Banned Melodies, Purified Tunes
Banned Melodies, Purified Tunes
2022
Single-channel video (07’04”), sound installation, microphone, dual-channel speakers, disco ball, monitor, documentation
單頻道錄像07’04“、聲音裝置、麥克風、雙聲道喇叭、disco ball、顯示器、文件
本作品為張允菡、張紋瑄與林奕碩共同製作
This work is a collaboration between Chang Yun-Han, Chang Wen-Hsuan, and Lin Yi-Shuo.
Single-channel video (07’04”), sound installation, microphone, dual-channel speakers, disco ball, monitor, documentation
單頻道錄像07’04“、聲音裝置、麥克風、雙聲道喇叭、disco ball、顯示器、文件
本作品為張允菡、張紋瑄與林奕碩共同製作
This work is a collaboration between Chang Yun-Han, Chang Wen-Hsuan, and Lin Yi-Shuo.
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Chang Yun-Han and Chang Wen-Hsuan have long utilized research and investigation as a means of artistic practice. In Banned Melodies, Purified Tunes, they collaborate with artist Lin Yi-Shuo, appropriating a contemporary entertainment venue—an opulent KTV room with looped, duetted medley songs—as a parody of the censorship history of 1970s popular music. They reference the dual tactics of those in power to control 'singing': the simultaneous enforcement of banned songs (prohibited for reasons related to meaning, origin, or homophones) and 'purified songs' (promoting patriotic values and specific life perspectives). By remixing these once-banned energetic songs with the aggressively promoted purified tunes, they transform them into a male-female duet love song. The retro melody unfolds as a montage of past authoritarian sites, with the male vocals sourced from the purified songs and the female vocals from the banned ones. This love song collage, seemingly about the ebb and flow of romance, not only reveals the absurdity and autocracy of the authoritarian regime—with its imaginative mishearings and misreadings and the 'harmonized' soundscape that suppressed dissent under nationalism—but also reflects the political potential of popular culture: how even sentimental love songs can effectively intervene in history.
張允菡與張紋瑄二人，長期以研究與探查為藝術實踐手段之一。在《禁歌淨曲》中，她們和藝術家林奕碩共作，挪用當代娛樂場址—-燈紅酒綠的KTV包廂裡循環播放的串燒對唱歌曲——諧擬七〇年代流行音樂的審查史。他們援引執政者控管「唱」的兩面手法：禁止與宣傳並行下的「禁歌」（以辭意、曲源、諧音等理由的禁令）與「淨化歌曲」（鼓吹愛國意識及特定生命價值觀），將過去曾查禁的勁歌及強力播送的淨曲，混剪後改編為男女對唱情歌。復古的曲調開展於過往威權居所場址的蒙太奇，其中，男聲都是出自淨化歌曲，女聲則都剪裁自禁歌。看似戀情消長的情歌拼貼，不僅揭露強人政權的荒謬與專斷：監聽者腦洞大開的誤聽（讀）與國族主義下壓制異議的「和諧」音景；同時，也體現大眾文化的政治潛能—-芭樂情歌對歷史的有效干預。