Weave the Rope of Hope
2018
"...... there was only a little bit of food left. We were too scared that the border police and soldiers would notice us if we lit a fire and make tea. We just swallowed the tsamba with snow.
Days of non-stop treading in the snow gave our feet lots of blisters and frostbite. A few of us started to slow down. One of the girls was severely injured on her feet and was limping. At the same time, the journey was gradually becoming sinister with bottomless ice caves. When we tried to walk pass an ice cave, the limping girl who was behind us slipped into the ice cave.
We teared our clothes into pieces and weaved them into a rope. We hung the rope in the ice cave and attempted to pull her up. But we didn't have much resources and the rope was never long enough. We threw some food into the cave to give her energy, hoping that maybe she was just hurt on the feet and didn't have the physical strength to stand up. We were hoping that once her energy was replenished, she would be able to stand up, reach the rope, hold on, join us and move on.
We waited for one day and one night next to the ice cave. The moaning was becoming lower and lower until there was only silence...... That night, we again started to walk towards freedom."
- Oral memoire by Tibetan exiles, transcribed by the author
Since 1959, the Tibetans have chosen to leave Tibet in exile due to various reasons, mostly to pursue freedom, whether religious or political. Under the harsh political environment, even if they survived, the Tibetans who left their hometown to pursue freedom would most likely never again see the families they left behind in Tibet. However, meetings are the smallest unit for the accumulation of memories between a person and another, a person and a group, and a person and history. The accumulation of memories will then be able to form a new history. Project Weave the Rope of Hope wishes to develop a continuous creative project for the Tibet Museum of the Department of Information and International Relations (DIIR) for providing opportunities to meet from the past to the future. The project will be developed through the Tibetans and supporters of Tibet around the world to
1. Could the clothes which directly contact the skin be an extension of memories?
The project will be executed in two stages. In stage one, with the assistance of DIIR, we will call for project participants to donate objects from clothes of the dead and the survivors among Tibetans both inside and outside of Tibet. It can be a piece of sleeve, or a thread drawn from a cuff. The collection will focus on simple, light-weighted, and easily transported materials considering the difficulties of sending things out of Tibet and the varied economic situations of Tibetans. The collected materials will be weaved into a giant rope and hang on the wall of exhibition room as a sculpture.
In stage two, workshops will be organized in parallel with relevant talks and screening of documentaries. Visitors of DIIR will be invited to participate in the creative activity by donating parts of their clothes to be continuously weaved onto the exhibited rope from stage one to extend the length of the work.
2. Through weaving together, the memories would be extended and new opportunities of meeting are also created.
We certainly cannot go back into to give the rope to the girl who fall into the ice cave. However, hardships are not only at where the spider failed to rescue Kandata. The concept of Avīci Niraja is also formed by the indifference and incompetence among people. The project will assist us to build proper relationship with others at the present, and will also guide us to think about why "persecution" is initiated in the first place. The project creates not only a rope, but opportunities of meetings: the people who cannot meet in realities (e.g. the meetings between Tibetans inside and outside of Tibet, the dead and the survivors) will be represented by their clothes and meet on the weaving rope. Through the workshops, more people will meet with these memories to understand and to construct new common memories.
3. Can monuments be pathways to settle with the past? In the future, how are we going to think of the meetings today?
If we throw a rope from any place on the earth to let it go around the earth, the rope will need to be at least 40 000 kilometers for the other end to get back to the same place without considering the strength or rupture of the rope, nor mountains.
Within the limited time of the project, we may not be able to make the rope long enough to go around the globe. However, when the collaborators around the world advance their understandings on the challenges of Tibet, make the issues heard in their communities, there will be Hope, just as the name of the project.
Days of non-stop treading in the snow gave our feet lots of blisters and frostbite. A few of us started to slow down. One of the girls was severely injured on her feet and was limping. At the same time, the journey was gradually becoming sinister with bottomless ice caves. When we tried to walk pass an ice cave, the limping girl who was behind us slipped into the ice cave.
