2013年於北美館盛大策辦的「歲月／照堂：1959-2013影像展」提供重新閱讀張照堂影像美學的嶄新可能。展場除了呈現其最核心的攝影作品之外，還可見到大量的個人隨筆與攝影扎記，讓我們得以重新審視這些原本被定位為「周邊」的實踐成果，與其一向被視為核心的攝影作品究竟共構出何等形貌的創作星叢？簡言之，在其書寫文字與攝影實踐之間，其實存在許多相互映射、共振的感性元件，它們共同交織出一張潛在的、看不見的影像平面。這意味著，張照堂影像美學的真正全貌，並不僅只於展覽空間中呈現的冷凝靜照或實驗短片而已。倘若其文字與影像之間確有相互補充之處，那麼張照堂影像美學的另一半，便必須從那些未被現實化為實際影像的「非影像」書寫裡尋找，因為這些文字與他的攝影作品同樣充滿犀利而深邃的渲染力。
本文以張照堂對攝影形式語言之開拓為起點，探討其影像美學蘊含的魂魄化主體之姿。並由此擴及其書寫文字與攝影作品之間所交織、共振出的殊異空間，以期在現有研究基礎之外，開闢對其攝影扎記的分析路徑。簡言之，張照堂的創作橫跨攝影靜照、複合媒材、裝置、實驗短片等多方實踐。因此透過探索他在其他創作類別中凝聚的感覺團塊，我們將能重新拼組出一張檢視其影像美學特殊質地的感性地圖。
現實化、潛在、非影像、攝影扎記、魂魄化主體
The exhibition "TIME: The Images of Chang Chao-Tang, 1959-2013" grandly held at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum in 2013 opened up new possibilities for reinterpreting Chang Chaotang's image aesthetics. The venue not only brought Chang's magnum opus into spotlight, but also presented a large number of his random notes and reflections on photography. This exhibition enabled us to review the creative constellation that consists of the practical results achieved by the documents originally defined as "peripherals" and the photographs always been regarded as the core. To wit, many mutual-mapping and resonating elements exist amidst Chang's written texts and photographic practice, and Chang successfully wove these elements into a virtual and invisible image plane. It implies that we can never gain a full picture of Chang's image aesthetics merely from his static photographs or experimental films. If his texts and images are essentially complementary to each other, the other critical component of Chang's image aesthetics lies consequentially in the "non-image" writing that has not yet been actualized into real images, since his texts are as highly contagious as his photographs.
This essay treats Chang's efforts in developing a formal language of photography as the point of departure, from which it investigates the spiritualized subject embedded in Chang's image aesthetics. By means of seeking to pioneer an analytic approach to Chang's reflections on photography, this essay extends the scope of discussion to the specific space created through the interplay and resonance between Chang's written texts and photographs. The genres of Chang's creation encompass static photograph, mixed media, installation, and experimental film. Therefore, we can make a holographic map of the interesting texture of Chang's image aesthetics only by exploring the blocs of sensation in his works of different genres.
actualize, virtual, non-image, reflections on photography, spiritualized subject
