankfurt; DHC/ART, Montréal (all 2017); Castello di Rivoli and Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin; The Kitchen, New York; SMK, Copenhagen (all 2016); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2015), The Serpentine Gallery, London (2014); Julia Stoschek Collection, Düsseldorf (2013); and MoMA PS1 (2012). Atkins was included in the 56th and 58th Venice Biennales, the 13th Lyon Biennial, and Performa 13 and 19.
特別感謝
紐約格萊斯頓畫廊
Special Thanks
Gladstone Gallery