Interview with Yang Fudong
Zara Stanhope
您的许多电影涉及西方和欧洲电影（比如黑色电影）中的比喻。有一些评论家还从道家、儒家的角度来解读您的作品。一部电影是怎样成为不同文化中不同思想的桥梁？
Many of your films reference the tropes of Western, European film genres such as film noir. Some critics have also written from Daoist and Confucian positions when interpreting your work. How can film be a bridge between ideas from different cultures?
每一个艺术家的成长背景，地域文化和所受的教育都不尽相同。我成长在中国，从小接受非常传统的中国式教育，自身成长经验与中国的东方美学是分不开的，在大学里我学的专业是油画，同时接触了许多国画，还有其它一些传统的东西，中国的文化背景，无论传统还是当代的，对我创作作品的影响都是非常重要的。同时在自己所受的教育之中，也涉及了西方的艺术，传统的或当代的，也包括欧洲电影等等，我接受的教育、地域文化、成长经验等综合因素，形成了大的创作方向。一部作品不能承载所有的文化标准，所有的不同审美趣味的思想价值观，它应该有它自身的审美趣味，以及自身的价值标准。每部作品应该反映作者本身的审美或者特点，然而它也可以表达一些共通的东西。
Each artist’s family background, local culture and education differ. I grew up in China where I received a very traditional Chinese-style education. My experience is connected with Oriental aesthetics. I studied painting as my major in university, and I learned a lot about Chinese paintings and traditional culture. My Chinese background, whether traditional or contemporary, has had a very significant impact on my art. I also studied Western Art, both classic and modern, and European films. My education, local cultural influence and experience all inform the general direction of my art. One single artwork cannot reflect all standards in different cultures - it should have its own taste and standard. Each artwork should reflect the artist’s own aesthetics and characteristics, yet also express something that is universal.

在之前的访谈中，您提到了中国电影，包括陈凯歌1984年的《黄土地》、1948年费穆的《小城之春》、1986年张暖忻《青春祭》等爱情片，也提到了吉姆.贾木许的黑白电影1995年的《死人》和1984年的《天堂陌影》。哪些其他电影、电影人或是艺术家给你带来过灵感？
In previous interviews you have mentioned Chinese films including the romances Yellow Earth (1984) directed by Chen Kaige, Spring in a Small Town (1948) by Fei Mu and Sacrifice of Youth (1986) by Nuanxing Zhang, as well as the black-and-white films of Jim Jarmusch, such as Dead Man (1995) and Stranger than Paradise (1984). What other films, filmmakers or artists have been inspirational?
中国许多早期电影（二三十年代）都很优美。一些默片其实都相当现代。在这些电影中有很多值得学习和借鉴的地方。它们都是很棒的艺术作品。
Many of China’s early films (1920s and 1930s) are very beautiful. Some of the silent films were in fact very modern. There is so much to learn from and refer to in these films. They are great artworks.
还有西方不同时代的的电影：例如，贾木许1984年的《天堂陌影》；费里尼1963年的《八又二分之一》，安东尼奥尼和伯格曼的作品,它们都非常震撼。这些导演就像你的老师一样，我看他们的电影一边是在欣赏，同时也在学习。
There are also Western films from different times, such as Jarmusch’s Stranger than Paradise (1984) and Fellini’s 8 ½ (1963), and the films of Antonioni and Bergman, that are all very powerful. These directors are like my teachers. I learn when I am watching their films.
世界各地许多艺术家和导演创作出了众多出色的作品。这些作品并非必须是实验性的，有时候是很传统的影片、电视、纪录片，但是它们都会给你很大的新鲜感，像养分一样滋润你。如果你看一下60、70年代的录像艺术，再看戏剧、文学、小说领域，你会看到很多极有天赋的艺术家。
Artists and directors around the world have created so many great works. These works do not have to be experimental, sometimes they can be very conventional films, TV series and documentaries, but they refresh and nourish you. If you look at video art in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as theatre, literature and novels, you will see many talented artists.
