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2011年7月14日
5、6月間，造訪了威尼斯雙年展的最當時得令的當代藝術後，轉至翡冷翠和梵帝岡的文藝復興畫作、雕塑和教堂等古建築，再花了整整一星期在巴黎的現代藝術和當代藝術的殿堂龐比度中心和大皇宮等。一邊看展覽（原作），一邊讀當地出版的藝術書籍，包括 Durini的 Beuys Voice、Rothko 的The Artist's Reality: Philosophies of Art 和 Kiefer 在法蘭西學院的系列演講稿 Art Will Survive Its Ruins。目的是思考藝術的精神性追求的進程。結論突顯了當代藝術的蒼白。
藝術追求內在價值
回想上學期中，三位修讀藝術的同學帶同研究題目到訪，希望知道我的意見。她們要研究的是，西九是否年輕藝術家未來的出路。我心裏頓時嘀咕：「年輕人地思想果然先進，未畢業便曉得考慮出路，還正正經經的把對出路的想法構成研究的題目，實在認真。我自己呢？幾十年來，我只曉得死守『藝術家的（唯一）出路只有自己的藝術作品』的原則。我問自己，我是否落後了？這是否不同代的藝術家之間的代溝呢？」我堅守的（有可能落後）藝術原則源於我理解藝術為內在價值的追求、精神性的活動及思想自由的基地。這是終極的追求。這樣的追求很容易被定性為「為藝術而藝術」。「為藝術而藝術」原是十九世紀法國集詩人、小說家、戲劇家和藝評人於一身的特奧菲爾·戈蒂埃（Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier，1811－1872）採用的口號「l'art pour l'art」，原意是表示藝術本身存在着一種內在價值，跟任何指導性、實用性和道德上的功能沒有關係。目的旨在提醒，藝術家的本分是透過創作去追尋並豐富這種內在價值。因為是內在的，外界沒法干預，所以本質上創作的過程是自由的。假如我們以為創作自由是由他人或者制度（例如政府和社會政治制度）賦予的話，創作的方向已偏離了目標，原本想要達到的，永遠不會實現。
美學引入政治生活
當然，這個概念一直受到不同時代和不同文化背景的藝術家和評論家批評以至否定，認為「為藝術而藝術」的創作態度脫離了社會和群眾，流於自說自話的夢囈。然而，由於逃避納粹黨追捕而自殺的德國哲人班雅明提供了一個值得後世深思的例子。在其經典文章〈機械化再生產時代的藝術品〉的最後章節裏，他以意大利法西斯主義和未來主義藝術宣言為例，討論到法西斯主義為了保障自身利益，把美學引入政治生活中，目的是為當時愈來愈無產階級化的現代人和不斷形成的群眾提供自我表達的機會，而不致專注於群眾希望消除的既定資產體系。最後，當所有花在發展政治美學的工夫到達絕頂顛峰時，只會發生一件事情：戰爭！政治上的計算是，只有戰爭才能為大規模的群眾運動建立共同目標，同時尊重傳統的資產體系。從科技的角度而言，只有戰爭才能動員所有的科技資源而保持着既定的資產系統。他指出戰爭的毀滅性證明了社會的成熟度不足以把科技合併成為自己的組成部分，同時，科技的發展也未能適應社會的基本力量。例如，社會把人潮引進戰壕，而不是疏導河流；飛機被用來在城市上空投擲燃燒彈，而不是在田間散播種子。
談到法西斯主義和藝術的關係時，他以未來主義始創人馬里內蒂（F. T. Marinetti）的口號「讓藝術被創造，讓世界消滅」為例，挑釁地總結出，只要法西斯主義者期待戰爭能提供一種由科技改變了的感知而帶來的藝術喜悅的話，「為藝術而藝術」便功德圓滿了。最後，面對法西斯行使美學的政治處境及共產主義把藝術政治化來回應，班雅明輕嘆道，人類的疏離已達致以經驗自我毀滅為美感上的喜悅的程度了。
行文至此，我不禁自問，我是在危言聳聽嗎？這是藝術家參與政治運動的必然結果？
邁向理想主義行動
其實，班雅明洞悉了藝術偏離追求其內在價值的危機：成為政治或其他非藝術目的的工具。對藝術和藝術家都沒有好處。在這個人所共知的政治制度崩壞、價值觀虛無的今天，藝術的內在價值有變嗎？當然沒有。同意的話，藝術家可以立刻起來行動了。Action!
Mark Rothko指出，藝術是邁向理想主義的行動，更是一種社會行動。就算藝術家創造了一些只有自己才理解的東西，他已然為自己作為個體作出了貢獻，同時也貢獻了社會。因為當一個個體改善了自己適應世界的方法，社會自然得益。說到底，一個社會的好壞判準，端視乎每個個體的好壞的總和。沒有人說得準，一個單獨舉動的影響有多深廣遠。更沒有人有資格去判斷誰的個人需要較貼近社會。Rothko這樣的語調看似輕鬆包容，實際上，他不單止窮一生的精力作畫，他更在創作中研究和示範如何透過現代藝術把自己帶領到精神層面，體會藝術的內在價值。難怪他有這樣的豪言壯語：現代藝術家踏遍了人類所有的造型經驗。（The modern artist has traveled through all of man's plastic experience.）
故此，作為藝術家，我們要是搞清楚藝術的終極追求的話，自己和社會自然受益。反而，自身追求未明，亂花心力在外在的追逐上，難免徒勞無功。
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Monday, July 11, 2011
2011年7月12日
卡夫卡 圈來圈去
本地新媒體藝術家崛起秀
互動裝置反思科技吞食個人特色
卡夫卡晨早出發去香港教育學院（教院），為的是捧友人有份出演的2011年國際爵士合唱及千人樂動滙演的場，順便一看教院校長張炳良教授口中「將會成為戶外表演以及其他活動熱點」的中央廣場天幕。
這個有着半透明天幕的廣場，有蓋範圍可以容納七百五十人，清靜開揚環境不俗。卡記不時聽文化界老友呻撲水找資助租場地的苦況，雖說現刻多了地方選擇，不過要山長水遠入大埔郊區舉行又是另一回事。卡記只能說，對於非新界區居民而言，此新場實屬聊勝於無也。
新媒體藝術互動行先
下午收到友人的長途電話，幾千里外打來講的仍然是他愛得不能自拔的藝術畫作，原來是他的至愛《一幅耶穌釘十字架油畫》（Crucifixion With The Madonna, St John And Two Mourning Angels），終於證實出自米高安哲羅之手。卡記一向說他有眼光，即使擁有者英國牛津大學列明是另一畫家的作品，他也堅持疑點重重，幸好多得意大利藝術學者利用紅外線技術來驗證，一切水落石出，作品得以正名。
對於愛玩愛新鮮的卡記來講，科技在驗證之外，還有無限可能性。卡記每年都會留意老牌新媒體展覽搞手Microwave的微波藝術節，至今仍算年年有驚喜。剛收到料得知Microwave與香港藝術發展局合作，在7月尾舉行「發明π——香港新媒體藝術樂園」，展出五組以「Invention and Intervention」為主題的互動裝置，7月22日至8月7日在又一城舉行。
卡記除了喜歡新媒體的玩味性和創新性之外，當搞手跟卡記說展覽以香港為本，作品全出自本地藝術家之手時，卡記即時舉腳支持，一探這個本地新媒體藝術家的崛起秀。當中有羅揚文的LED創作「Shades Dynamicism」、2008年新媒體藝術奧斯卡「奧地利電子藝術」榮譽提名藝術家林欣傑電子裝置與雕塑作品「Signal Morphor」、林妙玲的手提電話與大自然聲音之作品「Streaming Nature」、2010年藝術新秀獎得主張瀚謙以聲音、影像及互動創作「No Longer RIGHT」，以及楊嘉輝的電子作品「Machines for Making Nothing」。
查實多媒體與新媒體是兩回事，搞手跟卡記講︰「新媒體藝術利用非傳統介面展現藝術，通過不同形式傳遞訊息，同時收集觀眾反應，並不斷演變藝術所呈現的面貌。」聽落複雜，簡單一點就是強調作品與觀眾互動的現場感，從中惹起思考。怪不得有人將新媒體藝術家冠以「發明派」之名，皆因革新發明讓概念及作品遊走於藝術、科技與生活之間。
依賴科技成生活障礙
回想起來，一向都有藝術家推出有關科技對於生活影響之作品，正如早前有以iPhone主宰生活為主題的小劇場，而這次展品亦是反思科技介入生活。張瀚謙「No Longer RIGHT」的創作意念傳統又簡單——寫字。他劈首已問卡記多久沒有認真用筆寫字，撇除訪問寫的鬼畫符速記之外，確實打字多過寫字。他着卡記先寫下自己的名字，「每人都有自己的書寫方法，美醜不重要，看的是個人獨有的筆迹與風格。」張瀚謙將卡記的字形、力度和個人風格的抽象形象轉化為一篇有關書寫的文章，不用多說，卡記已意識到科技正不知不覺間吞食了個人特色。
