Diamond Dream / 鑽石夢
Director: Li Kuei Pi, 李奎壁
Duration: 00:08:58; Aspect Ratio: 1.778:1; Hue: 21.757; Saturation: 0.026; Lightness: 0.320; Volume: 0.141; Cuts per Minute: 7.472
Summary: In 1906 the Marseille Colonial Exhibition invited the Royal Ballet of Cambodia to perform, whereby the figure of the Apsara entered Western imagination to become fixed as an entity, while traditionally the concept had constantly undergone transmutations across the Asian region, being imagined in multiple forms and powers. Subsequently in 20th century Cambodia, the Apsara became synonymous with colonial plundering. The cyclical nature of time and history became manifest in Phnom Phnem’s artificial settlement, Diamond Island, a manifestation of aspirations for urbanity, laying the foundations of its future, caught between a largely impoverished population and rapid industrialization by means of Chinese investment. Here, a replica of the French city, named after the "Élysée Palace", the official residence of the French president exists where the artist reimagines the neocolonial legacy in the same form.
1906年，阿普莎拉（Apsara）的形象透過柬埔寨皇家芭蕾的演出，首次出現在馬賽殖民地博覽會，也具體進入了西方世界的想像。事實上，阿帕莎拉的形象在亞洲各地經過漫長演變，被詮釋為各種形式與勢力，更於20世紀成為殖民者在柬埔寨掠奪的文化象徵。時間與歷史的巡迴性體現於金邊的人造聚落鑽石島中。鑽石島是都市想像的體現、未來發展的基石，卻受困於貧困人口與中國資金帶來的疾速工業化之間。藝術家在鑽石島複製法國市景、以法國總統官邸「愛麗舍宮」命名的景觀中，呈現新殖民的軌跡。
http://www.likueipi.com/diamond-dream.html
The film is set in Diamond Island, a new district of Phnom Penh. As the dancers enter the frame, we notice that the Cambodian dancers are in business suits and the dancer of Chinese origin who is leading the rest of them is wearing the traditional Chinese dress Qi Pao, made out of traditional Cambodian fabric. The outfits capture the complexity of Cambodian identity, having gone through control by different colonial powers, followed by dictatorship under Khmer Rouge, and now entangled with China's neo-colonial impositions. Society is still segregated in a way that the Chinese who work for Chinese businesses in Cambodia are the wealthiest, and second generation Chinese immigrants who speak both languages act as interlocutors between the businessmen and local workers. Native Cambodians are economically the weakest section of the society.
這部影片談的是柬埔寨金邊一個名為「鑽石島」的新興區域。當舞者進入畫面時，我們可以看
到柬埔寨舞者身著商務套裝，至於帶領其餘舞者的華裔舞者，則身著柬埔寨傳統布料製成的中
式傳統旗袍。經歷了不同殖民國家的控制，接著是紅色高棉的獨裁統治，現在又與中國的新自
由主義糾纏在一起，藝術家以這些服裝暗指柬埔寨國家認同上的複雜。社會階級依然以某種方
式存在：在柬埔寨為中國企業工作的中國人是最富有的，而會說兩種語言的第二代中國移民充
當商人和當地人之間的通譯居中，柬埔寨當地人在經濟上是社會中最弱勢的一環。
A
Abroad 海外
1 The Arc de Triomphe of Diamond Island, 8-and-a-half-story high, 960m.
2
in total. The elevator
of the storefront on the first floor had been installed, ready to be used as a merchandise store; the
second to the eighth floor still consisted of unfinished walls, but they could be used as a hotel. The
monthly rent costs US$3,800, the deposit is 6 months' rent, and the contract lasts for 10 years.
2 The Élysée Palace of Diamond Island, a nine-story compound. Its one-bedroom apartment costs
US$750 per month, two-bedroom apartment costs US$1,600 per, and three-bedroom apartment costs
US$4,000 per month.
3 The Diamond Island Rivera is currently under construction. With 330,000 m
2
of gross building
floor area, it consists of the shopping mall, apartment, parking lot, 150 meters high sky lounge, and
sky pool. Its listing price is US$3,281 per square meter.