同样在传统的艺术中，我也会得到很多的灵感。比如，如果你走进大都会等博物馆，你会看到古代的雕塑、绘画和文物。它们都将给你无限灵感与想象。这些作品承载了时间的含量以及历史的感觉，它们影响着你，但这种影响却又看不见。你几乎是在不知不觉中获取了力量和灵感。
Also, I get inspired by a lot of traditional art. For example, if you walk into the Metropolitan Museum of Art, you will see ancient sculptures, paintings and cultural relics. They all provide endless inspiration and imagination. These artworks have endured over time and have a strong sense of history. These things affect you but they are also invisible. You get energy and inspiration almost unconsciously.
您可否描述一下您通常构思、制作电影的过程？
Can you describe the typical process of conceiving and producing your films?
创作作品的构思是一个很漫长的过程。有些想法你会考虑一两年，有些三年五年，或者更长，好像是时间在熏陶这个想法，在培养它，通过时间慢慢的让这个想法更加的完善。我的创作没有剧本、具体文字，或者是非常详细的提纲。在现场的即兴发挥和应变性对我来说是非常重要的，这种情形就像是一个看不见的凝聚“气”的植物园，“气”给植物灌溉、培养。随着时间的滋润，心中的“植物园”就可以拿出来展示了。
It is a very long process to conceive an artwork. Some works require one or two years’ thinking, others three to five years, or even longer. It is as if time is creating this thought and gradually developing and refining it. My films do not have a script, plot, or very detailed outlines. Improvisation and adaptability are key to me. This situation is like a botanic garden where all the chi accumulates. Chi waters the plants and nourishes them. As time goes by, this botanic garden in my heart will then be exhibited.
拍摄电影是一件很实际的事情。我需要考虑到具体细节，包括创作团队、设备、后期制作和音乐，预算总是很有限的。通常制作时间并不长，少于一个月或者两个月。在具体拍摄的时候，甚至和艺术创作没有关系。你只感觉就像一个干活的工人去完成工作一样把自己的想法实现出来。
The film production is very pragmatic. I need to consider the all the details – the creative team, equipment, post-productions and music – in regards to a limited budget. Often the production period is short, less than one or two months. When you are shooting, you have a distant relationship to art. You only feel you are working to express your ideas, similar to any worker completing his work.
您在2013年的作品《新女性》中反映了中国朝着现代性的转变，特别以1920、1930年代的上海为象征。2014年的《新女性2》会与之前的电影有联系吗？
You have discussed your installation New Women (2013) as reflecting China’s transition to modernity, particularly as it was symbolised by Shanghai in the 1920s and 1930s. Will The Coloured Sky: New Women II (2014) relate to the former film?
《新女性》是2013年5月在上海拍摄的，用的是35毫米黑白电影胶片拍摄的五屏电影作品，它是对从30年代开始早期中国电影的一个致敬，包括30年代的蔡楚生导演的《新女性》。他的那部是现实主义题材，而我更希望我的是更抽象的，脱离现实的影像表达。电影描绘了一个完美女性的形象，但在现实与理想之间是有落差的。
New Women was shot in Shanghai in May 2013. It is a 5-screen work using 35mm black-and-white film. It is a tribute to early Chinese films from the 1930s, including New Women (1935) directed by Cai Chusheng. His was a realistic work, and I hope mine is a more abstract expression. The film talks about the image of an ideal woman, but there is difference between reality and dreams.
在拍完《新女性》的时候我就有想到过要拍摄《新女性2》。当时觉得它将不再是黑白影调，而是彩色的影片，它可能不再是针对于理想，相对的宏大叙事的作品。对我来说《新女性2》的感觉更接近童年，记得你吃完糖以后，把彩色的糖纸，对着太阳照耀，随即散发出各种斑斓的色彩，像雨后奇异的彩虹么？
《新女性2》讲的更多的是年轻女孩们在各自的闺房或者私人空间。每个年轻女孩都有自己的秘密，从不告诉任何人，这秘密可能是份神秘礼物，比如一个八音盒，一只珍珠，或者是一串项链。《新女性2》试图表达女孩对于这份神秘礼物的感觉。我希望通过这份神秘礼物，去接近眼见为实的生活。
My mind was on The Coloured Sky: New Women II when I completed New Women. I was thinking about a colour film instead of black-and-white, and one that would not focus on idealism or a ‘grand’ narrative. To me New Woman II feels closer to childhood. Remember the way the wrapper of a candy had a dazzling rainbow colour when you put it against a sunbeam? New Women II is more about young girls in their room or private space. These girls have secrets which they never tell anyone, perhaps a secret present like a music box, a pearl or a necklace. New Women II is a work that attempts to convey the sensation of a girl with a special, secret gift. I would like to get close to real life by looking at this secret present.
