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四位UDC演员 (顺时针方向)：Neil Thomas, Andrew Morrish, Nick Papas, David Wells
The four UDC performers (clockwise starting from the top): Neil Thomas, Andrew Morrish, Nick Papas, David Wells
哲学家路德维格•维根斯坦(Ludwig Wittgenstein)曾说：“我的语言的极限，就是我的世界的极限，我只能知我可以叙述的。”
维根斯坦是澳大利亚行为艺术家Neil Thomas最推崇的哲学家，从Thomas名噪四方的行为表演中，可以一窥维根斯坦的思想对Thomas的影响。为打破传统交流方式的限制，Thomas创造了一种新的 “语言”。籍此，Thomas进一步开阔他观众的世界。
攻读过哲学并曾从事演员的Thomas，如今是Urban Dream Capsule （UDC）的创意总监。UDC的表演，通常让包括Thomas在内的四位表演者，在一个特制的，一室一厅、一厨一卫的全透明玻璃屋中度过两周的生活，向观众展示一种独特的行为艺术。在这间玻璃屋中，他们的一举一动几乎毫无保留地呈现在来往公众的视野中，除了安装磨砂玻璃门的卫浴间。烹饪、洗澡等日常生活行为，经他们一捣鼓，瞬时拥有了令人捧腹的喜剧效果。他们的表演世界各地，如澳大利亚、美国、加拿大、英国、比利时、新西兰和香港等，吸引了无数的观众。观众还可以通过短信或email与表演者进行交流。
UDC不仅仅是一项娱乐大众的表演。曾在芝加哥的西尔斯大厦观看过UDC表演的Eric Bluman说：“起初我以为这只不过是让人们窥视他们的生活，实际上，观者反倒成了他们生活的一部分。”
谈及UDC创造的这种新的交流方式，Thomas解释道：“听说了这个表演的人，以为它不过是让人窥探别人的居家生活，或者以为我们有裸露癖。他们抱着这样的想法前来观看，最后却在不知不觉中参与了表演，与我们互动。透过UDC实现这种对话和交流也是我们的初衷。”
在众多举给Thomas的纸条中（观众们隔着玻璃手举便条），有一位比利时妇女这样写道：“我丈夫6个月前去世了，是你们让我再次欢笑。”另一位五十多岁的墨尔本男子，他的字条上只有一句话：我的母亲不久前去世了。
Thomas说：“观众和我们之间的这道玻璃让我们彼此更加贴近。这种沟通其实是很‘私密’的，你不必让其他人知道你写了什么，除非你想这样做。人们在这种状态下，一般不会只写一些很平常、不经大脑思考的东西。”
扮演着大众知己的Thomas看到，在城市生活的人们是多么孤独，每个人都渴望得到爱与朋友。“我们是如此害怕亲密，真让人遗憾。虽然城市人渴望与人建立联系，但似乎他们只有在感到不会产生什么后果时，才更愿意去交流。”
从UDC，Thomas还学到了其他什么人生哲理呢？
简而言之，就是“我们将生活过于复杂化。”
“生活中我们常常感到困挠，因为我们总是用太多的词语进行沟通。其实不用说话也能实现深度交流，比如，我们可以用眼神或手势来传达我们的想法。UDC让我明白，人类其实不需要太多，很容易就可以满足。在香港，当观众看到我们将洗碗这样平凡的行为进行艺术创作时，都喜出望外。”
“玻璃屋内的我们（UDC的表演者）是城市的中心，商店的橱窗是人们放飞都市梦想的地方，在这里，我们可以想象我们能够拥有的东西，想象我们认为我们应该拥有的生活方式。Urban Dream Capsule开辟了一席之地，令都市人可以毫无拘束地与人分享梦想。”
有时候与人分享是件很甜蜜的事。一次在澳大利亚发生的被Thomas称为“集体蛋糕”的事件中，UDC的艺术家们在观众们的一大堆指示下，表演最终变成了一场绝对可口蛋糕制作秀，最后他们和观众们一起消灭了整块蛋糕。
‘The limit of my language means the limits of my world. All I know is what I have words for,’ the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein once remarked.
Wittgenstein is Australian performance artist Neil Thomas’ favorite philosopher, and a glance at the act which Thomas is world-famous for will show that he has taken Wittgenstein’s words to heart. Conscious of the limits of the conventional means of communicating, Thomas has – and this may be apparent only in hindsight - invented a new way of ‘speaking.’ In doing so, he has expanded the world of his audiences.
Thomas, who had studied philosophy and had been an actor, is the Creative Director of Urban Dream Capsule (UDC), an act which sees four actors (one of them being Thomas) take up residence in a window display for (usually) two weeks. Equipped with a living room, bathroom, bedroom and kitchen, this transparent window setting (minus the frosted glass in the bathroom) will render transparent each act carried out inside. Turning simple acts like cooking a meal or taking a shower into slapstick routines, and interacting with audience through emails and written notes, UDC has intrigued audiences in Australia, the U.S., Canada, England, Belgium, New Zealand, and Hong Kong.
UDC is more than mere entertainment, though. As Eric Bluman (who saw the UDC in the Sears store in Chicago) puts it: ‘I thought it would just be people looking into their lives. But it’s actually people becoming part of their lives.’
Thomas says of the new way of ‘speaking’ that UDC has invented: ‘People hear about this project and come down to see what they think is a voyeuristic situation, or perhaps an exhibitionistic one. And then, without even realizing it, the whole thing turns into an act of dialogue and communication, which is really the whole idea.’
Among the many written notes displayed to Thomas (held in hand by spectators on the other side of the glass) are a Belgium woman telling him ‘my husband died six months ago. You guys are making me smile again,’ and a Melbourne man in his 50’s telling him that his mother had recently died.
‘The glass between the audience and us acts as a facilitator for intimacy. It’s a “private” way of communicating to us because you don’t need to let others know what you’ve written unless you want to. Under such circumstances, you don’t write ordinary things,’ Thomas points out.
In his role as a confidant, Thomas can’t help but observe how lonely city people are, and how widespread human need for love and connection is.
‘It’s a shame we’re so frightened of intimacy. People in cities have a craving to connect, yet it seems that they’re more ready to do so when there are no consequences.’
What else has the UDC taught Thomas about life?
In a word, it is that ‘we make life too complicated.’
‘We are confused in life because we communicate with too many words. Deep connection can take place in the absence of the spoken word. We can convey so much through a gaze or a gesture, for example. UDC has also made me see that human beings actually have simple needs, and can be easily satisfied. The Hong Kong audience, for example, was so absolutely thrilled to see us carrying out an act as mundane as dishwashing.’
这个类似于科幻电影中才会出现的装置将是四人组洗澡的水源
