Hayy in Serendip / 塞倫迪普的海伊
Director: Mariah Lookman, 瑪麗亞．路克滿
Duration: 00:29:47; Aspect Ratio: 1.778:1; Hue: 80.331; Saturation: 0.044; Lightness: 0.261; Volume: 0.053; Cuts per Minute: 1.578; Words per Minute: 0.235
Summary: Mariah Lookman’s most recent film Hayy in Serendib is based on Islamic philosopher and polymath Ibn Tufayl's text Hayy ibn Yaqzan, set on an island in the Indian Ocean which may have been Sri Lanka. This text inspired Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe even as it speculates that the empirical observation which eventually gave rise to the Age of Enlightenment in Europe perhaps originated in this island through the protagonist’s efforts at understanding his environment and the world around him, isolated from human civilization. The work attempts to decentre the colonial lineage of rationalist approaches in philosophical inquiry and scientific method that is the core of modernity and progress.
瑪麗亞．路克滿最新的影片〈海伊在斯里蘭卡〉的創作靈感來源是伊斯蘭哲學家與通才伊本・圖菲爾的文字作品《海伊‧本‧雅克贊》。該作的背景是印度洋，也許是斯里蘭卡，後來啟發了丹尼爾．狄福的《魯賓遜漂流記》；主角在島上與文明隔絕、試圖理解周遭環境與世界的經驗主義胸懷，很可能為歐洲的啟蒙運動埋下種籽。〈海伊在斯里蘭卡〉試圖移除現代以及進步思維中，深根蒂固的哲學批判以及科學論證中的殖民遺跡以及理性思考模式。
Supported by Asian Art Biennale and Colomboscope, Sri Lanka
intro
The story originated with a six-paragraph-long text by the Persian polymath Ibn Sina, an influential philosopher, writer, thinker and physician, who is also regarded as the 'father' of early modern medicine. The story was an effort to bridge the mystical with the scientific. At once a tale that tries to justify spontaneous creation, and one that defends human curiosity and reason as primal instincts, in Ibn Tufayl's 12th century version, who was also a physician and a polymath, the narrative brings together ontological truths in the Platonic tradition with the empiricism that fuelled the study of medicine. As a Moorish Arab scholar, Tufayl was more comfortable with the Aristotelian legacy, which also informed his Islamic scholarship. While the Quran was still the divine guiding source in his quest for truth, its abstract premise for creation itself, informs the starting point of Tufayl's version of the story. An island on the Indian Ocean becomes a parallel crucible of civilization, not unlike Eden itself, where conditions for life are so ideal that spontaneous creation itself might be possible. And for those who do not choose believe that, there is an alternative possibility presented of a baby, similar to the archetypal narrative familiar from stories such as that of Moses, who is set adrift to be found, in this case by a Doe and raised as her own child.
〈塞倫迪普的海伊〉
這是一個男孩的故事
Juxtaposition of video and text from the fictional work.
Juxtaposition of video and text from the fictional work.
他隻身一人
離群索居
但並不野蠻
後來成長為一個理性的人
這個故事最初
由10世紀偉大的波斯大學者兼醫生
及哲學家
伊本西納撰寫
12世紀時再次
由阿拉伯摩爾人哲學家及醫生
伊本圖菲爾取材編寫
這部小說被視為推理小說
設定為虛構故事
這本小說是《海伊‧本‧雅克贊》
又稱為「覺醒之子」
是一個思想實驗
故事是一個男孩發現自己在一個島上
也許是自然而然生成
是奇蹟造就的
另一種方式是煉金術
完美狀態下也是一種魔法
或者像摩西一樣出走
但並非到王宮
在這個故事中
是天堂
撫育
小海伊是由一隻瞪羚撫養長大
周遭圍繞著滿滿的
關懷
和毫不保留的呵護
在阿拉伯摩爾人的想像中
赤道附近有一座島嶼
就像伊甸園
原始純淨
極適合發展另類生物的故事
古希臘人也知道這樣一座島嶼
他們稱之為塔普羅巴納
出現在公元前 194 年的埃拉托斯特尼已知世界地圖上
之後由偉大的亞歷山大時期
地理學家及數學家
托勒密再次繪製
Lookman reminds us that the underlying message of this story is ultimately the transformative potential of love, in this case between a son and his mother, that remains an eternal truth, even when gods have come and gone. With this the artist begins an alternative, speculative re-reading of the world and histories written in the interest of civilizing intents and colonial conquest, an exercise in worldmaking.
