jack‘s gallery diary

From Darwin’s theory, the amount of reproduction is the criteria for defining the success of a species. Thanks to human beings, chickens as a whole are arguably one of the most successful species in the world. However, the success of a whole comes with a price, which is usually the exploitation of individuals. We like to divide chickens into broiler chickens and layer hens. As the name suggests, broiler chickens are born for meat, and the value of their life is to become human food; the value of layer hens is to raise their young that can become human food: eggs. 

Jack was luckily chosen by us as the first audience of our exhibition. The value of his life skyrocketed from a broiler chicken to an artistic chicken. But the end of his life is still being cooked into a bowl of chicken soup.

The video installation work, Jack’s Gallery Diary, consists of six scenes shot by six CCTV installed in the exhibition hall, at the beginning of the video, the gallery staff planned a route with corn on the ground for Jack. Then Jack was invited to start visiting the exhibition.

This project talked about the relationship between authority and its inferiority. The act of the gallery staff reflects authority, and the act of Jack reflects inferiority. The corn on the ground is the bridge between authority and its inferiority. 

Gallery staff and Jack, they could be human and chicken, curators and audiences, designers and users, government and citizens… Jack’s route has never been physically limited, but from the moment Jack sees the corn, his rational thinking was interrupted and his route was designed and implanted. He is physically free, but he chose to follow the given routes, this is the trick of domestication.

从演化论的角度讲，物种的繁衍数量是定义一个物种是否成功的标准。鸡作为一个整体可以说是世界上最成功的物种。在人类的帮助下，它们得以无忧无虑地繁衍后代。然而群体的成功往往建立在对个体的剥削之上。我们喜欢将鸡分为肉鸡和蛋鸡，顾名思义，肉鸡生而为肉，其生命的价值就在于成为人类的盘中餐；蛋鸡的价值在于抚育可以成为人类盘中餐的幼崽：蛋。

阿强幸运地被我们选作展览的第一位观众，他生命的价值由肉鸡跃升为艺术鸡，但仍然，阿强艺术鸡生的终点还是变成一碗鸡汤。

我们很难对鸡产生共情，因为鸡的身体构造与人类太过不同了。当听到一只有名字有故事的鸡被屠杀时，我们才会与之产生共情，我们才会觉得残忍。但我们吃着炸鸡腿的时候从不去想它是怎样度过自己一生和结束自己一生的。

影像作品《阿强逛展记》由展馆内的六个监控画面组成，在影像的开始有我们的工作人员在场馆地面用玉米渣划定了我们为阿强规划的“正确”逛展路线，阿强随后进入场馆开始欣赏艺术作品。

作品讨论了权威与理性的关系。工作人员的行为映射的是所谓权威，阿强的行为映射的是理性判断，玉米渣即是权威与理性判断之间的灰色空间。当阿强看到食物的时候，它的理性判断即被所谓的“正确答案”影响了，但这“正确答案”从不曾在物理层面上影响阿强的行为，它仍是自由的，不过是它选择了遵从，这便是驯化的原理。