《爆破臺灣島》 Exploding Taiwan
余政達以影像為主要創作方式，先前的作品中藉由不同的媒體探討訊息扭異的現象，以2008年台北雙年展參展的《附身【聲】者》為例，他邀請外籍人士說仿別人躲在背後所說的中文語句，並藉由過程中不斷產生的陰錯陽差現象，突顯出在全球化、傳播化、互動化的時代，有關文化溝通、轉譯的諸般課題。
本次展出的影像作品《爆破臺灣島》，余政達以輕鬆的手法擬造了一個「微型媒體」。在201展室的帳篷裡秘密播放的影片中，匿名的受訪者正娓娓敘述著他們各自得到的第一手消息。每個人的說法各有落差，說明了此事本身資訊的不透明狀態，但也大抵指向某個共同的虛構文本：台灣的國家元首準備炸毀全島，並計劃邀請國際著名爆破藝術家跨刀相助，同時進行全球SNG連線直播，讓全世界看見這歷史性瘋狂的一刻。在全島埋設炸藥的兩年工期中，知情的台灣民眾四處尋求其他國家接收認養，至全島地沈消失的那天，台灣人民將四處散佈在全世界各國版圖。此作透過一種仿媒體傳播的「人云亦云」遊戲，讓民眾實地體驗了台灣作為幻見(fantasy) 對象的可能。
Exploding Taiwan
Yu Cheng-ta
Yu Cheng-ta uses images as his primary form of creation, with his previous works employing different media as mean to explore the phenomenon of message distortion. In his 2008 Taipei Biennial work Ventriloquists, the artist invited foreigners to repeat Chinese phrases spoken by people hiding behind them. This strange combination of circumstances brought many unpredicted mishaps, symbolizing the issues of cultural communication and translation under this era of globalization, transmission and interaction.
Present in this exhibition, Yu Cheng-ta creates through the video work Exploding Taiwan a “miniaturized media.” In every tent within exhibition room 201 a video is secretly played, each one with an anonymous interviewee describing in detail the first hand information they have obtained. There are discrepancies in the story of each person, explained perhaps by the confidentiality of the information itself. However, they all point to a common fictitious scenario: Taiwan’s head of state is getting prepared to blow up the entire island, and plans to invite world renowned demolition artist for assistance. The event would be broadcasted live globally, in order for the world to see this historical moment of madness. In the two years during which the project had been planting explosives across the nation, those who knew had sought asylum in other nations. On the day the island sinks and disappears, the Taiwanese people would be scattered across the nations of the world. The work imitates the “repeat what others are saying” game of the media, allowing the public to experience the possibility of Taiwan as an object of fantasy.