至於楊嘉輝「Machines for Making Nothing」也是諷刺科技為生活帶來溝通障礙。一連串由電池供電微型電子物件，相當於五六十部體積小於一副撲克牌的智能手機，作品彷彿未見驚喜，卡記不斷按製「輸入」，玩法無趣得很，楊嘉輝見狀後便講句「人類與機械互動無實際用途」，一言驚醒卡記。回想每天不斷重複的輸入動作，容忍機械以近乎催眠的視覺或聲音為反饋，情況無奈又是事實。幸好卡記未對機械太過依賴，不過有點擔心終日與電腦、埃瘋為伴的世姪宅男G，為免科技進一步侵蝕他的社交溝通能力與聯繫，卡記決定明天帶他來參觀！
除展品外，參展藝術家將於7月30日舉行藝術家研討會，分享及剖析他們參展作品的創作概念及過程，以及分享新媒體藝術創作歷程。另外，五位藝術家更會粉墨登場，在8月7日於香港藝術學院賽馬會演藝劇院舉行感官現場Sense Live!，通過身體、腦電波、光影、感應器、手機發出的訊號和視像等表達媒介，加上舞者，打造出一場由抽象到實體的跨界別感官之旅。
卡夫卡 圈來圈去
本地新媒體藝術家崛起秀
互動裝置反思科技吞食個人特色
卡夫卡晨早出發去香港教育學院（教院），為的是捧友人有份出演的2011年國際爵士合唱及千人樂動滙演的場，順便一看教院校長張炳良教授口中「將會成為戶外表演以及其他活動熱點」的中央廣場天幕。
這個有着半透明天幕的廣場，有蓋範圍可以容納七百五十人，清靜開揚環境不俗。卡記不時聽文化界老友呻撲水找資助租場地的苦況，雖說現刻多了地方選擇，不過要山長水遠入大埔郊區舉行又是另一回事。卡記只能說，對於非新界區居民而言，此新場實屬聊勝於無也。
新媒體藝術互動行先
下午收到友人的長途電話，幾千里外打來講的仍然是他愛得不能自拔的藝術畫作，原來是他的至愛《一幅耶穌釘十字架油畫》（Crucifixion With The Madonna, St John And Two Mourning Angels），終於證實出自米高安哲羅之手。卡記一向說他有眼光，即使擁有者英國牛津大學列明是另一畫家的作品，他也堅持疑點重重，幸好多得意大利藝術學者利用紅外線技術來驗證，一切水落石出，作品得以正名。
對於愛玩愛新鮮的卡記來講，科技在驗證之外，還有無限可能性。卡記每年都會留意老牌新媒體展覽搞手Microwave的微波藝術節，至今仍算年年有驚喜。剛收到料得知Microwave與香港藝術發展局合作，在7月尾舉行「發明π——香港新媒體藝術樂園」，展出五組以「Invention and Intervention」為主題的互動裝置，7月22日至8月7日在又一城舉行。
卡記除了喜歡新媒體的玩味性和創新性之外，當搞手跟卡記說展覽以香港為本，作品全出自本地藝術家之手時，卡記即時舉腳支持，一探這個本地新媒體藝術家的崛起秀。當中有羅揚文的LED創作「Shades Dynamicism」、2008年新媒體藝術奧斯卡「奧地利電子藝術」榮譽提名藝術家林欣傑電子裝置與雕塑作品「Signal Morphor」、林妙玲的手提電話與大自然聲音之作品「Streaming Nature」、2010年藝術新秀獎得主張瀚謙以聲音、影像及互動創作「No Longer RIGHT」，以及楊嘉輝的電子作品「Machines for Making Nothing」。
查實多媒體與新媒體是兩回事，搞手跟卡記講︰「新媒體藝術利用非傳統介面展現藝術，通過不同形式傳遞訊息，同時收集觀眾反應，並不斷演變藝術所呈現的面貌。」聽落複雜，簡單一點就是強調作品與觀眾互動的現場感，從中惹起思考。怪不得有人將新媒體藝術家冠以「發明派」之名，皆因革新發明讓概念及作品遊走於藝術、科技與生活之間。
依賴科技成生活障礙
回想起來，一向都有藝術家推出有關科技對於生活影響之作品，正如早前有以iPhone主宰生活為主題的小劇場，而這次展品亦是反思科技介入生活。張瀚謙「No Longer RIGHT」的創作意念傳統又簡單——寫字。他劈首已問卡記多久沒有認真用筆寫字，撇除訪問寫的鬼畫符速記之外，確實打字多過寫字。他着卡記先寫下自己的名字，「每人都有自己的書寫方法，美醜不重要，看的是個人獨有的筆迹與風格。」張瀚謙將卡記的字形、力度和個人風格的抽象形象轉化為一篇有關書寫的文章，不用多說，卡記已意識到科技正不知不覺間吞食了個人特色。
至於楊嘉輝「Machines for Making Nothing」也是諷刺科技為生活帶來溝通障礙。一連串由電池供電微型電子物件，相當於五六十部體積小於一副撲克牌的智能手機，作品彷彿未見驚喜，卡記不斷按製「輸入」，玩法無趣得很，楊嘉輝見狀後便講句「人類與機械互動無實際用途」，一言驚醒卡記。回想每天不斷重複的輸入動作，容忍機械以近乎催眠的視覺或聲音為反饋，情況無奈又是事實。幸好卡記未對機械太過依賴，不過有點擔心終日與電腦、埃瘋為伴的世姪宅男G，為免科技進一步侵蝕他的社交溝通能力與聯繫，卡記決定明天帶他來參觀！
除展品外，參展藝術家將於7月30日舉行藝術家研討會，分享及剖析他們參展作品的創作概念及過程，以及分享新媒體藝術創作歷程。另外，五位藝術家更會粉墨登場，在8月7日於香港藝術學院賽馬會演藝劇院舉行感官現場Sense Live!，通過身體、腦電波、光影、感應器、手機發出的訊號和視像等表達媒介，加上舞者，打造出一場由抽象到實體的跨界別感官之旅。
Monday, May 9, 2011
2011年5月10日
洪磬
由立體到多維
──西野壯平的Diorama世界
所謂Diorama，本指透視畫、西洋鏡、立體模型，即半立體的布景：以紙板等平面置於三維空間──例如在斜的地面上前後放置大小兩個紙板警察─營造／誇大距離感，從而模仿立體空間。當然這種空間主要在視覺上成立，而且只在特定角度看過去有效，因此與一般模型不同，而是介乎平面與立體。這種手法因為可以誇大空間深度，而且容易挪用既有相片，常被用於軍事模型製作；當然這也限制了成品只能從有限角度觀賞，不若詳細的沙盤模型。有趣地，這正吻合兩者的用途：後者常被用作軍事推演，以考慮元件之間的關係；而前者的空間設定早已決定，模型沒有內在生命，而服膺於創作者的心思。可以說，Diorama即是只在特定視點（vantage point）生效的模型，而其資訊與實感上的省略恰是表意上的空間。
由此而言，西野壯平的Diorama地圖系列的意思便可堪玩味了。他徒步探索巴黎、倫敦、香港、紐約等世界名城，還有東京、大阪等日本都市，拍攝市內大小地方的黑白照片，經篩選後在工作室拼合成一張大地圖，再拍攝為成品。拍攝角度不一，有街頭掠影，或往上拍攝天空，或從高處俯瞰，比例當然也不一。概念上，Diorama其實近於Google相簿等將實地照片組合於一張平面圖之上，不同之處在於後者服從於絕對的空間規定，而前者則是作者的主觀組合。
香港被高速公路覆蓋
拼合的結果，相片集中在少數建築物之上，而各城市偏重不同。東京以山手線火車與多個棒球場最為顯眼，倫敦滿布磚屋，而香港則被高速公路覆蓋，而天空出奇地少。對拍攝對象的側重程度極端，要不然就以數張照片─多從同一角度拍攝─交代一個地標，要不就以大遠景包含一大片地區，而兩者的照片多比實際地圖上佔的面積要多，即是在題材之間，必有遺漏掉的隙縫，而選材準則，當以西野壯平的印象為準。例如香港舊機場跑道只呈現為一條線，想是他無法涉足而遠觀印象也不深之故。相反維港的波濤，多從中景距離拍攝，每一個浪都比整條跑道要闊。
創作者自言「自己透過拍攝會變成怎樣，比拍攝可以做到什麼更重要」，於是「過程」即是理解此藝術形式的關鍵。他首先將現實─城市的影象─記錄下來，然後將這些相對客觀的「數據」在地理空間的框框中加以調節，如像野外定向的繪圖員將重要的地形特徵予以強調處理的「藝術加工」，從而與地圖使用者更有效地溝通。正如繪圖員的閱讀地形能力有所偏重，西野壯平對城市的閱讀也是個人的。
今年2月至4月在倫敦舉行的展覽中，播出的短片裏，他先以鉛筆簡略勾勒出幾條線索，然後就像拼圖般以線狀特徵作引，地標作樞紐，最後才填上其間的空隙。有趣地，正是以上部件之間的界線，交代出Diorama的魔幻立體效果。例如香港西九龍，一天橋從近距離以廣角鏡拍攝成強烈的空間透視效果，緊接着就是舊區馬路街市的路口；又例如倫敦金融新區Canary Wharf的華廈得到宏偉的正面全身角度，而緊鄰河邊的住宅則只被斜得可憐的俯攝壓扁，幾乎不可辨認，差天共地的空間感被當作部件，按位置與線條形狀並置而營造另一層次的空間感─可以是傾斜度、閒適感覺、視覺刺激或自由─正是Diorama手法的魔法所在。
小圖存在時間差異