在這個島上，海伊在愛
和自由中長大
她愛他如己出
他感到安全而無所畏懼
融入大自然
毫無隔閡
因此這也是一個愛的故事
有關母親和她失去的孩子
同時是跨越時間的故事
永恆的時間
勾起了愛的回憶
諸神逝去
僅有些被緬懷著
有些是不久前才離開的
原以為是永恆的仍消逝了
如人們所說得，但大多數事物
消失了
野獸
仍屹立不搖
所有記得的眼神啊
Hayy begins to observe the various manifestations of life around him, and by differentiation also recognises the strengths and weaknesses of the various species surrounding him. He realises that his sense perception is his greatest tool; analyzing and understanding the world around him. In the Tufayl's version of the story, Hayy has an epiphany that plants too are living, just as animals. He stops eating meat altogether as well. Shot during the lockdowns in Sri Lanka at the protected Yala National Park, the artist was able to film extended footage of animals in their natural habitat with very little interference from tourists and human visitors. In this way she collects traces of Tufayl's imagination in contemporary Sri Lanka even as human interference has transformed the erstwhile idyllic, densely forested terrains.
這個景象代表著什麼？
他想知道為什麼沒有人像他一樣
他沒有
角
沒有毛
沒有皮或羽毛
沒有尾巴
他赤裸著皮膚
他在動物身上看見了完美
找不到任何他身上的缺點
於是意識到自己是裸體
因此很早便嘗試掩蓋身體但失敗了
他看到周遭
都是家族
都是同樣的
他試著去做
但沒有角
沒有指甲
和牙齒可以搏鬥
只能仰賴感官
緊閉著雙眼
然後再度睜開
他透過這樣的實驗確定
感覺和行動容易受到障礙和阻擾
The outlines of the animals appear quite vague in the extremely dim light, appearing like a mass that can undergo metamorphosis at any given time. With the narrative texts simultaneously presented, this mass sometimes becomes flesh and at other times turns into various organs.
在極微量的光線下，動物的輪廓變得曖昧不明，彷彿一只隨時都能產生變形（metamorphosis）的團塊（mass）。在敘事文本的並陳之下，可見這團塊有時成為肉，有時成為各種內臟。
一旦移除
In this film, the part of the original story that closely deals with the death of Hayy's adoptive mother assumes centrality. His process of coming to terms with mortality, life and studies on the physiology of consciousness highlights Tufayl's own work as a physician trying to find a meeting point between modern advances in science and the scriptures, which at the time was popular within Islamic scholarship and deviated from approaches supported by Christianity where the inventions and revelations of science were considered in opposition to religion. Hayy's experiments with her physical remains in this film also foregrounds his assumptions on the interconnectedness and sameness, of all forms of life.
原本的功能便會回復
日子一天天過去
麆鹿開始衰老
海伊照顧著她 如同之前她對海伊的照顧
某天夜幕降臨
當天空為歌聲敞開
他發現她的身體一動也不動
寂靜無聲
絕望中
為找出可阻擾她的障礙
海伊開始尋找最痛的部分
他猜測是身體的某個部位
離視線最遠之處
他從觀察中
和動物身上知道
這個部分不管受到哪種傷害
損害都會遍及全身
殺戮後肉體腐化
留下空洞和頭顱
骨頭
根據所看見的
他相信身體的中心必定在中央
所有區域都需要這部分
他思索著
感官所感知的世界
只以視力來衡量
可靠嗎？
那晚為找到答案
他用燧石和乾鳥骨碎片
一遍又一遍地磨利後
將她的屍體從中剖開
從縱剖面也從橫剖面
穿過他誤認為的肺
他不停地切
切過肋骨
切過心包膜
終於找到要尋找的東西
心臟
他將心挖出來
捧著
用手捏了捏
一直尋找著受傷之處
甚麼也找不到
現在他打開心臟，發現了兩個洞
分別在左右邊
右邊全是凝結的血
左邊是空的
他在搏鬥中曾流過大量的血
但從來不曾這樣過
這顆心的看起來這麼好
卻已無用
曾存在這裡的已經離開
他所認知的生靈
它居住的身體已經不在
很可能已不會再回來
這具被切得亂七八糟的身體
In Hayy's quest for the driving force behind life itself, he observes the practices of animals around him, almost ritualistic in their execution, yet markers of respect for the circle of life. This incident draws a parallel with later instances in Tufayl's accounts of Hayy's visit to the Western world, complete bafflement at their 'civilized' ways of living and the superfluousness of their economic structures.