4 The Morgan Tower of Diamond Island is a 210 meters high, 46-story office building that is
currently under construction. The project costs US$1.6 billion in total, and the tower is scheduled
to include a 4000 m
2
sky lounge, sky pool, sky bar, restaurants, private offices, and helipad. Its listing
price is US$3,657 per square meter.
The dancers walk past an advertisement by a real estate agent selling spaces in Diamond Island. Diamond Island is an entire neighbourhood constructed by the Chinese Government, and bought by Chinese people who want to invest in these buildings with the intention of selling it for returns later on. No one actually inhabits Diamond Island, as it exists a a bubble for Chinese investment. It is a ghost town. The name of the real estate agent mentioned in the advertisement literally translates to Love China.
舞者行經鑽石島房地產仲介的廣告。該區域的開發大多是由具有中國政府資金的建設公司投資
建造，被許多中國投資客買下，再轉手出售以賺取差價。實際上沒有人真正居住在鑽石島，它
也暗藏著中國投資的房地場泡沫。這是一座鬼城。廣告上提到的房地產經紀人的名字「張愛華
」，直譯便是「熱愛中華」。
The crown of the Apsara (celestial spirit) indicates a first person narrative by the goddess. The performance is a contemporary interpretation of a performance by the Royal Ballet of Cambodia at the Marseille Colonial Exhibition in 1906, based on photographs that exist of the performance by the choreographer NGET Rady, with whom Kuei Pi worked closely. Passing from one form of authoritarianism to another also led to certain cultural amnesia and there are no practising dancers of traditional ballet left. Part of Diamond Island includes a replica of the Élysée Palace, in a Paris inspired area called Élysée, drawing upon the architecture of the former colonial power in the country. Their performance is also based on the mythology of the Ocean of Milk that travelled to Cambodia from India, except the Cambodian version of the narrative emphasises the birth of the figure of Apsara.
阿普莎拉（Apsara，天神）的皇冠代表著以女神為第一人稱的敘事角度。這場表演是用當代
的形式重新詮釋柬埔寨皇家芭蕾舞團在1906年馬賽殖民博覽會的表演，編舞家NGET Rady以
一張表演的檔案照片為基礎與藝術家李奎壁密切合作重新編舞。柬埔寨從一種形式的威權轉換
到到另一種形式威權的政治歷史，造成部分文化佚失，也因而喪失了傳統芭蕾訓練的傳承。鑽
石島某個充滿巴黎風格區域，建造了一座麗舍宮的複製品，代表著前殖民強權國家建築的文化
影響。而這個表演表演也是基於從印度流傳到柬埔寨的攪乳海神話，但柬埔寨版本的敘事更強
調女神的誕生。
All the dancers are from the Royal University of Fine Arts which has a long history dating back to 1917 and also included the National Dance Group at the time. The school was formalised outside of the royal palace in 1965 by Queen Sisowath Kosamak Naryrath, who also made the ballet accessible to the public for the first time, which until then was only for the entertainment of the royal family. She turned the performance into a movie 1966, directed by her son Norodom Sihanouk and starring her grand daughter Princess Norodom Bopha Devi. The legacy of royalty was always present in the performance, perhaps until now where the dancers are performing in a public space without associations to the monarchy.
The dancers start the performance with the birth of the Apsara. Even as the dancer of Chinese origin is leading them, she cannot perform the dance alone as it is a truly collaborative exercise. She will be powerless on her own, perhaps the same way any of the regimes prior and present would be without the local Cambodian people.
