►德國TonLagen當代音樂節-超傳波聲音視覺表演
TonLagen Festival is a contemporary avant-garde music festival revolving around new instruments, unusual sounds and surprising soundscapes. Hellerau–European Center for the Arts is one of the major contemporary art organizations in the world. Since 2004, it has opted for the position of a cross-disciplinary art center. It organizes several activities each year, traversing the fields of dance, theatre, media art, visual art, performance art and music. TonLagen Festival 2014 Dresden was part of its programme in fall 2014. With the hope of making connections and exchanges with Asia and bringing new perspective and resources of Eastern performance art to Germany, the festival invited Taiwanese sound artist Wand Fu-Jui with more than two decades of experience to join the rare grand occasion. He made outstanding performances in the music festival together with artists from other Asian regions like Indonesia, China and Hong Kong.
On the stage of TonLagen Festival 2014 Dresden, Wand Fu-Jui used four directional speakers. At the beginning, the prelude contained soundbits like those from the ocean. There was no visual projection at the start of the performance. Rather, the performance unfolded by bringing a slowly deployed unknown beginning to the audience, similar to a suspense film. The sounds shifted among line array speakers above the stage and the four directional speakers in front of the audience. Sounds similar to ocean waves kept on going back and forth and hitting. Thus the audience’s ears consistently switched between the two groups of speakers, creating a feeling of windy sounds with tangent surfaces that keep on moving forward. Meanwhile, the sounds kept on integrating and going apart.
Perhaps because Wang Fu-Jui’s sound performance had a great immersion effect, many audiences simply leaned on the black cushions provided by the organizer and closed their eyes to listen. Then their bodies naturally relaxed into the lying posture. As if corresponding to the sounds of the performance, the audience entered a calm state deep within; their mentality seemed to enter a certain freedom of consciousness pertaining to religion and surpassing the flesh. With the sense of the flesh’s existence gradually being liberated and fading away, the consciousness entered an instinctive state. It’s like we never made any effort to learn how to drink water; it was an instinct with which the body connects with nature. Whereas at the start many audiences stood to listen, they slowly laid and sat down following the tone and rhythm of the performance. Although Taiwan’s sound art is probably not so well known in the West, after the performance, many people felt interested and approached the artist to ask questions. Some audiences were also interested and felt surprised to see the fact that directional speakers could be applied to performance. Although quite a lot foreign sound artists use directional speakers in their installations, yet applying them to sound performances represents a new way and a new feeling. In general, we’re too used to sounds that simply come from usual speakers. Yet when sound is limited to a single direction, it would bring a different feeling. It’s like we hardly feel the change brought by a beam in a room that is evenly lit, yet we notice the contrast and difference between a beam and the darkness in a space.
(Photos + Article：Lu Yi)
『TonLagen Festival』是以新樂器、不尋常聲音和驚喜的音景為主軸的當代前衛音樂節。HELLERAU–European Center for the Arts是全世界最重要當代藝文單位之一，自2004年把自己定位為跨越不同領域的藝術中心，每一年舉辦許多相關活動，包括舞蹈，戲劇，媒體藝術，視覺藝術，表演藝術和音樂活動。2014秋季活動之一的『TonLagen Festival 2014 Dresden』希望與亞洲有相關連結和交流，為德國當地帶來新東方表演藝術視野與養分，所以音樂節邀請了來自台灣耕耘已經二十多年的聲音藝術家王福瑞來參與這次難得的盛會，與來自其他亞洲地區：印度尼西亞、中國以及香港的藝術家在音樂節中進行不同的精采表演。
Festspielhaus Hellerau Theatre （節慶劇院）是一個獨特的空間，同時是一個戲院、工作室和教室組合的場地，也是一棟富含歷史文化的建築。在此空間表演也是非常難得的機會，除了場地周圍是一片樹林圍抱氛圍寧靜獨特。
一直以來王福瑞以創新實驗性的聲音作為藝術創作與聲音表演的主要脈絡。王福瑞的表演特色是使用多個指向性喇叭，運用超高頻率的載波，讓喇叭發出如聚焦的「聲束」窄波。指向的聲音來自不同方向，如風一般從人們耳邊切過；極窄的聲波 的傳送有如兩面鏡子般互相折射，喇叭則透過動力裝置、與空間牆面的折射，產生如雷射光一般的、在空間中透過多面鏡子的不斷繞射。聲音在空間裡不斷折射與交錯，讓聽覺產生新的空間；喇叭所發出的各種音頻、隨機混合的噪音，加上海浪般的點狀雜音，不斷地在空間波動變化。若聽者閉上眼來感受，仿若看著單純以水構成、但富有千變萬化層次感的海洋波濤，在海浪持續永恆地不斷拍打的聲音中，引領觀眾至浩瀚無垠的想像界，或引至每個人相同或互異的記憶原鄉，沉浸於一個聆聽的空靈狀態。
晚上八點開始的表演進行非常順利，順序是來自中國的女藝術家GogoJ 和香港的GayBird電紫兔新媒體音樂實驗室團體和印度尼西亞的雙人組Senyawa和王福瑞。場地特別是讓聆聽的觀眾聚集在舞台的正中央，而表演者別在四周進行表演，這樣的安排可以讓表演者不需要在換場時需要搬離表演器材或大家共用一個舞台，表演者都可以各自擁有一個完整的表演舞台，這是難得的舞台安排經驗。而主辦單位也在表演活動場地中放置一區一區的大黑枕頭，讓聆聽的觀眾可以放鬆自在的或坐或臥舒適放鬆欣賞表演過程。而空間中另有一邊區為Bar提供飲料酒水，讓整個氣氛更舒服愉快。
王福瑞在『TonLagen Festival 2014 Dresden』的舞台上使用了四個指向喇叭（directional speaks），一開始的序曲有如大海般細碎聲響，整個聲音表演一開始並沒有視覺投影，而是帶給聽者一個未知懸疑電影般慢慢舖呈的開頭，聲音來回變換在舞台上方的陣列喇叭（line array speakers）與觀眾前方的四個指向喇叭（directional speaks），海浪般聲音不斷地來回拍打，讓觀眾的耳朵不停切換於陣列喇叭和指向喇叭之間。呈現一種風切不斷地推前的感覺，同時間聲音又不斷地融合和分離。
或許是王福瑞表演的聲音給人很有沉浸感，有許多觀眾就直接躺在由主辦單位準備的黑色靠枕上閉眼聆聽，接著身體自然地就放鬆躺著，觀眾彷彿呼應著表演的聲音進入了深處的沈澱，心智就像進入一種宗教般超脫肉體的意識自由感，自身肉體的存在感慢慢被釋放離開，意識進入了直覺直觀的境界，就像我們不曾努力練習怎樣喝水，那是身體與自然連接的直覺。
許多觀眾一開始是站著聆聽，但隨著表演節奏的調子，慢慢地就躺坐下來。觀眾對於台灣聲音藝術印象和認識或許有限，但表演結束後，感興趣上前詢問的卻不少，觀眾也驚訝於指向喇叭本身可以使用於表演覺得驚喜有趣，國外聲音藝術家應用指向喇叭創作於裝置不少，不過在聲音表演上應用，就是另一種新方式與新的感受，一般人太過於習慣聲音只是從普通廣域喇叭出現，但是當聲音限縮在一種單一方向性，就會帶來不一樣地感受，就像在明亮均勻的室內我們比較感受不到一盞光線帶來的變化，但會注意到黑暗中一柱光線與空間中黑暗的對比差異。
(攝影＋文：盧藝)
