所谓历史，是对过去的事件和行动的记录与诠释，如其英文名称 history，存在着不明确性：这是一个“他”的故事，一个“他”在叙述一个(具说服力的)故事。那么，究竟“谁在阐述”?

　　在戏剧的政治性以及政治的戏剧化中，其表演性过程开展了一个令人兴奋的理论方案，是一个似乎提供了回旋余地但同时保留让人想象事物的局部发展过程的空间的方案。对比于日常中看似预先确定和定义的例程，戏剧化行为，虽依据脚本，具有潜力开拓另一个让戏曲与表演性行为交涉的空间。表演空间与观众席之间的距离以及其与日常的抽离，让观众对台上的表演产生了一定程度的隔离(即实体上和情绪上的)，亦使观众更容易接受它的设定。一方面它吸引了观众的所有的注意却也促成了一个联结表演者与观众的共存时空。另一方面，这同时在呼吁我们更仔细地探究当今艺术实践里重新被运用的戏剧性与戏剧化策略。

　　首届亚洲双年展暨第五届广州三年展——“亚洲时间”闭幕式的五项表演作品的挑选一部分源自于对这些表演作品如何在理论和历史的参照系统中执行及进行实验的兴趣。二分之一Q剧场(中国台湾)、Bani Haykal(新加坡)、何子彦(新加坡/德国柏林)、Indieguerillas(印尼)和黄汉明(新加坡/德国柏林)的作品以不同的表演方式和各种设定从事不同的“亚洲历史”时刻。关键的是它们在艺术家刻意的设定下都各自为自己具有的参照系统做出理论性探究。这些表演作品运用戏剧策略为实验性行为表演提供了临时实验空间，亦为它们所阐解的历史背景创造出陌生的临近感，从而使现代观众对于这些被“重述”的历史的产生不同体验。

　　让人感兴趣的正是这种能观察台上所发生的事情的特定场合。在从远处“观看”台上状况的过程里，身为观众的我们拥有了自由联想的机会。呈现于眼前的历史性与区域性设置让我们能与台上所呈现的时代和主人公制定自己与他们的对话。

　　设于中国台北的二分之一Q剧场以独立小剧场的制作条件，致力于拓展传统昆曲的现代生命力。昆曲源自于宋代，是中国最古老的戏曲形式之一。二分之一Q剧场以创新的戏曲表演闻名，其演出结合了传统昆曲与视觉艺术装置。被重新演绎的传统戏曲元素与不同风格的剧种成对比，化解了传统表演形式与当代表演方式之间的隔阂。前者夸张、繁琐的演出形式通过与当代媒材的跨界组合拉近了与现代观众的距离。然而，二分之一Q剧场的表演仍保持中国戏曲中苛刻的技术性特点。

　　通过探索粤剧现代化建设的各个方面，包括其舞台布景和影视的转换，艺术家黄汉明也同时在探究传统戏曲和戏剧形式。黄氏在“亚洲时间”呈现的表演作品源自于对粤剧戏棚临时性质的一项研究，特别是以竹子搭成的戏棚。竹子戏棚的设施有限，亦没有舞台布置;简单的一条布分隔了前台与后台，也作为布景。或许正因它的流动性质以及即兴的表演场地，使它的随性构造成为必然。值得关注的是竹子戏棚表演空间的部署以及这种部署如何把表演台前台后的不同元素展露于观众眼前(如乐师、场景与道具交替等)。

　　研究权时性实践获得的不仅是历史知识。相较于研究任何单方面制定的历史属性，探究权时性实践抗拒挪用的性质，和不断持续的形成与瓦解过程，能使人得到更多启发。驱使选择呈现这五项表演作品的是对某种艺术实践形式的兴趣：所有作品皆刻意地运用表演性来了解各种戏剧与戏曲表达形式所富有的潜质和它们之间的不同点。参与的艺术工作者对他们的题材的探索皆体现于作品的表演行为本身。

