2020

Infinity and Infinity Plus One

Installation, 3D rendering image combined with 4K real image

13 minutes 12 seconds

The installation Infinity and Infinity Plus One by Cao Shu is a modern fable of destruction, collective consciousness, and future memory told through the lens of a seaside hotel erected in the 1990s on an island in China. Combining 3D-rendered images and shot footage, the work travels through a seemingly-unlimited number of rooms, infinite corridors, and breathtaking viewpoints on site. Meanwhile, an official voiceover tells an absurd story about philosophy and mathematics in the form of a monologue. The narration of the film is also spoken in dialect by residents of the local fishing village.

Thirty years after being built, this hotel has turned to ruins and is waiting for demolition. A new resort club will be built in its place as a  tourist attraction for travellers across China. Yet, the landmark is a microcosm of the collective subconsciousness of Chinese architecture in the past 30 years, which is often nicknamed “Roman homeland” or “Venice community” in postcolonial semantics. The installation and the slow interchanging between shot and animated images make strange a linear perception of time and space. The shot images provide a feeling of real, present, grounded time, and are intermixed with animated images that suggest either a past, reconstructed location, or a future and imagined space. As a consequence, a cup talks and a conference room comically, yet solemnly, becomes the end of the world.

无限和无限加一

装置，3D数字模拟影像与4K实拍影像结合

13分12秒

在8通道的影像装置无限和无限加一中，主屏幕影像以3D渲染和实拍结合的方式制作，内容关于一则海边寓言故事，由一个思考数学问题的官员讲述。影片置换了希尔伯特的数学问题，面对孤岛上无限房间，且住满了官员的招待所，这个突然的造访者将做何选择？影片里，无人废墟中静默的会议桌，以机械复读姿态进行对话的茶杯，仿佛权力语进行展示的场景。

在某种无限延宕的时间里，无限和无限加一是相等的，或许这正是理念世界和现实世界的巨大鸿沟，也是现实被理念世界不断引导至悲剧的原因。影片延续了作者由具体地点展开，从而引申出的对时间问题的表达——时间如何被某种意志，借由不同视觉形态，被塑造成了某种具体的制度。漫游式的镜头里，实拍场景和3D建模渲染的空间反复切换，通向走廊尽头的会议室。主屏幕外的其他7个通道中，循环播放着不同位置的监控下，这座招待所里发生的一切。空间装置中多视角的呈现，将主屏幕一镜到底的形式所营造出的共时感再度打破。影片的旁白也是由当地人以方言口述。