《低級自由—李懿澕個展》Low Life: Li Yi-Ho Solo Exhibition

● 藝術家 Artist：李懿澕 Li Yi-Ho

● 製作出品 Produced by：財團法人數位藝術基金會 Digitial Art Foundation

● 特別感謝 Special Thanks：國家文化藝術基金會 National Culture and Arts Foundation

 

我想要創造一個橋樑，讓人類認識蟑螂所見的世界，從渺小的視角、令人厭惡的蟑螂身體，來感知所處生存環境的樣貌。透過VR內容的安排，降低人類對蟑螂的負面印象，同時，投射我對於蟑螂社群的想像，以及蟑螂與其他生物在廚房共生的狀態，來將人與蟑螂之間的不對等、主從關係模糊化——藉由牠的帶領，參觀在廚房裡上演的低視野事件，讓蟑螂成為人類生活空間的敘事主角。作品設計了觸角、翅膀、尾毛三個裝置，來模擬蟑螂接收外界訊息的回饋機制，作為作品的體感輔助，使觀眾得以進入「成為一隻蟑螂」的沉浸體感。

人與蟑螂的關係應該是互相影響的，人類的家也是蟑螂的家、蟑螂的生活模式也是順著人類生活模式運行的。因此，牠是否擁有真正的自由？自由地選擇吃哪些人類吃剩的食物？自由地選擇要在哪些人類擺設的家具底下休息？期望透過這些問題，將構成蟑螂印象的權力歸還給蟑螂本身——牠不是噁心的昆蟲，牠跟我們一樣。

I would like to create a bridge between humans and cockroaches, providing humans with a chance to know how cockroaches perceive the world. Confined by a restricted vision and the disgusting body of the cockroach, the audience could get a glimpse into how cockroaches recognize the appearance of their habitats. With the story design in Virtual Reality, this artwork is aimed to change the negative perception that humans have on cockroaches. Moreover, I utilize my own imagination for the cockroach community and their symbiosis with other creatures in the kitchen, to blur the boundary and deconstruct the dominant-subordinate relationship between humans and cockroaches. With the guidance of the cockroach, the audience visit the kitchen in the ground level viewpoint in which the cockroach become the main narrator among the human living space. Thus, I also design installations of antenna, wings, and cerci to imitate the feedback mechanism that cockroaches use to receive external messages. These installations create an immersive experience which makes it easier for the audience to become an embodiment of cockroaches.

Humans and cockroaches would certainly have mutual effect on each other. The home to humans are also the home to cockroaches. Also, cockroaches conform to the house-owner’s lifestyle. Are cockroaches entitled to their true freedom? Can they freely choose which leftover food to eat, and freely decide under which furniture to rest? By raising these questions, this artwork hopes to give cockroaches the power as individual entities—they are not some disgusting insects anymore; they are just like us.