　　表演行为中的各种元素也是值得进一步研究的，例如声音。声音是没有时间定位的：它不是语言，不是文本，它就只“是”。但它究竟是什么?如果只听得到却看不到它，承载它的空间在哪?导演兼艺术家何子彦，与作曲家、音乐家兼艺术家 Bani Haykal 的作品就具对此声音与戏剧性的探索。何子彦的创作实践的特点在于他以不同的策略，特别是通过历史学，探索重点文化历史时刻，进而以这些探索作为创作的出发点。他的作品始于对文化产物的重新设想，如文本、歌曲、艺术作品和影片，以及对文化生产过程与传播方式的修订。何氏的创作项目所具有的表演性元素是驻扎于历史以及包含于它的叙述中的。他善于实施空间以内的空间，如戏剧空间里注入的影视空间、新创作图像中的拾得素材;虚幻中的现实及现实中的虚构。Bani Haykal 跨越声音艺术类的作品横跨视觉与文艺演出，以音乐和声音为主要媒介探索两者的感知、相关性与文化历史。声音，作为一个无形的传播媒介，只存在于它离开“主体”的那一刻和听者的耳里。Haykal 的实验视声音为一个被上演的行为，而这行为的体现在不断地转移且是不留痕迹的。于此，观众成为实行这项创意行为时与表演者同等重要的部分。

　　在剧场以外，戏剧性的概念指向日常生活的建构性。戏剧形式促使我们察觉到现实往往是被上演的，而历史亦是各种方式的构造和演绎。来自印尼日惹的艺术组合 Indieguerillas，近期在与印尼服装设计师的合作项目里构思了一部时尚演出系列，将“演员”带入街头。承载着服装给予的设定，他们穿越街道，使日常化为布景。

　　位于“此时此地”的戏曲和其他表演形式采用成蓄意推论的空间，正是戏剧里的中庸空间。这里所呈现的五种艺术定位，虽基于不同途径，都利用了戏剧的策略与手法。它们在《亚洲时间》结尾时为其画下了问号。《历史、戏曲、表演、声音》是对现有的叙事与历史进行试验的实践手段，把我们对现实的理解提出质疑。

　　由策展人乌特·梅塔·鲍尔和策展研究员王佩琴策划的表演系列将在2016年4月6日至4月10日举行，为首届亚洲双年展暨第五届广州三年展《亚洲时间》画上句点。

　　The historic,the opertic, the performative and the sonic

　　Ute Meta Bauer

　　The fluidity of what we call history is already embedded in its English name: it is he who is telling a (convincing) story. This brings us immediately to the question, “Who is speaking?”

　　The performative process in the politics of the theatrical, and also in the theatricality of politics, unfolds an exciting theoretical scenario, one that seems to offer some room for manoeuvre, but also to imagine the stages where things take place. In contrast to the spaces of the everyday that seem to follow pre—determined and pre—defined routines, the theatrical action, although scripted, possesses the potential to open up another space of negotiation in operatic and performative acts. The staged space is set apart from the audience and removes itself from the everyday, thus allowing what is being performed to be viewed with a certain degree of detachment (both physical and emotional), making us more receptive of its construct. It attracts full attention yet allows for a shared time that connects the performer with the viewer or listener. On the other hand, this also calls for a closer look on the renewed use of the theatrical and theatricality as a strategy in current artistic practices.

　　The selection of the five performances to take place during the closing of Asia Time the 1st Asia Biennial / 5th Guangzhou Triennial, derives partly from an interest in the theoretical and historical systems of reference with and within which these performance works act and experiment. The works by Ω Q Theatre (Taiwan, China), Bani Haykal (Singapore), Ho Tzu Nyen (Singapore/Berlin), Indieguerillas (Indonesia), and Ming Wong (Singapore/Berlin) use different performative methods and ways of “staging” to engage with different moments in “Asian history.” What is crucial is that they all generate a theoretical investigation of the systems of reference they contain, and which are deliberately set up by the artists. Using theatrical strategies, they generate temporary spaces for experimental action, create unfamiliar proximities and encounters with the historical context they unpack, and thereby engender a different encounter with these “retold” histories for audiences today.

　　It is this particular situation of observing what is happening on a stage that is of interest. The process of “seeing” from a distance what is happening on stage gives us, as viewers, the opportunity of free association; the diverse historical and regional settings that are presented allow us to enact our own dialogue between the epochs and the protagonists.

