2009美術創作卓越獎獲獎名單-牛俊強 作品自述

邊境
2007年10月，右眼因視網膜破洞，接受雷射手術。手術後出現一些症狀如右眼瞳孔收縮較慢，出現眼痛、視力模糊、畏光、複影、空間的深淺遠近判斷變差等。
接下來的半年，隨著症狀的時好時壞，我開始逃避「清晰」這件事情—越想要看清楚，「模糊」的邊界就愈分明。

這一系列的作品，我於夜晚拍攝城市中的大面積空地，如河濱公園的足球場、操場、正在施工的工地等邊緣性的場域。經由修像的方式，製造了一個更陌生的風景--它並不是忠實顯現我所見，而是將身體感(殘缺)轉化到影像上，機器為身體負載。於是，幽澀微光中，均質靜默的地景，是走不進的身體。
「Outland」之意為邊境。它與border和frontier不同是，「out」的位置性更明顯—有中心裡外的對應。但觀者無法從影像中尋找座標位置，主體(攝影機、觀者)是無從凝視的狀態，它欲抹去畫面的焦點，但失焦也是一種聚焦，看似有機的場域，被處理描繪為CG(computer graphic)均質質感。這種拉扯的狀態，對應了我對影像創作的另一種逃離，及對某些當代資訊風景的無聲對抗。

明信片
「景觀」系統下的城市地景，最明顯的莫於房地產企業所有人打的異地風格。其文字和圖像的異植、堆砌、示意和類比，已非其原指，不再釋意--它成為一種情調，並帶點偏離的色彩，異地的況味。

這些廣告不只回應居住上的消費文化，它們也顯現我們對城市的最終想像，是建構在符號式的場景上。這符號系統與此時此地、及其中生活的人群切割脫離。它經由拼貼自成輪廓，彼此間又可互相替換；它製造了在場證明，但其「現場」還未發生，以後也不會發生。我們閱讀那些美麗高雅，散掛在城市的建築體上的名詞和形容詞，卻無法確切指認那是位於城市的哪一個角落。也如那些舉牌員上的人名，它與人、地，甚至和「居住」本身，是完全脫離的。
這件作品是我對城市觀察的呈現—城市經驗將會走向符號的閱讀及累積。經由精於複製、擬態及移植的媒介產生的事件、圖像，因消費系統而無限繁衍，成為模糊曖昧的城市場域。在城市中將會有更多這種場域的出現。

失真
「在現場留下記號，之後重現這記號，並不斷附加」

【Distortion】這件聲像裝置是在約10坪正方密閉空間中呈現。牆壁上有三張A4白紙，房間中央架設投影機與喇叭。影像為之前於同一位置拍攝三張白紙飄動，剪接調變速度後，再投影至現場原三張白紙上。原本在現場的被攝物，附加上一層他自己的影像，產生動態與靜態之間連續性的變異。在聲音與影像重複複製拷貝後，產生異於原始影像的訊號-部分是刻意製造的數位雜訊，另一部分是類比訊號的遞減。
這件作品最初的概念是討論影像在其成像介面上的可能。影像重複拍攝再投射，類似Feedback形式，跳出二度空間的呈像方式--紙張不再只是投影屏幕，也是「影像」載體--雕塑擴延了它原來的本體。

【Outland】
Digital Print / 130*87cm / 2008

October 2007 I had a surgery on my right eye due to retinal damages. Ever since the surgery I started having symptoms such as slower pupil reactions, discomforts around the eyes, blurred and doubled visions, sensitive to lights, worsen judgements on space and distance etc. In the following six months, with these symptoms continued to be unstable, I started to avoid clarity, the more I desire to see better the more obvious it becomes where the boundary to blurriness is drawn.

This series of work was taken at night in rural places in the city such as huge wastelands, football stadium by the park, racing tracks and under-constructed building sites. By making further adjustments and changes to the images, an even more unfamiliar scenery was created, it did not objectively and truthfully represent what I have seen and instead, my body senses (physical disabilities) were transformed on to these images, as if the machine was possessed by my body. In the softened beam of light, this silent and settled land is the body that cannot be entered.

What differentiates outland from border and frontier is that the location is pointed out more obviously with the word out, corresponding a relative relationship between the exterior and the interior of a central point. But the spectators cannot locate the coordinates in these images, the subject (camera, viewers) is in a position of being unable to see, it intends to wipe off the focus point in the image, however losing can also be perceived as concentrating on a focal point, a site that appears to be organic is now processed and made to be looked like and described as having computer graphic qualities. This contradictory situation is a reflection of a silent protest against particular contemporary circumstances and another way of escaping from my photographic works.


【Postcard】
Video installation & Digital Graphic / 2007-2008

In the landscape of Taipei City, enveloped in this system of “spectacle,” nothing is more prominently visible than the “exotic residences” touted by the real estate industry. Their words and images are transplanted, superimposed, and referenced with suggestion and analogy, until they no longer signify their original meaning, and indeed express no meaning at all, but merely convey a certain mood, and transmit a residual sense of color, the scent of exotic lands. These advertisements not only echo the consumer culture of housing, but also manifest our imaginings regarding cities. They are built on a symbolic landscape, one that has been severed from this time and place, and has no necessary connection to it. These symbols are pieced together to form a vague outline, and are mutually interchangeable. Thus, they have transplanted exotic lands “locally,” but are incapable of signifying identification with “this place.” It may be a city that by sheer coincidence has the same name.

Real estate advertisements make use of replication, mimicry and transplantation of media-generated events and pictures, endlessly multiplying due to the system of consumption, resulting in a blurred, ambiguous city landscape, and expressing a “flattening” of the city’s image. After every cross-section has been rendered two-dimensional and enlarged, the discrepancy with reality becomes greater and greater. The people who work and live among these images constantly experience and corporealize the process of replication and amalgamation in the “society of the spectacle.”


【Distortion】
Audio-Visual installation / 2007
The Soundart from Chung-Han ,YAO

The A4 papers have been at the same position all the time. I blow them and recorded. And then, at the same place, I project the image I recorded before.I re-created “readymade” by shooting and projecting it again, like “image-sculpture”. When papers blowing, you can’t recognize real and virtual.