正如電影《楚門(mén)的世界》中所揭示的那樣，人類越來(lái)越近似于生活在一個(gè)虛構(gòu)的"世界"中，只不過(guò)是，楚門(mén)生活的桃源島小城是一座由人工構(gòu)建而成的巨大攝影棚。也就是說(shuō)，楚門(mén)每天所看到的世界仍然脫離不了它的"實(shí)物"替代性的特征。而在《黑客帝國(guó)》中，這種實(shí)物替代性讓位于數(shù)字代碼，網(wǎng)絡(luò)黑客尼奧所生活的世界已經(jīng)不再是由實(shí)體物質(zhì)虛構(gòu)替代而成，反之，在矩陣空間中，世界萬(wàn)物和感性知覺(jué)，乃至于構(gòu)成世界的世界觀，都是由無(wú)形的數(shù)字代碼虛擬而成。也就是說(shuō)，在《楚門(mén)的世界》里主體性依然是建立在客觀性的基礎(chǔ)上，而在《黑客帝國(guó)》中，主體性則是由主觀性所建構(gòu)出來(lái)的。或者說(shuō)，尼奧們的主體感知性是由系統(tǒng)母體所設(shè)定的。即便如此，在建構(gòu)了桃源島的制片人和建構(gòu)了矩陣的母體之間，其二者的意義同構(gòu)性還是顯而易見(jiàn)的。首先，他（它）們都是全知全覺(jué)者，對(duì)于被他（它）們所創(chuàng)造出來(lái)的子系統(tǒng)而言，他（它）們是上一級(jí)系統(tǒng)，故而，上一級(jí)系統(tǒng)的存在性可以覆蓋下一級(jí)系統(tǒng)。所以，對(duì)于子系統(tǒng)的存在意義而言，他（它）們相當(dāng)于就是"根目錄"，刪除了根目錄也就意味著刪除了其下的所有子系統(tǒng)。其次，他（它）們不僅是被創(chuàng)造物的創(chuàng)造者，也是操縱者。其操縱過(guò)程已經(jīng)不再是傳統(tǒng)的暴力機(jī)器和行政手段，而是轉(zhuǎn)變成為符號(hào)和代碼，以及編織這些符號(hào)和代碼使之產(chǎn)生意義的邏輯系統(tǒng)和意識(shí)形態(tài)。
　　這實(shí)際上也符合鮑德里亞所提出的擬像理論。在當(dāng)代社會(huì)，"擬像和仿真的東西因?yàn)榇笠?guī)模地類型化而取代了真實(shí)和原初的東西，世界因而變得擬像化了"。鮑德里亞認(rèn)為擬像不再是對(duì)某個(gè)領(lǐng)域、某種指涉對(duì)象或某種實(shí)體的模擬，它無(wú)需原物或者實(shí)體，而是通過(guò)模型來(lái)生產(chǎn)真實(shí)。這種真實(shí)被鮑德里亞稱為"超真實(shí)"(hyperreality)。雖然鮑德里亞的擬像理論主要針對(duì)的是大眾媒介在構(gòu)成后現(xiàn)代社會(huì)中的作用的反思，但是，對(duì)于后現(xiàn)代社會(huì)現(xiàn)實(shí)中由符碼構(gòu)成的異化景觀的分析，鮑德里亞的理論仍然有其平行位移式的價(jià)值。
　　藝術(shù)家朱離子格的作品即是揭示了在后現(xiàn)代"信息-消費(fèi)"社會(huì)中，符碼、符碼的操控性，以及它們與真實(shí)之間的關(guān)系。交通標(biāo)志、建筑彩條布、鐵絲網(wǎng)，以及刷涂了石灰水的樹(shù)干，這些都構(gòu)成了一種強(qiáng)制性的視覺(jué)傾向性。它們或遮蓋、或涂抹、或阻隔了"現(xiàn)實(shí)"與真相之間的關(guān)系，并且自身形成了一種新的意義編碼系統(tǒng)，從而成為了類似于鮑德里亞筆下的"超真實(shí)"(hyperreality)。后現(xiàn)代社會(huì)中的各種符碼構(gòu)成了可以取代了真實(shí)和原初的意義系統(tǒng)，又由這些意義系統(tǒng)形成了普遍的世界觀和價(jià)值觀，并進(jìn)而由這種普遍的世界觀和價(jià)值觀操控著個(gè)體。問(wèn)題是，又是誰(shuí)來(lái)操控著這些看似"合理"的符碼編織邏輯呢？是桃源島小城的"制片人"？還是矩陣中虛無(wú)的"母體"？或許這些都不重要，重要的是他（它）們已經(jīng)成為了決定我們存在意義的"根目錄"。也就是說(shuō)，如果一旦刪除了這些"根目錄"，我們就成為了漂浮在虛無(wú)中的意義碎片。人類就又重新回到了那個(gè)意義的原點(diǎn)："本源"成為一種擬像，幻覺(jué)與現(xiàn)實(shí)混淆，現(xiàn)實(shí)不存在了，沒(méi)有現(xiàn)實(shí)坐標(biāo)的確證--人類不知何所來(lái)、何所去……
　　或許，我們還可以把朱離子格的作品視為一種依附在后現(xiàn)代圖景中的"風(fēng)景畫(huà)"。但是，這實(shí)際上是一種殘忍的類比。重新回到鮑德里亞的擬像理論：鮑德里亞為后現(xiàn)代的文化設(shè)立了一個(gè)坐標(biāo)系，他認(rèn)為擬像的第一個(gè)序列時(shí)期是仿造(counterfeit)，仿造是從文藝復(fù)興到工業(yè)革命時(shí)期的主導(dǎo)模式，這一序列的類像遵循"自然價(jià)值規(guī)律"，也就是承襲了亞歷士多德以來(lái)的"模擬說(shuō)"，這一時(shí)期的仿真追求的是模擬、復(fù)制自然和反映自然。這里可以對(duì)應(yīng)為早期資本主義的溫情的岸樹(shù)和遠(yuǎn)靄，以及夕陽(yáng)下的白裙少女。而在擬像的第三個(gè)序列是仿真(simulation)，這是被符碼所主宰的后現(xiàn)代社會(huì)的主導(dǎo)模式。這一階段擬像創(chuàng)造了"超真實(shí)"，傳統(tǒng)的表現(xiàn)"真實(shí)"的規(guī)律被打破，模型構(gòu)成了真實(shí)，其結(jié)果便是真實(shí)之死。所以說(shuō)，朱離子格表現(xiàn)的不再是"自然"、"真實(shí)"的風(fēng)景，而是體現(xiàn)了人工的、符碼化的、異化了的后現(xiàn)代社會(huì)景觀。
　　這種后現(xiàn)代社會(huì)景觀也不再是獨(dú)立于主體之外的客體，而是一種主體的鏡像。它是主體意志的客體化和符碼化?；蜓灾?dāng)主體亦是某種主觀意識(shí)的客體化的時(shí)候，異化的景觀便成為這個(gè)時(shí)代的集體無(wú)意識(shí)的象征。 　　Humanity is approaching life in a fabricated "world," like in The Truman Show; the key was that the utopian town in which Truman lived was a giant film set built by other people. The world that Truman saw every day still required the substitution of material objects. In The Matrix, the substitution of physical objects gives way to digital code; the world in which Neo lives is not fabricated from an assemblage of physical objects. Instead, in the space of the matrix, everything in the world, all sensory perceptions, and even the world view that shapes all of this were the virtual creations of intangible digital codes. In The Truman Show, the subject is still constructed on a foundation of objectivity, but in The Matrix, the subject is constructed from subjectivity. Or one might say that Neo's subjective perceptions were defined by the system matrix. Despite this, the similar ways in which the producers who built the utopia and the generators of the matrix construct meaning are obvious. First, they are all-knowing and all-seeing, and they are a level above the subsystem that they have created. Therefore, the existence of the higher-level system can envelop that of the lower-level system, so in the existence of the subsystem, they are equivalent to the root directory. Deleting the root directory implies deleting all subsystems under it. Second, they are the creators of their creations, but they are also the manipulators of their creations. This process of manipulation is no longer confined to traditional violent means and administrative measures; this manipulation is transformed into symbols and codes, which are woven together to produce a logical system and ideology related to meaning.
