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三大威胁 第一集：金皇宫

90年代在温哥华长大，我有一个被称作“太空人家庭”的家，母亲和小孩在海外居住，父亲为养家糊口在亚洲工作。虽然这样对很多居住海外的小孩司空见惯，但是我仍有一段非同寻常的童年。每个暑假我的母亲会带我回广州见父亲。父亲是一座叫“金皇宫” 夜总会的老板之一。有很多个夜晚我在父亲的夜总会里度过，四处乱跑并淘气地用彩色喷条喷向舞池里各形各色的夜总会消遣者。几年之后，由于毒品交易的猖獗和毒品吸食的泛滥，金皇宫倒闭了。

重庆，中国飞速发展的城市之一，其迅速的城市化进程远远超过我去过的其他城市。为了融入新的环境，我读了中国四大名著“三国演义”并乘船顺扬子江下到三峡大坝。将童年的记忆和现在的经历作为项目的分界点，我阐述了由新故事构建的我眼中的中国。在文学角度来看，“重庆”的 意思是“双庆”或“再次庆祝”。淳熙16年（1189年）南宋皇子赵惇继承王位，认为这是“双重庆祝”，重庆也因此得名。基于以上历史典故，我将这次在重庆展览的背景设定为宴会。

装置松散的摆放，通过创作舞池，霓虹灯，丝带，大卫雕塑以营造出夜总会的景象。这里还有一幅巨大的三峡神女溪印刷品和两只充气海豚，以及一只悬挂于图像上不再报时的时钟。照片是由六个垂直的带有开口的条幅悬挂而成，每个条幅之间都有开口。不远处，是一只用透明塑料袋装着半充气充气玩具的拳击吊带。两个主要的主题贯穿装置：一是喜剧里的“三原则”，即事情若以三的形式发生总是有一种固有的幽默感，和其他数字的事物相比更加让人满意，更加有效率；二是笑脸，是欢乐的象征，同时也是沃尔玛和迷幻药的象征。当笑脸重复使用，将散发出一种资本主义社会空虚的荒诞之感。

当你进入“金皇宫”的展览，你会意识到这是一个宴会，但不知道这个宴会即将开始还是已经结束。

三大威胁是一个由三部分构成的项目，“金皇宫”是第一部分。

Tommy Ting

Triple Threat Part I: Golden Emperor Palace

Growing up in Vancouver in the 90s, I had what they called an “Astronaut Family”, whereby the mother and children live overseas and the father earns a living for his family in Asia. Although this was typical for many overseas Chinese children, I also had a very atypical childhood. Every summer holiday my mother would take me back to Guangzhou to visit my dad, where he was one of the owners of a nightclub called “Golden Emperor Palace”. I spent many nights of my summer holidays at my dad’s nightclub, running around spraying random club goers on the dance floor with silly string. A few years later, Golden Emperor Palace was closed due to its popularity with drug dealers and drug users.

Transfer to Chongqing, one of the emerging megacities in China where rapid urbanization is even more exaggerated than any other city I have been. To immerse into my new environment, I read the classic Chinese epic “Romance of th e Three Kingdoms” and took a boat down the Yangtze to the Three Gorges Dam. Using my childhood memories and my current experiences as a departure point for my project, I unraveled the constructed new stories of my China. The name “Chongqing” literally means, “double celebration” or “to celebrate again” and was named so in 1189 when Prince Zhao Dun of the Southern Song Dynasty was crowned Emperor Guangzong. With this fact, I thought it was apt to set the premise of this exhibition in Chongqing as a party.

The installation is loosely set up as a scene from a nightclub by creating references such as dance poles, neon lights, ribbons, and statues of David. There is also has a large-scale print of the Three Gorges with two inflatable dolphins and a clock that doesn’t tell time hanging on the print. The photograph is hung as six vertical strips with slits and openings between each strip. Close to the print is punching bag made with clear plastic and filled with half-inflated inflatable toys. Two main themes run throughout the installation. One is a rule in comedy called “Rule of Three” that is, things that come in threes are inherently funnier, more satisfying or more effective than other numbers of things. The other is the smiley face, a symbol of happiness but also a symbol of Wal-Mart and ecstasy. The smiley face when used repeatedly, gives off an eerie sense of hollowness of a capitalistic society.

As you enter the installation Golden Emperor Palace, you may realize that there is a party, but what you don’t know if whether the party is yet to begin or that it is already over.

Triple Threat is a project of three parts and Golden Emperor Palace is the first.

Tommy Ting

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