How much electricity

How much electricity does one need?

(V.T. Jayadevan, 2013, poet and school teacher, Calicut of India)

How much electricity does one need

Please tell me, Sir,

For one person?

From the first cry

To the last parting wet smile  

How many megawatt? 

           

To open one’s eyes,

To make the first steps

To sip nectar

along with butterflies,

To cross the borders

on the wings of migratory flights?

  

To love

To make love  

To heal pain and illness 

To be serene

To sing, dance, sleep

To travel through

God and Devil 

How many megawatt of electricity

will one need?

              

With how much megawatt

can we bring back the birdsong

that has flown away?

To help the stagnant pool

evolve into a cascading stream?

To breathe life 

into a tender shoot

or a tiny flower bud?

           

Tell me, by passing how much current

can we restore the shy cool smile 

of a little child

on a despondent man’s 

dry parched lips?

        

How much electricity is needed 

to make an urban man

a bit more humble? 

a bit more civil?

a bit more loving? 

              

With how many megawatt of electricity

can we bring back

a President, a Minister, 

a political leader

to sanity  

to humaneness?

(translated from Malayalam by S. Santhi)

Taiwan – And then Nuclear Disaster…

(Chang Chao-Tong, photographer, 2013, Taiwan)

 Detail 1 (Image presentation re-arranged to suit 

web display; quality of photographs impaired through reproduction.)

 Detail 2

 Detail 3

 Detail 4

 Detail 5

 Detail 6

 If Ansel Adams is a guardian of American landscapes, Jeanloup Seiff a mirror of French celebrities, Araki Nobuyoshi an alter-ego of Japanese psyche, Chang Chao-Tang (1943- ) is a raconteur of social, cultural and political changes in modern Taiwan.

 Of all the works in Chang's retrospective show, personally I found the series titled ‘Taiwan – And then Nuclear Disaster…’ the most riveting. The images touch the nerves of the local as much as international audiences including me. The flash point is that the country is building its seventh nuclear reactor amid fierce oppositions. With Fukushima disaster still unresolved in Japan, the island is at the verge of shelving the unfinished project of Lungmen (construction started in 2009) altogether. A national referendum is scheduled for debate in parliament.

  Thousands of miles away in India, there is a total of 22 nuclear reactors including the latest one in Tamil Nadu – the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant commissioned in July 2013 despite heavy protests from pressure groups and delays of up to six years. This is where the poem by Jayadevan recited above plays a part in the unprecedented ‘no nukes’ campaign.

  In Hong Kong where I live, there are already five reactors in the neighbouring Guangdong province; but an astounding 28 are scheduled to be commissioned in 2020. Unlike the two countries mentioned, public attentions here are rare and few raise questions on the monitoring if not the validity of nuclear energy.

  With due concern, how many nuclear reactors do you have in your vicinity?

TIME: The Images of Chang Chao-Tang 1959-2013

Taipei Fine Arts Museum

September 14, 2013 – December 29, 2013

On the descent: A month-to-month comparison of 

my electricity bill in two years. 

End note: For conscience and home economics, I am doing my part to cut down on domestic energy consumption.

多少電力                〈中文摘要〉

《多少電力每個人委實需要》

多少電力每個人委實需要

請君告訴我，

只供一個人？

自出生第一口喊叫

到歿前終別時絕笑

幾多百萬瓦特？

                               

往張開眼眸，

往踏出始步

往吸吮蜜露

與蝶同行，

穿越彊界

繫于遷徙眾鳥之翅膀上？

       

去愛

去做愛

去治療傷痛及疾病

去安身恬謐

去歌唱、跳舞、睡覺

去心領神會

聖靈與魔體

幾多百萬瓦特的電力

每個人到底需要？

                                       

用多少百萬瓦特

我們才可召喚鳥嗚曲

從遠方飛返？

去疏導淤池

以展活川流不息的溪澗？

去注入八方新氣

到幼嫩苗芽

或渺小瑤華？

                               

告訴我，需要通過多少電流

我們才可重塑羞容

尤如小孩童

凝聚于男子的沮喪臉相

其乾竭唇上

                       

多少電力委實需要

去造就都市人們

多一份謙疚

多一份民教

多一份愛慦

                                       

用幾多百萬瓦特的電力

我們始能尋回

一位總統、一位首長

一位政治領將

讓理智發揮

讓人性回歸

(筆者譯印度人V.T.Jayadevan詩篇)

如果安瑟‧亞當斯(Ansel Adams)是美國自然風光的守護者，尚陸‧謝夫(Jeanloup Seiff)是法國名人的鏡子，荒木經帷是東洋心理狀態的反射性格，那麼張照堂(1943- )堪稱是臺灣近代社會、文化及政治發展歷程的說書人。

從張氏回顧展眾多作品裡，筆者個人認為《臺灣 – 核災之後》一系列影像最具震懾力。它們除了觸動本土神經，對於海外觀眾如筆者感覺亦然。而引發爆炸性爭議始於臺北東岸正在興建第七座核子反應爐。由於福島事件爛攤子在前，當地民間激烈爭論應否擱置這個自○九年開始施工的龍門核能發電廠。就此，臺灣國會展開辯論是否按公投方式，謀求解開這困窘。

迢迢千里外的印度擁有二十二棟核反應爐，其中包括剛落成一棟於今年七月在泰米納德省(Tamil Nadu)投入發電。此核電站(Kudankulam Nuclear Station)在興建過程及六年延期中，遭受到前所未有的民間反抗。當中Jayadevan的詩篇恰恰代表這股反對動力。

在筆者居港之不遠處 – 廣東省已有五座核反應爐。按國家規劃將於二○二○年投入另外二十八座，這是多麽驚人的數目！與上述兩個地方不同，這裡的公眾對核能發電之安全極少理會，也談不上關注其監管、或質疑它的確實效益。

溫馨提問，你的周邊又有多少個核子反應爐呢？

結語：筆者已身先士卒在最近兩年持續減少家居耗電量。(附二○一一至一三年用電統計。)

歲月/照堂1959-2013影像展

臺北市立美術館

二○一三年九月十四日至同年十二月二十九日