展覽關於她過去的兩年。陳雪兒的作品一直以一種繪畫日記的形式，呈現一路以來，人生各種時期間的不期而遇。然而，自前年起，許多問題湧現了：「在場」是什麼意思？與誰「共在」又意味著什麼？何謂「一起經歷」？看來，普遍的苦難不止帶來行動的動機，也賦與我們反思的空間。

「Ich befinde mich in...（我在…之中）」雖然得心應手地運用德語仍舊有點遙遠，但陳雪兒那種若即若離的德國經驗，仍賦與了她某種觀照能力，在不同的「置身」裡，觀看自己的在場與缺席。Befinden 作動詞，可作「認為」、「看來」，但當成反身動詞用，則意味「置身」、「身處」、「在…之中」。那不僅表示物理上的某置，還表示處身於一種身份、一種情狀、一種氛圍。隨陳雪兒的描畫，你我將經驗某種奧密的氛圍，在此之間，思緒指向某處，或無處。通過她的新作，觀眾將被短暫帶入沉思空間，並在此後的一段時間，化成其中一位參與者，置身陳雪兒創造的世界裡。

陳雪兒的作品並不指涉特定的場景或對象，也與各種固有的敘事與已知的故事無關。她描繪的對象，帶有曖昧的氣氛，難以用一連串文字來捕捉；她創造的空間賦予一種短暫而離散的感觸；她道說著一種極微的琴音，也是未及滿盈的圖象。任何干預 — 無論是語言還是非語言的 — 都可能隨時改變她的作品所創造出的微妙平衡。作為觀賞者，我猶豫，不知應作何言。

跟她談過後，還是禁不住將自己置放在她的作品與她的觀眾之間，無恥地以文字竊據詮釋的優先權。海德格（Martin Heidegger）創造的哲學術語 Befindlichkeit（切身感受、現身情態），非常適合作為理解陳雪兒個展的核心概念，因它能引導我們進一步了解，陳雪兒植根於那準和諧色調裡，創造出來的繪畫詩。面對作品，觀眾不難讓自己置身於（befinden sich in）陳雪兒的創作中，但此後不久，便會在其中迷路。她的作品不會讓你我失去時間感，但卻會消除觀眾慣常的節奏甚至時間性。終究，它會以某種方式，讓人遺忘自己的定向。

通過追問「在場」的意義，我設定了對陳雪兒作品不可避免的粗魯干預的基調。陳雪兒告訴我，隨著時間的流逝，她也遭受了不同的臨場感和缺席感。她已將這些感覺，根據不同形式的不期而遇，轉化為色彩和筆法。每次回到空白畫布跟前，都使她感覺安心，因為框架中未被創造的世界，對她而言仍是可預期和可控制的：儘管，她將必須再次經歷，在創作過程中，不可預期和不能控制的痛苦。在框架中創建的事物，其實也可理解為關於某些現實的「在場」，她如是說。

哲學化陳雪兒的作品，非我所願。如果我的話語限制了解釋的餘地，那倒不如變作一個零。在此，只不過提供了「一種」方式來看待和思考她的作品。作為她的作品與觀眾之間的促進者，我相信，她的作品所需要的，並不是深刻高超的解釋，而是感受、同情的開放空間，以容讓觀眾自行找到最合宜的進出方式。信使如我，僅以路標作邀請。

楊德立　寫於柏林，冬與春之間

In the middle of “The Smoky House”

The solo exhibition brings us Suet Yi Chan’s new works for the last two years. These works, as she states, can be understood as a painting journal representing her meditation regarding different encounters through periods of life. Since 2019, however, questions arise for her: What does it mean by “being present”? What does it mean as “being-with”? What does it mean “to experience together”? The general suffering experiences bring us not only the motive of action but also the room for reflection.

Although German can still be confusing for her, Chan withholds a unique sense of observing by living in Berlin, in which experience she has gone through different forms of being present and being absent.  “Ich befinde mich in…” meaning literally “I find myself in…”. It denotes not only being in a place physically but also being in a status, a situation, or a state of affairs. With Chan’s depictions, the spectator gains an experience of being situated in an abstruse atmosphere pointing to the middle of somewhere, or nowhere. Through her new works, the spectator is brought into a room for a short contemplation and after a bit being drawn into a participant of the world Chan created.

Chan’s works are not about particular scenes or objects that can be related to the fixed narrative or any known story. She depicts some objects with an ambiguous mood that cannot be easily captured by the chain of words. The rooms she created have given a momentary and discrete description of affectivity. She articulated a sound of pianissimo as well as an image of a lacuna. Any intervention of Chan’s works, verbal or nonverbal, may at every turn alter the balance created by her. Being a spectator, I hesitated, unsure of what to say.

After having exchanged ideas with her, I still cannot resist the temptation of situating myself in the position between her works and the audience, shamelessly seizing the priority of interpreting her works by words. “Befindlichkeit” (affectivity or situatedness), the German jargon created by Martin Heidegger, as the key concept of this exhibition fits the purpose of understanding Chan’s solo exhibition, through which we will be led to another level of understanding toward Chan’s painting poetry rooted in the quasi-harmonious colors. Spectators can always find themselves situated (“befinden sich in”) in Chan’s creations and lose for a moment afterward. Her works would not take your sense of time away, but they will dismiss the usual tempo or even the temporality of the spectators. After all, somehow, it will lead to a forgetfulness of the subjective orientation.

I set the tone of my unavoidable rude intervention of Chan’s work by questioning the meaning of “being present”. Chan told me that she has suffered from different feelings of presence and absence over the course of time. She has been translating those feelings into colors and brushworks in accordance with various forms of encountering. Every return of the plain canvas makes her happy because the world in the frame is safe for its predictability and controllability, although, during the process of creation, she must live through the pain rooted even deeper in the unpredictability and uncontrollability of exploration. The things she created in the frame can be understood as a way of “being present” regarding certain realities, she said.

Philosophizing Chan’s work is not my purpose. I would rather be invisible if my words will confine the room for interpretation. I could only suggest “a” way to look and contemplate Chan’s works. Being a facilitator between Chan’s works and the spectators, I believe that what Chan’s works need is not a profound explanation, but a space of compassion that allows the spectators to find the way to get in and out. I am just a herald, sending invitations by laying waymarks.

In the middle of winter and spring, written in Berlin. Dr Tyler Yeung.

（感謝謝一誼博士潤飾文章。Special thanks to Dr I-Yi Hsieh for retouching the article）

《煙霧之間》

開幕：5 月 15 日（星期六）3pm-7pm
展覽日期：5 月 12 至 25 日（星期一至六 11am-7pm）
場地：藝穗會陳麗玲畫廊（中環下亞厘畢道 2 號）

The Smoky House Exhibition

Hong Kong Fringe Club
Opening: 15 May (3-7pm)
Duration: 12 May – 25 May (11am-7pm)

展覽預告 / Trailer：

是次展覽由香港藝術發局以及柏林參議院文化與歐洲部聯合贊助
The exhibition is co-sponsored by Hong Kong Arts Development Council and Berlin Senate for Culture and Europe