The Guide to Post-Apocalyptic Survival on the Third Planet of the Solar System
By｜Li-Hao Chang
Prologue: Animals of the Imagination
In 1957, Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986), one of the most iconic Argentine writers of the 20th century, published Mannal de zoologia fantástica, a book detailing 82 imaginary creatures. In 1966, a revised and expanded edition was published, with the title changed to El libro de Los series imaginarios (Book of Imaginary Beings), and the number of species included in the book increased to 116. Of course, according to his idea, the number could be increased perpetually.
Therefore, if at some point in time the term “Parrotman” is finally included in this book, perhaps the following explanation will appear: “A social animal with a parrot head and human body that does not know exactly to which planet they belong. They are simple and clumsy, and often behave in ways that are difficult for others to comprehend. The first Parrotmen who came to Earth were archaeologists, biologists, and other scholars from different fields, and were tasked with investigating human civilization before the apocalypse.” This imaginary creature is the work of artist Chang, Teng-Yuan.
Hence, the story unfolds.
Chapter 1: The Other Me in a Parallel Universe
“I like hourglasses, maps, eighteenth century typography, the taste of coffee and the prose of Stevenson; he shares these preferences, but in a vain way that turns them into the attributes of an actor. It would be an exaggeration to say that ours is a hostile relationship; I live, let myself go on living, so that Borges may contrive his literature, and this literature justifies me.”
— Jorge Luis Borges
Chang likes to read science fiction, collects countless toy figures, and has a studio full of caudex plants… he is a novelist who prefers writing with visual imagery. Some people distinguish the creation of fiction into two approaches: one is the creation of a whole world and then the creation of characters in it; the other is the creation of characters and then the development of a new world through them. If we apply this term, Chang’s works is closer to the latter.
Through a view of the universe akin to that of a parallel world, and a character set up with a perceptible imagery of a Parrotman, the inspiration for the creation of the work is derived mostly from real experiences. But the important thing is not to reproduce, but to create the fiction of reality in an elaborate way, so that all the things in the image will change in nature, and then construct a narrative that is both familiar and distinct.
Chang has always been accustomed to using the year as the basic unit, by selecting key words as the entry point of each creative stage, so that his works are mostly in line with contemporary events. Therefore, observation, fragmentation, trends, reality and fiction, and transformation …… are undoubtedly the key words to understand his creations.
Therefore, only the curious viewer can stimulate his or her own imagination and be rewarded with a kaleidoscope of variations.
Chapter 2: The End and the Beginning
“Those who knew
what was going on here
must make way for
those who know little.
And less than little.
And finally as little as nothing.”
— “The End and the Beginning,” Wisława Szymborska
Let’s rewind the clock a bit to September 11, 2001; a scene that is perhaps the closest thing to an apocalypse for most humans alive today: two planes hijacked by terrorists crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York, a major American landmark, and the specter of terrorism has loomed over every corner of the world ever since. Paradoxically, as the media keeps replaying the same images to eyes around the world, their authenticity seems to be diluted and come into doubt, forming a special scene of the digital age.
By leveraging this event as a catalyst, since 2011, Chang has been trying to apply the immersive experience of the viewing effect to his works, expanding the imagery and context of his paintings. During this period, he has also focused on his inner self and emotions, utilizing a more symbolic approach to deal with some elements in large strokes before detailed refinement, and even using some stroke patterns similar to traditional ink and wash to compile an extremely pronounced language and spectrum of painting.
For example, in 2016, Chang’s focus was on the refugee influx in Europe. By incorporating this ongoing event into his work, he not only documents the choices made by human beings from a bystander’s point of view, but also reminds himself of how to avoid an absolutely singular perspective in retrospect. In particular, through his adept use of perspective, his compositions sometimes take on a distant view to imbue the work with an epic scale, while at other times they are interspersed with sudden close-ups and details, creating a sense of a linear break in time when the viewer looks at his work, as if breaking into a spiral of other substances that may burst into existence.
Chapter 3: Imitation, and the Inevitability of Misunderstanding
“Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.”
— Genesis 11:7
The core of the Parrotmen’s logic of thinking is the two verbs “imitate” and “misunderstand”; they try to understand human beings by imitating human behavior, and they are not at all concerned with the increasingly ridiculous behavior. The seemingly dumb and garish actions of the Parrotmen infer to humans who want to challenge the authority of God and are unable to communicate with each other.
“After imitating humans, Parrotmen began to want to become humans,” said Chang. In order to demonstrate such a will, the Parrotmen have reached out to a wider and wider scope of activities. In addition to setting up laboratories on the apocalyptic Earth to cultivate, assemble and create new species, they can be seen in geological surveys, space exploration, and even in the face of the current pandemic, they can be seen entering some spaces where there is no trace of human life. The imaginary world suggests a cold and pretentious stage; the many characters played by the Parrotmen are a true repetition of the political, economic, military, and cultural perversions of the real world, and the absurdity of human existence that is all too real.
