wmc_e6 2018.10.03 [for immediate release 即時發布 | English version follows after Chinese version]
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《歧路結節，開合解謎》Hidden Variables: Forking Paths of Visuality and Technology
藝術家 Artist: 羅海德 Hector Rodriguez
策展人 Curator: 王鎮海 Wong Chun-hoi
展覽系列策展人WMC_e6 Exhibition Series Curator: 黎肖嫻 Linda Lai
展期 Exhibition Period: 9.26.2018 – 10.15.2018, 11am – 7pm
藝術家講座－《藝術、科技、存庫》Artist’s Talk – Art, Technology, and the Archive
Date：10.6.2018 2pm – 3pm (藝術家導覽 Guided Tour by Artist), 3pm – 4pm (講座 Lecture)
Venue: Exhibition Hall, 6/F, Sheung Wan Civic Centre 上環文娛中心 6 樓展覽廳
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Media Contacts: Tobias Tang (Exhibition Producer)
Mobile: 65748872 | Email: writingmachinecollective.e6@gmail.com
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計算媒體有助於我們重新思考和經驗我們的電影傳統嗎？羅海德 (Hector Rodriguez) 個展《歧路結節，開合解謎》，以各種數學理論運算實驗分析電影影像，拆解光影變幻的視覺美學的背後。
《歧路結節，開合解謎》展出了羅海德2011年起至今這段時期的影像實驗，以各個自行編寫的程式分析經典電影，如亞弗列．希治閣的《 第十七號》（1932）、尚盧．高達的《阿爾發城》（1965）、英瑪．褒曼的《假面》（1966），將電影背後被埋藏的構圖、運鏡、節奏顯現眼前。作為一位深諳電影史和理論的數碼藝術家，羅海德自修數學理論，學習各影像運算技術如「光流」 (optical flow) 、「運動跟蹤」 (motion tracking)、「圖像壓縮」 (image compression) 等的背後原理，再自行編寫演算程式進行數理裏化的電影美學分析。舊電影經過程式重編後，影像被拆解再重構，成為了獨特的衍生性錄像。
作品如《Gestus Redux》利用「運動跟蹤」技術分析路易．費雅德的《猶德士》（1916），播放原片段的同時，以程式抽取電影中相類動態的情節同步播放，放大電影中往往被忽視的微動作，突出演員的舉手投足或景框內的事物的移動，而非故事情節，帶給我們全新不同的觀賞體驗。而首次展出的作品《The Uncertainty Principle》則利用常用於光學字元識別（OCR）的Gabor濾波器分析電影紋理，在王家衛《一代宗師》（2013）的雨中打鬥選段中把人物和背景過濾，只勾取雨線，又用人工智能的「機器學習」 (machine learning) 方法把配樂和現場聲分隔，只留後者。這樣，觀賞《一代宗師》就一下子變成觀賞一個嶄新的錄像創作。
羅海德希望觀眾都能保持耐性欣賞作品，尤其在這速食年代，觀眾很容易因不知如何觀察而失去興趣，缺乏追看下去的動力。但羅海德的影像創作只要留心細看，尋找我們平日較少留意的電影元素，如節奏、光影的對比、正負空間的調度、人物的微動作，就能找到藝術家在該作品所特別「注意」的電影特質，將平日在主流電影中被遺忘的美學帶回熒幕上。
展覽佈置亦異於常見展覽，不設計單一路徑，反而將展覽廳化成迷宮，讓作品展示於展覽廳各個角落。這設計來自羅海德的創作歷程 – 作品之間表面上沒有明顯關聯，但不難發現作品背後原理、表達手法或是創作時序上，都有著多線的聯繫。因此，無論從哪方向開始觀賞，總可觀察得作品的潛在共通點，由作品自身帶領完整遊覽全場。
羅海德提出「打開媒體藝術黑盒」，認為媒體藝術不應只是表面的成像，還應該讓觀眾閱讀作品背後的原理及研究過程。因此展覽除了展示作品外，亦在場館的正中特設《閱讀室》給有興趣深究作品原理的觀眾閱讀作品解釋。藝術家在創作途中不忘詳盡紀錄實驗過程，亦特別為每份作品製作解說短片，以說明當中抽象的數學原理，解釋創作時的研究及理念。此外，《閱讀室》中展出了藝術家的大量參考書籍及文獻，讓觀眾透過參閱藝術家閱讀時的註釋及手稿，把作品連線到創作概念的誕生的種種 。
羅海德亦將於10月6日親身進行藝術家導覽 （下午2時）及講座（下午3時），屆時將向公眾剖析作品群所牽連的更廣泛的媒體藝術和社會文化議題。
藝術家簡介：
羅海德作品曾於台灣、新加坡、紐約、波蘭、德國、西班牙、希臘等地國際展覽展出，曾獲2003年度「香港藝術雙年展」最佳數碼作品獎項，「香港當代藝術獎2012」的優秀藝術家獎及日本文化廳媒體藝術祭評審團推薦作品，2014年獲民政事務局局長頒發對本地文化藝術貢獻的獎狀。他曾任微波國際新媒體藝術節（2005）《玩感之都》（Culture as Play）藝術總監。他現為香港城市大學創意媒體學院的副教授。
Can computational media help us to rethink and re-experience our cinematic heritage? Hector Rodriguez’s solo exhibition, Hidden Variables: Forking Paths of Visuality and Technology, analyses and processes moving images with mathematical concepts, disclosing the hidden aesthetics underneath the visual content.