不說不知，同一建築物同一角度拍攝的照片，原來是在不同時間拍攝，細看之下大圖中的小圖有着細微的時間差異痕迹，例如季節或天氣轉變、太陽角度不同、交通工具的移位、建築工程進展等。策展人說這「展示了城市的轉變，是立體的流動影像」，但相比上述的空間魔法，較為噱頭，因而執行較為鬆散。而將拼圖成品拍攝以複製，除了是商業考慮，也是Photoshop術語中將可隨意移位與變形的圖層（layers）壓平（flatten）同時鎖死，成為創作者的印象，雖然也可能令人誤會他的用意在於平面的拼湊節奏。
具體細節需要親眼細觀，但整體而言，驟看散亂的拼貼其實匠心獨運，照片接縫都能傳播出Diorama空間感覺，而與小相片的內涵與幾何特性和諧，從預設框架的強烈程度，甚至可以感受到西野對各城市的熟悉程度甚至是細微的觀感差異。
至此，Diorama地圖自然令人聯想到人的大腦。十九世紀初期，大腦相學（phrenology）以量度人腦各部分的大小來研究大腦結構與內容的關係，正如作品中的不同內容按個人重視程度被加權（weighted），佔據大腦的不同區域。
Phrenology早已過時，但大腦的運作的確是地理的─佔空間較多即佔用較多腦細胞，而距離接近較容易發生聯繫，既分崩離析又有着潛在的脈絡。這與城市空間一樣，皆符合完形理論（Gestalt theory），傾向自我組合，甚少碎片化。而正如神智（mind）各部分如視覺、記憶以至良知皆是整全現象，而不是由部件機械組成的機制。於是城市空間的肌理以數位細節窮究而猶有不足，介入詮釋比機械的細節化探究更貼近真像而不迷失在預設的迷宮中，西野的手法在《3D玉蒲團》的時代別具意義。
洪磬
由立體到多維
──西野壯平的Diorama世界
所謂Diorama，本指透視畫、西洋鏡、立體模型，即半立體的布景：以紙板等平面置於三維空間──例如在斜的地面上前後放置大小兩個紙板警察─營造／誇大距離感，從而模仿立體空間。當然這種空間主要在視覺上成立，而且只在特定角度看過去有效，因此與一般模型不同，而是介乎平面與立體。這種手法因為可以誇大空間深度，而且容易挪用既有相片，常被用於軍事模型製作；當然這也限制了成品只能從有限角度觀賞，不若詳細的沙盤模型。有趣地，這正吻合兩者的用途：後者常被用作軍事推演，以考慮元件之間的關係；而前者的空間設定早已決定，模型沒有內在生命，而服膺於創作者的心思。可以說，Diorama即是只在特定視點（vantage point）生效的模型，而其資訊與實感上的省略恰是表意上的空間。
由此而言，西野壯平的Diorama地圖系列的意思便可堪玩味了。他徒步探索巴黎、倫敦、香港、紐約等世界名城，還有東京、大阪等日本都市，拍攝市內大小地方的黑白照片，經篩選後在工作室拼合成一張大地圖，再拍攝為成品。拍攝角度不一，有街頭掠影，或往上拍攝天空，或從高處俯瞰，比例當然也不一。概念上，Diorama其實近於Google相簿等將實地照片組合於一張平面圖之上，不同之處在於後者服從於絕對的空間規定，而前者則是作者的主觀組合。
香港被高速公路覆蓋
拼合的結果，相片集中在少數建築物之上，而各城市偏重不同。東京以山手線火車與多個棒球場最為顯眼，倫敦滿布磚屋，而香港則被高速公路覆蓋，而天空出奇地少。對拍攝對象的側重程度極端，要不然就以數張照片─多從同一角度拍攝─交代一個地標，要不就以大遠景包含一大片地區，而兩者的照片多比實際地圖上佔的面積要多，即是在題材之間，必有遺漏掉的隙縫，而選材準則，當以西野壯平的印象為準。例如香港舊機場跑道只呈現為一條線，想是他無法涉足而遠觀印象也不深之故。相反維港的波濤，多從中景距離拍攝，每一個浪都比整條跑道要闊。
創作者自言「自己透過拍攝會變成怎樣，比拍攝可以做到什麼更重要」，於是「過程」即是理解此藝術形式的關鍵。他首先將現實─城市的影象─記錄下來，然後將這些相對客觀的「數據」在地理空間的框框中加以調節，如像野外定向的繪圖員將重要的地形特徵予以強調處理的「藝術加工」，從而與地圖使用者更有效地溝通。正如繪圖員的閱讀地形能力有所偏重，西野壯平對城市的閱讀也是個人的。
今年2月至4月在倫敦舉行的展覽中，播出的短片裏，他先以鉛筆簡略勾勒出幾條線索，然後就像拼圖般以線狀特徵作引，地標作樞紐，最後才填上其間的空隙。有趣地，正是以上部件之間的界線，交代出Diorama的魔幻立體效果。例如香港西九龍，一天橋從近距離以廣角鏡拍攝成強烈的空間透視效果，緊接着就是舊區馬路街市的路口；又例如倫敦金融新區Canary Wharf的華廈得到宏偉的正面全身角度，而緊鄰河邊的住宅則只被斜得可憐的俯攝壓扁，幾乎不可辨認，差天共地的空間感被當作部件，按位置與線條形狀並置而營造另一層次的空間感─可以是傾斜度、閒適感覺、視覺刺激或自由─正是Diorama手法的魔法所在。
小圖存在時間差異
不說不知，同一建築物同一角度拍攝的照片，原來是在不同時間拍攝，細看之下大圖中的小圖有着細微的時間差異痕迹，例如季節或天氣轉變、太陽角度不同、交通工具的移位、建築工程進展等。策展人說這「展示了城市的轉變，是立體的流動影像」，但相比上述的空間魔法，較為噱頭，因而執行較為鬆散。而將拼圖成品拍攝以複製，除了是商業考慮，也是Photoshop術語中將可隨意移位與變形的圖層（layers）壓平（flatten）同時鎖死，成為創作者的印象，雖然也可能令人誤會他的用意在於平面的拼湊節奏。
具體細節需要親眼細觀，但整體而言，驟看散亂的拼貼其實匠心獨運，照片接縫都能傳播出Diorama空間感覺，而與小相片的內涵與幾何特性和諧，從預設框架的強烈程度，甚至可以感受到西野對各城市的熟悉程度甚至是細微的觀感差異。
至此，Diorama地圖自然令人聯想到人的大腦。十九世紀初期，大腦相學（phrenology）以量度人腦各部分的大小來研究大腦結構與內容的關係，正如作品中的不同內容按個人重視程度被加權（weighted），佔據大腦的不同區域。
Phrenology早已過時，但大腦的運作的確是地理的─佔空間較多即佔用較多腦細胞，而距離接近較容易發生聯繫，既分崩離析又有着潛在的脈絡。這與城市空間一樣，皆符合完形理論（Gestalt theory），傾向自我組合，甚少碎片化。而正如神智（mind）各部分如視覺、記憶以至良知皆是整全現象，而不是由部件機械組成的機制。於是城市空間的肌理以數位細節窮究而猶有不足，介入詮釋比機械的細節化探究更貼近真像而不迷失在預設的迷宮中，西野的手法在《3D玉蒲團》的時代別具意義。
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
2011年1月26日
文化Live
梁寶山
伙炭十年──才是真正的開始！
伙炭朋友其實很少把伙炭稱為藝術村。去中心化的有機生成，沒有政府或大佬從上而下的管治，籌委世代更新，最需要的反倒是看官的耐心，不揠苗助長，自然生機處處。回顧伙炭十年，從師生好友相濡以沫，到物以類聚產生協同效應，生產到消費一應俱全，十年，才是個真正的起點。看伙炭的十年年表，根本就是各自走位的民間智慧。
不同於九十年代的藝術空間，伙炭早在草創時期，已是以創作／生產為基調，藝術家的需要先行，公眾展示還是其次。由2001年只兩個工作室發起的開放日，到2010年合共七十四個單位參與【註】，當中約六十個仍以創作為主。開放日只是一年一度，像中、上環一帶隨畫廊而興的酒吧食市仍未落戶工業區。其餘十多個具策劃、陳列、媒體及教育功能的空間，則成為群聚以至香港整體藝壇面向公眾的中介。
藝壇大後台
畫廊業務進駐伙炭，始於2007年開業的Blue Lotus，規模不大卻以推廣香港年輕藝術家為主，兼具資訊中心角色。同年老字號漢雅軒首次參與開放日，雖然展出的並不是香港藝術家作品，但張頌仁老闆的垂青，儼如一度定心的祝福。至於去年加入的古老十八代飲食茶具故事館及今年加入的彩虹畫廊和A. Lift，就更豐富了群聚在創作媒介、人脈關係以及經營手法上的多樣性。尤其今年開放日大張旗鼓的A. Lift，以設計產品為主藝術為輔，小額現場買賣，打通設計與生產深港融合。而2009年開業的藝文空間G16，由伙炭成員莫少宗長期借出單位，與籌委之一何文聰共同經營，接待各方查詢、不定期舉行展覽，帶動群聚整體氣氛。至於兼營教學的單位，近年亦漸從只招呼入室弟子，到擺放二拉架招生，趕城市文藝消費大潮。雖然面對活化工廈陰影，伙炭大體仍是生產者的天堂。
錢從何處來
