帝國主義與生成擴散模型 Imperialism and the diffusion model

➳ 2024 洄瀾美展 洄瀾獎 得獎作品

➳ 2024 Hualien Art Exhibition First Prize Winning work

這部作品將1914年所發生之太魯閣戰爭中，日軍拍攝並整理之《大正三年太魯閣蕃討伐軍隊記念》寫真帖，透過Photoshop的AI功能，生成並擴張影像範圍，並將原處視覺中心之外來殖民者移除，試圖去除殖民視線，以産生新圖像。

但在製作圖像時，我發現AI生成擴張過程神似帝國的殖民擴張，AI像是有自主意識一般模倣殖民者的偏見，使生成出的圖像成為「只見蕃地而不見蕃人」的代名詞。去除圖像中心的手段仍壓制不住殖民視線。因此，為了讓圖像中潛藏的殖民視線轉化，我試圖在展場放置象徴皇民化樣本的「サヨンの鐘」之單頻道録像，以類似紀念碑的方式，讓殖民偏見相互對抗，使觀者重新省思理番政策下的原住民族處境。

This work reinterprets the 1914 Truku War through photographs from the Taisho 3rd Year Taroko Savage Expedition Army Commemorative Album, taken and compiled by the Japanese military. Utilizing Photoshop's AI functions, I expanded the image boundaries and removed the foreign colonizers who dominated the visual center, attempting to eliminate the colonial gaze and create new imagery.

However, during the process, I noticed that the AI's generation and expansion seemed eerily similar to the colonial expansion of empires. It was as if the AI, with a semblance of its own consciousness, mimicked the biases of the colonizers, producing images that became metaphors for "seeing the tribal land but not the tribal people." The methods used to remove the visual center could not suppress the colonial gaze entirely.

To transform the colonial perspective embedded within the images, I decided to include a single-channel video of Sayon's Bell, a symbol of Japanization, in the exhibition space. Presented in a manner resembling a monument, this installation allows the colonial biases to confront each other, inviting viewers to reflect on the plight of Indigenous peoples under assimilation policies.