文/策展人 吳達坤 Wu, Dar-Kuen
朵麗絲．萊辛（ Doris Lessing）寫了篇短篇小說叫 「到十九號房」（to Room19）。描寫了一名職業婦女因為老公外遇而躲到旅館內19號房的故事；在這裡，19號房成為小說女主角生活上的逃逸之地 ，旅館的曖昧意象也讓她被世俗汙名化而走向另一結局。
萊辛的Room19是一個幽暗、孤獨甚且是逃避的空間，然而諷刺且巧合地，在現下的臺北，有一間名為Room18的人氣夜店，裡頭五光十色、笙歌達旦。相較於萊辛上世紀50年代的保守氛圍，現下的我們似乎多了更多選擇。而本展覽的主軸切入，即是談論：「在當代社會價值下，我們有幾間ROOM19？」
面對現實生活的諸多負面情緒，人都需要疏通的管道。 如果藝術家幸運的可以將創作當成生活上的出口，但一般人呢？從政治學角度看來，如果歡樂（fun）可以是政治的，那麼夜店（night club）就是某種政治實踐的場域，成為都會叢林中令人短暫逃逸放鬆的聖堂。 夜店也是其中選項，和小說中的旅館相同的，夜店也常被世俗價值貼上汙名標籤。 相較於萊辛的19號房，本展的藝術家都幸運的擁有一個無形的ROOM。 在這，你可以從1號房走到第19號房 ，任意打開一道無形的門，暫時讓腳步跟隨作品閱讀，窺見展閱那未竟的、私密的，天馬行空的ROOM19。這展覽本身是歡樂的，它不同於小說的結局。
「 ROOM19」它所提供的身體經驗跟實踐場域在某程度下可以改變了我們的思維、感官、行為與生活方式，雙重意涵上緊扣環繞在一個龐大到溢滿的主軸—「生活的虛無與面臨無聊社會道德壓迫之創造與自我價值追尋」。
Shake your Mind! 改變一下思維！一天有24小時，切割開白天，我們還有一大半的夜生活要過！因此， 我們需要一個更具創造力的心態來面對自己的「ROOM19」。
至於夜店？那真的只是一個巧合。
“To Room Nineteen,” one of the short stories written by Doris Lessing, describes a career woman who stayed in a hotel room No. 19 after discovering her husband’s extramarital affairs. Room 19, to the protagonist, is a place where she can get away from her life. However, the ambiguous symbol of the hotel has attached a discredited label to her and the story came to the other ending.
Lessing’s Room 19 is a place with darkness, loneliness, and even a place to escape. Ironically and accidentally, in Taipei, there is a popular night club called Room 18 where a variety of entertainments are provided and singing and partying last for all night long. In contrast to 1950’s conservative atmosphere in Lessing’s time, people living at the present time have more choices. The focus of this exhibition is to discuss “how many Room 19 we have under the current social values?”
Faced with various negative emotions in our daily life, we need some ways to cope with our stresses. Artists are found lucky to create their works as an exit; however, how about ordinary people? In the view of politics, if fun can be compared to politics, then the night club is the place where politics can be demonstrated and the palace in the urban jungle where we can find temporary rests. The night club is one of the choices and is similar to the hotel in the short story which is disgracefully labeled. In comparison to Lessing’s Room Nineteen, artists of this exhibition are lucky to have their own invisible ROOM. In this exhibition, you can walk from Room 1 to Room 19 and open any invisible rooms as you wish. You can temporarily let works lead your footsteps to explore secretes and unconstraint styles of ROOM 19. This exhibition is thus joyful which is different from the ending of the short story.
To some extent, physical experiences and the space provided by ROOM 19 can change our thinking, feeling, behaviors and lifestyles. The double meaning closely connects to the focus of this exhibition: void of life, creation under social oppressions, and the pursuit of self-worth.
Shake your mind! Change your mind! We have 24 hours a day. Apart from the daytime, we have to live for the rest of night life. Therefore, we should adopt more creative attitudes to face our ROOM 19.
As far as the night club is concerned, it is a mere coincidence.
