Something he could see, but couldn't touch.
2 channels video
4' 39"
Colour, sound, loop
2025
If he could break through that dust-covered glass, he would step back into the time that has long since vanished.
看得到、抓不著
雙頻道錄像
4‘ 38“
2025
如果他能衝破那塊積著灰塵的玻璃，他會走回早已消逝的歲月。
香港作家劉以鬯在1972年首次於報章上連載小說《對倒》。文中中塵封玻璃的意象尤其深刻。那些被塵埃掩埋的記憶總是朦朧不清。你輕拂去塵埃，視線漸漸變得清晰，清晰得彷彿觸手可及。你伸出手，試圖觸碰熟悉的過往，卻只碰到冷冷一片玻璃——一道在自己和過去之間無法逾越的屏障。過去成為了異鄉，那些看似近在咫尺的人與事，已是遙不可及。
朱樂庭以塵封玻璃的意象拍攝《看得到、抓不著》。幽微中，片中人或掃地，或備餐，像是村中人日常。隨著兩手將塵抹去，我們窺進玻璃，玻璃後景象越發清晰。村中人逐漸散去。終於，兩手將塵都抹去，玻璃後的景象被看清。我們才發現，不論是祠堂或住屋，都是一片衰敗寂寥；我們以為的當下，在不經覺中已成為幻象。然而，也正是這無法抵達的距離，激發人對往昔的浪漫好感，和想要喚回的衝動。
Looking back at past times, dust-covered memories always seem blurry. You carefully wipe away some of the dust until your vision becomes clearer—so clear that it feels almost within reach. You raise your arm to touch what’s in front of you, only to feel the cold, hard surface of glass. That’s when you realize there is a barrier between you and the past, a barrier you cannot break through. What seems near is, in truth, so far away.
The above passage is quoted from Intersection, a novel by Hong Kong writer Liu Yichang, first serialized in a newspaper in 1972. These lines poignantly capture the unbreakable divide between us and our memories—something we can see but never touch.
This metaphor inspired Something he could see, but couldn’t touch., featured in exhibition Memory Smuggler: A First Quartet at To Art House, Hong Kong. In this exhibition, Chu adopts quasi-archaeological methods to explore settlements and abandoned ruins in the hills of the Fo Tan district in Hong Konh. One centerpiece, a video work filmed at an abandoned ancestral hall and house in the deserted village of Fo Tan, pays tribute to Liu Yichang’s notable publication. Chu’s work reflects on the act of studying the past: no matter how hard we try to reach or understand it, the past remains at an uncrossable distance. Yet, it is precisely this distance that makes the past so intriguing.
The sound of the videos are composed by Chet Bleed.
Image: Photo by Wong Pak Hang and commissioned by To Art House.
...他想起消逝了的歲月。那些消逝了的歲月，彷彿隔著一塊積著灰塵的玻璃，看得到、抓不著。看到的種種，都是默默糊糊的。如果他能衝破那塊積著灰塵的玻璃，他會走回早已消逝的歲月。
——劉以鬯《對倒》
...he remembered those vanished years. Those bygone days were something he could only look at through a dusty window pane; something he could see, but couldn't touch. And everything he saw was blurred and indistinct. If he could break through that dust-covered glass, he would step back into the time that has long since vanished.
----Intersection by Liu Yichang, translated by Nancy Li