We teared our clothes into pieces and weaved them into a rope. We hung the rope in the ice cave and attempted to pull her up. But we didn't have much resources and the rope was never long enough. We threw some food into the cave to give her energy, hoping that maybe she was just hurt on the feet and didn't have the physical strength to stand up. We were hoping that once her energy was replenished, she would be able to stand up, reach the rope, hold on, join us and move on.
We waited for one day and one night next to the ice cave. The moaning was becoming lower and lower until there was only silence...... That night, we again started to walk towards freedom."
- Oral memoire by Tibetan exiles, transcribed by the author
Since 1959, the Tibetans have chosen to leave Tibet in exile due to various reasons, mostly to pursue freedom, whether religious or political. Under the harsh political environment, even if they survived, the Tibetans who left their hometown to pursue freedom would most likely never again see the families they left behind in Tibet. However, meetings are the smallest unit for the accumulation of memories between a person and another, a person and a group, and a person and history. The accumulation of memories will then be able to form a new history. Project Weave the Rope of Hope wishes to develop a continuous creative project for the Tibet Museum of the Department of Information and International Relations (DIIR) for providing opportunities to meet from the past to the future. The project will be developed through the Tibetans and supporters of Tibet around the world to
1. Could the clothes which directly contact the skin be an extension of memories?
The project will be executed in two stages. In stage one, with the assistance of DIIR, we will call for project participants to donate objects from clothes of the dead and the survivors among Tibetans both inside and outside of Tibet. It can be a piece of sleeve, or a thread drawn from a cuff. The collection will focus on simple, light-weighted, and easily transported materials considering the difficulties of sending things out of Tibet and the varied economic situations of Tibetans. The collected materials will be weaved into a giant rope and hang on the wall of exhibition room as a sculpture.
In stage two, workshops will be organized in parallel with relevant talks and screening of documentaries. Visitors of DIIR will be invited to participate in the creative activity by donating parts of their clothes to be continuously weaved onto the exhibited rope from stage one to extend the length of the work.
2. Through weaving together, the memories would be extended and new opportunities of meeting are also created.
We certainly cannot go back into to give the rope to the girl who fall into the ice cave. However, hardships are not only at where the spider failed to rescue Kandata. The concept of Avīci Niraja is also formed by the indifference and incompetence among people. The project will assist us to build proper relationship with others at the present, and will also guide us to think about why "persecution" is initiated in the first place. The project creates not only a rope, but opportunities of meetings: the people who cannot meet in realities (e.g. the meetings between Tibetans inside and outside of Tibet, the dead and the survivors) will be represented by their clothes and meet on the weaving rope. Through the workshops, more people will meet with these memories to understand and to construct new common memories.
3. Can monuments be pathways to settle with the past? In the future, how are we going to think of the meetings today?
If we throw a rope from any place on the earth to let it go around the earth, the rope will need to be at least 40 000 kilometers for the other end to get back to the same place without considering the strength or rupture of the rope, nor mountains.
Within the limited time of the project, we may not be able to make the rope long enough to go around the globe. However, when the collaborators around the world advance their understandings on the challenges of Tibet, make the issues heard in their communities, there will be Hope, just as the name of the project.
