复行数十步
相比郑路之前的展览，“复行数十步”的展览有着区别性的变化，不仅转换了画廊空间的常识性结构，同时，开启了对空间秩序“破坏性”的理解，在物理属性之上进行创作和转译，进而用人文属性将其重新塑造。上坡、断崖与下坡形成的观展路径，试图将观众的观看，转译成展览最重要的行为部分。断崖下倒置迷幻的山水景观，环绕在四周的镜子产生相互折射和透视的关系，通过俯瞰的视角一览无余，而设计出镜子的倾斜角度，巧妙的将观众隔离在作品的观看视角之外，违背了沉浸式展览服务于拍照的主流趣味，可远观而不可自拍焉。展览呈现出的令人着迷的土味气质，可能会给观者带来惊喜或者失望等复合性的情绪。一条“复行数十步”的路，一幅“桃花源”的写意图景，搭配断崖本身存在的危险性，共同创作了一个仅供思考的场域，在疫情澎湃的年度，更有了存在的现实意义。
“孟婆”的甜蜜
习惯城市生活的光鲜亮丽，是否脱离了真实生活？郑路总在追问着自己。他时常抽出时间去探访街头巷尾的市井生活，犄角旮旯、拆迁现场和棚户区，那些真实的关于人的现实景象。面对冠冕堂皇的交际场面，人们戴着各自装扮的面具，谈吐着不真实的话术。郑路更愿意去地摊吃一碗实在的抻面，在生活的细微处，观察真实的人和他们的生活。而非虚无地生活在觥筹交错间，仅留下一张张用来表达恩爱和友情的脸。
近两年，时常会有一些偶然或必然的故事与事故，奇妙的“误入”郑路的生活。某次撤展后，莫名砸入作品包装箱内的食用白砂糖，从意外的事故，转变成为生活给予的缘分，像极了降临在肩头的甜蜜天使。郑路考虑了很久如何将与他相会的糖，转换成作品呈现。又一次偶然的遇见，最终促成了作品“奈何”。一次，郑路离京到异地银川为作品布展，空隙时间，他在城市的边缘游转，突然偶遇到了一个民间的丧葬道具景观——由拖拉机改造而成的奈何桥，作为增项服务游走于这座城市的众多丧葬现场。中国的民间充满了智慧和力量，并时常营造出超现实的现实景观。桥有着阴阳交界的意味，奈何桥是神话中投胎的临界处，人死后来到忘川河，喝一碗孟婆的汤，忘记前世的喜乐仇怨，走过奈何桥，投胎转世。就是这一偶遇，触发了郑路积压在身体中“如何将280公斤偶然闯入生活中的糖转化成作品”的执念。两个毫不相关，并无法在现实世界进行连接的物质，皆因为偶然而相遇，有如宇宙中暗物质的存在，直觉让郑路将偶然与必然相互交合一处，形成新的逻辑关系，并使之成为了命运给予的必然联系。一座巨大的木制拱桥，象征着坚固的使人生死往复的通路，糖从晶体被塑形成棉花糖制式的云朵，静置与桥的表面，时间成为行为本身，甜蜜溶解的过程，好像一碗甜美的孟婆汤，犹犹豫豫中一饮而尽。于是，充满土味情趣的景观，幻化出人生快速运转的缩影，生与死是如此的短暂和无奈。糖与桥从偶然到必然的转换过程，不仅打破了郑路多年来所形成的雕塑创作的经验与惯性，转换出与现实有关的语言方式。同时，或多或少地正在改变着他的价值观
和方法论。
沙漠、大海与停车场
北京的傍晚，归家心切的车辆挤满了道路，车流的尾灯，随着密集的刹车频率闪烁出红色的光亮与轮廓，如同无数双汽车的眼睛在转动流光。在郑路看来，尾灯的造型及其灯罩的设计有着仿生学的意味，其内部切割的棱角和单元、矩阵的构成很像昆虫的复眼结构。凯文·凯利在《失控》一书中提到了一个概念：人造物表现得像生命体，而生命体变得更加工程化，两者的界限越来越模糊。郑路观察工作室院子中的太阳能警示灯，在夜晚自动闪烁出的光亮，如同一个被自我定时的生命体，持续着朝静夕动的固定动作，他将其与汽车尾灯的流动感串联在一起，思考出模拟“复眼”的作品《差翅亚目之目》。
出埃及记中，希伯来人在神的指引下，从埃及出发，经历了红海的阻隔与法老的追杀，千辛万苦来到了西奈，完成了神给予的救赎过程。郑路的作品《差翅亚目之目》有着相似地缘经历和升级之路。在敦煌的党河河谷，有一座由1000面定日镜组成的高达260米的塔式熔盐光热发电站，在白天，它是人迹罕至的戈壁滩上耀眼的超级发光体。1.0版本的《差翅亚目之目》同样坐落在敦煌，但它却和发电站有着相反的“生理”习惯，白天蛰伏在日光下贪婪的汲取能量，像极了一个昼伏夜出的“复眼”怪兽，在暗夜中澎湃地燃烧着自己的身体，呼唤着干涸地带的生命灵性。2.0版本由沙漠漂泊到了阿那亚的海面，海水的浮力给了郑路全新的思路，他为《差翅亚目之目》设计了藏匿于水下的漂浮平台，让作品在海水中处于“无家可归”的游弋感，闪烁了几个月渤海的夜空。与沙漠不同，海洋有着更多不可控的因素，漂流带来未知的去向，警示灯不再是单向的与人的对话，还介入了海洋中生物的生活，这些闪烁的警灯会不会成为新的光污染，也未尝可知。经历了几次海水的潮期浮动，作品几乎倾覆于其中，海水极端的环境与超强的腐蚀力，让球体几乎只剩下了一半，同时，也给予了作品进化的可能性和游牧的活力。于是，3.0版本的《差翅亚目之目》出现在了798的核心停车场，郑路优化了作品的内部结构，更加便于运输与安装，13000只太阳能警示灯，实现了点亮798的初衷。疫情开始，每个人都在孤独中静止了数月，很像798的夜晚，白天的人流喧嚷和夜晚的清冷匹乏，形成了巨大的差异，《差翅亚目之目》独立而机警的探视人间，成为人去车空的现实场景增添了生命的活力与希望。三地不同场域和语境的游牧过程，不是终点，仅仅是郑路区别与以往的创作方法，和在地属性语言实践的开始。
