Hidden River

BACKGROUND Live video has become a regular part of performance events over the last twenty years and is usually drawn from pre-recorded material and often fixed cameras. Hidden River was a live performance work created for the Spatial Dialogues ARC linkage project. Spatial Dialogues investigates the environmental and cultural significance of water in three Asia-Pacific cities: Melbourne, Shanghai and Tokyo. The video, sound, site-specific installation and online gaming works draw attention to cross-cultural dialogues about water, its relationship to climate change and how these impact on urban and regional ecologies. Tokyo is a port and river city, in which most of the rivers are now hidden from view; covered over, diverted, and channelled into culverts. CONTRIBUTION Redfern spent time in the days prior to the performance collecting material along the covered-over Shibuya River. He then videoed the material live as researchers Philip Samartzis and Christophe Charles improvised a sound track from location recordings and the sounds around the site in Shibuya. The work was intended as a gesture of acknowledgement to the hidden rivers of Tokyo, extending the genre of performance practice specifically by use of a single shot that, over the course of the performance, articulates its dynamics through lens and camera movement as well as the manipulation of the material before the camera. By presenting this work in Japan the artists created a space for dialogue with collaborators and the Japanese audience around how we, as large economies in the region, live with and upon water. SIGNIFICANCE The selection of the project by the ARC for funding is demonstration of its excellence. The project drew a large and ever changing audience to its site in a public park between Cat Street and Shibuya Station in central Tokyo. Redfern's video installations evince the careful attention the artist brought to the vital role of rivers in the region.

**背景**：近二十年来，现场视频已成为演艺活动的常规组成部分，此类视频通常取材于预录素材，且多采用固定机位拍摄。《暗河》（Hidden River）是为《空间对话》（Spatial Dialogues）澳大利亚研究委员会（Australian Research Council, ARC）联动项目创作的现场表演作品。该项目聚焦亚太三座城市——墨尔本、上海与东京，探究水所承载的环境与文化意义。其旗下的视频、声音、场域特定装置以及在线游戏作品，旨在唤起人们对水相关跨文化对话的关注，探讨水与气候变化的关联，以及这些因素如何影响城市与区域生态。东京作为港口滨河城市，境内多数河流如今已被遮蔽：或被地表覆盖、改道，或被引入地下涵管之中。

**贡献**：创作者雷德弗恩（Redfern）在演出前数日，于被覆盖的涩谷河沿岸收集创作素材。随后，他以实时拍摄的方式记录这些素材；与此同时，研究员菲利普·萨马蒂斯（Philip Samartzis）与克里斯托夫·夏尔（Christophe Charles）利用场地实地录音与涩谷场地周边的环境声响，即兴创作了音轨。该作品旨在向东京的暗河致以敬意，其通过采用单镜头拓展了表演实践的体裁边界——在整场演出过程中，该镜头通过镜头焦距调整、机位移动以及对镜头前创作素材的操控，传递出作品的动态变化。通过在日本展出该作品，创作者们搭建了对话空间，与合作者及日本观众共同探讨：作为亚太地区的大型经济体，人类应如何与水共生、依存。

**意义**：澳大利亚研究委员会（ARC）选定该项目予以资助，本身即是对其卓越品质的佐证。该项目在东京市中心猫街与涩谷站之间的公共公园设立展区，吸引了规模庞大且构成多元的观众群体。雷德弗恩的视频装置作品，彰显了创作者对该区域河流核心生态与文化作用的深切关注。