Adrift in Time
Photography by Chun Wai
時間的漫遊
秦偉攝影
Curated by Dr Florian Knothe
Edited and translated by Dr Florian Knothe,
Christopher Mattison and Walter Chan
Website designed by Wendy Zhang
策展人：羅諾德博士
文字編輯和翻譯：羅諾德博士，
馬德松，陳俊熙
網站設計：張文馨
Introduction
This exhibition presents the artistic work of Chun Wai created in France in the 1980s-1990s. Adrift in Time—Photography by Chun Wai displays a photographic record of the past and the passing of time. Born in Hong Kong and educated at the École supérieure des beaux-arts de Mulhouse in France, photographer Chun Wai toured Europe on a quest for the beginning of time, understanding that everything he photographed had a finite start and end. This physical and philosophical journey caused the artist to realize that his insights into the relationship suspended between predestination and chance were leading to an expansive form of loneliness—a state he felt was similar to the torment experienced by the ancient Chinese poets. Chun wandered the streets and alleys of great cultural centres like Paris discovering the collections of its great museums, art galleries and flea markets, along with the vast memories contained within, preserved and passed on through the course
of time.
前言
此展覽為秦偉1980至1990年代於法國的藝術創作之結集。「時間的漫遊——秦偉攝影」展示了一組關於回溯過去及時間流逝的圖片記載。秦偉生於香港，畢業於法國米盧斯高等藝術學院。他曾遊歷歐洲，尋索時間的起源，領略所攝之事物，皆有定時，有始有終。透過這趟旅程，秦偉深悟人生乃在宿命與偶遇之間，頓感中國古代詩人飄泊孤寂之感。他遊走於文化之都——巴黎，穿梭於街巷、博物館、美術館和跳蚤市場，浪遊於浩瀚的記憶和時間的長河。
Encounter
偶 遇
Paris Gare de l'Est 巴黎東站
Louvre Museum 羅浮宮
Rue de Rivoli 里沃利路
Odéon, statue of Danton 奧德昂：丹東的塑像
Seine River 昨日的塞納河
The Wings of Icarus
伊卡洛斯的翅膀
Icarus falls slowly
In that moment
The earth will be covered by his damaged wings
All histories and mazes will melt
Only a dazzling pyramid will remain
And
Passersby in haste
伊卡洛斯正在緩緩下墜
那一刻
大地將被那受傷的翅膀所覆蓋
一切的歷史與迷宮將會被溶化
餘下的是那閃耀的金字塔
及
行色匆匆的過客
Passersby 過客前的過客
Marché aux puces II 跳蚤市場 II
Pont au Double 道布勒橋
For thirty years, Chun kept his images of France stored away in a box, as if preserving these treasured memories in a corner of time; a souvenir from which he can now extract memories. Since the ’90s, some of the negatives have deteriorated to the point that the original images are no longer recognizable. They have become tangible illustrations of the passing of time, while the artist’s memories reactivate his endless associations. Whereas it has been said that photography freezes time, Chun’s images and their varying states of damage attest to the flood of time. The reading of these images now leads to another journey, crossing the boundary between memory and forgetting, towards the subsequent truth of chaos.
Further, by juxtaposing the photographic images with carefully composed text, Chun elevates his memories by providing them—and by extension his photographs—further poetic meaning. The journey of his formative time in France was first document-ed in situ, and while some of the pictorial record has been dam- aged by the passing of time, its memory is now revisited and newly described through the augmentation of images and words. In this way, the 2022 project Adrift in Time presents an accumulation of “souvenirs” and wonders first experienced in France and then reconsidered over the decades—part of a life experience in which some is lost and much is gained.
三十年來，秦偉將法國的影像儲於一個盒子內，猶如把珍藏的記憶存於時間長河一隅。相片如紀念品般，可從之擷取記憶。因相片攝於90年代，部分底片已破損，原圖已無法辨識，成為可觸及的流逝時間，亦同時激活藝術家的記憶，誘發他無盡的聯想。有說攝影可凝住時間，而秦偉的相片所受的各種破損，便是時間洪流的見證。現在來重溫昔日影像就如開展另一趟旅程，跨越記憶與遺忘的邊界， 步向混沌的本相。
秦偉亦為攝影圖像配上文字，倍添照片詩意。作品當中，除記錄秦偉於法國的親身經歷外，亦有經歲月沖刷而損壞的照片，其所承載的記憶，透過影像和文字的再演繹，得以重現。故此，2022年《時間的漫遊》展現的不僅是秦偉從法國所得的「紀念品」，還有在數十年後的今天，他在生命裡所得所失，而所得的比原來的更為豐盛。
Emerge
顯 影
№ 175416742 532
№ 027641623 615
“The tint of abstraction, forms and brightness, boundlessness, weightlessness, are all interwoven and transformed.”
Rendering an image is like an artisan carving a door or a window from a space. The door or window need not be huge—merely large enough for our souls to pass through.
The legendary figure Cangjie is credited with developing the Chinese writing system. It is written in Huainanzi, compiled
in the Western Han dynasty: “When Cangjie invented Chinese characters, the sky rained grain while the spirits cried out at night.”
“抽象的灰度，形式與明暗，無邊緣， 無重量，相互交織轉換。”
經營一幅圖像，如工匠作活，在平白的空間上砍造一度門窗，門窗不用太大， 能讓人的心靈恰度進出便可以了。
蒼頡造字，在西漢《淮南子·本經訓》： “昔者蒼頡作書，而天雨粟，鬼夜哭。
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№ 114056937 427
№ 142851326 751
№ 107562978 523
№ 037451752 254
№ 035916253 748
№ 037871579 832
№ 026541782 649
Adrift in Time is a monologue and travelogue of time. The exhibition presents two sections. The images in the first are figurative, while the latter images are abstract. They were all selected from photographs Chun took when studying in France. Though these images were taken over thirty years ago, he recalls them like it was yesterday. Over the years, some of the photo-graphs have been damaged by mold; however, they remain free from the boundary of preconceptions, and have been opened up to interpretive possibilities. The damaged images are removed from the chains of time and memory. One can’t help but question: what then is the essence of photography?
Elements of photography and literature are interwoven, yet they are not the same. Chun wishes to expand the realm of poetics with the compelling features of both, merging them into his contemplation of life during such a turbulent era. In the images and texts within Adrift in Time, the artist attempts to trace time, in which all phenomena emerge and perish, along with the relationship between subject and object. In this way, photography becomes a form of contemplation, a reflection on life and existence.
《時間的漫遊》是一個關於時間的獨白，亦是一次時間的旅程。整個展覽由兩個部分集結而成，第一部分的圖片以具像為主，後者的圖像內容近乎抽象表現。原圖片取自早年秦偉在法國留學時拍下的照片，現在他回望這些照片就像是昨天的事，但卻已是相隔三十多個年頭。由於種種原因，這批封存多年的圖片，當中有不少已經黴壞；雖是如此，反過來倒減省了那些框框條條的束縛，圖片的詮釋空間亦變得更自由開闊。面對這批失效的圖像，沒有時間與記憶的牽纏，這不禁令人思索，攝影的本質又是什麼？
在《時間的漫遊》的圖片和文字之間，秦偉嘗試回溯時間，探問心與物的關係，在既有且無的時間刻度中，身臨的現象正倏生倏滅，攝影可以是一種思考，一種生命與存在的感應。攝影、文學，二者有著密切的關係，但又不盡相同。藝術家要把詩學的大門打開，將圖像與文字特有的魅力及元素存放於內，讓生命的感知、感悟匯流其中，在這個失重的時代留下註腳。
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