身體對他而言似乎是很不重要的東西
毫無價值
至於他相信曾存在這裡的生靈
During this description on death and corpse, the top of a tree is focused on with a long shot, guiding the audience to gaze at the branches and the leaves and to further observe the notable features of the twigs, the outlines and veins of the leaves. Consequently, when a dead body appears amidst the words, the tree evokes associations with life-forms that can grow from a corpse. At the same time, the emotions and circumstances of the life-forms would also manifest through their superficial features. The connection between the superficial appearance of betel-nut and the dead body is narrated in a Vietnamese folktale.
在這段關於死亡與屍體的描述中，一顆固定拍攝樹梢的長鏡頭，促使觀眾凝視樹枝與樹葉，並進一步觀察到枝杈、葉緣與葉脈的特徵。因此，當一具被死亡覆蓋的屍體在文字當中浮現時，這棵樹本身就使人想到屍體上會長出的生物。同時，這生物的情緒、處境，也會透過生物的外觀特徵顯現，一如越南民間文學中關於「檳榔」的外觀特徵與死亡的屍體的關聯。
現在離開了
海伊想知道身體為何如此不適？
它究竟去了哪裡？
因為這些想法
他扔掉了屍體
這不是那個溫柔撫育他的母親
她的愛、關懷和呵護
不可能來自一個毫無活力的身體
可能嗎？
也許身體只是一個工具罷了
與他自己製作來 與野獸搏鬥的工具無異
他想知道支配那些行動的力量是什麼
思考這這些想法的同時
他正看著兩隻烏鴉打架
E:
When the anthropogenic end is within sight, and our existential anxieties can no longer be postponed or deferred, artists turn back to consider post-human alterities that reside in our past but could not be encompassed by linear definitions of recorded time, the singular trajectory that is always calibrating exchange value and quantifying bodies as labor with the clock, and traces of other temporalities that have endured into our present. In this disassembling of measured time, certain existences, both human and nonhuman, that were displaced from its narrative to be denied history and also futurity reclaim themselves to present imaginaries and potentialities for social freedoms and eco-positive approaches that embrace indigenous wisdom. For Zhan Zhangxu’s work Si So Mi, he follows the traditional craft of making objects from paper to be burnt at funerals so they can be used in the afterlife to create a funeral procession consisting of mice—one of the few species that has learnt to thrive in the detritus of urbanity and might be fit to survive us—perhaps marking the demise of humanity, but indicating continuity despite it. Natasha Tontey’s films on the cosmology of the Minahasan stone, reveals the possibility of a gift economy based on oneness with nature, an indigenous vision that was replaced with the arrival of colonial ideas, patriarchy and advancement of capital. In the speculations of these artists drawn from real material traces in our present that endured from the past exist a plurality of possible futures that were consistently overlooked and displaced from linear time. These propositions emerge as futurisms: fantasies of entire worlds within our own—glimmers of hope—that identify not just alternative dictions of time and space, but also recognize what was denied by threat of annihilation or illegibility to systemic knowledge and institutionalized apparatuses.