「……食物只剩下一點點，為了躲避邊界軍警的追捕，我們不敢生火煮茶，便將糌粑和著雪吃。
連續幾日在雪中行進，我們的腳上開始出現大量水泡與凍瘡，一些人步伐速度變慢，其中有一名女孩的腳部傷勢最為嚴重，走路總是瘸著一隻腳。此時路況逐漸變得險惡，路上開始出現深不見底的冰窟，在一段經過冰窟的路途中，已經落在隊伍後方的瘸腳女孩腳一滑、掉進了冰窟裡。
我們將身上的衣服撕成布條、編織成繩子，試圖垂到冰窟裡、拉她上來。但手邊擁有的物資不多，繩子始終不夠長；我們試圖將一些食物丟進洞裡，幫助她保持體力，期盼或許她只是腳受傷了，沒有體力站起來、拉住差一點點就能搆著的繩子，只要有體力了、拉住了，就能和我們一起繼續走下去。
後來我們在冰窟旁守候了一天一夜，從冰窟口傳來的呻吟聲越來越小，終至無聲……，夜裡，我們朝著自由繼續前進。」
--流亡藏人敘述，筆者重新整理
自1959年以來，藏人選擇流亡國外的理由眾多，但大抵脫離不了對於自由的追求，不論是信仰上的抑或是政治層面上的。在嚴苛的政治環境中，除了死難者，能夠離開家鄉並且持續追逐自由的藏人，也面臨了與境內家人終身難以會晤的問題，而會晤正是人與人、人與群體、人與歷史之間累積回憶的最小單位，最終這些回憶才能夠形成新的歷史。《希望之繩編織計畫》希望能為處在境外的西藏博物館（The Tibet Museum of the Department of Information and International Relations (DIIR)）提供一個永不間斷，並且持續向過去與未來提供會晤機會的創作計畫，透過世界各地的藏人與援藏者的手共同完成。
1.與皮膚緊密相貼的衣物，難道不能被視為記憶的延續嗎？
計畫分為兩個階段執行：在第一個階段當中，將透過博物館的協助，徵詢計畫的參與者，蒐集境內與境外，生者與死難者衣服的一部份，可以是一截袖子，也可以是從袖口中抽出來的一條線。考量到每位藏人的經濟狀況不一，與境內向外傳遞物件的困難，這部分的收集物以輕薄簡便、容易運輸為主。將這些蒐集而來的物件重新編織為一條巨大的繩子，以雕塑的形式懸掛在展間牆面展示。
第二個階段將搭配博物館相關講座與紀錄片放映，以工作坊的形式，邀請來到西藏博物館參觀的民眾共同參與創作，將自身衣物的一部分作為創作材料，接續在第一階段完成的繩子上，持續編織與延伸作品的長度。
2.透過共同編織使記憶延續，並且創造新的會晤機會
我們自然無法穿越時空、將這條繩子遞送到那名掉進冰窟的女孩手上，而苦難也不只是存在於無法讓犍陀多獲得拯救的蜘蛛絲之下，地獄作為一個概念，人與人之間的冷漠與不理解即形成地獄。這個概念（計畫？）不僅協助我們在當下與他人建立起正確的關係，同時也讓我們能夠深入思考形成「迫害」的根本原因。因此計畫所創造的不僅僅是一條線，同時也提供了會晤的契機：讓無法在現實世界中完成的會晤，如：境內藏人與境外藏人、生者與死難者，以部分衣物作為代表，在編織中的繩子上完成，並透過博物館舉辦的工作坊，讓更多人與這些記憶相會，理解並且創造出新的共同記憶。
3.記念碑是與過去的和解方案嗎？在未來，我們如何思考今天的會晤？
如果要將一條繩子從地球的任何一端拋出，繞地球一圈再收回，在不考量繩子是否足夠堅韌而不會在中途斷裂、與是否會經過山群地區的狀況下，根據地球的圓周，我們總共需要超過四萬公里的繩子才能完成這件事。
或許我們無法期望計畫當中的繩子在有限的時間裡，達成環繞地球一圈的目標，但來自世界各地的協作者們，卻能透過這個計畫更深一些地了解西藏的困境，讓言論在自己所處的社會位置發酵，而這正是這個計畫的名稱的由來：希望。