對於不以長年服務市民為業的工作室來說，伙炭開放日一直以「本小利大」方式盡量擺脫向藝展局攞錢問責常規。要保持群聚知名度及媒介曝光，資訊流通比有形的固定單位更關鍵。事過境遷，不妨一說─伙炭草創時期，確曾受藝發局一助。2004年該局原擬辦一類近於城市雙年展大型活動，廣招提案。伙炭有幸選中，可是後來活動因事擱置，然伙炭開放日則如期舉行。地圖、場刊、網站、義工、社團登等「基建」亦在是年完成。託西九鴻福，是年開放日亦成為傳媒採訪焦點，伙炭遂成為每年12月或1月的定期「盛事」。
工作室各自各精采是伙炭的特色。每次開放日都是豐儉由人，總體製作成本則由參與單位攤分。2006年開放日後，信和集團主動約見伙炭藝術家洽商「合作」可能性。2007至2010年均為開放活動主要贊助商─所謂贊助，主要是鋪天蓋地的宣傳，從地鐵燈箱到區內彩旗，以及印刷品製作費。贊助與受助如何達致公平交易，雙方一直在摸索。磨合了幾年，才開始贊助實質的籌備項目。然而掌握宣傳贊助的好處是容易搞出「誤會」。工作室雖以屬於華樊的華聯工業大廈最為集中，然而筆者聽過最美麗的誤會竟是伙炭藝術家的單位都是由集團提供的！另一種普遍的誤會是，以為開放計劃是由集團主辦。兩種說法，前者出自普通觀眾，而後者則在某次國際專家會議上出自集團人員之口！靠官好抑為挨商妙，也是歷屆成員不能不處理的難題。2008年開放日，籌統的pep終於向藝展局申請項目資助，但仍只限於問卷調查與觀眾拓展工作。到了今年，才首以「伙炭」名義為開放計劃的核心項目向藝發局申請資助，並取代商業集團成為預算中之大宗。
從2004年逾千觀眾，到2011年逾萬觀眾，伙炭成了讓一般市民親身近距離接觸藝術家為何物的推廣活動，尤其今年當電視新聞播出後，最後一天開放日聞風而至的市民絡繹不絕。然而官辦文化積習下來的觀眾文化，讓大家都忘了若要市民社會在官商之間自立起來，非得靠集腋成裘不可。過去伸手就攞得到的精美場刊，今年只廉售10、20元，但來者大耍手擰頭。龐大的參觀人流，不單令導賞團應接不下，工作室亦水洩不通，無法讓作品得到適當的展示氣氛。值得一讚的是，今年場刊不再只是單位的圖文介紹，還包括訪談，讓藝術家親自說明工作室在創作生活以至業務經營的作用。
自主需要支持
普及與提升之間，不能不向敬業樂業的藝術家致敬，像石嘉豪、周俊輝、李展輝、呂振光、谷敏昭，甚至更年輕的梁嘉賢、何倩彤，都是已穩站市場或嶄露頭角的藝術家，仍舊親身上陣，與觀眾有問必答。主題展覽雖非今年首創，早在2007年當時為Para/Site策展人的Tobias Berger 便曾在黃浩然（Adrian Wong）的相連單位策劃了「匣─權．衡」。而上屆鄧凝姿更移師附近商場的策劃了「如果你停泊在這裏」。要在愈來愈多單位中脫穎而出，不得少落足心機。除了豎起臨時展板按人數劃分展區外，今年不少單位都是挖空心思設定主題。例如文晶瑩的「重寫歷史」和黃藝蕾的「想像．想『象』」，都是充分利用整個空間的裝置個展。而就是因為負擔不起租金而比較擁擠的工作室，像「斐藝俱樂部」、「彩依有限公司」、「薔」、「Just Like Honey」、「artists dean」等，也盡量在雜亂之中擺出統一。而觀眾的寵兒則非「夾租團」同名展覽莫屬，唐偉傑、冼朗兒與鄒昊滿足觀眾觀看的願望，在開放期間以Gilbert and George之姿直立在展枱上。而一些低調地與觀眾互動的作品，像凌展騰在後巷與觀眾「拉鋸」、泥人為觀眾造朱古力和「可附擔的藝術」（affordable art）、高倩彤為觀眾抄寫2010年月曆、Samuel Adam Swope邀觀眾為他的作品摺一千隻紙飛機機，就更顯藝術家的誠意心思。
總的來說，七十五個單位共同交了一張亮麗的成績表。十年累積，先來者與後來者才剛各自就位。可惜活化工廈陰影未除，內地炒家又至！去年年底規劃署為打擊住宅樓市炒風，提出把工業用地改成住宅，藝術家集中地華聯工業大廈正好被前後夾攻，鄰近兩幅巴士廠地皮都被建議改為住宅。如果建議成功，將連同鄰近火車站的綜合發展區把用家天堂圍堵。「趕走炒家、留住用家」聯署，雖然成功收到四千個藝術家與市民簽名，但如何把向炒家傾斜的政策撥亂反正，好戲仍在後頭。
註 參與2011年開放日單位共七十五個，此處略去同期在鄰近體藝中學舉行的「體藝藝人」，故真正在工廈的開放單位實為七十四個。
文化Live
梁寶山
伙炭十年──才是真正的開始！
伙炭朋友其實很少把伙炭稱為藝術村。去中心化的有機生成，沒有政府或大佬從上而下的管治，籌委世代更新，最需要的反倒是看官的耐心，不揠苗助長，自然生機處處。回顧伙炭十年，從師生好友相濡以沫，到物以類聚產生協同效應，生產到消費一應俱全，十年，才是個真正的起點。看伙炭的十年年表，根本就是各自走位的民間智慧。
不同於九十年代的藝術空間，伙炭早在草創時期，已是以創作／生產為基調，藝術家的需要先行，公眾展示還是其次。由2001年只兩個工作室發起的開放日，到2010年合共七十四個單位參與【註】，當中約六十個仍以創作為主。開放日只是一年一度，像中、上環一帶隨畫廊而興的酒吧食市仍未落戶工業區。其餘十多個具策劃、陳列、媒體及教育功能的空間，則成為群聚以至香港整體藝壇面向公眾的中介。
藝壇大後台
畫廊業務進駐伙炭，始於2007年開業的Blue Lotus，規模不大卻以推廣香港年輕藝術家為主，兼具資訊中心角色。同年老字號漢雅軒首次參與開放日，雖然展出的並不是香港藝術家作品，但張頌仁老闆的垂青，儼如一度定心的祝福。至於去年加入的古老十八代飲食茶具故事館及今年加入的彩虹畫廊和A. Lift，就更豐富了群聚在創作媒介、人脈關係以及經營手法上的多樣性。尤其今年開放日大張旗鼓的A. Lift，以設計產品為主藝術為輔，小額現場買賣，打通設計與生產深港融合。而2009年開業的藝文空間G16，由伙炭成員莫少宗長期借出單位，與籌委之一何文聰共同經營，接待各方查詢、不定期舉行展覽，帶動群聚整體氣氛。至於兼營教學的單位，近年亦漸從只招呼入室弟子，到擺放二拉架招生，趕城市文藝消費大潮。雖然面對活化工廈陰影，伙炭大體仍是生產者的天堂。
錢從何處來
對於不以長年服務市民為業的工作室來說，伙炭開放日一直以「本小利大」方式盡量擺脫向藝展局攞錢問責常規。要保持群聚知名度及媒介曝光，資訊流通比有形的固定單位更關鍵。事過境遷，不妨一說─伙炭草創時期，確曾受藝發局一助。2004年該局原擬辦一類近於城市雙年展大型活動，廣招提案。伙炭有幸選中，可是後來活動因事擱置，然伙炭開放日則如期舉行。地圖、場刊、網站、義工、社團登等「基建」亦在是年完成。託西九鴻福，是年開放日亦成為傳媒採訪焦點，伙炭遂成為每年12月或1月的定期「盛事」。
工作室各自各精采是伙炭的特色。每次開放日都是豐儉由人，總體製作成本則由參與單位攤分。2006年開放日後，信和集團主動約見伙炭藝術家洽商「合作」可能性。2007至2010年均為開放活動主要贊助商─所謂贊助，主要是鋪天蓋地的宣傳，從地鐵燈箱到區內彩旗，以及印刷品製作費。贊助與受助如何達致公平交易，雙方一直在摸索。磨合了幾年，才開始贊助實質的籌備項目。然而掌握宣傳贊助的好處是容易搞出「誤會」。工作室雖以屬於華樊的華聯工業大廈最為集中，然而筆者聽過最美麗的誤會竟是伙炭藝術家的單位都是由集團提供的！另一種普遍的誤會是，以為開放計劃是由集團主辦。兩種說法，前者出自普通觀眾，而後者則在某次國際專家會議上出自集團人員之口！靠官好抑為挨商妙，也是歷屆成員不能不處理的難題。2008年開放日，籌統的pep終於向藝展局申請項目資助，但仍只限於問卷調查與觀眾拓展工作。到了今年，才首以「伙炭」名義為開放計劃的核心項目向藝發局申請資助，並取代商業集團成為預算中之大宗。
從2004年逾千觀眾，到2011年逾萬觀眾，伙炭成了讓一般市民親身近距離接觸藝術家為何物的推廣活動，尤其今年當電視新聞播出後，最後一天開放日聞風而至的市民絡繹不絕。然而官辦文化積習下來的觀眾文化，讓大家都忘了若要市民社會在官商之間自立起來，非得靠集腋成裘不可。過去伸手就攞得到的精美場刊，今年只廉售10、20元，但來者大耍手擰頭。龐大的參觀人流，不單令導賞團應接不下，工作室亦水洩不通，無法讓作品得到適當的展示氣氛。值得一讚的是，今年場刊不再只是單位的圖文介紹，還包括訪談，讓藝術家親自說明工作室在創作生活以至業務經營的作用。
自主需要支持