Chapter 4: The End has Arrived, and the Holy Temple is Among Us
“We are ignorant of the meaning of the dragon in the same way that we are ignorant of the meaning of the universe; but there is something in the dragon’s image that fits man’s imagination, and this accounts for the dragon’s appearance in different places and periods.”
— Jorge Luis Borges
Some artists’ creations always throw out abstract questions when one least expects it. The Garden of Earthly Delights by the 15th century Dutch painter, alchemist, and cult member Hieronymus Bosch (1405–1516), for example, is a masterpiece that reinterprets biblical texts and folklore with intricate painting techniques and a multitude of obscure and cryptic symbols, creating an eerie and preternatural landscape that is both contemporaneous and chronological, with many unanswered questions.
Like Bosch, Chang is always searching for the most suitable way to create his works, such as by exploring the juxtaposition and intertextual possibilities of the real and the virtual to the fullest extent. As he approaches the first decade of his creative career, the epidemic continues unabated, and the Parrotmen, who were also trapped in a flurry of worries, became interested in the history of human art, and once again echoed the concept of multiverses. In these works, which are still evolving, fragments of human history are cast in varying shades. For example, the glory of the Medici family is again briefly reflected in the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore (Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower), albeit with some obvious distortion. Perhaps it is as futile as man’s attempts to figure out how nature works.
In the end, the so-called exceptions, fallacies or misjudgments continue to occur again and again in a similar time and space. We have no way of knowing the meaning of the existence of the Parrotman; therefore, for those who feel confused and disappointed in the reality of life and want to change the status quo, Chang’s creations may not be able to bring salvation to people, but to a certain extent, it enables us to understand better that the end is here in the present, and the holy temple is also in the human world. When you get up and take the first step, you should be mentally prepared. The journey begins after everything has collapsed in the universe, and the destination is in a distant and unknown universe. Welcome to an apocalyptic world where all logic is reset; be sure to pick up the Guide to Post-Apocalyptic Survival on the Third Planet of the Solar System, because the story continues......
— Originally published in the catalogue 《張騰遠作品集 2015–2021》, pp. 6–9
文｜張禮豪
序章：想像的動物
