Ha Dao

I recently came across this small experimental game in which you take on the role of editor-in-chief of The Republia Times, the state-owned mouthpiece of the fictional nation of Republia. Each day, you decide which articles to publish to present the country in a positive light. Simple yet thought-provoking, the game is a prototype for the creator’s more developed and widely known Papers, Please, a meditation on control, complicity, and the moral compromises when stakes become personal.

《The Republica Times》是我最近發現的一款小型實驗遊戲，其中，玩家將擔任虛構國家「Republia」把持之政宣媒體「The Republica Times」總編輯，而每天的任務，則是決定發布哪些有助於形塑國家正面形象、傳遞光明價值的文章。遊戲玩法單純但發人深省，其為創作者 Lucas Pope 另款更龐大且知名的作品《請出示文件》（Papers, Please）原型。該遊戲亦邀請玩家思索，當涉及切身利益時，控制、同謀以及種種因之而生的道德妥協情境如何發生。

The movie follows a former convict recruited into a local patrol team tasked with clearing a town of stray dogs ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, under the pretext of a rabies outbreak. The forced disappearance of what is deemed undesirable in the name of order or progress has become a familiar tactic, and for me it immediately recalled the not-so-distant Covid period in Vietnam, when local authorities ordered the killing of fifteen dogs and cats belonging to a migrant family who had tested positive. The dog itself is the undeniable scene-stealer, but so too are the near-empty desert town, the ridiculously handsome lead with his perpetual frown, and the glorious appearance of Pink Floyd when it’s needed most. A film about life’s slow, laboured forward motion like the final breaths of the protagonist’s father. This is melancholy rendered monumental.

《狗陣》的故事圍繞在一位被招募進地方「打狗隊」——因應2008年北京奧運，撲殺可能出現狂犬病疫情之沙漠小鎮中所有流浪狗而生之臨時組織——的更生人二郎。以進步或維穩之名，肅清「不合時宜」之人事物，或許是你我再熟悉不過的手段，而我馬上聯想到的，是不久前越南於疫情期間，地方執政單位下令撲殺由確診移工家庭所飼養的十五隻貓狗。回到電影，片中狗狗無疑是最搶眼的角色，不過除此之外，那座幾近荒蕪的沙漠小鎮、帥得沒天理卻總是眉頭深鎖的主角（編者注：彭于晏飾），以及在神來之筆地在關鍵時刻響起的平克．佛洛伊德，也都讓人歷歷在目。這是部刻畫生命宛如主角父親臨終嘆息般負重前行的作品，而其呈現的，是場莫大的哀愁。

This exhibition at a new art space in Bangkok brings together works by artists I know personally, some of which I had previously encountered in Hanoi. Seeing them here brought forth an unexpectedly different experience. Released from their original contexts, the works no longer rely on cultural specificity but open up to sensorial, affective readings. The setting plays a crucial role: an old modernist house, its concrete slabs in contrast with the works’ organic forms, fragile materials, and free-associative video pieces.

這場展覽坐落於曼谷一間新創立的藝術空間「STORAGE BKK」，而藝術家是過去我曾在河內結識的朋友，不過，這次於異地相遇的這些作品，反而毫無預期地轉化爲某種殊異經驗。在此，作品不再受原初脈絡制約，並自基於文化語境式的典型閱讀方法，敞開至更仰賴感官與情動的身體經驗。促成此種轉向的關鍵，是策展與空間的互動——在這棟現代主義老建築中，堅實的混凝土結構與由有機形式、易碎材質構成，得以自由介入隨想的錄像作品，形成了鮮明對比。