由於人類世的終結在望，而我們對生存的焦慮再也無法被推遲，藝術家便回過
頭思考後人類的他異性（alterities），它們存在於我們的過去，但卻無法包
含在時間史的線性定義當中，殖民時間是不斷校準交換價值、並且用時鐘將身
體量化為勞力的單一軌跡，亦為延續至我們當下的其他時間性之痕跡。某些被
逐出它本身的敘事因而成為被否認的歷史與來世的（人類和非人類的）存在，
從這種對測量時間的拆解中找回自身，以呈現出對社會自由與接納原住民智慧
的生態保護途徑之想像與可能性。張徐展的作品〈Si So Mi〉運用在葬禮焚燒
以供逝者於來世使用的傳統紙紮工藝，創造出一列由老鼠—少數學會在都市廢
棄物中繁衍茁壯，並可能比我們活得更久的物種之一—組成的送葬隊伍，這或
許標示了人類的衰亡，但也暗示著人類的存續。娜塔莎．通蒂的影片探討米納
哈薩之石（Minahasan stone） 的宇宙論，揭示某種奠基於天人合一禮物經
濟（gift economy）的可能性，而這種原住民觀點已隨著殖民思想的到來、
父權主義，以及資本的發展而被取代。這些藝術家依據存留至今的過往實體痕
跡提出臆測，在這些臆測中存在著多種可能的未來，而線性時間總是忽略與排除這種多元性。這些命題以未來主義的形式出現：我們對整個世界的各種奇想
—希望的微光—不僅發現與重新取回對時間與空間的另類表述，也識別出因受
到毀滅威脅或因系統知識與制度化組織無法辨識而被否認的事物。
殘暴兇猛
一隻將另一隻擊斃
他繼續看著
烏鴉開始用爪子挖洞
埋葬了對手的屍體
如果一隻鳥可以埋葬其他鳥
海伊更有理由埋葬母親
這個想法促使他埋葬了屍體
並繼續
調查是甚麼控制了行動卻不會被發現
並且看不見
他抱持著甚麼 都不認識的姿態在島上閒晃
Hayy's attempts to make sense of life and death lay the foundations for his inquiry into the world around him, with the tools of an anatomist. In his experiments, he discovers the oneness of all life forms and at the same time the inherent diversity within that oneness. In the intellectual journey of one boy separated from the rest of humanity, based on knowledge derived from merely observing natural life around him, the artist notes that one is able to identify the fundamental truths that escape our present-day social and discourses, and attempts at cohabiting with one another. Incidentally, inside the Yala National Park where the film was shot also resides the Kataragama temple, one of the few religious sites in Sri Lanka that is considered sacred by Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus and local indigenous communities.
走著
觀察著
思考著
各種動物
每一種動植物都有許多相似的同類
但沒有人像他
發現他的尋覓徒勞無功後
他偶然發現了火
他學會了釣魚
他學會了打獵
The camera tilts up to focus on a treetop, and after gazing at it for a while, one’s line of vision would slowly shift to focus at the borderline between the tree and the sky. Because of this fragmented repetition, the edges of the tree appear broken but also project vivid biological characteristics, similar to lungs and liver with micro-vessels distributed across them. This act of gazing results in an illusive vision of organs, which is further supported by the narrative texts.
一顆仰視樹梢的鏡頭，在觀看久了之後，也會讓視線漸漸凝聚在樹與天空的邊緣，由於碎形複製的緣故，樹的邊緣既破碎又富於生物特性，例如肺、肝等微血管的分佈。這些透過凝視獲得的內臟的錯覺，進一步通過敘事文本而獲得支持。
他覺得火很神奇
沒有棍子就搞不定
它能在太陽下山後保持溫暖
火擁有這樣神奇的力量
讓他想起了他的麆鹿母親
跟他們在一起時保護他的物質很相似
這讓他想到
如果能解剖任何活體動物，看看體內
在母親體內是空的左心室
也許會發現充滿了
曾存在其中的物質
他必需弄明白
這種物質是不是火
或者
是像星星一樣的冷光
於是他捕了一隻野獸
Through the timing and the tempo of the words that appear over the video, the audience realises that this is a “silent recitation” of a particular text. The absence of a voice-over is replaced by bird calls. In East Asian folktales, bird calls are often considered to be mutated versions of the human speech, and birds can tell secrets that people had no idea about. The words express that the protagonist was self-taught about life through anatomical dissection, but when juxtaposed next to the video, it feels like the audience is learning about this secret through the bird calls.
由於文字文本的放置時機與節奏，觀眾在腦海中意識到了這是一個文本的「無聲朗誦」，朗誦的聲音的空缺，由鳥類的叫聲所替補。在東亞的民間文學當中，鳥類的鳴叫聲往往被視為是人的語音的變形，鳥能夠告知人所不知的秘密。在文字的內容中，主角是透過解剖而自學到生命，但與影片並陳時，彷彿像是觀眾透過鳥語而獲得了秘密。
將牠綁起來
切開來
以解剖麆鹿的方式解剖牠
他不斷解剖直到解剖至心臟
首先鬆開左心室，打開它
發現它充滿輕飄飄的蒸氣
看起來像一團霧或白雲
他將手指放在上面
發現熱得超過他能承受的溫度
當他觸碰心臟時
動物立即死亡
所以
他認為一定是蒸汽 將行動指令傳達給動物
他開始明白每一種動物身上都有
像這樣的東西
一旦蒸汽離開，死亡便隨之而來
有了這個
Hayy's ingenuity and inventiveness in crafting a sustainable life for himself from resources found around him mirrors early civilizational progress made by human-kind. This part of the story would eventually lead up to Hayy's discovery of the rest of humanity and his later attempts to share all that he learnt with the rest of the world. The inadequacy of his own form that he observes earlier in this film in relation to the animal world around him is also addressed here as he appropriates, feathers, claws and skin to supplement his own lacking. The artist likens this to the human nature of never being satisfied no matter how much material wealth one has accumulated, or how much one has plundered, looted and extracted from both the natural world and each other.