　　This actually fits with Jean Baudrillard's theory of simulation and simulacra. In the grand typologies of contemporary society, simulations and simulacra have replaced the real and the original, and the world thereby becomes simulated. Baudrillard believed that "simulation is no longer that of a territory, a referential being, or a substance. It is the generation by models of a real without original or reality."  Baudrillard called this "hyperreality." Baudrillard's theory of simulations and simulacra is primarily a reflection of the role of the mass media in constructing post-modern society, but his theory still has a parallel application in an analysis of the alienated landscapes constructed of code in a post-modern social reality.
　　Zhu Lizige's work reveals the relationships between code, the manipulation of code, and truth in a post-modern "information-consumption" society. Traffic signs, striped building tarps, chain link fences, and tree trunks painted with limestone stripes are imposed visual elements. They cover, erase, or obliterate the relationship between "reality" and the truth, and form a new coding system for meaning, becoming something akin to Baudrillard's hyperreality. Various codes in post-modern society make up a system of meaning that can replace origins and realities, and these systems of meaning can make up common worldviews and values systems, thereby controlling the individual. The question is: who is manipulating the seemingly rational logic behind these codes? Is it the producer of that utopian town? Or the world inside the matrix? Perhaps all of this is not important; what is important is that they have already become the root directories that determine our existential meaning. Once these root directories are deleted, we become fragments of meaning floating in nothingness. Humanity has returned to the origin of that meaning. The origin becomes a simulacrum, illusion and reality are mixed, reality does not exist, and there is no concrete proof of real coordinates. Humanity does not know where it came from or where it is going…
　　We could still see Zhu Lizige's work as "landscape paintings" dependent on post-modern visions. However, the comparison to landscape painting is actually a bit harsh. Let us return to Baudrillard's theory. He set a coordinate system for post-modern culture; he believed that the first order process was counterfeiting, a leading model from the Renaissance to the Industrial Revolution. This process follows "natural laws of value," and adopts the idea of mimesis that began with Aristotle. At this stage, counterfeiting intended to imitate, replicate, and reflect nature. This could correspond to the sentimental early capitalist depictions of mist and trees on the opposite shore and a girl in a white dress in the setting sun. The third order is a simulacrum, which is the leading model for a post-modern society governed by code. In this state, the simulacrum creates hyperreality. Traditional ways of expressing "reality" are broken, and models create reality. The result is the death of reality. That is to say, what Zhu Lizige presents is no longer a "natural" and "real" landscape; it is an artificial, symbolic, and alienated post-modern societal landscape.
　　This post-modern societal landscape is no longer an object independent of the subject; it's a mirror image of the subject, the objectification and codification of subjective will. In other words, when the subject becomes the objectification of a subjective consciousness, alienated landscapes become symbols of the collective unconscious of this era.
　　August 7, 2018, Beijing
　　(Wu Hong: Art critic, curator, editor-in-chief of Artintern.net, managing director of the Songzhuang Contemporary Art Archive, and a guest professor and graduate advisor at Jilin College of the Arts)
　　References
　　Baudrillard, Jean. Simulacra and Simulation. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1994.