新女性2》带给您的艺术创作什么新的源泉？
What new aspects does The Coloured Sky: New Women II bring to your creative practice?
在《新女性2》拍摄的过程中，我会感觉到一点变化，这次更多的是在想法上隐约想去靠近抽象影像创作的方法，也试着去摸索一种新的叙事方法或者表现形式。
During the shooting of The Coloured Sky: New Women II, I could feel that there had been a shift. I tried to get close to a form of abstract video, and I also explored a new type of narration and expression.
我以前创作过大量的黑白影像作品，但是这次我选择用数字电影机拍摄彩色作品。这对我来说，如何去理解彩色影像对于叙事方法的促进与改变，也是一次很重要的尝试。另外，《新女性2》让我觉得，在今后的创作中，我也许需要将绘画，装置，影像，不同的媒介材料融合到我的作品里。这让我发现一些新的创作思路，也许这种自由的“不拘一格”的创作方式，能够帮助我寻找一些突破，让自己有勇气去探索、突破。
I have made a lot of black-and-white films before, but this time I chose digital video to make a coloured work. This was a very important experiment in understanding the ways that colour video can improve or change the narration. Also New Women II makes me think that I might need to incorporate painting, installation, video and mix them together in my future works. This project has given me some fresh ideas — perhaps this kind of freestyle creation can give me the courage to explore new things and support other breakthroughs.
奥克兰艺术馆的Zara Stanhope担任首席策展人兼项目总监
Zara Stanhope is Principal Curator and Head of Programmes, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki

 
The following questions and responses have not been included in the catalogue, there wasn’t enough space:您的作品质问叙述和一些电影的鲜明特征，比如：通过模糊化、重叠化、碎片化、用纱遮住、活人画，主人公变成了静止的画面。编剧和剪辑也创造出了非直线型、没有结论的内容。
Your works interrogate ideas of narrative, as well as the distinct qualities of film (for example, by means of doubling, fragmentation, veiling and tableau scenes where protagonists are staged as still images). Scripting and editing also create non-linear and unresolved content.
您对于电影媒介的传统是什么态度？
What is your attitude toward the conventions of film media?
自己在创作作品的时候，向往一种真正意义的“自由”电影，真正可以让自己天马行空的去创作、去飞翔的一种电影。所谓的技巧，还有一些常规叙事电影的标准操作模式，我觉得可以纳为己用，既可以将传统的创作方式放到自己的创作中，同时也可以不拘一格，甚至不讲道理的去用一些非常规的方法去创作作品。
When I create my work, I dream about making a true ‘free’ film, a film that can release my imagination and allow me to fly. I apply the techniques used in ordinary narrative filmmaking in my art. However, sometimes I can forget about the rules or use them in other, surprising ways.
电影作为媒介本身用于创作。它不同于常规电影（它们通常作为一个工业产品用来消费人们感情的工具使用）。在所谓传统技术以及创作思路中，有很多可作为“一种新的影像介入方式／思考方式”，再拓展再发挥再创造的。如何去看待一种新的叙事关系，如何去看待数字电影技术转换的新的审美标准，这些东西都可以是不拘一格的去尝试、去突破。
Film as art is different to its commercial form. There are a lot of new ways of filming and thinking to explore using traditional techniques and creative processes. How should we look at the new relations between narratives? How should we view the aesthetics of digital films? We should always keep breaking the rules. We should never limit ourselves.

从自己的角度来说，自己本身是学绘画的，并不是所谓的“有过专业电影创作和理论学习的人”，那在自己的创作中并没有绝对的标准和规矩可言。我觉得什么都是可能的、可行的，但并不意味着让自己的想法过度得自由泛滥，艺术家创作需要有一个“度”的把握，是艺术家潜在的，无形的创作标准。关于具体的叙事标准，剪辑影像的标准。这种感性的“度”的把握是非常重要的。
Everything is possible and feasible to me, but it is also necessary to have a certain ‘limit’, which is an underlying and intangible standard for specific narrations and video editing. It is very important to handle this ‘limit’.
