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《台灣史的結構》

“The Structure of Taiwanese Histories”

2017

Single-channel video installation, newspaper

12:05, Dimension variable.

我叔公是個乩童。他曾經告訴我很多「辦事」的經歷,也告訴我辦事的方法:「借名」。在靈的世界,名字會決定一個靈是無主魂或是神靈,而這樣的辨識系統同時說明了名字同時也決定階級,只不過,在這樣的規則中仍然預留了逃逸路線。我循著乩童的故事試圖找出證據來證明他說的事情是「真的」,南鯤鯓、大埤、林邊,直到找證據成為一個不適用的動作,直到「借名」所指出的運作系統比證據展示更貼近真實。我以這種方法來解釋台灣史們。

My granduncle is a spirit medium. He told me three stories and a method, 借名 (tsioh- miâ), which means "borrowing name" or "in the name of". In the spirit world, names determine whether one spirit is evil or god, which means class structure also built upon names. The method 借名 (tsioh-miâ) then provides an escape route under this rule. I visited those places appeared in his stories in order to find proofs, proofs to verify that those stories once happened. I went to Nan-Kun-Shen, Da-Pi and Lin-Bian. In the end, finding proofs became a gesture in vain and the operating system indicated by借名 (tsioh-miâ) became closer to fact than the display of proofs. I used this method to explain Taiwanese histories.

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