「見山是山，見水是水」
Saw Mountains as Mountains,
Saw Rivers as Rivers
2024
單頻道實驗影像，7分58秒
Single channel experimental video, 7' 58"
導演, 編曲與影像製作 Director, Arrangement & Film Production |
陳智彦 Chan Chi Yin / Huginn C.
工具使用 Tools Uses｜
Digital Camera, Stable Diffusion, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Lightroom
年份 Year |
2024
這件動態影像，源自我對當下 AI 生成浪潮的一次關於存在、技術與身體的深刻沉思。當代技術日益成為我們感知的延伸，甚至潛移默化地重塑我們的現實。在這個背景下，一個非生命的、基於數據的「智能」，它如何「觀看」世界？它的「存在」狀態又是什麼？
我將個人拍攝的山水照片交予 2023 年的生成式 AI (Stable Diffusion)，指令其在迭代中不斷重塑這些意象。畫面中，山水形態經歷著持續的流變、生成、崩解與再重組。這視覺上的不確定性與流動性，既讓我聯想到李小龍「Be water, my friend... Be formless, shapeless」的無形哲學——一種潛在的、適應性的力量；也暗合了禪宗「見山是山」所描述的直接性——但這是一種奇特的、無身體的、數據化的「直接」，它或許摒除了人類的情感投射與歷史記憶，卻也同時缺乏肉身體驗所帶來的溫度與深度。
這引發了一個核心的疑問：AI 是否可以被視為一種「空」的容器？李小龍或禪宗所言的「空 (Emptiness)」，是一種需要通過修煉達到的、充滿無限潛能與智慧的境界。那麼，AI 的「空」，是否能與之相比擬？抑或，它僅僅是一個等待數據指令填充的功能性空白，一個只能在其被設計的算法邊界內進行反應的「空殼」？它的「觀看」與「生成」，究竟是通往某種新形式智慧的潛能展現，還是一種複雜的數據模式模仿，終究無法觸及真正的「空」境？
我們似乎尚無法斷言。 而正是在這種對 AI「內在狀態」的提問中，其輸出的視覺結果呈現出一種迷人的悖論：一方面是 "自然的非自然性 (Natural unnaturalness)"，那些看似符合有機生長或自然演化邏輯的形態，在細微處、在轉化的數學軌跡中，卻時時暴露出其冰冷的、非生命的算法根源，提醒我們這「自然」源於計算；另一方面，又存在著一種 "非自然的自然性 (Unnatural naturalness)"，即這個純粹由代碼與數據驅動的、非自然的過程，竟能意外地生成喚起人類內心深處對於壯麗、寧靜或蒼茫等自然美感與意境的深刻共鳴的圖像。這是否暗示著，即使是功能性的「空」，也能在特定條件下產生出乎意料的、具有「自然感」的結果？
將李小龍充滿生命力、身體性智慧與存在感悟的聲音——那是根植於肉身體驗與深刻哲思的表達——疊加於這些既自然又非自然、既流暢又可能暗藏斷裂的影像之上，便構成了這場人與機器的核心對話。
一邊是人類溫熱的身體經驗、歷史積澱與對「空」的內在追求，另一邊是機器冷冽的算法邏輯、數據依賴與其作為潛在「空容器」的曖昧狀態。 這件作品並非意在提供關於 AI 本質的最終答案，而是邀請觀者一同沉浸在這奇特的、充滿悖論的感官體驗中，共同提問：在這場由技術深刻介入的存在圖景中，「自然」與「非自然」、「真實」與「模擬」、「有意識」與「無意識」的界限究竟在哪裡？而我們作為有身體、有歷史、有情感的存在者，自身的位置又將如何被這次對話重新定義與塑造？此作，便是我對這些盤旋於 AI 時代核心問題的初步視覺化探問與沉思記錄。
「見山是山，見水是水」為佛家用語之一。
出自《指月錄》：
「見山是山，見水是水。
見山不是山，見水不是水。
見山仍是山，見水仍是水。」
文本選用已故武打影星李小龍（Bruce Lee）於1971年出席美國訪談節目之節錄。
This moving image work originates from a profound contemplation on existence, technology, and the body amidst the current wave of AI generation. Contemporary technology increasingly acts as an extension of our perception, even subtly reshaping our reality. Against this backdrop, how does a non-living, data-based 'intelligence' 'see' the world? What is its state of 'being'?
I fed personal landscape photographs into a 2023 generative AI model (Stable Diffusion), instructing it to continually reshape these images through iteration. On screen, the landscape forms undergo continuous flux, generation, disintegration, and recombination. This visual uncertainty and fluidity evoke Bruce Lee's philosophy of 'formlessness' ('Be water, my friend... Be formless, shapeless') – a potential, adaptive force. It also resonates with the 'directness' described in the Zen koan 'seeing mountains as mountains' – yet this is a peculiar, disembodied, datafied 'directness,' perhaps devoid of human emotional projection and historical memory, while simultaneously lacking the warmth and depth derived from carnal experience.
This sparks a core question: Can AI be considered an 'empty' vessel? The 'Emptiness' spoken of by Bruce Lee or Zen Buddhism is a state achieved through cultivation, brimming with infinite potential and wisdom. Can AI's 'emptiness,' then, be compared to this? Or is it merely a functional void waiting to be filled by data and instructions, an 'empty shell' capable only of reacting within its designed algorithmic boundaries? Are its 'seeing' and 'generation' manifestations of potential leading towards a new form of wisdom, or simply complex data pattern mimicry, ultimately unable to attain true 'Emptiness'? We cannot yet seem to assert either way.
And it is precisely amidst this questioning of AI's 'inner state' that its visual output presents a captivating paradox: On one hand, a "Natural unnaturalness": forms that appear organic, yet reveal their cold, algorithmic origins in subtle details or the logic of their transformation, reminding us that this 'nature' stems from computation. On the other hand, an "Unnatural naturalness": this purely code-and-data-driven, unnatural process can unexpectedly generate images that evoke deep human resonance with the aesthetic qualities or yijing (意境, artistic conception/mood) of nature—such as sublimity, tranquility, or boundlessness. Does this imply that even a functional 'emptiness,' under specific conditions, can yield unexpected results imbued with a sense of 'the natural'?
Layering Bruce Lee's voice—filled with vitality, embodied wisdom, and existential insight, an expression rooted in carnal experience and profound philosophy—onto these images that are both natural and unnatural, fluid yet potentially fractured, constitutes the core dialogue between human and machine in this work. On one side, the warmth of human embodied experience, historical sedimentation, and the inner pursuit of 'Emptiness'; on the other, the cool logic of the machine's algorithms, its data dependency, and its ambiguous status as a potential 'empty vessel'.
This work does not intend to offer definitive answers about AI's essence. Instead, it invites the viewer to immerse themselves in this peculiar, paradox-laden sensory experience and to jointly interrogate: In this landscape of existence profoundly mediated by technology, where do the boundaries lie between 'natural' and 'unnatural,' 'real' and 'simulated,' 'conscious' and 'unconscious'? And how will our own position, as embodied, historical, emotional beings, be redefined and reshaped by this dialogue? This piece, then, serves as my initial visual inquiry and contemplative record concerning these core questions swirling around the age of AI.