COLD SINGLE | 4'57 | Experimental | Taiwan | 2019
COLD SINGLE (2019, 4 min 57s, Taiwan) is a collaboration between Taiwanese video artist Mel Hsieh and French Artist Item Idem (Cyril Duval), this film is a symbolic study of wealth and prosperity that combines new cinema and conceptual art by exploring taoist rituals and Chinese heritage and examine contemporary social codes and systems of valuation. Handan was an evil god, but he showed his regrets and tried to pay off his sin by having people throwing firecrackers at his topless body. After that he became the god of fortune. The event has been held in Taitung (Taiwan) for over 50 years. It is said that the festival commemorates Zhao Gongming (1562 – 1066 BCE), a Shang dynasty general. Upon his death, the general was made responsible for the management of heaven’s treasury, and became known as the Military God of Wealth (or Marshal Zhao in Taoist tradition). As Marshal Zhao disliked the cold, people would throw firecrackers at him during his inspection tours to keep him warm. In the early years, followers of Lord Handan took turns enshrining the deity in their homes.
COLD SINGLE 是一支多媒材錄像作品結合實驗與記錄片的形式和表現手法，片名則是直接用英文翻譯寒單以西方觀點探討傳統民俗慶典的當代性。從宗教信仰到身體實踐描繪古代超現實的生猛神力。炸寒單是臺東60年歷史的無形文化資產，由肉身寒單僅穿著紅短褲上轎接受炮火的洗禮，為了迎接武財神，炸得越多代表新的一年財運越旺，也因此現場火光四射煙消彌漫，成為台東開春後最重要的民俗活動，世界級的華麗慶典。民間向來有許多說法，其中以"寒單爺為無惡不作的地方惡霸，死後於元宵節接受炮炸以求「贖罪」"此一說法和現今炮炸寒單的歷史緣由較為吻合，也因此民間有流氓神的說法。 作品已西方觀點解構寒單儀式，描寫對角色內心的世界，將身體為載體的”肉身“與金錢為財運的“貨幣”兩大元素重新組合，象徵與轉化的身體概念，重生的過程。部分爆破畫面使用到35釐米攝影機以每秒480格的高速攝影進行拍攝，極慢動作所產身的視覺張力讓觀眾彷彿置身在凝結狀態裡觀看爆破的瞬間，火藥揮灑在肉身上的暴力美學。
DIRECTORS | MEL HSIEH & CYRIL DUVAL
PRODUCER | BENSON CHUANG
MUSIC | DUTCH E GERM
CINEMATOGRAPHY | MEL HSIEH
ARTISTIC DIRECTION | CYRIL DUVAL
CAMERA ASSISTANT | WEI KONG
CAMERA LIGHTING | XIANG HUANG
GRAPHIC DESIGNER | HAN ZHAN
3D DESIGN | ZHI XIAN ZHU
FASHION | JENN LEE
MAKE UP ARTIST | SUMMER WAI
MAKE UP ASSISTANT | CATHY QIAN
TING TEENAGE HANDAN | YU CHEN
KID HANDAN | ALEX YAO
MAN HANDAN | EN KAI ZHANG
THE CHAIR | ANDY LEE
BOMBERS | AWEI GUO HSUAN TSO LAI AMIN LEE HERRY WANG YONGZHI ZHAO
VOICE | YU CHEN & CHENG JUI HSIEH
SPECIAL THANKS | TAITUNG XUAN WU TEMPLE CAPTAIN JIAN ZHI LEE MARK JEN HSU MICHAEL LEWIN YANG LI CHANG CHIEN CHEN CHARLES DAMGA JAMES MAGNUM MING XIONG PENG CHANG CHIEN CHEN PETER LIN AKA. DIRTY CAT JENN LEE STUDIO IM-JI STUDIO