普及與提升之間，不能不向敬業樂業的藝術家致敬，像石嘉豪、周俊輝、李展輝、呂振光、谷敏昭，甚至更年輕的梁嘉賢、何倩彤，都是已穩站市場或嶄露頭角的藝術家，仍舊親身上陣，與觀眾有問必答。主題展覽雖非今年首創，早在2007年當時為Para/Site策展人的Tobias Berger 便曾在黃浩然（Adrian Wong）的相連單位策劃了「匣─權．衡」。而上屆鄧凝姿更移師附近商場的策劃了「如果你停泊在這裏」。要在愈來愈多單位中脫穎而出，不得少落足心機。除了豎起臨時展板按人數劃分展區外，今年不少單位都是挖空心思設定主題。例如文晶瑩的「重寫歷史」和黃藝蕾的「想像．想『象』」，都是充分利用整個空間的裝置個展。而就是因為負擔不起租金而比較擁擠的工作室，像「斐藝俱樂部」、「彩依有限公司」、「薔」、「Just Like Honey」、「artists dean」等，也盡量在雜亂之中擺出統一。而觀眾的寵兒則非「夾租團」同名展覽莫屬，唐偉傑、冼朗兒與鄒昊滿足觀眾觀看的願望，在開放期間以Gilbert and George之姿直立在展枱上。而一些低調地與觀眾互動的作品，像凌展騰在後巷與觀眾「拉鋸」、泥人為觀眾造朱古力和「可附擔的藝術」（affordable art）、高倩彤為觀眾抄寫2010年月曆、Samuel Adam Swope邀觀眾為他的作品摺一千隻紙飛機機，就更顯藝術家的誠意心思。
總的來說，七十五個單位共同交了一張亮麗的成績表。十年累積，先來者與後來者才剛各自就位。可惜活化工廈陰影未除，內地炒家又至！去年年底規劃署為打擊住宅樓市炒風，提出把工業用地改成住宅，藝術家集中地華聯工業大廈正好被前後夾攻，鄰近兩幅巴士廠地皮都被建議改為住宅。如果建議成功，將連同鄰近火車站的綜合發展區把用家天堂圍堵。「趕走炒家、留住用家」聯署，雖然成功收到四千個藝術家與市民簽名，但如何把向炒家傾斜的政策撥亂反正，好戲仍在後頭。
註 參與2011年開放日單位共七十五個，此處略去同期在鄰近體藝中學舉行的「體藝藝人」，故真正在工廈的開放單位實為七十四個。
Monday, January 3, 2011
The critical list guide to 2011
What to watch, read and listen to - and everything else that's hot in the arts this year
Sunday, 2 January 2011
Classical
Anna Picard
Mahler fans can revel in the second of two anniversary years.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts the LPO in Mahler's Fifth Symphony on 19 January, while Vassily Petrenko and the Liverpool Philharmonic continue their cycle with the Sixth (5 Mar). Maurizio Pollini surveys Bach, Beethoven and Schubert at the South Bank (from 28 Jan), home to Esa-Pekka Salonen's Bartók project, Infernal Dance, which opens 27 January with a complete performance of The Miraculous Mandarin.
Opera North looks East with Mieczyslaw Weinberg's The Portrait (2 Feb) and Janácek's House of the Dead (from 5 May). At the Royal Opera House, it's centrefolds and southern fried chicken as Eva-Maria Westbroek takes the title role in Turnage's Anna Nicole (17 Feb). Thrifty opera-lovers should watch the conservatoires for new talent: Stephen Barlow's production of Dialogues des Carmelites opens (3 Mar) at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Glyndebourne and Grange Park think big with new productions of Die Meistersinger (21 May) and Tristan und Isolde (3 Jun). Simon Rattle opens the Aldeburgh Festival with Messaien's Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum (10 Jun), while Opera Holland Park tackles La Wally (29 Jul). Liszt, born 200 years ago, should feature highly in the BBC Proms. For those who can't wait until summer, Hyperion releases its 98-disc boxed set of his complete piano music next month, played by Leslie Howard.
The one to watch: The golden countertenor Iestyn Davies sings at the Wigmore, La Scala, New York's Metropolitan Opera, and as Oberon in ENO's Midsummer Night's Dream.
Visual Art
Charles Darwent
Was there ever a groovier time and place than New York in the 1970s? Or a funkier trio than Laurie Anderson, Trisha Brown and Gordon Matta-Clark? Well, no. Against a crumbling Manhattan skyline, they set up that edgiest of things, the Downtown Scene. Relive it at the Barbican (3 Mar to 21 May).
If 1890s decadence is more your bag, then the Courtauld Gallery's study of the friendship between Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and the unexpectedly equally aristocratic can-can dancer, Jane Avril, is the one for you (16 Jun to 18 Sep).
The encrypted abstracts of Joan Miró (1893-1983) deal with a history that starts with the Great War and ends with post-Franco Spain. The Tate Modern show - inexplicably, the first major Miró exhibition in London for 50 years, inset below, is sure to bust all blocks (14 Apr to 11 Sep).
The one I'm looking forward to most is of the 16th-century master, Jan Gossaert, at the National Gallery (23 Feb to 30 May). While seldom lovable, his eye-teasing portraits and Holy Families have a glacial beauty.
