作品說明About Artworks (from Artist)

《大馬士托邦》是一則誕生於大馬士革戰火與律動之中的臆想神話。在此系列中，艾哈姆探索一座懸置於記憶與數位預言之間的城市；在那裡，現實結構成為儀式，過往的碎片被重組成超現實的未來。這些作品旨在召喚，而非描繪：它們是來自一處橫跨歷史內外之地的視覺遺跡。
正如影像中建築大樓頂端的廣告看板上所寫的：「無知即力量──知足即幸福。」

《大馬士托邦》源於生存與願景。經歷敘利亞內戰全程的艾哈姆，背負著戰爭帶來的傷痛與象徵。2024年，變革之風揚起，拂去藝術家眼中的塵埃，顯現出嶄新的清明，促成了此系列作品的誕生。

艾哈姆所描繪的反烏托邦未來並非一種宣判，而是一面鏡子，映照出一個或許仍能啟發人們的神話時代。它既為後果，亦為可能性；它以奇幻的方式思考當地人們對國家的所作所為，以及未來還能走向何方？

《大馬士托邦》並非一首輓歌，它是一場重新想像的儀式。

Damastopia is a speculative myth born from the war and rhythms of Damascus. In this series, Ayham explores a city suspended between memory and digital prophecy where architecture becomes ritual, and fragments of the past are reassembled into surreal futures. These works are not depictions, but invocations: visual relics from a place that exists both within and beyond history.
As the billboards in the images say “Ignorance is power – Happiness is contentment.”

Damastopia is from survival and vision. As someone who lived through the full arc of the Syrian civil war, Ayham carries its echoes not as wounds alone, but as symbols. This series emerged when the winds of change began to stir in 2024, clearing the dust from the artist’s eyes and revealing a new kind of clarity.
The dystopian future Ayham depicts is not a sentence but a mirror, a mythic era that may yet illuminate us. It is both consequence and possibility, a fantastical reckoning with what we’ve done to our country and what we might still become.

Damastopia is not a lament. It is a ritual of reimagining.
 

作品說明About Artworks (from Artist)

《伊甸園》是一個對比鮮明的反烏托邦3D系列，講述一項承諾以99.8%成功率讓靈魂進入天堂的卓越科技。靈感來自被改編成一場未來企業騙局的古埃及神話。
《伊甸園》向大眾兜售數位救贖；然而，在潔白無瑕的高塔與美好的承諾背後，隱藏的真相正悄然傳開……。

藝術家深深被古埃及神話吸引著，不只是因為其中的神祇或儀式，更是因為其深層的意涵：一種將「超越」視為現實結構而非幻想的信仰。祂們把永恆鑄入石頭，將神話融入走廊、密室，成為一幅靈魂回歸的藍圖。

隨著時間推移，艾哈姆發現每個宗教在某種程度上都能追本溯源至某種模式。這些宗教並非相互模仿，而是產生共鳴。通往伊甸園的旅程不只是屬於法老的故事，亦為一種被不同文明所採納、改寫，以及神聖化的架構。時至今日，儘管我們稱之為隱喻或信仰，我們仍然秉持這樣的想法：人類尚未獲得、破譯，並記起我們曾經以為被應許的一切。或許，那才是《伊甸園》的真正樣貌。它既非花園，亦非最終目的地，而是反映出人類對於「結束即最終定局」這件事所做出的靜默抗拒。

E-Den is a contrasting dystopian 3D series about a soul-transcendence technology that promises Paradise with a 99.8% success rate. Inspired by ancient Egyptian mythology twisted into a future corporate scam.
E-Den sells digital salvation to the masses. But behind the pristine towers and glowing promises, a hidden truth silently spreads...

From the beginning, Ayham found himself drawn to ancient Egyptian mythology, not for its gods or rituals alone, but for what lay beneath: a belief in transcendence not as fantasy, but as architecture. They built their eternity into stone. They shaped myth into corridors, chambers, a blueprint of the soul’s return.

Over time, Ayham noticed a pattern that every religion, in some way, traces its roots back there. Not in imitation, but in resonance. The journey to Eden wasn’t just a story for the pharaohs it was a framework adopted, rewritten, sanctified across civilizations. Even now, though we call it metaphor or faith, we still hold the idea: that the human being is unfinished ascending, decoding, remembering something we once believed was promised. Maybe that’s what E-Den really is. Not a garden. Not a destination. But a reflection of humanity’s quiet refusal to accept the end as final.

關於藝術家 About Artist

艾哈姆．賈布爾

創作者的話
我深感榮幸能夠參與此次展覽，並由衷感謝策展人、主辦單位，以及所有促成此計畫的機構。我也要感謝一同參展的藝術家，你們的作品跨越國界與不同領域，彼此共鳴；每一件作品本身都是一道訊號、一項提問，也是一場獨立而完整的儀式。

致參訪者：感謝你們踏入這些帶有神話氣息的空間。我期盼這些作品能引發你們的思考，激發你們的好奇心，或許還帶來一絲對未來的反諷感。
對於臺灣這片文化蓬勃、歷史層層交織的土地，我也致上最誠摯的祝福。願這檔展覽成為一座橋樑，連結遙遠的想像與共享的未來。

心懷尊敬與共鳴
艾哈姆．賈布爾  謹致

I’m deeply honored to be part of this exhibition and grateful to the curators, organizers, and institutions who made it possible. My thanks extend to the fellow artists whose works resonate across borders and disciplines, each piece a signal, a question, a ritual in its own right.

