Picking Back Up Diderot’s Old Gown
策展人：吳妍儀、簡于庭
Curator：Yen-I Wu, Yu Ting Chien
藝術家：王怡美、林珮淳、張惠蘭、湯皇珍、賴純純、吳詠潔、康雅筑、陳依純、詹嘉華、劉文瑄
Artists：Yi-Meei WANG、Pey-Chwen LIN、Hwei-Lan CHANG、Huang- Chen TANG、Jun T. LAI、Yung-Chieh WU、Ya-chu KANG、I-Chun CHEN、Jia-Hua ZHAN、Mia Wen-Hsuan LIU
展出日期/Date：2015.10.17~11.08
展出地點/Venue：11289 台北市北投區自強街 61巷6號1樓
座談演講：王雅各 美國羅耀拉大學社會學博士/國立臺北大學社會學系專任教授)
Panelist:Y.K. Wang
「配套效應」源於18世紀，歐洲啟蒙運動的思想巨人－法國人丹尼·狄德羅(Denis Diderot)：一位朋友送給狄德羅一件質地精良、做工考究的酒紅色長袍，狄德羅於是將舊長袍丟棄，換上新長袍。不久後，他更換了能與新長袍相襯的辦公桌，進而又換了地毯、椅子、書架、擺飾，幾乎是嶄新的書房，才驚覺受到長袍脅迫而替換了原本無意更換的家居。甚至在意識到該行為後感到懊悔，書寫了“Regrets on
Parting with My Old Dressing Gown”記錄其感到煩惱的心境。
The “Diderot effect” refers to the 18th century’s
European Enlightenment period’s great French philosopher Denis Diderot. The
story begins with how Diderot was gifted a fine scarlet dressing gown by a
friend. He soon abandoned his old gown and put on the new gown. Not long after,
he replaced his old desk so to match the elegance of the new robe. Furthermore,
he replaced his rug, chair, bookshelf, and prints. He ended up with an almost
brand new study room. It was then that he realized he was made to replace all
the furniture he never meant to replace. Diderot was regretful toward his own
actions and recorded how he felt “Regrets on Parting with My Old Dressing
Gown.”
人的欲望不因得到而滿足，反而因得到而擴張，在現今稱之為「配套效應」。資本主義的今天，人們將此一名詞套用在那些為將穿著打扮配合身份地位的行為中，而在一個幾乎由男性權威文化所支配解讀的世界，甚至有人將之解讀為男性換妻的表現。
The “Diderot effect” describes how people’s desire will not
be satisfied with more material possessions, but rather grows bigger. In the
capitalist present days, the term is used for those who dress to go along with
their sense of identities. Some even see this behavior as being similar to men
switching wives in an almost patriarchal world.
藉此，本次展覽意識之一是企圖從該面向解構社會賦予女性的面貌。狄德羅曾說過：「當女性是主題時，筆頭需浸滿彩虹，而紙張需用蝴蝶翅膀來擦乾。」社會賦予理想的女性形象是：漂亮，風流，多情，順從，謹卑，時而柔弱，時而激動得暴跳，但從來是愚昧無知，軟弱無能的。這樣的賦予，彷彿是社會送給女性的＂新長袍＂，而女性為了能與之相襯，進而將象徵自身思想、行為、理想的＂家居＂替換更新。女性主體意識近年來不斷的被重視、探討，然而成效有限。此次展覽希冀能重新拾起象徵著女性主體意識的＂舊長袍＂，邀請5-10位女性藝術家，結合各自日常生活的生命經驗，呈現出女性藝術家的主體意識，從自身角色出發，面對自我在社會的地位做各自的詮釋：無奈的、被動的、獨立的、相異的各種可能。
One of the attempts of this exhibition is to
deconstruct the way society views women. Diderot once said, “to describe women,
the pen should be dipped in the humid colors of the rainbow, and the paper
dried with the dust gathered from the wings of a butterfly.” The ideal image
society assigns to women is: pretty, floozy, emotional, obedient, humble,
sometimes weak, sometimes agitated, and always ignorant and useless. The way
this image is assigned seems to be society’s “new robe” gifted to women. In
order to match up to this image, women replace “furniture”, symbolizing
individual ideas, behavior, and ideals. The ideology of feminism has been given
importance and has been explored in recent years, yet the result is limited.
This exhibition hopes to pick the “old robe” (symbolizing feminism) back up by
inviting five to ten female artists to showcase their works. Each of them,
using their experience in daily life, presents the subject consciousness of
female artists. Each, based on her own role, makes her own interpretations when
facing their status in society: feeling there’s nothing one can do, being
passive, being independent, being dissimilar, and numerous other possibilities.
其次，本次展覽也企圖呼應狄德羅因「配套效應」的醒悟而書寫的“與舊衣袍離別之懊悔”。藉由女性藝術家回顧自我日常生活的選擇性犧牲亦或是日常用品的汰換，做形式上的記錄：文字的、圖像的、影像的心情書寫。並邀請具男性身份的女性主義、文化理論學者參與座談，討論女性身份與文化社群的關係，與展覽的兩個面向、藝術家語彙呼應，討論身份意識以及狄德羅美學。
Next, this exhibition also
attempts to correspond to Diderot’s “Regrets on Parting with My Old Dressing
Gown,” which was written after his enlightenment. The female artists revisit
their selective sacrifices or replacements in their daily lives, and record
these in various forms using words, images, and videos. In addition, they
invite male feminists and cultural theorists to the conference to discuss the
relationship between female identity and cultural social groups, two aspects
that echo in the artists’ work. Furthermore, they are to discuss identity
awareness and Diderot’s aesthetics.