所有舞者均來自歷史悠久的皇家美術大學，其歷史可以追溯到1917年，還包括當時的國家芭
蕾舞團。這所學校於1965 年由西索瓦·科薩馬克·納瑞拉特（Sisowath Kosamak Naryrath）王
后在宮外正式成立，也是她首次將芭蕾舞向公眾開放，在此之前芭蕾舞只限王室娛樂欣賞
。1966 年，她將表演改編成電影，由她的兒子諾羅敦·西哈努克（Norodom Sihanouk）執導
，並由她的孫女諾羅敦·博法·德維公主（Princess Norodom Bopha Devi）主演。芭蕾舞蹈中
一直難以擺脫皇室的元素，也許這也是即使到現在，舞者們都在與君主無關的公共場所表演有
關係。
表演以阿普莎拉的誕生開始。華裔舞者看似在帶領、指揮其餘的舞者們，但
她無法單獨表演，這是一場必須共同合作的舞蹈演出，若獨自一人則毫無依無靠、毫無施力之
處，也許就像從以前到現在的任何政權一樣，若無柬埔寨人民則失去其權力依據。
E:
In Tontey’s works she also delves at length into how indigenous rituals were co-opted into desire for progress in the logic initially propounded by Western influence. Wherever tradition and religiosity that predate the global proliferation of Christian values endured, and continue to inform the nation project, they have only been able to do so within the vocabulary determined by political and economic structures that threatened their dominance. In contexts within Asia where modernity is an incomplete project, the ironic complicity between living traditions and modernity presents itself in everyday spaces. Be it in the sacred river Yamuna, also a site for rituals, that flows through Delhi in Vibha Galhotra’s film Manthan, from which a lone boatsman churns out large masses of pollutants in a process reminiscent of the divine enterprise in Hindu mythology of gods and demons working together to extract the nectar of immortality from the ocean. And also in Abdul Halik Aziz’s documentation of urban spaces in Colombo and accompanying zine that articulates contextual aspirations to be A World Class City, the promise of Sri Lanka’s militaristic Buddhist nationalist faction, amidst echoes of communal violence. In Karan Shrestha’s film the absence of a horizon—a motif and metaphor for centuries for limitless possibilities, especially with regard to colonial exploratory mechanisms—in Kathmandu relates to the global condition where the future is collapsing upon us, locating multiple temporalities that emerge from the folds of the present, while in the midst of the pursuit of modernity that could never be fully delivered.
E: 通蒂也在其作品中詳細探討原住民儀式如何被強行拉進起初在西方世界影響下
所提出的邏輯當中對進步的渴望。在基督教價值觀擴及全球之前的任何傳統與
宗教信仰，雖然持續影響國家大業，但也只能在曾經威脅它們主導地位的政經
結構語彙當中行之。在現代性未竟全功的亞洲脈絡下，現存傳統與現代性之間
的諷刺性共謀則體現於日常生活空間當中。以維巴．迦霍特拉的影片〈攪乳海
〉為例，在流經德里、作為儀式場所的神聖亞穆納河上，一位獨行的船夫產出
大量的汙染物，這個過程令人聯想到印度神話中眾神與惡魔合作從海洋中提取
永生甘露的神聖事蹟。此外，阿布都．哈里克．阿濟茲記錄可倫坡都市空間的
影片與附帶的小誌，明確表達出斯里蘭卡軍國主義佛教民族主義派系在不同的
群體暴力回聲中對該城市的脈絡性抱負與許諾，也就是成為一個世界級的城市
。在卡倫．席瑞斯塔的影片〈不確定的地平線〉—加德滿都缺乏地平線是若干
世紀以來對無限可能性的一種主題與隱喻，尤其是在殖民探索機制方面—與未
來正朝著我們崩塌的全球境況有關，在追求可能永遠無法完全實現的現代性之
過程裡，找出從當下的皺褶中出現的多重時間性。
The performance soon mutates into a re-enactment of the stampede of 22 November 2010 which resulted in the death of 347 people with many more injured which took place during a festival on the bridge connecting Diamond Island to the rest of the city.
表演很快就轉向回應2010年11月22日踩踏意外事件。這場踩踏事件發生於潑水節當日，在連
結市區進出鑽石島的一道橋樑上，因瞬間湧入過多民眾造成的推擠，導致347人死亡，四五百
人受傷。
At the end of the dance, the dancers face toward the same direction outside
the camera frame while posing one of their arms forward with hands open as
if they are grabbing something. Slowly we see the camera move away from
the French-style plaza toward the riverside where an excavator was parked at
an unfinished construction site. The leading dancer with the green cheongsam
leaves the dancer group and walks to the riverside by herself. This sequence
draws attention to the aftermath of accelerated investments and a dominant
capitalist force that overshadow the colonial past.