連續幾日在雪中行進，我們的腳上開始出現大量水泡與凍瘡，一些人步伐速度變慢，其中有一名女孩的腳部傷勢最為嚴重，走路總是瘸著一隻腳。此時路況逐漸變得險惡，路上開始出現深不見底的冰窟，在一段經過冰窟的路途中，已經落在隊伍後方的瘸腳女孩腳一滑、掉進了冰窟裡。
我們將身上的衣服撕成布條、編織成繩子，試圖垂到冰窟裡、拉她上來。但手邊擁有的物資不多，繩子始終不夠長；我們試圖將一些食物丟進洞裡，幫助她保持體力，期盼或許她只是腳受傷了，沒有體力站起來、拉住差一點點就能搆著的繩子，只要有體力了、拉住了，就能和我們一起繼續走下去。
後來我們在冰窟旁守候了一天一夜，從冰窟口傳來的呻吟聲越來越小，終至無聲……，夜裡，我們朝著自由繼續前進。」
--流亡藏人敘述，筆者重新整理
自1959年以來，藏人選擇流亡國外的理由眾多，但大抵脫離不了對於自由的追求，不論是信仰上的抑或是政治層面上的。在嚴苛的政治環境中，除了死難者，能夠離開家鄉並且持續追逐自由的藏人，也面臨了與境內家人終身難以會晤的問題，而會晤正是人與人、人與群體、人與歷史之間累積回憶的最小單位，最終這些回憶才能夠形成新的歷史。《希望之繩編織計畫》希望能為處在境外的西藏博物館（The Tibet Museum of the Department of Information and International Relations (DIIR)）提供一個永不間斷，並且持續向過去與未來提供會晤機會的創作計畫，透過世界各地的藏人與援藏者的手共同完成。
1.與皮膚緊密相貼的衣物，難道不能被視為記憶的延續嗎？
計畫分為兩個階段執行：在第一個階段當中，將透過博物館的協助，徵詢計畫的參與者，蒐集境內與境外，生者與死難者衣服的一部份，可以是一截袖子，也可以是從袖口中抽出來的一條線。考量到每位藏人的經濟狀況不一，與境內向外傳遞物件的困難，這部分的收集物以輕薄簡便、容易運輸為主。將這些蒐集而來的物件重新編織為一條巨大的繩子，以雕塑的形式懸掛在展間牆面展示。
第二個階段將搭配博物館相關講座與紀錄片放映，以工作坊的形式，邀請來到西藏博物館參觀的民眾共同參與創作，將自身衣物的一部分作為創作材料，接續在第一階段完成的繩子上，持續編織與延伸作品的長度。
2.透過共同編織使記憶延續，並且創造新的會晤機會
我們自然無法穿越時空、將這條繩子遞送到那名掉進冰窟的女孩手上，而苦難也不只是存在於無法讓犍陀多獲得拯救的蜘蛛絲之下，地獄作為一個概念，人與人之間的冷漠與不理解即形成地獄。這個概念（計畫？）不僅協助我們在當下與他人建立起正確的關係，同時也讓我們能夠深入思考形成「迫害」的根本原因。因此計畫所創造的不僅僅是一條線，同時也提供了會晤的契機：讓無法在現實世界中完成的會晤，如：境內藏人與境外藏人、生者與死難者，以部分衣物作為代表，在編織中的繩子上完成，並透過博物館舉辦的工作坊，讓更多人與這些記憶相會，理解並且創造出新的共同記憶。
3.記念碑是與過去的和解方案嗎？在未來，我們如何思考今天的會晤？
如果要將一條繩子從地球的任何一端拋出，繞地球一圈再收回，在不考量繩子是否足夠堅韌而不會在中途斷裂、與是否會經過山群地區的狀況下，根據地球的圓周，我們總共需要超過四萬公里的繩子才能完成這件事。
或許我們無法期望計畫當中的繩子在有限的時間裡，達成環繞地球一圈的目標，但來自世界各地的協作者們，卻能透過這個計畫更深一些地了解西藏的困境，讓言論在自己所處的社會位置發酵，而這正是這個計畫的名稱的由來：希望。