　　The operatic performances of Ω Q Theatre, an independent theatre group based in Taipei, are committed to expanding the tradition of the Kunqu opera, one of the oldest form of opera in China with origins dating back to the Song Dynasty, and integrating them with contemporary life. Ω Q Theatre is known for its innovative approach of combining art installation as the set in which the Kunqu opera unfolds. This re—invention of the traditional operatic elements in juxtaposition with different opera styles dissolves the distance between the exaggerated performative act familiar to the audiences centuries ago and the theatre forms contemporary audience are used to. Yet, these productions remain firmly grounded in the demanding technicalities characteristic of Chinese opera.

　　The exploration of traditional operatic and theatre forms are also carried out by artist Ming Wong through his investigations into various aspects of the modernisation of Cantonese opera, including its scenography and cinematic transformations. Wong's performance for Asia Time derives from a study into the temporality of the staging of Cantonese opera, looking in particular at the bamboo shed theatres, which have few facilities and are without stage setting. A cloth separates the front and back stage and also serves as the backdrop. The nomadic nature and also the capacity of improvisation of these performances perhaps necessitate such arbitrary staging. What makes it so interesting is the configuration of the performance space and of how these settings make visible the different elements of the performance (e.g. the musicians, changing of props and scene, etc.).

　　There is not only historical knowledge but also much pleasure to gain from examining ephemeral practices that resist appropriation and whose permanent processes of formation and dissolution inspire more than any study of one—sided formulated historical attribution. The selection of these five performance works was driven by the interest in forms of artistic practice that make deliberate use of the performative to understand the potential and difference of the various theatrical and operatic forms of expression. The selected artists' engagement with their subjects of inquiry is in the performative act itself.

　　The various elements within performative gestures also deserve a closer examination. The voice, for example, has no future and no past; it is not language, not text, it just IS. But what is it? Where is its space if you can hear it but not see it? Such investigations of voice and theatricality occur in works by filmmaker and artist Ho Tzu Nyen and Bani Haykal, a composer, musician and artist. Ho Tzu Nyen's practice is characterised by investigations of key cultural moments through different strategies and in turn, utilising these investigations as points of departure, notably through historiography. His works begin as a re—imagination of existing cultural artefacts such as texts, songs, artworks and films, as well as a revising of the processes of cultural production and their ways of dissemination. Ho's projects possess a certain performativity embedded in history, and within his narratives, he implements spaces within spaces—the cinematic entrenched in the theatrical, found footage in newly created imagery, the fictional in reality, and reality in fiction. Bani Haykal's works that depart from the sonic span the field of visual and literary performances using music and sound as primary mediums, examining the perceptions, relevance and cultural history of the two. Haykal's experimentation with sound, as a medium of transmission that exists only when it leaves its “body” and happens only in the ears of the receiver, is a performed act, and in its manifestation, it is constantly shifting and leaves no traces. Here, the audience becomes an equally important component for the realisation of the creative act.

　　Beyond the theatre, the concept of theatricality points to the constructedness of everyday life. Theatrical forms make visible how our realities are often staged, and also the ways in which our histories are constructed and performed. Indieguerillas, an art collective based in Yogyakarta, in their recent collaboration with Indonesian fashion designers, developed fashion performances, bringing the “acteurs” to the space of the streets. By assuming the costumes and traversing the streets, the everyday becomes its set.

　　It is the theatrical in—between spaces that operatic and other performances situated in the “here and now” employ as deliberately discursive space. These five artistic positions, although based on different approaches, all make use of strategies and techniques of the theatrical. They are performed as a question mark at the closing of “Asia Time.” “The Historic, the Operatic, the Performative, and the Sonic” is practiced as a tool for experimentation with existing narratives and histories, putting our understanding of reality into question.

　　The performance series curated by Ute Meta Bauer, together with research curator Khim Ong, will mark the closing of “Asia Time,” the 1st Asia Biennial / 5th Guangzhou Triennial and will be held from 6 to 10 April 2016.