舞蹈進行到了尾聲，舞者面朝著畫面外的同一個方向，一隻手臂往前伸，雙手
打開，彷彿是要抓住些什麼。鏡頭緩慢的從法式風格的廣場轉移，來到了河畔
，那裡有著一台停在進行中的工地的挖土機。穿著綠色旗袍的主舞者脫離其他
舞者，獨自往河邊走去。這段影像揭開了加速投資與資本進駐的強勢力量之下
，另一個介於「被開發」與「被殖民」痕跡交會的荒蕪地景。
Waterbodies are a taboo in Cambodian society. It is only the lowest class of people in the city who engage in the fishing industry and navigate boats. Ironically, the most infrastructurally developed area is the Diamond Island its luxury accommodations and replicas of Parisian architecture which is surrounded by water all around. The dancer looks out to the river and sees a boat pass by.
水域是柬埔寨社會的禁忌。只有城裡最底層的人從事捕魚或船運工作。具有諷刺意味的是，基
礎設施最發達、充滿新建豪宅與巴黎風格建物複製品的鑽石島，卻是四面環水。舞者望向河邊
，一艘船悠悠經過。
The Cambodian Royal Ballet was invited to perform at the Marseille Colonial Exhibition in 1906 long before the film on the Apsara was released to be shown among other discoveries from the colonised territories, as a way to encourage trade. The figure of the Apsara in Cambodia was already a reinterpretation of an Indian myth which gave legitimacy to the bloodline of the Cambodian Royal Family, which was redefined and merchandised by the colonial powers. Colonisation today also figures within this vocabulary of commodification of people and culture, and seizing their market structures, as the Diamond Island embodies.
女神阿普莎拉的電影上映之前，柬埔寨皇家芭蕾舞團便於1906年受邀至馬賽殖民博覽會演出
，與其他殖民地的新發現一樣被展示以鼓勵更多的貿易往來。柬埔寨的阿普莎拉女神形象已經
是印度神話的重新詮釋版本，它賦予了柬埔寨王室血統的合法性，柬埔寨王室的血統被殖民列
強重新定義和商品化。正如鑽石島所體現的那樣，政治與經濟殖民的影響也體現在人民與文化
商品化的語彙之中，並在市場結構上佔有強勢的一席之地。
1906 年舉辦的馬賽殖民博覽會雖不是第一個宣揚法國殖民擴張使命的博覽會
，但當時確實是個關鍵的時機點，理解法國現代藝術發展在初期時是如何受到
殖民文物的啟發。藝術家李奎壁在影片中運用天女阿普莎拉的數位皇冠，作為
這段歷史的見證，闡述著殖民者與被殖民者之間的互動，嘗試讓被壓迫者發聲
。
天女阿普莎拉被認為是源自於印度「攪乳海」的神話。因此，李奎壁的作品 《
鑽石夢》可以與也展於本次亞洲藝術雙年展之中維巴．迦霍特拉的作品《攪乳
海》一同閱讀。迦霍特拉的作品透過拍攝印度德里水資源與河川的污染，以當
代生態悲劇的角度回應「攪乳海」的古老神話。
The Exposition coloniale de Marseille in 1906 is not the first exposition that
promotes the mission of French colonial expansion, yet this is indeed a key
moment to see how the primary development of modern art in France was
inspired by the colonial artifacts. Using the goddess Apsara’s digital crown
model as a witness of this historical point to recount the interactions between
the colonizer and the colonized is to seek the utterance of the repressed.
The goddess of Apsara is believed to originate from the story of the Samudra
Manthan in India. So, Li Kuei Pi’s Diamond Dream can be read together with
artist Vibha Galhotra’s
Manthan (also screening in “Phantasmapolis: Looking
back to the future”) where Galhotra engages the term “Manthan” from a more
ecological perspective through the polluted water and rivers in Delhi.
The work is also a commemoration of the victims of the stampede that took place during the Khmer Water Festival in Diamond Island.
本作品也是為了紀念鑽石島潑水節期間踩踏事件的遇難者。
Credits
工作人員與致謝名單
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