【OCAT上海馆｜作品介绍】何翔宇《May 14th, July 17th, August 27th》

May 14th, July 17th, August 27th

2016，三频影像装置，彩色，有声

77分20秒，42分38秒，51分53秒

作品由艺术家和王兵先生提供

2016, Three-channel video installation, colour, sound

77'20'', 42'38'', 51'53''

Courtesy of the artist and Wang Bing 

在这件作品中，何翔宇用幽默的方式演示了跨文化的同化过程中伴随的艰难和跳寒，让人们对这一过程得以了解，并感同身受。在艺术家巧妙而极具刺激性的表达中，全球化这一严肃的话题以及它对那些被迫在不同国家之间漂泊的人们所带来的切身影响在此获得了新的共鸣。例如，在他当前的视频作品系列中，来自柏林的被募集者用喜剧性的方式演绎出了人们在试图领会异国历史；使用另一种语言进行交流；以及融入其他文化模式等情况下所经历的困难。除了认知上的失调以外，何翔宇的作品还展示了迁移过程中充满人性与灵活性的一面。在这方面，居所的迁移将人们的创意、个性和好奇心转化为生存和交际的工具，甚至变成了结交新朋友的机遇。

作品中的每一幅画面都是简单地以该视频于2016年的录制日期命名的。在录制前期，何翔宇在社交网站脸书上发布了一则试镜通告，随机邀请回复者参与并完成一系列即兴表演任务。这些任务的设计理念旨在展示人们在同化过程中所经历的挑战和后果。与此同时，何翔宇也以一名小组成员的身份加入到这些互不相识的参与者中，在相互给予鼓励、启发和评论的同时完成表演任务。在作品中，受邀请的参与者成为了何翔宇自己的创作词汇里的一部分，传达了艺术家对同化的方法和效果的研究。在证明富有创造性且融会贯通的创作能力的同时，何翔宇探索了语言学局限性的引申和其重要之处，证明了我们几乎无法依赖于纯口头的表达方式来代表我们自己并塑造我们的身份。

在作品中，何翔宇还提出了一个问题：“文化吸收的艰难是否标志着个体的正直性和严密性？”

By playfully demonstrating the painful challenge of cross-cultural assimilation, He Xiangyu evokes empathy and understanding. The serious subject of globalization and its intimate ramifications for people forced or compelled to move between countries becomes freshly relatable in Xiangyu's witty and provocative work, exemplified in his current video series where volunteers in Berlin comically enact the struggles of digesting foreign history, convincingly communicating in a different language and fitting into other cultural norms. Beyond intellectual dissonance, Xiangyu's work highlights the touchingly human, flexible side of relocation where innovation, personality and curiosity migrate into tools for survival and building bonds, even making friends.

Each episode in this work is simply named as the date it was filmed in 2016. He invited random respondents to a Facebook casting call to meet and participate in a series of improvisational performing tasks designed to highlight the challenges and consequences of trying to assimilate. Blending in with participants who had no prior connections, Xiangyu became an equal member of performances where groups of people tackled a common task while encouraging, inspiring and judging each other. In this work, he enlists his participants as an alphabet to convey his investigation into the methods and effects of assimilation. By proving his creative agility while exploring the ramifications and significance of linguistic limitations, he shows how little we can rely on mere verbal expression to represent ourselves and craft our identities.

In this work, Xiangyu also poses a question of "whether difficulty in adapting is a sign of integrity or rigidity?"