人造世相，世相亦塑我形；

皈依自然，自然内化于心；

溯回往昔，昔影如镜在前。

—— 沈伟

位于法国巴黎的世界级博物馆——吉美博物馆（Musée Guimet）在5月推出大规模特展「吴哥皇家青铜器展：神圣艺术」，同时邀请旅居法国的编舞家和艺术家沈伟特别创作。一部融合了舞蹈、绘画、雕塑、影像、音乐、诗歌的实验性作品「吴哥窟计划」藉此在巴黎首演。

20年前，在纽约初获国际声誉的沈伟曾几度回到亚洲寻根，探访过西藏高原、吴哥窟、印度恒河和丝绸之路沿线。他2006-2009年的舞蹈三部曲「回」即来源于此，「吴哥窟计划」则是在「回II」的基础上对吴哥文化的重访。

吴哥窟是印度教、佛教文化与高棉神王信仰融合的遗迹。这座世界最大的神庙建筑群，曾在几个世纪里被废弃和遗忘。1861年，法国生物学家亨利·穆奥无意间闯入一片原始森林里的古城：“此地庙宇之宏伟，远胜古希腊、罗马遗留给我们的一切......一瞬间犹如从沙漠踏足绿洲，从混沌的蛮荒进入灿烂的文明”。

沈伟2006年的吴哥所见历历在目：无名工匠们精雕细琢的伟大建筑，饱经侵蚀的砂岩上精美绝伦的浮雕，古树盘根错节，孩子们眼神澄澈，丛林里的神秘声响，吴哥通坐在树下演奏自制乐器的残障音乐家乐队......

艺术家镜头里的吴哥窟，与后来在舞台和画布上的创作一一对应：古树的形态与舞蹈中身体的拧转，孩子无邪的笑脸与抽象的人物肖像画，斑驳的古迹与巨幅山水中的宇宙洪荒。不是单纯的记录或再现，并非完全的写实或完全的抽象，而是从物质性的实相中提取出的心相；时间和地域的语境和质感被抽离，在更为自由的时空中回响——“若见诸相非相，即见如来”。

同样为「吴哥窟计划」抽离时空语境的，还有宗教音乐家John Tavener的「天使之歌」，宁静唯美的古代圣歌，似乎同时源自西方宗教和东方传统，不立文字，没有歌词。这位英国作曲家曾在晚年退出东正教会，致力于探索世界上多种宗教的传统。舞蹈与音乐相通，从一种文明进入另一种文明，建立联系并产生共振，在天使的气息将人一步步引入澄明的升华之境。

在吉美博物馆展出的上百件高棉青铜艺术中，从跳着宇宙之舞的湿婆、毗湿奴到貌似笨重的大象神，其雕塑形象均栩栩如舞蹈的凝固；而在祭祀仪式和宫廷舞蹈中，舞蹈动作也往往如“活体雕塑”般隽永。无论在印度教神话还是高棉古典文化中，雕塑和舞蹈均密不可分，都是在敬神和祭祀中产生的。「吴哥窟计划」的当代舞蹈采集了雕塑的图谱，也延续了雕塑与舞蹈之间古老的渊源，并将这种互文拓展到绘画——“舞台上的每个瞬间都像一幅油画或水墨”。

展览中堪称柬埔寨顶级国宝的，是一尊公元11世纪的毗湿奴像，长逾五米，躯干虽已残破，仍可见四臂神祉支头躺卧的姿态，散发着象征着永恒的宁静气息。这幻化为「吴哥窟计划」里同样姿态的舞者，不是独舞，而是代表无尽的群像。

躺卧并非昏睡，而是一种全然宁静的神性觉知，是毗湿奴既不创造也不毁灭而在混沌中维持循环秩序的象征。相比于运动，“不动”在舞蹈中扮演了同样重要的角色。停顿，收束，凝聚，向内观照，成为石间浮雕。沈伟艺术中标志性的极简和神秘，似乎在这些“永恒的瞬间”中追溯到了远古造型与表演艺术的源头。

最近20年间，世界历经前所未有的震荡和变化，艺术家也在许多年如一日的修行中进入知天命之年，世间万物的轮廓似乎至此才渐渐清晰。文字是最近几年才进入沈伟的创作的，因为他认为“当一个人的世界观、人生观、价值观尚未稳定之前，不能随便用文字”。「吴哥窟计划」已不惮文字，当年所见在不断的回溯中呈现新的面貌，更用偈语似的诗句直接点化：“人造世相，世相亦塑我形；皈依自然，自然内化于心；溯回往昔，昔影如镜在前”。这是关于宗教本质与人类思想、自然与人、历史与时间的体悟极为内化又直接的表达。

当人类文明在似曾相识的生长、断裂和复苏中循环往复，只有时间能擦亮明镜。和「回II」一样，「吴哥窟计划」最后定格在了当年惊异了第一批美国观众的一瞬：“每一个身体都凝固在扭动的瞬间，仿佛在痛苦中挣扎”。如里尔克的诗句：“美不过是我们尚能承受的恐怖的起始/ 我们惊异地把它忍受下去/ 它那样从容地不屑毁灭我们”。

沈伟作品「吴哥窟计划」 现场，法国吉美博物馆，2025年，剧照摄影：Zoe Liu

沈伟作品「回RE-II」 现场，2007

沈伟：「吴哥窟计划」世界首演

2025年5月14日

法国吉美博物馆

概念/编舞/绘画/摄影/录音/视觉文本：沈伟音乐：约翰·塔文纳《天使之歌》演奏：古乐学院（指挥：保罗·古德温）表演者：亚当·方丹、丽莎·弗勒里等

2025年剧照摄影：Zoe Liu

Shen Wei Unveils New Work "Angkor Wat Project"

“Man creates appearances; appearances also shape me. 