1957年，廿世紀最具代表性的阿根廷作家波赫士（Jorge Luis Borges，1899-1986）出版了《神奇的動物手冊》（Mannal de zoologia fantástica）一書，裡頭收錄了82種想像的動物。到了1966年再出增訂版，除將書名改為《想像的動物》（El libro de Los series imaginarios），書中所載更一口氣增加到116種。當然，按照他的想法，數目可以不斷增加下去。
故而，如果此書在某一個時間點上終於能夠收入「鸚鵡人」(Parrotman)此一詞條，或許會出現這樣的解釋：「鸚鵡頭、人身的集體群居動物，不知道確切屬於哪個星球。性格簡單笨拙，經常做出他人難以理解的行為。來到地球的第一批鸚鵡人有考古學家、生物學家等不同領域的學者，身負考察末日之前的人類文明的任務。」而這個想像的動物，正是出自藝術家張騰遠(CHANG, Teng-Yuan)的筆下。
自此，故事於焉展開。
第一章：平行世界的另一個我
「我個人很喜歡計時沙漏、地圖、十八世紀的活版印刷術、語源學、咖啡的味道及史蒂文生（Robert Lewis Stevenson，1850－1894）的散文。而另外一個人跟我分享了所有的這些偏好，不過他是以一種愛慕虛榮的誇耀方式，把它們當成演員表演時所具備的特性般耍弄。如果就憑這幾句話，斷定我們之間的關係是敵對的，那又太言過其實了。我的生存（我自己讓自己這樣地過活），是為了讓波赫士可以好好的經營、策劃他的文學天地，而他的文學作品正好可以證明我的存在。」
——波赫士〈波赫士和我〉
喜歡看科幻文學、收藏了無數玩具公仔、工作室裡面種滿各式各樣的塊根(Caudex)植物……對張騰遠來說，他毋寧是一個更接近以視覺圖像來寫作的小說家。有人將小說創作區分為二：一是先創造了整個世界，再塑造其中的人物；另一種則是先創造出人物，再藉由這個人物來開展嶄新的世界。如果套用這樣的說法，張騰遠的創作想來更接近後者。
透過類似於平行世界的宇宙觀，以及鸚鵡人這個形象極為清晰明瞭的人物設定，其創作靈感雖說多從現實經驗而來，但重要的並非再現，而是將現實的虛擬性巧獪地創造出來，使得畫面裡的所有事物都因而產生本質上的流變，進而建構出既似曾相識又截然有別的敘事。
一直以來，張騰遠習慣以年為單位，藉由挑選出關鍵字作為每一個創作階段的切入點，使其作品大多貼合著當下的事件。因此，觀察、零碎、流行、虛實、轉化……這些無疑是理解張騰遠創作的重要字眼。對此，只有那些充滿好奇心的觀者才能從中激發自己的想像，並且得到猶如觀看萬花筒般有無窮變化。
第二章：結束與開始
「了解／歷史真相的人／得讓路給／不甚了解的人。／以及所知更少的人。／最後是那些簡直一無所知的人。」
——辛波絲卡〈結束與開始〉
且讓我們將時序倒轉回2001年9月11日，一個對大多數至今仍存活的多數人類而言，或許是最接近世界末日的景象：兩架遭到恐怖分子挾持的客機先後撞上美國重要地標——紐約世界貿易中心雙塔，恐怖行動的陰影從此之後籠罩在全世界的任何一個角落。弔詭的是，隨著傳播媒體不斷地重複放送同樣的畫面到世人的眼前，其真實性彷彿也跟著稀薄了起來，形成特殊的數位時代景觀。
以此事件為觸媒，張騰遠自2011年開始，試圖把觀視效應中的沉浸感知經驗（immersive experience）運用在他的創作，加以擴張繪畫的影像性及其語境（context）。期間自也不乏他聚焦在個人內心情感，把一些元素以更符號化的手法來大筆處理、細部收拾，甚至使用類傳統水墨的一些皴法，編輯出風格極為明顯的繪畫語言及系譜。
舉例來說，張騰遠在2016年時所關注者乃是歐洲的難民潮，他將此一實際正在發生的事件置入創作中，除了以旁觀者的角度來記錄當初人類所做的選擇，回過頭也藉以提醒自己如何避開絕對單一的視角。尤其，透過嫻熟的鏡頭運用，其構圖時而採取遠景使畫面充滿史詩壯闊的氛圍，時而夾雜一些突如其來的近景與特寫鏡頭，在在令觀者看待其創作時產生打破線性時間的斷裂感，闖入可能迸生其他物質的螺旋迴圈當中。
第三章：模仿，以及誤解之必然
耶和華說：「我們下去，在那裡變亂他們的口音，使他們的言語彼此不通。」
——〈創世紀11：7〉
貫徹鸚鵡人思考邏輯的核心正在「模仿」與「誤解」二個動詞；他們透過模仿人類行為來試圖理解人類，縱然屢屢出現滑稽可笑行為仍絲毫不以為意，而看似呆笨出格，充滿嘲諷意味的各種舉動，所影射的就是意欲挑戰神的權威而就此無法互相溝通的人類。
「鸚鵡人在模仿人類之後，開始想要成為人類。」張騰遠說道。為了展現如是的意志，鸚鵡人觸及的層面越來越廣，除了在末日地球設置實驗室開始培育、拼湊與創造新的物種，舉凡地質偵測、太空探險，乃至於如今面對疫情肆虐的諸多舉措，都可以見到他們堂而皇之地進入有些已然絲毫看不出人類生活痕跡的空間，幻境似地暗示了一個冰冷、矯飾的舞台，而由鸚鵡人扮演的諸多角色正經八百地重複著現實世界中由政治、經濟、軍事與文化所驅動的種種乖誕舉動，再真實不過地體現了人類存在的荒謬。
第四章：末日即當下，聖殿在人間
「我們不知道龍的意義，就像我們不知道宇宙的意義一樣，但是牠的形象中，有一些與人們的想像相符合的東西，因此龍出現在不同的緯度和時代。」
——波赫士《想像的動物》
某些藝術家的創作總會不期然地拋出抽象的提問，舉例來說，身兼煉金術士與密教成員，十五世紀尼德蘭畫家波希（Hieronymus Bosch, 1405-1516）的曠世鉅作《人間樂園》（The Garden of Earthly Delights）以細膩的繪畫技巧搭配眾多晦澀難解的符號來重新詮釋聖經文本和民間傳說，打造出一個兼具並時性與歷時性的詭譎景象，至今都還存在不少未解之謎。
一如波希，張騰遠始終在尋找最適合自己的創作方式，最大向度地探求真實與虛擬的並置與互文可能。來到專職創作的第一個十年，適逢疫情持續肆虐，同樣坐困愁城的鸚鵡人對人類的藝術史產生興趣，也再一次地與多重宇宙的概念相互呼應。而在這些仍在持續發展的作品裡頭，人類悠久的歷史片段無不投下了參差的影子。像是梅迪奇家族（Medici）的輝煌榮光又再次短暫地映照在百花大教堂上頭，只不過明顯有些扭曲變形。或許，這跟人類企圖搞清楚大自然的運作方式，不過只是一場徒勞。
到頭來，所謂的例外、謬誤或者錯判總是不斷地在相似的時空環境中一再發生。我們無從得知鸚鵡人存在的意義究竟為何；因此，對現實生活感到迷惘失望、想要改變現狀的人們來說，張騰遠的創作未必能使人得到救贖，卻在一定程度上讓你我得以更加理解，末日即是當下，聖殿也在人間。當你起身、踏出第一步，就應當做好心理準備。這趟旅行，大抵從一切都崩毀殆盡後開始，終點則在遙遠未知的宇宙盡頭。歡迎來到一切邏輯全部重設的末日世界；也務必記得領取太陽系第三惑星生存指南，因為故事仍未完待續……
—— 原刊於《張騰遠作品集 2015–2021》，頁 6–9