| 道格拉斯•戈登（Douglas Gordon）
道格拉斯•戈登1966年出生在蘇格蘭格拉斯哥，1984年至1988年在格拉斯哥藝術學校學習，之後1988年到1990年就讀于倫敦史萊德藝術學校。他于1996年獲得“透納獎”，1997年在威尼斯雙年展上代表英國參展，並獲得威尼斯雙年展”Premio 2000”大獎。1997年至1998年他還參與了德國漢諾威和柏林的德國學術交流中心國際藝術家項目。戈登如今在紐約居住和創作。
戈登的作品探討的是重大的主題，他尤其關注倫理兩分的問題，比如宗教與信仰，善良與邪惡，無罪于犯罪，生命與死亡等。戈登經常用他的身體作為辯論的依據，探討人性的自相矛盾，並使觀眾在他的調查過程中扮演神甫和證人的角色。他審視著意義交流的方式以及集體意識決定認知的方式。
戈登運用的是原版和再創作電影膠片以及其他媒介，包括電視、攝影、文本和雕塑。 《24小時驚魂記〔24 Hour Psycho，1993〕也許是他早期最為著名的作品。在這個作品裏，他把電影大師希區柯克的同名電影《驚魂記》放慢延長至24小時，由此延長了每一幀畫面的戲劇張力，從而有效地改變了影片的含義。而且由於原電影角色關係發生移位，致使觀眾重新考慮了影片的含義。
在作品《１０米／秒》〔10 ms-1 ，1994〕裏，戈登借用了源於第一次世界大戰的醫學膠片元素。在片中，第一眼看去，一個男人似乎進行體操訓練。隨著情節的發展，他的身體不斷地痙攣抽搐，每次試圖站立起來都以失敗告終。到這時觀眾才開始意識到這個男人也許是一個外傷致殘的受害者。通過放慢或者迴圈原版電影膠片來增加懸念，戈登想要論證的是，我們對環境的感知來源於它呈現在我們眼前的方式。對內容的抽搐，改變了電影的含義，而觀眾則感覺像是一個偷窺某種可憐處境的旁觀者。作品名稱來源於一個物體在地心引力的作用下墜落的速度，比如身體正常落下的速度。
戈登和另外一個藝術家菲利浦•帕雷諾共同製作了一部關於法國足球傳奇任務齊內丹•齊達內的影片。影片名字為《齊達內，一幅21世紀的肖像》[Zidane, Un portrait du 21eme siecle, 2006]。這部影片的長度剛好相當於一場足球比賽的時間，影片集中鎖定在齊達內一個人身上——隨著比賽的進行，影片對齊達內的情緒和反應激性跟蹤。這部影片進一步發展了藝術家對於藝術、電影和影院之間關係的興趣。
Douglas Gordon was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1966. He studied at the Glasgow School of Art, 1984-88, and then at the Slade School of Art, London, 1988-90. He was awarded the Turner Prize in 1996, the Premio 2000 at the Venice Biennale, 1997. He also undertook a DAAD International Artists Programme in Hanover and Berlin, 1997-8. Gordon lives and works in New York.
Gordon’s work explores major themes, in particular ethical dichotomies such as religion and faith, good and evil, innocence and guilt, life and death. Gordon often uses his body as a ground for debate, exploring how contradictory human nature can be, and involves the viewer in the manner of a confessor and witness to his investigations. He examines the way in which meaning is communicated and how perception is defined by collective consciousness.
Gordon works with original and found cinematic footage, as well as other media, including video, photography, text and sculpture. His most renowned early work is perhaps 24 hour Psycho (1993). In this work he slowed down Alfred Hitchcock’s eponymous film to last for the duration of 24 hours. This effectively changes the meaning of the film, as it lengthens the dramatic tension within each frame. It also makes the viewer reconsider the sense of the film as the relationship between the characters in the original film is shifted.
In 10 ms-1 (1994), Gordon appropriated medical footage dating from the First World War. Here, a man seems at first glance to be undertaking gymnastic exercise. As the sequence progresses, his body continues to jerk and flail, and as he continually fails to manage to stand up, the viewer comes to realise that this person might be the victim of a traumatic injury. Increasing the suspense by slowing down and looping the original footage, Gordon demonstrates that our perception of a situation is inherent in the way it is presented to us. Taken out of context the meaning of the film is altered and the viewer is made to feel like a voyeur of a pathetic situation. The title is a reference to the speed at which an object falls under the pull of gravity, the speed at which a body for example would normally fall.
Croque Mort (2000) extends Gordon’s interest in using his own body as a ground of investigation as, here, he has photographed his newly born daughter. Repetition is also an ongoing interest in Gordon’s work, and this series of seven photographs provides a powerful self-contained visual installation. Indeed, the works are installed in a wholly red room, like a cinema room with its red carpet, or the inside of a womb. A ‘croque mort’, or undertaker in French, was the person who as legend has it, would bite the feet of the recently deceased to check whether they were effectively dead, hence the appellation ‘the one who bites the dead’. In this series, Gordon’s daughter playfully bites her own feet and fingers, but with the extreme close up and with the addition of the sinister title, what is simply a newborn’s natural checking of its physical existence actually turns into a reminder of our physical mortality. What could be a sentimental series of images of a baby is turned into an unexpected experience.
Recently, Gordon has co-produced Zidane, Un portrait du 21ème siècle (2006), with artist Philippe Parreno, a film about the French footballing legend Zinedine Zidane. The film, which is the length of a football match, concentrates solely on the single figure of Zidane – it follows his moods and reactions as the game progresses, and is a further development of the artist’s interest in the relation between fine art, film and cinema. |