通常我们看您的电影是在电影院和美术馆里，那些给观众创造独特观赏体验的地方。与在电影院中观看相比，可以放置多块银幕的美术馆会给予观众一种怎样不同的感受？对于您来说，在一个美术馆的宽阔空间里来体验您的作品，是基于何种考虑？您把观众看作是一单独个体，还是一个公共个体？
Your films are usually seen in cinemas and in art galleries, locations which create distinct viewing experiences for audiences. How does the gallery, with the potential for multiple screens, allow for a different sensibility for viewers compared to cinema viewing? What is it about experiencing your work spatially in a gallery space that appeals to you? Do you consider the viewer as an individual, or in communal sense?
在艺术空间里呈现作品，无论单屏还是多屏的影像装置，更多的像一种“立体的”影像作品。以前曾经说过：观众是第二个导演，是很重要的组成部分。当观众走入艺术空间，是由他（她）们来决定影像作品的构成方式或者思考方式。因为他（她）们的观看是具有唯一性的，是只有这个观众自己才能体验到的。在艺术空间里，他所观看与思考到的影像，会在他自己的脑海里重新剪辑，编辑成只属于观众自己的体验；观看的时间长度不同，还有观看的角度，屏幕的选择，都会影响他对于作品的独立解析。
在展厅里，希望观众与作品是可以融为一体的，它们是一同呼吸和感受的，每个观众自身都会戴着一个不同的解码器来理解空间中的影像作品。在美术馆或者艺术空间中欣赏影像作品，完全可以构成互动来共同感受存在于空间中的“自由电影”的这种想象。
When you are showing an artwork in an art space, whether it is single screen or multiple screens, it is more like a 3D video work. I said once that the audience is the second director and he/she is the crucial part of the work. When the audience enters the art space, it is up to them to decide how they think about the work. What he/she sees and reflects in the art space will be re-edited in his/her mind and become his/her own unique experience. The time length he/she watches it, the view and the choice of the screen will all affect his/her understanding of the work. They should breathe and feel together at the same time.
您的作品通常回归到当代中国个人对于生命的体验。您始于1990年代初期的艺术创作是怎样来反映您的国家里生命的种种改变？
Your works often return to the individual experience of life in contemporary China. How has your arts practice, which began in the early 1990s, reflected the shifts of life in your country?
在自己的创作中，艺术家应该尊重自己的生活，尊重自己的成长经验，尊重自己的文化背景与教育。很多事情就是随着年龄的增长，对成长的记忆，生活的感受与理解，都会潜移默化地融于作品中。一件作品并不能承载所有的宏大的社会目标与责任，承载所有的一切，这是不现实的。在自己的艺术创作中，更多的是试着把自己对生活的理解，对社会的感悟，通过艺术创作的方式表达出来。学会尊重，学会理解，学会真诚的表达。
In one’s work, the artist should always respect his or her life experience, cultural background and education. As you get older, a lot of things, including your memories of growing up and your feelings and understanding about life, will merge into your art practice. A single piece is not able to carry grand social goals or responsibilities. In my art, I try to express my understanding of life and society. We need to learn to respect, to understand and to express sincerely.
您的国家变化得是如此之快-过去依然对未来的形成有至关重要的作用吗？在近期您将把什么想法带进您的作品？
Your country is changing so quickly − can the past still be instrumental in forming the future? What ideas will you bring to your works in the near future?
每个国家的人们都希望自己的国家变得越来越美好，越来越幸福，所有人都希望朝美好的方向去发展，去过一种向往的幸福生活。随着年龄的变化，在以前，会为了创作作品丢掉自己的生活，现在好像慢慢在改变，我认为要珍惜自己现在的生活，理想与现实之间，千万不要丢掉你的生活，丢掉你对生活的态度。
Everyone wishes that their own country would be better, and to live a better life. As I grow older, it seems that I have slowly changed – I used to give away my life for my art, but now I think I should cherish my life. Between dream and reality, our attitude should be to treasure life.