亡魂顯影的思辨：論「靈異錄像」與「觀落陰」的視線邊界

Abstract

幽靈、鬼魅，近年來時常成為臺灣乃至於亞洲當代藝術書寫中，用以描述攝影、影像、投映裝置的美學論述，以及描繪其感知型態的語詞。影像彷彿提供了歷史幽靈復返的路徑，讓被壓抑、骯髒、受迫之人，以鬼魂之姿重回當下，並有能力展開時間的調度，在過去與當下、現實與虛構之間穿梭與擾動。但是，當「鬼魂」不以一種隱喻的修辭存在，不再只是「過去的復返」、「精神的纏繞」，不再是人所賦予的倫理學化的想像，不再背負其歷史的冤仇與創傷，仍然執意（或無意）進入影像之時，我們該如何理解影像與鬼魂的關係？當人們想透過觀落陰「見到」已逝親人的亡魂時，觀看如何得以不經由光線，與「影像」產生關聯？首先，本文會從臺灣當代藝術的影像實踐與評述中的鬼魂性質，作為問題意識的展開，再進行鬼魂概念的思辨，並進一步以「靈異影像」與「觀落陰」為例，分別從監視器當中「攝入鬼魂的影像」、「否定光線的影像儀式」，探討這兩者在影像生產、觀看機制，以及放映形式上，蘊含何種特殊的影像概念。一方面，這些「影像」被排拒在影像研究的範圍之外，鮮少被討論過；另一方面，理性的話語也面臨難以論述、脈絡化這些「影像」的困局。這些位處於我們視線之外的幽影，讓影像的生產過程不再倚賴光源、傷痕敘事與歷史事件，卻直面觀看本身的困難，直逼影像認知的界限。文末，筆者嘗試將這些還在形塑中的「影像」與「類影像」概念，重新置放到臺灣當代藝術關於影像研究、論述中的鬼魂性質與想像當中，並進行相關的反思與問題的推進。

The terms 'ghosts' and 'spirits' have recently been commonly adopted in the aesthetic discourse as the function of narrating photography, images and installations in the field of contemporary art writings in Taiwan and across Asia. The images, as if providing a portal for the return of the spirits of the past, allow the repressed and suppressed able to traverse to and from past and present, reality and fiction in the form of apparitions. Nevertheless, how should we understand the relationship between the image and the apparition when the apparition within the image escapes its role as the metaphor and no longer merely refers to the notion of 'the return of the dead' or 'the affiliation with the soul', and no longer carries the burdens and traumas of history? When one expects to 'see' the ghosts of their lost beloved through the Blindfold Taoist Ritual, how is this 'seeing' of an 'image' made possible without the interference of light? To begin with, the text discusses the characteristics of ghosts within realizations and critiques of images in Taiwanese contemporary art before further reflecting on the definition of ghosts. Through investigation of the two examples, 'Ghost in Supernatural Video' and 'Blindfold Taoist Ritual', particularly in their image production, mechanism of reading as well as ways of projection, the text explores the implied perceptions of the image through 'the photographed ghosts' and 'the image ritual without light' in surveillance images. These are 'images' taken less seriously, and at the same time, there has been the intricacy of narrating these 'images' and putting them in context through rational reasoning. To conclude, the author attempts to ponder over the characteristics of ghosts by means of the still-evolving notion of 'image' as well as its relating concepts in Taiwanese contemporary art.