貘象鼻犀目，牛尾虎足，黑白相間，在東方傳說中是一種食夢、造夢的異獸。其以暧昧不清的出處，“東拼西湊”的相貌，與食夢的特性聞名。傳說中，他們吞噬夢境，也可以使被吞噬的夢境重現。
“Mo” (also referred to as 'baku' in Japanese folklore, or in contemporary usage, as the Malayan tapir) is a mystical creature in Eastern folklore. It has a trunk like an elephant, with eyes like a rhinoceros, a tail like a cow, and legs like a tiger, all adorned in black and white.
Renowned for its ambiguous origins and its patchwork appearance, it is famed for its dream-devouring characteristics. According to legend, they consume dreamscapes and can also recreate the dreams they have consumed.
發想
Contemplating VastnessZhuangzi's Dream of the Butterfly
《貘》這個系列的基礎圖像均由AI圖像生成工具Midjourney生成，這是一次我們用本體(AI)生成喻體的嘗試。在這個版本裏，由二十個具有夢境特征與隱喻意味的小章節構成。在《貘》這個系列的制作過程中，我們開始時是以一種前反思式的狀態，用投喂、指令等方式在Midjourney累計生成了數萬張圖像。在這個用戶主體意志已經偏移的圖庫裏，我們開始有意的擇取一些意外的、巧合的和非典型性AI特征但同時又具備“攝影結構感”與超現實屬性的圖像爲基底，經膠片相機翻拍、暗房演繹、用傳統攝影的方式在新的“在場”(Being-in-the-world)關系中做了一次回歸，從而模糊觀看者對其存在屬性的判斷。受作家博爾赫斯影響，我們被其作品中映射出的，對于人工智能時代特性的悠遠洞見所啓示。在展覽版本裡，我們以其短篇小說《沙之書》中所描繪的那本無限之書爲靈感，將《貘》這個系列做成書籍式的裝置來呈現。
其中二十個章節分別象征同一本書打開的偶然一頁，對應博爾赫斯所說的“所有的書都是一本書，所有人分享同一個靈魂”。而其所言將在AI時代明示，我們將面對人手一本無限之書的局面。
我們在遭遇，以及參與運用AI這個“他者”的過程中，寄以《貘》這個系列的産出，試圖來重新審視、探討關于主體性、在地性、創造力、副本、擬像、符號、邊界、後殖民主義等一系列概念的新老問題。但首先我們希望《貘》是屬于詩歌的、直覺的，一個無國界的重奏。
The imagery in the “Mo” series was generated by the AI image tool, Midjourney. This is an attempt to generate the figurative (image) using the literal (AI). In this exhibition version, ‘Mo’ consists of twenty small chapters, each embodying dream-like features and metaphorical implications.In the process of creating ‘Mo’, We began with a preconscious state, amassing tens of thousands of images through Midjourney by iteratively feeding in prompts and image parameters. From this repository, we purposefully selected images with anomalies that lacked recognizable AI characteristics, yet still possessed a 'photographic sensibility' and surreal attributes. Treating these images as raw material, we reintroduced them through traditional photographic processes (film retakes and darkroom reinterpretation), thus imbuing a renewed sense of ‘being-in-the-world’ to blur the audience’s perception of the images’ presence.In this process, we became an extension of ‘Mo’.The visionary depiction of the characteristics of the AI era hinted in the works of Jorge Luis Borges has brought us profound insights. Drawing inspiration from his short story The Book of Sand, we present the ‘Mo’ series using a book-like installation. Each of the twenty chapters symbolizes a chance-upon page from the book, echoing Borges’s notion that ‘all books are one book, and all people share the same soul.’ His words foreshadow the era of AI, where we are confronted with a scenario of everyone having their own book of infinity.In the process of interacting with AI, the ‘other being’, the ‘Mo’ series has become our output, an attempt to reexamine and discuss a range of new and age-old concepts surrounding subjectivity, locality, creativity, replicas, semblance, symbols, boundaries, and post-colonialism.
Above all, we envision “Mo” as a poetic, intuitive creation — an ensemble that transcends borders.
Nevertheless, “Mo” is also about the beauty of black.
秦念&惠文
現生活工作于東京、深圳，組建了“December 32”雙人藝術組合。“December 32”是一年的年末與另一年年初間的縫隙，我們把一些遺落的光景安置在這一天裏。我們的創作方法結合攝影、繪畫與數字影像等，意圖連結傳統媒介與新技術、傳統精神與新概念，以基于圖像的方式，來捕捉那些日常生活中潛藏的非日常感知。