误入桃花源
爱因斯坦的名言：当我们的知识之圆扩大之时，我们所面临的未知的圆周也一样。郑路认为如果将宇宙的文明分为三个指数，现在的人类连第一个指数都达不到，只达到了0.7的文明度，使用掌握的能量来计算能力比例。关于认知的问题，有着无数个反面，世界上存在很多看不见的东西，比如暗物质，它可能占据整个宇宙百分之七十的容量，人类始终看不见这些物质，但它们却真实的存在于身边。郑路近年的创作随着他对未知的关注而转向，虽然还无法脱离视觉的相关阐述，但是他希望能够通过人类已有的感知经验，思考、实践、呈现出更多不可见的描述。偶然的交集所带来的未知性，成为了郑路获取感知的重要方式之一。
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去年的某天，郑路途径平房村这个正在拆迁的棚户区，在一片狼藉的废墟中，他发现了一家幸存的花鸟鱼虫小店，曾经的家园正在灰飞烟灭，生活的情趣还在继续。金鱼和盆景等物品，让人产生了某种脱世感，廉价小假山颜色鲜艳，上面篆刻着“桃花岛”的字样，郑路如获至宝，，就将其买了下来。几天后，他再次前往小店，想去买下一整套的假山景观，小店却“消失”了，店主的命运走向也犹如一道谜题。恍惚间，郑路已经不确定上次的购物经历是否真实地发生过？“桃花岛”的假山成为了唯一证明其存在过的证据。事情开始变得有趣，“桃花岛”的经历，让郑路联想到了《桃花源记》的故事，当再次寻觅桃花源时，此境已不再。偶然地找到了“仙境般”避世之地，遇见了区别于自己既有认知和生活常识的新世界，社会和政治环境是由人与人之间善意的交往构成，一切格外的美好。当然，或许当武陵人进入到桃花源与避世者诉说外面世界后，同样会诱导人们对复杂世界的向往，滋生追求的欲望。桃花源的未来，可能再也不是与世隔绝的不争之地。也许，导致桃花源消失的原因，是日常的平静被“误入的人”所打破，桃花源里的人们开始被闯入者所描述的世界吸引，外面的人再次寻找桃花源时，桃花源已经入了世，成为世人。命运和人生始终是一个寻找的过程，反复收获如同密室逃脱的线索，继而不断地复行数十步，四面八方，无尽无涯。
斜坡上的树
“复行数十步”在画廊的物理空间中，设置了一个向上的斜坡，斜坡成为一条往返的路，行程既让人好奇，同时又成为消耗观看者耐心的行为，他们必须向上缓步行进“数十步”，来到展厅的尽头，从一道危险的断崖处向下观看，眼前是一个由廉价假山假水假花假草构成的魔幻景观，一个散发着土味的“美丽新世界”。如同运用了快手的魔力，重塑了86版电视剧西游记的布景，给人美好而歧义的错觉。 “复行数十步”营造的断崖下面的“新世界”，不仅为观者营造了一个美丽的景观假象，同时制造出巨大的危险隐患，让观者心理产生恐高或者坠落的危机感。四面的镜子围拢呈现出无尽的空间感，特意设计出的镜子的角度，将观众的形象隔离在外，只能从断崖看到下面镜中倒置的奇幻景观，而无法轻松的与作品进行合影。
《杜伊诺哀歌》的第一哀歌中写着：“也许，仍有某棵树留在斜坡上，供我们日夜观看，仍有为我们留下的昨天的散步和对于一个习惯的长期效忠，这习惯一旦跟我们住下便不愿离开。”画廊空间中心的柱子，成为展览唯一无法改变的物理存留物，选择杜伊诺哀歌中的诗句，将柱子转换为留在斜坡上的树。每位观众经过陪伴斜坡的树时，通过诗歌的文字，幻想展览与现实互为切换的关系。观众与路程是展览中最重要的环节，人在进入空间后往上走过这段路，构成展览的主体行为部分，假如没有人走到悬崖，悬崖便不具备它危险的属性，展览仅仅是安全的斜坡，独立于空间的一个物体而已。
毁灭的美丽
《第三帝国内幕》是阿尔贝特·施佩尔在德国战败后，狱中所写的回忆录。其中讲述了建筑师身份的施佩尔所提出的“废墟论”，他将建筑视为人类文明遗迹的延续，时代的物证就是建筑遗迹，例如长城和金字塔等残留下来的大多以坚固的石头为主体的建筑遗迹。他以时代精神传递后世出发，提出“废墟论”的概念。即建筑在初始设计时，便开始考虑建筑毁灭时候的形态，建筑图纸呈现千百年后的现实场景，石柱断裂，藤蔓缠绕。郑路认为：“无论他出于何种目的，这种创作思维是值得借鉴的。世界是在运动中发生，没有永久和无坚不摧的物体，一切都是在运动中生成它的命运，这是一个提示，我们从开始建立的时候，从不寄希望于要毁灭，希望永恒不朽，事物发展的过程和结果，本身是矛盾的。”
“人是耽美的生物，而美又是摇曳难捉、忽远忽近、但却不住扩散，它让人向往的同时却背弃人类，倒不如以毁灭美的方式，去创造另一种的绝望之美。”三岛由纪夫所写的《金阁寺》，同样是一个关于毁灭的故事，爱它的极致，所以要烧掉它，这是一种多么纠结的情感。“复行数十步”也有着复合的戏剧性，断崖经常在革命题材的影视剧中出现，面对生与死的抉择，革命英雄主义者毅然决然选择自己的信仰，就义于崖底。展览中崖底呈现的光怪陆离的景象，迷人且使人流连忘返，美丽的视觉效果中，观众会如何思考？这一切制造出的假象，难道不值得思考？疫情的全球化状态，延展出诸多的问题，甚至改变了郑路的三观，其中包括他对信息和经验的质疑。所以，本次展览，适逢这一特殊的时期，郑路为SPURS Gallery空间设计了一个复合体，改变观看结构与习惯，让观众在完整的观展过程中，去寻找自我的反应与思考。