The one to watch: In a day when public sculpture veers between soulless and kitsch, young Scot Michael Vissocchi, winner of the last Jerwood sculpture prize, offers a new monumental voice. Don't expect to see his work on Trafalgar Square's Fourth Plinth: it's too good.
Jazz/World
Phil Johnson
The chance to see a cult attraction in a mainstream setting doesn't get much better than the appearance of the Brazilian singer and guitarist Vinicius Cantuaria in a duo with guitarist Bill Frisell, in the emphatically non-cult setting of London's Ronnie Scott's (11 and 12 Jan). It's a great opportunity to hear the alternately smooth and spiky sound-world of Cantuaria, whose updates on the bossa nova tradition take as much from the downtown New York City as they do from Rio. There's another cult offering when north London's The Vortex launches a new literary series with a reading by Geoff Dyer (13 Jan), the author of what Keith Jarrett called "the best book ever written about jazz".
The one to watch: Vinicius Cantuaria
Jazz/World
Howard Male
Over the past couple of years, West African music fans have delighted in a wealth of re-released material from Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou. This year sees the release of their first new album of new material in 20 years, and also sees them play live at the Scala in King's Cross (31 Mar). The next Buena Vista Social Club is always being predicted, but personally I'm hoping for something a little edgier from this earthy, funky outfit. I'm also looking forward to new releases from the unselfconsciously eclectic Denver-based band DeVotchKa and the Ethiopiques-meets-roots-reggae collective Dub Colossus. Both these bands are going where no band has gone before, and that, for my money, is what it's all about.
The one to watch: Dub Colossus.
Dance
Jenny Gilbert
No one likes shelling out on a dud, so Sadler's Wells Sampled (28 & 29 Jan) lets you try before you buy. For only £12 a seat, or £6 standing, punters can see live excerpts from coming attractions, including stars from American Ballet Theatre, due to present two double bills (1-6 Feb), Balletboyz' latest venture, and a taster of ZooNation's Some Like it Hip Hop. What won't be in preview are the equestrian stars of The Centaur and the Animal (1-6 Mar), a dressage show from Spain in which elements of man and horse meet and merge. Most eagerly awaited of all at the Wells is the Pet Shop Boys' collaboration with Javier de Frutos in a full-length dancework based on Hans Christian Andersen's The Incredible Thing, with ex-Royal Ballet star Ivan Putrov (17-26 Mar). The Royal Ballet pushes the boat out with Christopher Wheeldon's new, full-evening Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, above, to a new score by Joby Talbot (2-15 Mar).
The one to watch: The fabulous new principal Sergei Polunin, in Alice, and making his RB debut in Giselle (12 Jan).
Pop/Rock
Simon Price
For what feels like the tenth successive year, the early months of 2011 will see the industry and media conspire to install a gaggle of new solo females. Heading the list is Jessie J, a Siobhan Fahey-faced shouter from Essex whose "Do It Like A Dude" saw her scoop both the BBC's Sound of 2011 poll and Critic's Choice at the forthcoming Brits. Like it or loathe it, she'll be inescapable.
Expect coercion campaigns behind foghorn-voiced Brummie Clare Maguire and rent-a-collaborator Katy B. There may even be another attempt to launch I Blame Coco (Sting's daughter). More interesting is the still under wraps Paper Tiger, a Brighton-based wonky-pop protegée of Preston from The Ordinary Boys.
Another exciting spring for fans of nepotism, as the full weight of hipster hype gets thrown behind Ramones soundalikes The Vaccines. Morecambe soul-punks The Heartbreaks will deservedly get the big push. Meanwhile, protest-pop berserker The Agitator and R&B commies Thee Faction may chime with the political mood.
Even more than previous Britpop reunions (Suede, Blur), a special edge of excitement surrounded the announcement that Jarvis Cocker was reconvening the classic line-up of the mighty Pulp for a handful of festival shows in the summer.
The Playbutton may just be the saviour of the "physical" product. A pre-recorded MP3 player in the form of a two-inch badge bearing the album's artwork, it allows the wearer to show off their taste, like ostentatiously brandishing a Penguin paperback.
Rock/Folk/Americana
Simmy Richman
The BBC's Sound of 2011 poll has value but away from the bolt-on mainstream stars-in-the-making only Anna Calvi will be of serious interest to serious music lovers. And the truth is (spoiler alert!): music writers cannot see into the future. In that spirit, I'm going to take it as read that you don't need me to tell you that The Decemberists (poppier, almost REM-ey), Iron & Wine (more experimental) and Fleet Foxes (more of the same would be no bad thing) will all deliver albums soon and that they will be full of the good stuff.
Of the new acts, the albums I'm most excited about all seem to come from female singers who together form a sort of anti-Gaga army: pure, unadulterated with a lack of affectation. That list includes Secret Sisters (Alabama-born siblings singing old-fashioned country in voices that can break your heart), Zoe Muth (more country, this time with a Seattle-ite's urban edge) and our own Hannah Peel (dark folky loveliness with a Tunng twist).
And then there is James Walbourne, once the guitarist in Peter Bruntnell's band, who this month releases his first solo album, a must for lovers of the Jayhawks, whose own classic early albums are about to be dusted down in search of the glory they so richly deserve.
But the thing I'm most excited about is a musical. Regina Spektor's Sleeping Beauty is due to open on Broadway this year, but you never know. You can't rush genius.
The one to watch: Hannah Peel.
Theatre
Kate Bassett
The West End's Nöel Coward theatre gets adventurous in mid-January, presenting the Muscovite Sovremennik company's Three Sisters, Cherry Orchard, and Into the Whirlwind – memories of Stalin's gulags. Cheek by Jowl's extraordinary Russian ensemble tours with The Tempest, from March.
Hotshot Rupert Gould stages The Merchant of Venice at Stratford's rebuilt Royal Shakespeare Theatre in May. Come June, Kevin Spacey steals the limelight as Sam Mendes's Old Vic Richard III.
Next month, Robert Lepage wings his way to the Barbican for The Blue Dragon: a sequel to his epic Dragon's Trilogy. In March, a sinister new Neil LaBute, In a Forest, Dark and Deep, slinks into the Vaudeville, starring Olivia Williams.
The Holy Rosenbergs marks playwright Ryan Craig's National Theatre debut, in March: Henry Goodman plays a Jewish father whose offspring radically disagree over Gaza. In February, climate change creeds are scrutinised, in an NT documentary drama, Greenland, and in polemicist Richard Bean's new black comedy, The Heretic, at the Royal Court.
The one to watch: Jessica Raine, having caught the eye in edgy teenage roles, will star in Clifford Odets' Rocket to the Moon at the NT in March. She plays the ferocious seductress Cleo Singer, sending Joseph Millson's repressed Ben Stark into a spin.
Museums
Jenny Gilbert
Buoyed by the increased footfall generated by Radio 4's A History of the World in 100 Objects, the British Museum is on a roll. Afghanistan: Crossroads of the Ancient World (from 3 Mar) will showcase more than 200 artefacts belonging to the National Museum of Afghanistan (a building "undergoing reconstruction"). They range from Classical sculpture, Roman glass, and stone tableware from Egypt, to personal ornaments worn by the nomadic elite, all feared lost after the Soviet invasion of 1979. Their survival is due to Afghan officials who hid them from the Taliban. Also at the British Museum, Treasures of Heaven (from 23 Jun) assembles sacred objects of the medieval age, when physical relics of the saints were believed to connect man and heaven.
As if taking up the baton from the Barbican Art Gallery, whose Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion continues (to 6 Feb), the Victoria & Albert fêtes Yohji Yamamoto (from 12 Mar), one of the world's most provokingly enigmatic designers of fashion.
The National Army Museum's Wives and Sweethearts (9 Feb) looks at love on the frontline in the Napoleonic, Crimean and World War conflicts as well as today's. Also in February, the Herbert Museum in Coventry launches its own blockbuster, Secret Egypt, and vows to dispel some popular myths.
Film (Art House)
Jonathan Romney
The art-house idols of 2011 will be animals. A 40-year-old orang-utan is the hyper-charismatic star of Nénette, from French documentarist Nicolas Philibert (Etre et Avoir), while the year's cult European hit could be Le Quattro Volte, a dialogue-free Italian marvel in which the show is stolen by a herd of goats and a dog with the comic timing of Jacques Tati.
National treasures Terence Davies and Lynne Ramsay return with new fictions: respectively, Terence Rattigan adaptation The Deep Blue Sea and problem-child drama We Need To Talk About Kevin.
