「魚總是這樣，不知道自己在水裡。」——蒂埃里・德・迪弗

親愛的火星人您好：

歡迎登陸地球！
如果您已開始探查地球，我想要透過這個名為「給火星人類學家」的展覽，向您引介一些地球人的藝術作品。為了這一天，我們已準備了許久，因為您的到來早有預言；1989年，比利時藝評家蒂埃里・德・迪弗在《以藝術之名——為了一種現代性的考古學》這本書中透露了此事：「您從火星來到地球，您對地球一無所知，因此您沒有任何成見（除了身為火星人所帶有的成見）⋯⋯」 ¹ 。他描述了對地球文明尚一無所知的您，開始觀察人類的風俗、儀式和神話，希望從中得出一個常理，以理解地球人的思維和社會秩序，並且一步步探索人類所名之為「藝術」的事物（這也間接地邀請讀者，暫時以外在於地球人的視角，重新審視藝術世界，以暫時拋開看待藝術時早已深植而至無從察覺的「成見」）。

這是一個專為您籌劃的展覽（當然我們還是不斷地思考：究竟什麼是展覽的形成條件，為何它足以承載「藝術」這個專有名詞所涵蓋的事物）。現在，您可以透過「網際網路」這地球人所發明的空間對人類的藝術實踐田野進行考察（2020年，人類社會出現了「安全社交距離」的防疫用語，地球上不約而同出現了許多「線上展覽」作為實體展覽的替代方案，提供無法親臨現場的觀者一個線上觀看的界面 ² ）。而在此 ³ ，藝術家們以「網頁」作為作品發生的特定地點，亦即展覽實質發生的場所（雖然「親臨現場」一般被認為是展覽理想且理所當然的觀看方式）。此外，藝術家們還將線上作品擴延至實體展場，為遠道而來的您留下各式各樣的線索。

是的，在那裡，您所看見的文字、圖像、材料、物件等等乃與線上作品遙相指涉，共同組成一個提供您瀏覽作品、推敲創作思維的「索引界面」。參與的十五位藝術家包括來自地球各地的陳萬仁、齊簡、克羅德・克羅斯基、澎葉生、杜利安・高登、何采柔、謝佑承、徐瑞謙、賴志盛、李明學、牛俊強、郭文泰
×
河床劇團、時永駿、王雅慧和艾瑞克・瓦提耶。您將在這些作品的盤點中，觀察到人類創作行為的豐富面向，相信對您探索地球文明的工作能有所助益，期待您能在線上與實體兩種界面的反覆往返之間，一步步趨近人類名之為「藝術」的事物。

張君懿
2020年8月4日，於臺北

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¹ 蒂埃里・德・迪弗在此書中以火星人類學家為喻，引入不帶有地球人成見的觀點，探討人類名之為「藝術」的事物。此展從此假設所開展的想像出發，試問藝術家們希望提供什麼「給火星人類學家」，以作為其考察人類藝術實踐田野的線索；同時在2020年的今天，以此展回應作者在1985年寫下的文字（1989年出版）。參閱：Thierry
De Duve, Au nom de l’art. Pour une archéologie de la modernité, Paris, Éditions
de Minuit, 1989, p.9-65.
² 從此現象的反思出發，此展邀請藝術家以線上作品為起點，實體展場則為其延伸的界面，於其中佈署與線上作品遙相呼應的索引；透過兩者間的對應關係，重新思考「實體為主、線上為輔」的展覽／作品慣常觀看經驗。
³ 網址：martian.beauxarts.tw

As always, the fish doesn’t know it’s in the water. --Thierry de Duve

Dear Martians,

Welcome to the earth!

If you have started exploring around the earth, I would like to introduce some
earthlings’ artworks to you by the exhibition entitled, To Martian
Anthropologists. We have prepared for such a long time for your coming,
prophesied already by the Belgian art critic, Thierry de Duve, in his book In
the Name of Art. For an Archeology of the Modernity (1989): “You descend from
Mars to the earth and know nothing about it. Therefore, you have no prejudice
(except for that of seeing everything with the eyes of a Martian)....” ¹He
describes that you start, without any inkling of the earth’s civilizations,
observing human beings, their customs, rituals and myths, from which you hope to
draw a constant, in order to render intelligible the earthlings’ way of thinking
and the arguments that underpin their social order. Meanwhile, you explore step
by step what human beings call “art.” (It’s also an indirect gesture to invite
readers to re-examine the art world, from a temporary perspective beyond that of
the earthlings as well as the deep-rooted, unconscious “prejudices” against
art.)

This is an exhibition planned in particular for you. (Of course, we keep
thinking about what on earth is the condition for an exhibition to take shape
and why it is able to cover everything that the proper noun “art”
signifies.) Now, via the “internet,” a sort of space invented by the earthlings,
you can launch a field research of the human art practices. (“Safe social
distancing,” an anti-epidemic slogan occurs in human society in 2020. As an
alternative to physical exhibitions, many “online exhibitions” emerge
spontaneously on the earth, as an online browsing interface for those who are
not able to attend personally the site.²) In the official website, ³ the artists
choose “web pages” as the specific site where their works take place, i.e. where
the exhibition is substantially and actually inaugurated. (However, especially
in the past half century, “attending personally the site” has been generally and
ideally taken for granted as the way of seeing an exhibition.) In addition, the
artists will extend the online works to the physical exhibition venue, leaving a
variety of clues for you coming from far away.

Indeed, words, images, materials, objects and so on: all you see right over
there refer in distance to the online works, thus constituting together an
“index interface” which allows you to browse all the works and to elaborate the
creative conceptions. Here are the 15 participating artists from all corners of
the earth: Wan-Jen CHEN, Chien CHI, Claude CLOSKY, Yannick DAUBY, Dorian GAUDIN,
Joyce HO, Yu-Cheng HSIEH, Jui-Chien HSU, James Ming-Hsueh LEE, Chih-Sheng LAI,
Jun-Qiang NIU, Craig QUINTERO × Riverbed Theatre, Yung-Chun SHIH, Ya-Hui WANG
and Eric WATIER. Inventorying the artworks, you will observe the rich aspects of
human behaviors in creation. I believe it will be helpful to your exploration of
the civilizations on the earth. I am expecting that, by shuttling between online
and physical interfaces, you will be approaching what human beings call “art.”

Sincerely yours,

Chun-Yi CHANG
Taipei, August 4th, 2020

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¹ Thierry de Duve, Au nom de l’art. Pour une archéologie de la modernité, Paris,
Minuit, 1989, p.9-65. The author borrows Martian anthropologists as a metaphor,
in order to introduce a perspective beyond the earthlings’ prejudices and to
explore what human beings call “art.” The exhibition conceived and developed
from the author’s imagination tries to ask the question: what the artists hope
to offer as clues to “Martian anthropologists” for their field research of the
human art practices. At the same time, it serves as a response in 2020 to the
words written by the author in 1985 (published in 1989).
² From the reflection of this phenomenon, this exhibition invites the artists to
begin with the online works which deploy as an index echoing distantly the
physical works in the exhibition venue as an extended interface. By the
corresponding relationship, the exhibition encourages visitors to rethink the
accustomed seeing experiences between exhibition and artwork: “physical works as
primary, online works as secondary.”
³ Official website：martian.beauxarts.tw

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