To the visitors: thank you for stepping into these mythic spaces. I hope the works provoke reflection, curiosity, and perhaps a sense of future irony.
And to Taiwan a place of vibrant culture and layered histories. I send my warmest wishes. May this exhibition be a bridge between distant visions and shared futures.

With respect and resonance, Ayham Jabr.

艾哈姆．賈布爾是一位常駐敘利亞大馬士革的電影製作人與視覺藝術家。他的創作實踐涵蓋拼貼、3D數位合成影像與實驗電影，並經常將神話敘事與臆測的未來交織在一起。他親身經歷了敘利亞內戰的整個過程，使得他的作品充溢著生存、記憶，以及一座懸置於毀滅與重建之間的城市之象徵性結構。

艾哈姆在大馬士革出生成長，他親眼目睹其所處的環境從一個充滿歷史底蘊的所在，轉變為充滿斷裂與韌性的地景。他並未忠實記錄這樣的變化，而是選擇透過視覺神話來回應現實。他的作品不直接描繪戰爭，而是將戰後狀態轉化為一種儀式。艾哈姆透過超現實影像與象徵性結構，將他所在城市的廢墟重新想像成通往另類現實的門戶；在這些空間裡，古老信仰體系與數位美學彼此激盪，反烏托邦成為哲學思辨的場域。

艾哈姆的藝術語言根植於矛盾之中，包括神聖與人造、手工製作與演算法生成，以及懷舊與預言。他的拼貼作品經常以破碎的人體、宇宙背景，或是建築圖案為特色，意圖喚起儀式感與廢墟意象。在他的3D影像創作中，他建構出推想中的城市與精神性的景觀，促使觀者重新思考記憶與想像、歷史與神話之間的界線。

敘利亞內戰雖深刻地影響了艾哈姆的世界觀，但並未界定他的創作風格。近年來，隨著政治與社會氛圍開始轉變，他經歷了一次個人覺醒，這個頓悟的瞬間使他創造出新的神話系列作品。這些作品反映出一種信念：反烏托邦並非單純的宿命，而是一段必經的過程。對艾哈姆而言，反烏托邦式的未來是一面映照社會的明鏡，是一種對已失去的往者與猶可得的來者所進行的奇幻式估算。它並非一首輓歌，而是一場轉化儀式。

艾哈姆的作品已於歐洲、亞洲和中東的展覽中展出。他的視覺語言持續透過與策展人、藝術機構，以及其他藝術家的對話而演進。他把協作當成一種哲學交流，將回饋與策展洞見視為這段神話之旅的一部分。透過他的藝術，邀請觀者進入一個充滿共鳴的空間；在那裡，個人體驗昇華至宇宙層面，政治現實也變得充滿詩意。他的創作目的並非提供答案，而是引發內省。在這個日益受到科技與遷移形塑的世界裡，他的作品堪稱神話、記憶與視覺敘事力量的見證。

Ayham Jabr

Ayham Jabr is a filmmaker and visual artist based in Damascus, Syria. His practice spans collage, 3D digital composition, and experimental film, often weaving mythic narratives with speculative futures. Having lived through the full duration of the Syrian civil war, Ayham’s work is deeply informed by survival, memory, and the symbolic architecture of a city suspended between destruction and reinvention.

Born and raised in Damascus, Ayham witnessed firsthand the transformation of his environment from a place of layered history to a landscape marked by rupture and resilience. Rather than documenting this change in literal terms, he chose to respond through visual mythology. His works do not depict war; they ritualize its aftermath. Through surreal compositions and symbolic structures, Ayham reimagines the ruins of his city as portals to alternate realities, spaces where ancient belief systems collide with digital aesthetics, and dystopia becomes a site of philosophical inquiry.

Ayham’s artistic language is rooted in contradiction: the sacred and the synthetic, the handmade and the algorithmic, the nostalgic and the prophetic. His collages often feature fragmented bodies, cosmic backgrounds, and architectural motifs that evoke both ritual and ruin. In his 3D compositions, he constructs speculative cities and spiritual landscapes that challenge viewers to reconsider the boundaries between memory and imagination, history and myth.

The civil war left a profound mark on Ayham’s worldview, but it did not define his creative identity. In recent years, as the political and social climate began to shift, he experienced a personal awakening, a moment of clarity that led to the creation of new mythic series. These works reflect a belief that dystopia is not merely a destiny, but a necessary passage. For Ayham, the dystopian future is a mirror held up to society, a fantastical reckoning with what has been lost and what might still be gained. It is not a lament, but a ritual of transformation.

Ayham’s work has been exhibited in over a dozen exhibitions across the world, including shows in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. His visual language continues to evolve through dialogue with curators, institutions, and fellow artists. He approaches collaboration as a philosophical exchange, valuing feedback and curatorial insight as part of the mythic journey. Through his art, Ayham invites viewers to enter a space of resonance, where the personal becomes cosmic and the political becomes poetic. His goal is not to offer answers, but to provoke reflection. In a world increasingly shaped by technology and displacement, Ayham’s work stands as a testament to the power of myth, memory, and visual storytelling.