在返回时下坡尽头的墙面，写着《杜伊诺哀歌》的第一哀歌中的另一句：“因为美不是什么，而是我们刚好可以承受的恐怖的开始。”
冯兮6月6日草于冯二进一
A WALK TO REMEMBER
Comparing with previous exhibitions, “A Walk to Remember” marks a distinctive transformation in Zheng Lu’s art. There is not only remodeling of the regular exhibition space but also new insights into the “destruction” of order in the space. The exhibition features both creation and conversion on the basis of physical attributes and integration of cultural elements. The slopes and the bluff along the route turn the visiting process into the central piece of the exhibition. The illusive inverted landscape below the bluff, together with the mirrors around, that refract lights from one another in perspective. One can take in everything at a glance from above. The mirrors, specially inclined to certain angles, block the visitor’s view skillfully, a practice contrary to the regular arrangement in an immersive exhibition that caters visitors’ need to take photos. It is to be viewed only from a certain distance but not for photo-taking. The fascinatingly rustic atmosphere may create in the visitors a mixed feeling of surprise and disappointment. The path on which visitors can take “a walk to remember”, the “fictitious land of peace” reminiscent of the “Peach Colony” in Chinese literature, together with the “precarious” bluff, build a field for reflection. In this time of pandemic, this exhibition takes on a real significance.
MENG PO’S SUGAR
So accustomed to the flashy and flamboyant city life, are we divorced from reality? This question is always on Zheng Lu’s mind. As long as he can spare some time, he would walk in small alleys or run-down areas to learn more about people in real life. When put into a high-sounding social gatherings, people wear masks and they are false, so he prefers the less noticeable places where he can have a bowl of noodle at a food stall. In the petty details of life there are real people and real life. We tend to ignore them even if we live in the same city, leaving only faces that show affection and friendship.