透過解剖動物學習的新領悟後
奇人如他
明白了動物許多肢體
各種感官知覺和動作
是透過
心跳連結的動作
而統整為一的
civilisations
Historia Naturalis
Humans envisioned architecture and civilization. As mentioned in Filarete’s paper, the origin of architecture in Vitruvius’s legend is connected to “natural” conditions. However, the textual reference used in the video remains cautious with regard to this and mentions that human beings carry out activities according to their own will, and a boundary has been gradually evolved to demarcate architecture and civilization from “nature”.
人類曾經想像著的建築史與文明史。猶如在菲拉雷特（Filarete）的論文中，提及維特魯威神話裡面人類最初的建造者，與「自然」的狀態相聯繫。但影片援引的文字文本對此保持警醒，並提及人類按照自己的意志進行的活動，如果漸次與「自然」開始劃分了界線。
海伊透過解剖學家的工具
了解了世界運作的方式
視力與聽力有關
感覺一切
觸覺
嗅覺
味覺
他學會了製作毛皮和羽毛
他決定穿上獸皮
到了21歲時
藉由學習動物
觀察鳥類
他摸索出如何建造房屋
學會了儲存食物
製造了爪形、釘子形和角形的工具
他自己準備裝備
用人造武器武裝自己
雖然上天
甚麼都沒有給他
他無所畏懼
他手藝精巧
他知道
他可以
單靠自己的雙手
馴服最狂野的野獸
此後
海伊將精神集中於研究各種植物物種
比較植物和動物
透過
重複性和多樣性的基本原則統整動物
他發現植物也像個別動物物種一樣
精神是相似的
兩種生活方式
一種開始時是靜止的
然後
有一天他看見花朵轉過頭
向著太陽
The artist signals the arrival of the colonizers to the island, bringing with them guns, trade and wars through the epic Portuguese poem, The Lusiad: Or, The Discovery of India by Luís de Camões. The Arab imagination of Sri Lanka rendered it an idyllic context for speculating the nature of life itself, whereas with the Portuguese came another monopoly of gods.
在另一個故事中
葡萄牙船隻航行時
詩人唱著
武器和肉塊已分配
西盧西塔納海灘
倚著前所未見的海洋
航行
他們也越過
塔普羅巴納之外
歷經危險艱苦的戰爭
發揮了超越常人的力量
並且在遙遠地區建造了
一個新王國
收穫、美酒、生育
水果和草木之神巴克斯
東方的守護者
船隻駛過
詩人唱著
巴克斯是如何輸給維納斯
在另一個故事中是名為星期五的人
The artist here refers to the tale of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe to complete the narrative. It is speculated that Tufayl's text was widely available in circulation in the Western world by the 13th and the 14th century and Defoe's novel was inspired by it. Crusoe's colonial perspective on indigenous lives on the other side of the world, is also about Man Friday's encounter with Western civilization.
Hayy missed his solitary life immersed in study, and returns to the island where the memory of his mother endures, rejecting what materialism and the logic of capital had to offer.
想像中的熱帶島嶼
滋養著人類的能力
孕育著各種可能性
創造奇蹟的希望成就了奇蹟
海伊不像他們
他永遠無法適應人類的方式
透過理性獲得的智慧
是有限的
愛記得的
長遠
人生是
從理性昇華到感性
偏愛獨處的人生
The film ends with Hayy's desire to be left alone in his island in the poetry and the rigours presented by life in the wild. Thunderstorm and lightning are set to a Basuri (flute) recital in Raag Malhar by Haider Rahman.
根據伊本圖菲爾
《海伊‧本‧雅克贊》的小說改編
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