The Coen brothers gee up the Western tradition with Jeff Bridges in a magnificent remake of True Grit, inset below, Martin Scorsese goes 3D with robot fantasy Hugo Cabret; David Cronenberg hits the couch for A Dangerous Method, his take on Freud and Jung; and Terence Malick ponders the meaning of it all in Tree of Life. And, if you need of cheering up, there's Lars von Trier's end-of-the-world drama, Melancholia.
And my wish for 2011? That Iran shouldfree director Jafar Panahi (Offside, The Circle) and lift its gag on his film-making.
One to watch: Mr Unavoidable in 2011 is Tom Hiddleston (The Deep Blue Sea, Kenneth Branagh's Thor, Steven Spielberg's War Horse) and much more.
Film (Mainstream)
Nicholas Barber
Superheroes abound: there's Green Hornet (14 Jan) with Seth Rogen, directed by Michel Gondry; the Hornet's near-namesake, the Green Lantern (17 Jun) played by Ryan Reynolds; Marvel paves the way for its team-up blockbuster, The Avengers, by introducing two more of the personnel: Thor (29 Apr) and Captain America: The First Avenger (29 Jul).
There's a double helping of Matt Damon in The Adjustment Bureau (4 Mar) – in which he and Emily Blunt dodge the agents of Fate – and Steven Soderbergh's Contagion (21 Oct), where he faces a "lethal airborne virus".
The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (26 Oct), is a motion-capture version of Hergé's adventures (Avatar style, in other words), directed by Steven Spielberg. In Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (16 Sep), Gary Oldman finally tackles a worthy role as John le Carré's George Smiley.
Pirates of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (18 May) zeroes in on Johnny Depp's Captain Jack. Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley have walked the plank.
One to watch: Rooney Mara, right, is The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (due 26 Dec).
Television
Hugh Montgomery
Drama gets off to a good start as Channel 4 serves up The Promise (Feb), Peter Kosminsky's four-part serial about the Arab-Israeli conflict, and BBC2's Christopher and His Kind (Feb) sees Doctor Who, Matt Smith, play it fast and louche as novelist Christopher Isherwood in pre-war Berlin. Elsewhere, ITV puts its faith in the supernatural with Marchlands (early Feb), a tale of a haunted house across the eras, and new US import channel Sky Atlantic launches with the first series of Martin Scorsese's much-hyped Prohibition saga Boardwalk Empire (early Feb).
For laughs, Episodes (BBC2, 10 Jan), a sitcom about the making of a sitcom, stars Matt LeBlanc as himself alongside Tamsin Greig and Stephen Mangan. Meanwhile Greig also crops up in Friday Night Dinner (Channel 4, late Feb) centred on a Jewish family's weekly get-togethers.
Many families will tune in to sub-Strictly jamboree Dancing on Ice (ITV1, 9 Jan), back with a more nondescript line-up than ever, while the retail doyenne Mary Portas, right, makes a more welcome return with a new show challenging customer service (Channel 4, Jan). For genuine "reality TV", there's How TV Ruined Your Life (BBC2, late Jan/Feb) in which the ever scabrous Charlie Brooker dissects the lies fed to us by the small screen
Sunday, 2 January 2011
Classical
Anna Picard
Mahler fans can revel in the second of two anniversary years.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts the LPO in Mahler's Fifth Symphony on 19 January, while Vassily Petrenko and the Liverpool Philharmonic continue their cycle with the Sixth (5 Mar). Maurizio Pollini surveys Bach, Beethoven and Schubert at the South Bank (from 28 Jan), home to Esa-Pekka Salonen's Bartók project, Infernal Dance, which opens 27 January with a complete performance of The Miraculous Mandarin.
Opera North looks East with Mieczyslaw Weinberg's The Portrait (2 Feb) and Janácek's House of the Dead (from 5 May). At the Royal Opera House, it's centrefolds and southern fried chicken as Eva-Maria Westbroek takes the title role in Turnage's Anna Nicole (17 Feb). Thrifty opera-lovers should watch the conservatoires for new talent: Stephen Barlow's production of Dialogues des Carmelites opens (3 Mar) at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Glyndebourne and Grange Park think big with new productions of Die Meistersinger (21 May) and Tristan und Isolde (3 Jun). Simon Rattle opens the Aldeburgh Festival with Messaien's Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum (10 Jun), while Opera Holland Park tackles La Wally (29 Jul). Liszt, born 200 years ago, should feature highly in the BBC Proms. For those who can't wait until summer, Hyperion releases its 98-disc boxed set of his complete piano music next month, played by Leslie Howard.
The one to watch: The golden countertenor Iestyn Davies sings at the Wigmore, La Scala, New York's Metropolitan Opera, and as Oberon in ENO's Midsummer Night's Dream.
Visual Art
Charles Darwent
Was there ever a groovier time and place than New York in the 1970s? Or a funkier trio than Laurie Anderson, Trisha Brown and Gordon Matta-Clark? Well, no. Against a crumbling Manhattan skyline, they set up that edgiest of things, the Downtown Scene. Relive it at the Barbican (3 Mar to 21 May).
If 1890s decadence is more your bag, then the Courtauld Gallery's study of the friendship between Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and the unexpectedly equally aristocratic can-can dancer, Jane Avril, is the one for you (16 Jun to 18 Sep).
The encrypted abstracts of Joan Miró (1893-1983) deal with a history that starts with the Great War and ends with post-Franco Spain. The Tate Modern show - inexplicably, the first major Miró exhibition in London for 50 years, inset below, is sure to bust all blocks (14 Apr to 11 Sep).
The one I'm looking forward to most is of the 16th-century master, Jan Gossaert, at the National Gallery (23 Feb to 30 May). While seldom lovable, his eye-teasing portraits and Holy Families have a glacial beauty.
The one to watch: In a day when public sculpture veers between soulless and kitsch, young Scot Michael Vissocchi, winner of the last Jerwood sculpture prize, offers a new monumental voice. Don't expect to see his work on Trafalgar Square's Fourth Plinth: it's too good.
Jazz/World
Phil Johnson
The chance to see a cult attraction in a mainstream setting doesn't get much better than the appearance of the Brazilian singer and guitarist Vinicius Cantuaria in a duo with guitarist Bill Frisell, in the emphatically non-cult setting of London's Ronnie Scott's (11 and 12 Jan). It's a great opportunity to hear the alternately smooth and spiky sound-world of Cantuaria, whose updates on the bossa nova tradition take as much from the downtown New York City as they do from Rio. There's another cult offering when north London's The Vortex launches a new literary series with a reading by Geoff Dyer (13 Jan), the author of what Keith Jarrett called "the best book ever written about jazz".
The one to watch: Vinicius Cantuaria
Jazz/World
Howard Male
Over the past couple of years, West African music fans have delighted in a wealth of re-released material from Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou. This year sees the release of their first new album of new material in 20 years, and also sees them play live at the Scala in King's Cross (31 Mar). The next Buena Vista Social Club is always being predicted, but personally I'm hoping for something a little edgier from this earthy, funky outfit. I'm also looking forward to new releases from the unselfconsciously eclectic Denver-based band DeVotchKa and the Ethiopiques-meets-roots-reggae collective Dub Colossus. Both these bands are going where no band has gone before, and that, for my money, is what it's all about.
The one to watch: Dub Colossus.
Dance
Jenny Gilbert
No one likes shelling out on a dud, so Sadler's Wells Sampled (28 & 29 Jan) lets you try before you buy. For only £12 a seat, or £6 standing, punters can see live excerpts from coming attractions, including stars from American Ballet Theatre, due to present two double bills (1-6 Feb), Balletboyz' latest venture, and a taster of ZooNation's Some Like it Hip Hop. What won't be in preview are the equestrian stars of The Centaur and the Animal (1-6 Mar), a dressage show from Spain in which elements of man and horse meet and merge. Most eagerly awaited of all at the Wells is the Pet Shop Boys' collaboration with Javier de Frutos in a full-length dancework based on Hans Christian Andersen's The Incredible Thing, with ex-Royal Ballet star Ivan Putrov (17-26 Mar). The Royal Ballet pushes the boat out with Christopher Wheeldon's new, full-evening Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, above, to a new score by Joby Talbot (2-15 Mar).
The one to watch: The fabulous new principal Sergei Polunin, in Alice, and making his RB debut in Giselle (12 Jan).
Pop/Rock
Simon Price
For what feels like the tenth successive year, the early months of 2011 will see the industry and media conspire to install a gaggle of new solo females. Heading the list is Jessie J, a Siobhan Fahey-faced shouter from Essex whose "Do It Like A Dude" saw her scoop both the BBC's Sound of 2011 poll and Critic's Choice at the forthcoming Brits. Like it or loathe it, she'll be inescapable.