In the past two years, chance or inevitable stories kept frequenting his life. When his work returned from the exhibition, the packing got broken by boxes of granulated sugar. It came to him as something predestined. It had a miraculous touch of humour, just like a sweet angel that lands on our shoulder. It took him quite some time to find a way to integrate the sugar into his art. Then another chance encounter came, giving him the inspiration of the Naihe Bridge. While taking a walk on the edge of the city during his preparation for an exhibition in Yinchuan, he happened to see some props used in folk funerals. Naihe Bridge, converted from a tractor, went between funerals, providing additional service. Never does the Chinese folk wisdom fail to build surreal landscapes. The bridge joins two worlds, one for the living, the other for the dead. On the Naihe Bridge the dead get reincarnated into new bodies. They come to Wangchuan, equivalent to Lethe in Western mythology, have a bowl of soup offered by Meng Po, and then forget everything about their previous life. In the end they cross the bridge and get reincarnated. This chance event aroused in him the obsession with the 280 kg sugar that came to him by chance. The sugar and the bridge, unrelated to each other in the real world, met here — all by chance. Like dark matter in the universe, the instinct created a new logic by joining chance with inevitability and turned it into a positive connection by fate. A large wooden arch bridge was put there, symbolizing a solid passage connecting life and death. The sugar was turned into sugar floss, floating like clouds over the bridge. In this case time became action. The sugar melted, as if preparing a sweet bowl of Meng Po soup for the hesitant dead to drink up. The rustic landscape became an epitome of our fleeting life. Life or death, everything is transient and helpless. The combination of the sugar and the bridge, from something chance to inevitable, not only left aside his prior experience and habits formed in his years’ sculpture-making to generate a new way of expression that has a direct bearing to our reality, but also bought some changes to his values and methodology.