To return to nature is to internalize it. 

Retrace the past—the past reflflects us like a mirror.”

- Shen Wei 

The world-renowned Musée Guimet in Paris has recently launched a major special  exhibition "Angkor Royal Bronzes: Art of the Divine". Shen Wei, the Paris and New York based Chinese choreographer and artist has been invited to create a new work for the  occasion. This led to the world premiere of "Angkor Wat Project," an experimental piece  blending dance, painting, sculpture, photography, video, music, and poetry. 

Two decades ago, Shen Wei, then newly acclaimed on the international stage in New York,  returned to Asia multiple times to reconnect with his roots, journeying through the Tibetan  Plateau, Angkor Wat, the Ganges in India, and along the Silk Road. These experiences  inspired his dance trilogy "Re" (2006–2009), and "Angkor Wat Project" revisits Khmer  culture building upon "Re-II." 

Angkor Wat is a testament to the fusion of Hindu, Buddhist, and Khmer Devaraja beliefs.  The world’s largest temple complex lay abandoned and forgotten for centuries until 1861,  when French biologist Henri Mouhot stumbled upon the ancient city in the jungle: "The grandeur of these temples surpasses anything left to us by Greece or Rome... It is like  stepping from a desert into an oasis, from chaos into radiant civilization."

Shen Wei’s memories of Angkor in 2006 remain vivid: the masterful architecture of  unnamed artisans, exquisite bas-reliefs on weathered sandstone, the gnarled roots of  ancient trees, children with clear-eyed gazes, the mysterious sounds of the jungle, and the  disabled musicians of Angkor Thom playing handmade instruments under the trees. 

The Angkor in the artist’s lens corresponds to his later stage and canvas creations: the  twisting forms of ancient trees mirrored in dancers’ bodies, children’s innocent smiles  abstracted into portraits, and the mottled ruins echoing the cosmic vastness in his  monumental landscapes. This is not mere documentation or reproduction, not entirely  realistic nor entirely abstract—it is a distillation of inner imagery drawn from physical  reality. The context and texture of time and place are abstracted, resonating in a freer  space-time dimension—“To see all forms as non-forms is to see the Tathāgata.”

Also transcending time and space in Angkor Wat Project is British composer John  Tavener’s Song for the Angel. This serene and transcendent sacred chant, seeming to arise  from both Western and Eastern spiritual traditions, features no words, only pure vocal  resonance. In his later years, Tavener left the Orthodox Church to explore the musical  traditions of various world religions. Dance and music intertwine—moving from one  civilization to another, forging connections and resonance, leading the viewer through the  breath of angels into a realm of luminous transcendence. 

Among the hundred Khmer bronze artworks displayed at Musée Guimet—from the cosmicdancing Shiva and Vishnu to the seemingly ponderous elephant god Ganesha—each  sculpted fifigure appears as a frozen dance. In rituals and court performances, dance  movements often embody the permanence of "living sculpture." In both Hindu mythology  and Khmer classical culture, sculpture and dance are inseparable, born from worship and  ritual. "Angkor Wat Project" collects the lexicon of sculpture, extending this ancient  interplay into painting—"every moment on stage is like an oil painting or ink wash." 

A centerpiece of the exhibition is Cambodia’s national treasure: an 11th-century reclining  Vishnu statue, over fifive meters long. Though fragmented, the four-armed deity’s serene  posture exudes an aura of eternity. This transforms into identically posed nude dancers in  "Angkor Wat Project"—not a solo, but a group dance—signifying the infifinite. Reclining is not sleep but divine awareness, Vishnu’s state of sustaining cyclical order without creation or  destruction. In Shen Wei’s dance, stillness is as vital as movement: pauses, contractions,  and inward reflflection become bas-reliefs in stone. His signature minimalism and  mysticism seem to trace back to the origins of ancient performance art in these "eternal  moments."

Over the past two decades, the artist, now in his fififties, has refifined his practice, and the  contours of the world have gradually clarifified. Words entered his work only recently, as he  believes one should not "casually use language before one’s worldview, philosophy, and  values stabilize." "Angkor Wat Project" embraces text, with past visions resurfacing anew,  punctuated by Zen-like verses: 

“Man creates appearances; appearances also shape me. 

To return to nature is to internalize it. 

Retrace the past—the past reflflects us like a mirror.” 

This is an introspective yet direct expression of religious essence, human thought, nature,  and history.

As human civilization cycles through familiar patterns of growth, rupture, and revival, only  time polishes the mirror. Like "Re-II," "Angkor Wat Project" concludes with the arresting  image that once stunned its fifirst American audience: "Every body frozen mid-contortion, as  if struggling in agony." As Rilke wrote: 

"For beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror, 

which we are still just able to endure, 

and we are so awed because it serenely disdains to annihilate us."

Angkor Wat Project

World Premiere of the Performance by Shen Wei 

Wednesday, May 14, 2025 – 8:00 PM 

Musée Guimet – Iéna, Jean-François Jarrige Auditorium

Credits

Concept, Choreography, Painting, Photography, Sound Recording, Visual Design, and Text: 

Shen Wei

Music Composition: John Tavener – Song of the Angel

Performed by Academy of Ancient Music, Patricia Rozario (soprano), Paul Goodwin &  Andrew Manze (conductors) 

Dancers: Adam Fontaine, Lisa Fleury, Suzanne Henry, Mermoz Melchior, Océane Lhomme

Photos : https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1TmFUlPf-u1VMjk7_9M7- 2rgpDI_RYAvM?usp=share_link

Photo credit: 2025 production stills photographed by Zoe Liu