Hidden Variables features image-processing systems developed by Rodriguez from 2011 to his most recent experiments. The artist analyzes classic films such as Number Seventeen (Alfred Hitchcock, 1932), Alphaville (Jean-Luc Godard, 1965) and Persona (Ingmar Bergman, 1966) processed via custom programmes that reveal the latent qualities of cinema. These works use video analysis and processing techniques to draw attention to such visual properties as composition, camera movement and rhythm.
While mainstream cinema directs the audience’s attention to story content, Rodriguez invites the viewer to focus on motion, time and technology. The video installation Gestus Redux (2018) applies a specially designed motion analysis algorithm to Judex (Louis Feuillade, 1916), to identify sequences with similar movements. A new work, The Uncertainty Principle, uses the Gabor image filters to detect edges in films and analyze their visual composition. Extracting only the rain drops from the opening sequence of The Grandmaster (Wong Kar-wai, 2013), the work re-creates the action scene with a minimalist approach, inviting the audience to discover neglected aspects of the film.
The exhibition is designed with an unusual layout, different from the normal one-way route. The gallery is turned into a labyrinth, with works scattered in every corner. This approach is inspired by the creation process of Rodriguez, whose works are always part of large webs of theoretical, artistic and technical connectivity. The full impact of the show depends on the connections that visitors will establish among the different works. As the visitor proceeds through the show, each work always resonates with surrounding works.
A Research/Reading Room, located at the centre of the exhibition, contains books, essays, notes, drafts, and other audio-visual documents that hint at the research aspects of Rodriguez’s work, including its technological, mathematical and philosophical concepts, as well as the development of his ideas. Viewers are invited to construct their own meaning by exploring those materials.
Rodriguez will conduct an artist’s talk, including both a guided tour and a lecture on 6 October, sharing his process of integrating mathematics and arts and his thoughts about the direction of media art.
About the Artist:
Hector Rodriguez’s computational art has been widely published in international exhibitions in Taiwan, Singapore, Poland, Germany, Spain, Greece and so on. He was awarded the Best Digital Work in the Hong Kong Art Biennale 2003, Achievement Award in the Hong Kong Contemporary Art Award in 2012-13, Jury Selection, Japan Media Art Festival (2012-13), and received the HKSAR Secretary for Home Affairs’ Commendation Scheme 2014 for Outstanding Contribution to the Development of Arts and Culture. He was Artistic Director for “Culture As Play,” Microwave International Media Art Festival 2005. He is Associate Professor at the School of Creative Media, the City University of Hong Kong.