Expect coercion campaigns behind foghorn-voiced Brummie Clare Maguire and rent-a-collaborator Katy B. There may even be another attempt to launch I Blame Coco (Sting's daughter). More interesting is the still under wraps Paper Tiger, a Brighton-based wonky-pop protegée of Preston from The Ordinary Boys.
Another exciting spring for fans of nepotism, as the full weight of hipster hype gets thrown behind Ramones soundalikes The Vaccines. Morecambe soul-punks The Heartbreaks will deservedly get the big push. Meanwhile, protest-pop berserker The Agitator and R&B commies Thee Faction may chime with the political mood.
Even more than previous Britpop reunions (Suede, Blur), a special edge of excitement surrounded the announcement that Jarvis Cocker was reconvening the classic line-up of the mighty Pulp for a handful of festival shows in the summer.
The Playbutton may just be the saviour of the "physical" product. A pre-recorded MP3 player in the form of a two-inch badge bearing the album's artwork, it allows the wearer to show off their taste, like ostentatiously brandishing a Penguin paperback.
Rock/Folk/Americana
Simmy Richman
The BBC's Sound of 2011 poll has value but away from the bolt-on mainstream stars-in-the-making only Anna Calvi will be of serious interest to serious music lovers. And the truth is (spoiler alert!): music writers cannot see into the future. In that spirit, I'm going to take it as read that you don't need me to tell you that The Decemberists (poppier, almost REM-ey), Iron & Wine (more experimental) and Fleet Foxes (more of the same would be no bad thing) will all deliver albums soon and that they will be full of the good stuff.
Of the new acts, the albums I'm most excited about all seem to come from female singers who together form a sort of anti-Gaga army: pure, unadulterated with a lack of affectation. That list includes Secret Sisters (Alabama-born siblings singing old-fashioned country in voices that can break your heart), Zoe Muth (more country, this time with a Seattle-ite's urban edge) and our own Hannah Peel (dark folky loveliness with a Tunng twist).
And then there is James Walbourne, once the guitarist in Peter Bruntnell's band, who this month releases his first solo album, a must for lovers of the Jayhawks, whose own classic early albums are about to be dusted down in search of the glory they so richly deserve.
But the thing I'm most excited about is a musical. Regina Spektor's Sleeping Beauty is due to open on Broadway this year, but you never know. You can't rush genius.
The one to watch: Hannah Peel.
Theatre
Kate Bassett
The West End's Nöel Coward theatre gets adventurous in mid-January, presenting the Muscovite Sovremennik company's Three Sisters, Cherry Orchard, and Into the Whirlwind – memories of Stalin's gulags. Cheek by Jowl's extraordinary Russian ensemble tours with The Tempest, from March.
Hotshot Rupert Gould stages The Merchant of Venice at Stratford's rebuilt Royal Shakespeare Theatre in May. Come June, Kevin Spacey steals the limelight as Sam Mendes's Old Vic Richard III.
Next month, Robert Lepage wings his way to the Barbican for The Blue Dragon: a sequel to his epic Dragon's Trilogy. In March, a sinister new Neil LaBute, In a Forest, Dark and Deep, slinks into the Vaudeville, starring Olivia Williams.
The Holy Rosenbergs marks playwright Ryan Craig's National Theatre debut, in March: Henry Goodman plays a Jewish father whose offspring radically disagree over Gaza. In February, climate change creeds are scrutinised, in an NT documentary drama, Greenland, and in polemicist Richard Bean's new black comedy, The Heretic, at the Royal Court.
The one to watch: Jessica Raine, having caught the eye in edgy teenage roles, will star in Clifford Odets' Rocket to the Moon at the NT in March. She plays the ferocious seductress Cleo Singer, sending Joseph Millson's repressed Ben Stark into a spin.
Museums
Jenny Gilbert
Buoyed by the increased footfall generated by Radio 4's A History of the World in 100 Objects, the British Museum is on a roll. Afghanistan: Crossroads of the Ancient World (from 3 Mar) will showcase more than 200 artefacts belonging to the National Museum of Afghanistan (a building "undergoing reconstruction"). They range from Classical sculpture, Roman glass, and stone tableware from Egypt, to personal ornaments worn by the nomadic elite, all feared lost after the Soviet invasion of 1979. Their survival is due to Afghan officials who hid them from the Taliban. Also at the British Museum, Treasures of Heaven (from 23 Jun) assembles sacred objects of the medieval age, when physical relics of the saints were believed to connect man and heaven.
As if taking up the baton from the Barbican Art Gallery, whose Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion continues (to 6 Feb), the Victoria & Albert fêtes Yohji Yamamoto (from 12 Mar), one of the world's most provokingly enigmatic designers of fashion.
The National Army Museum's Wives and Sweethearts (9 Feb) looks at love on the frontline in the Napoleonic, Crimean and World War conflicts as well as today's. Also in February, the Herbert Museum in Coventry launches its own blockbuster, Secret Egypt, and vows to dispel some popular myths.
Film (Art House)
Jonathan Romney
The art-house idols of 2011 will be animals. A 40-year-old orang-utan is the hyper-charismatic star of Nénette, from French documentarist Nicolas Philibert (Etre et Avoir), while the year's cult European hit could be Le Quattro Volte, a dialogue-free Italian marvel in which the show is stolen by a herd of goats and a dog with the comic timing of Jacques Tati.
National treasures Terence Davies and Lynne Ramsay return with new fictions: respectively, Terence Rattigan adaptation The Deep Blue Sea and problem-child drama We Need To Talk About Kevin.
The Coen brothers gee up the Western tradition with Jeff Bridges in a magnificent remake of True Grit, inset below, Martin Scorsese goes 3D with robot fantasy Hugo Cabret; David Cronenberg hits the couch for A Dangerous Method, his take on Freud and Jung; and Terence Malick ponders the meaning of it all in Tree of Life. And, if you need of cheering up, there's Lars von Trier's end-of-the-world drama, Melancholia.
And my wish for 2011? That Iran shouldfree director Jafar Panahi (Offside, The Circle) and lift its gag on his film-making.
One to watch: Mr Unavoidable in 2011 is Tom Hiddleston (The Deep Blue Sea, Kenneth Branagh's Thor, Steven Spielberg's War Horse) and much more.
Film (Mainstream)
Nicholas Barber
Superheroes abound: there's Green Hornet (14 Jan) with Seth Rogen, directed by Michel Gondry; the Hornet's near-namesake, the Green Lantern (17 Jun) played by Ryan Reynolds; Marvel paves the way for its team-up blockbuster, The Avengers, by introducing two more of the personnel: Thor (29 Apr) and Captain America: The First Avenger (29 Jul).
There's a double helping of Matt Damon in The Adjustment Bureau (4 Mar) – in which he and Emily Blunt dodge the agents of Fate – and Steven Soderbergh's Contagion (21 Oct), where he faces a "lethal airborne virus".
The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (26 Oct), is a motion-capture version of Hergé's adventures (Avatar style, in other words), directed by Steven Spielberg. In Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (16 Sep), Gary Oldman finally tackles a worthy role as John le Carré's George Smiley.
Pirates of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (18 May) zeroes in on Johnny Depp's Captain Jack. Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley have walked the plank.
One to watch: Rooney Mara, right, is The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (due 26 Dec).
Television
Hugh Montgomery
Drama gets off to a good start as Channel 4 serves up The Promise (Feb), Peter Kosminsky's four-part serial about the Arab-Israeli conflict, and BBC2's Christopher and His Kind (Feb) sees Doctor Who, Matt Smith, play it fast and louche as novelist Christopher Isherwood in pre-war Berlin. Elsewhere, ITV puts its faith in the supernatural with Marchlands (early Feb), a tale of a haunted house across the eras, and new US import channel Sky Atlantic launches with the first series of Martin Scorsese's much-hyped Prohibition saga Boardwalk Empire (early Feb).
For laughs, Episodes (BBC2, 10 Jan), a sitcom about the making of a sitcom, stars Matt LeBlanc as himself alongside Tamsin Greig and Stephen Mangan. Meanwhile Greig also crops up in Friday Night Dinner (Channel 4, late Feb) centred on a Jewish family's weekly get-togethers.
Many families will tune in to sub-Strictly jamboree Dancing on Ice (ITV1, 9 Jan), back with a more nondescript line-up than ever, while the retail doyenne Mary Portas, right, makes a more welcome return with a new show challenging customer service (Channel 4, Jan). For genuine "reality TV", there's How TV Ruined Your Life (BBC2, late Jan/Feb) in which the ever scabrous Charlie Brooker dissects the lies fed to us by the small screen
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