《白熾》”Zírka (Incandescence)” 2022
行為藝術裝置 Performance installation
Duration: 1 hour
Acknowledgements: Fanson Lam
As part of Post-Human Narratives Phase 3: In the Name of Scientific Witchery


藝術家把一次黎明時分醒來，由無意識到有意識的轉換的冥想過程中浮現的意象實體化：她看見自己穿鏡面女體型肚兜盔甲，上半身像通徹透明了一般，在入夜的前病理檢驗所裡，手心捧著光，映照在身上的盔甲中。光芒一分為二，變成一對雙生兒。

“Zírka” (зі́рка)（本作品的英文標題）是烏克蘭語裡小星星的意思，字源來自Zorya (Зоря)，是古斯拉夫民族的黎明女神。流傳到烏克蘭、波蘭、斯洛維尼亞、俄羅斯等地後因應各地文化被描繪成一個個體、兩姐妹或三姐妹。她們各有名字，代表不同時分天上的光。恆星和人、各個民族一樣都會經歷生老病死，生生不息。較小的民族文化身份會被權威騎劫、扭曲，被大量屠殺。藝術家將神話流傳對Zorya的想像的變異對比科學現有認知恆星的命運：一顆恆星的壽命由它的重量決定，質量越大，它消耗的速度越快、壽命越短，可能只有幾百萬年，而較小的恆星反而壽命越長，可以活上萬億年。

瀕死經驗中死而復生者形容在彌留之際會見到一道溫暖柔和的光。《白熾》“Zírka” 是藝術家利用自己的藝術語言構造的一個巫術儀式。「白熾」（本作品的中文標題）是指對一個物質施加能量，使其溫度上升，直至光產生的現象。透過投放在藝術語境裡的行為過程所產生的能量，和製造白熾的自然現象，藝術家嘗試對遠方的小恆星進行祈願。

行為藝術裡時間的線性流逝，是在此媒介裡以「人」的肉身所擁有的生命時限作為主要創作材料的基本物料消耗模式。白魔法則利用當中的哲學、世界觀和技術扭轉自然定律、命運或業力，以治療病痛、霹除厄運、祈願、誦經、執行儀式等方法以延長生命為主要目的。《白熾》“Zírka” 嘗試以行為藝術作為思考和實踐媒介，探討藝術在其語境和技術上如何能夠「延長生命」，倒過來嘗試扭轉行為藝術本質物質時間線性流逝的特質。

The artist realizes an image that emerged during a meditation process in which she wakes up at dawn and transitions from unconsciousness to consciousness: she saw herself in a mirrored female bib armour, the upper half of her body appeared transparent. She held a light in her hands in a former pathology clinic at night, reflecting in her armour. The light splits in two and becomes a pair of twins.

"Zírka" (зі́рка) (the English title of this piece) is the Ukrainian word for ‘little star’, derived from Zorya (Зоря), the ancient Slavic goddess of the dawn. As the folklore about the goddess spread to Ukraine, Poland, Slovenia and Russia etc, she has been transformed into being depicted as a singular entity, two sisters or three sisters, depending on the culture of each country. Each of them has a name and represents the light of a different time of day. Stars, like people and nations, they are born, they age, die and reborn. The cultural identities of smaller nations are sometimes hijacked, distorted and mass murdered by the powers that be. The artist compares the variation in the mythological perception of Zorya to the current scientific perception of the fate of stars: the lifespan of a star is determined by its weight, the larger the mass, the faster it is consumed and the shorter its lifespan, which may be a few million years, while smaller stars live longer, possibly trillions of years.

Those who have survived near death experience describe seeing a warm, soft light at the end of their lives. “Zírka (Incandescence)" is a witchcraft ritual constructed by the artist using her own artistic language. "Incandescence” (the Chinese title of this piece) refers to the phenomenon of applying energy to a substance, causing its temperature to rise until light is produced. Through the energy generated by the process of action placed in the artistic context, the natural phenomenon of the creation of incandescence is being used to make a prayer to the small star in the far away distance.

The linear passage of time in performance art is the basic mode of material consumption in this medium, using the time frame of the 'human' body as the primary material for creation. White magic uses its philosophy, worldview and techniques to reverse the laws of nature, fate or karma, to heal illnesses, remove bad luck, using prayers, chanting, rituals and other methods to prolong life. “Zírka (Incandescence)” attempts to use performance art as a process of reflection and practice, exploring how art in its context and technique can 'prolong life', in turn attempting to reverse the linear nature of the material passage of time which is the nature of performance art.