DESERT, SEA AND PARKING LOTS
Streets in Beijing at dusk are always flooded with anxious homeward motor vehicles. Tail lamps flashes as drivers hit the brake constantly, leaving a sea of red glows on the street like countless blinking eyes. Tail lamps, of various shapes and screens in particular, remind Zheng Lu of bionics: the corner angles, units, and compound-eye-like matrix. Kevin Kelly pointed out two trends in his Out of Control, i.e., the artificial evolution towards life and life in the direction of engineering, adding that the distinction between organic forms and artificial ones are demystified. Following the routine of alternating illumination between day and night, the light glowed automatically from the solar warning equipment in his studio yard like a self-timed organic form. Based on this observation, he combined it with the sense of fluidity the tail lights gave, presenting us "Anisoptera’s Eye", a work that simulates compound eyes.
The Exodus tells the story of how the Hebrews, guided by Moses, left the land of Egypt and finally arrived at the foothills of Mount Sinai after they successfully went across the Red Sea and left the pursuing Pharaoh and his army behind. In Zheng’s “Anisoptera’s Eye”, we can find a parallel in geographical experience and spiritual elevation. By the Danghe River Valley stands a 260- meter-tall molten salt tower solar thermal power plant. mirror field reflected on the vast Gobi Desert a dazzling luminophor of considerale size. If the power plant was a diurnal illuminant, then “Anisoptera’s Eye” became its nocturnal counterpart. It stored solar energy greedily in the day like a monster with “compound eyes” that hid itself in the daytime and comes out at night, burning itself fiercely and waking up all lives in the dry land. Version 2.0 was shifted to the sea in Aranya. Inspired by the buoyancy of the seawater, he designed a floating platform under water. Here there was a sense of rootlessness. It stayed there for several months, lighting up the sky. Unlike the desert, the sea was influenced by more uncontrollable factors. Drifts moved in an unpredictable direction, and warn lights no longer engaged in one-way dialogue with people, and instead they intervened in the living things. Who knows if it could gave warnings about new light pollution? After several ebb-tide cycles, the work was submerged with only half of the globe because the other half was corroded by the sea water. What happened to the work in Aranya helped the work to evolve and to gain strength and vitality in a nomadic context. Version 3.0 was then placed in the central parking lot at 798. The modified internal structure made it easy to transport and assemble. The 13,000 warning lights illuminated 798. After COVID-19 struck, we were locked down for several months in isolation. It was like the night at 798, where the noisy crowds in the daytime made a stark contrast to the deserted streets at night. “Anisoptera’s Eye” descended to take a cautious look at our world, injecting life and hope into the empty parking lot. The nomadic life the work experienced between three fields and contexts marked not an end but a beginning of his experiment with local media. It is an initiation into a new world of creation.
STRAYING INTO THE PEACH BLOSSOM COLONY
Our circle of knowledge expands, observed Einstein, so does the circumference of darkness surrounding it. Civilizations of the universe are measured on 3 scales, and ours is now at 0.7, a long way to go before we arrive at scale 1, in other words, we are still restricted by energy in our effort to discover more about the universe. There is too much to know, and too much contrary to our assumption, and too much unknown, like dark matter. It may take up 70% of the universe, but we just can’t see it. It is there around us for sure. As his interest changes to the unknown, he wishes to give expression to more and more invisible things in our world through our prior perception, thinking and practice. The unknown world based on the intersection of chance events becomes our agent to gain perception.
Sometime last year, Zheng found a shantytown in Pingfang Village, a place to be demolished soon. In the ruin he spotted a pet store selling flowers, birds, fish, bonsai, and things like that. The houses they used to live in were turning to debris, but they can still get fun from life. Goldfish, bonsai, and the like, built another world. On a bright colored rockery, very cheap, were inscribed three characters: Taohua Island, in Chinese meaning Peach Blossom Island. For Zheng, it was no less than a treasure. Some days later, he went back in the hope of buying a whole set of the rockeries, only to find that the store was gone. What had happened to the store-owner became a mystery and whether he had bought something there also seemed to be doubtful. Then the rockery with the inscribed characters became the only proof. This interesting episode associated Zheng with the story of “The Peach Blossom Colony” in which the narrator couldn’t find the quite and peaceful land anymore when he returned. The fairy land he strayed into not only offered him new experience and new things but also exposed him to a new social and political context based on human connection and kindness. In a word, it is wonderful. Of course, we could imagine him telling people in the “Peach Blossom Colony” about the world he came from. His description of the complex outside world must have attracted them as well, tempting people to explore it, and then this secluded beautiful place could lose its peace. Or perhaps the place disappeared just because people there were too much attracted to the outside world after they heard what the involuntary intruder said. So even if people in the outside world finally find the “Peach Blossom Colony” again, it would differ little from the outside world. Our fate and our life are about exploration and discovery. Like in a takagism game, we keep finding new clues that guide us to travel afar in all directions.
TREES ON THE SLOPE
“A Walk to Remember” set up an upward slope in the exhibition hall for visitors to travel back and forth as part of the visiting route. While arousing curiosity, it was also a trial of our patience. One had to take “A Walk to Remember”, a dozen steps, before reaching the other end of the exhibition hall where he could see a bluff with magic landscape below. Rockeries, streams, flowers and grass, all fake and cheap, built a “beautiful new world” of rustic flavor, like a TV play setting in 1986 refashioned by the technology used for Kwai. A world of illusions. The “new world” below the bluff not only provided an illusory landscape but also posed a danger that could put the visitors in fear of height. The mirrors on the four sides created a sense of space that extended afar. Also, the mirrors put at a specially arrange angle, the visitors were kept clear, so that they could only see from the bluff inverted images in the mirrors---a photo with the work was almost impossible.
In “The First Elegy” of The Duino Elegies, Rilke wrote, “Maybe what’s left for us is some tree on a hillside we can look at day after day, one of yesterday’s streets, and the perverse affection of a habit that liked us so much it never let go.” The pillars in the center of the space were the only unalterable objects at the exhibition. Inspired by Rilke’s lines, the artist fashioned the pillars into trees on the slopes. Passing these trees, the visitors, at the sight of the poetic lines, began to visualize the interaction between the exhibition and reality. Visitors and the visiting route were the highlights in the exhibition. If no visitors walked close, the bluff was no longer dangerous, so the exhibition in this case became a safe slope only, something alien to the space.
BEAUTY DESTROYED
Inside the Third Reich is Albert Speer’s personal account written in prison after Germany was defeated in WWII. As an architect, he came up with the theory of ruin. From the perspective of the sustained cultural relics, the remains of our architectural structures can be regarded as a witness to history, like the Great Wall, the Pyramid, and other solid constructions of stone. Based on this discovery, he came up with the theory of ruin to explain how the zeitgeist was inherited. In other words, an architect has to be able to have a mental picture of the architecture in ruin even the moment he starts the design. The architectural drawings must show what the building will be like in thousands of years, with stone pillars broken, intertwining vines... “Whatever his motive”, Zheng Lu believed, “there is something in Speer’s theory. The universe keeps moving, so nothing last forever, and nothing is invincible. Everything acquires his fate while in movement. It reminds us that we all wish for perpetuation when we start to build something, but it is nonetheless contradictory.”
According to Yukio Mishima, human beings had a fixation with beauty, but beauty, capricious and diffusive, attracted us and betrayed us at the same time, so we might as well destroy it to create a kind of beauty of despair. In his Kinkakuji, the novelist told us a story of destruction. The ultimate love of something means burning it. What a dilemma! “A Walk to Remember” also shows a kind of compound theatricality. The bluff scene is typical in Chinese revolutionary films, reminding us of a critical moment of life and death. The heroes didn’t hesitate to sacrifice for their lofty ideals and die a martyr by jumping off the cliff. The “new world” below the bluff presents a fascinating illusory landscape. What might the audience think of it? Is the illusion thought-provoking? As the pandemic spreads, a host of problems come up that are really changing the artist’s world views, like questioning the information and experience we get every day. His complex work here is designed to change the visitors’ viewing structure and habit so that they can reflect on their own response in a complete viewing process.
Turning back to the end of the downward slope, the visitors may catch sight of another line in “The First Elegy” of The Duino Elegies:“ Because beauty’s nothing but the start of terror we can hardly bear...”
Feng Xi
Feng’erjinyi, June 6