因为强烈地拥有让时间停滞在某一刻的愿望，三年前，我开始了名为一块河水的项目。通过分割河流，获取每一块河水的“唯一时刻”，承载我留住时间的想象。

依着十二时辰的计时方法，在每个时辰开始时，拍摄同一处河水。拍摄时，设定一组有序的快门速度，由快到慢。无论白天黑夜，画面中是否有影像呈现，曝光时间都机械地依着规定的顺序变换，使其如同河水奔流，不止不歇。我将相机快门弹起又落下定义为相机视角 的瞬间，瞬间发生时，记录当下的风向、风速，温度、空气湿度，尽可能地寻找这一时刻的“唯一性”。

Driven by a strong desire to suspend time at a single moment, I initiated a photographic experiment titled A Block of River Water. Following the traditional Chinese system of twelve shichen (two-hour time units), I photographed the same section of river at the beginning of each shichen, attempting to capture a singular moment of each “block” of river water.A predetermined sequence of shutter speeds—from fast to slow—was applied. Regardless of ambient light, or whether any visible image appeared in the frame, the exposure time shifted mechanically according to the set order, like the ceaseless flow of the river, uninterrupted day or night.

During each session, I defined the moment when the shutter is released as the camera’s sole point of view. Simultaneously, I recorded environmental data including wind direction, wind speed, temperature, and humidity—attempting to document as fully as possible the uniqueness of each captured moment.

在完成影像和数据记录后，我尝试将其物质化。我设计并搭建一座方形“水坝”装置，向方块中注入纯净水，同时将河水的影像和关于拍摄时某刻的数据置于坝上，封存时间，承起一条人造的时间河流。当人们按下方形河水块面，带着河水的方块便会弹出，方块碰撞弹出之后，好似在漫漫且无序的时间河流中精确地截取了某一刻。我试图以此提供一种可能性，交互者拿出方块精确地获得此刻时，与过去某一时刻产生关联。

After the image and data collection, I sought to translate this sense of singularity into material form. I designed and constructed a square “dam” installation that simulates the structure of a real dam. Acrylic cubes served as vessels for a structured river, each filled with purified water and paired with a corresponding river image and its environmental data, mounted atop the installation. When a viewer presses a square surface, an internal mechanism elevates one removable “river block”—as if, from the long and unordered river of time, a precise moment has been extracted. The moment in which the viewer retrieves the block becomes linked to the past moment of its creation. 

然而封存时间的幻想在两年之后被打破。两年后，再次观察河水方块，部分被注入的河水已经消失，其他的纯净水中飘起白絮长出霉菌，浸漫在制作水坝底座的木板上，留下淡淡的青苔。我选择直面这些时间存在的印迹，为生长的细小菌丝留下影像，允许新的视觉形式存在。同时，为它们制作使它们得以被观看的装置，模拟隔着水流观看这些模糊的生命体在虚实之间不断变形的感受。

After the image and data collection, I sought to translate this sense of singularity into material form. I designed and constructed a square “dam” installation that simulates the structure of a real dam. Acrylic cubes served as vessels for a structured river, each filled with purified water and paired with a corresponding river image and its environmental data, mounted atop the installation. When a viewer presses a square surface, an internal mechanism elevates one removable “river block”—as if, from the long and unordered river of time, a precise moment has been extracted. The moment in which the viewer retrieves the block becomes linked to the past moment of its creation.

在创作之初，有着强烈的留住时间的愿望的同时，我也试图以此展开对时空的追问：不舍昼夜奔流的河水和被置于每一个不同的时空开始却定格在千分之一或者几秒的瞬间抽离的河水，哪一个更真实。然而真实与不真实一直被相对的条件界定着，时刻变化，似乎没有绝对的答案。越是追求精确，现实便越变得支离破碎。

无法被切实定义的瞬间、不正常可视的影像、生长的霉菌、这些“失误”和难以绝对抵达的精确恰恰使《一块河水》的想象变得更加完整。远超出最初的预想，源于对摄影思考，以装置为手段的尝试，向我提供了一个直面时间消逝的机会，同时，自然力量的参与使我对时空的思考提供了更多可能性，将命题变得更广阔之外，也让我对一块河水的想象得以延续。

人类总是有着“让时间停止的欲望”，并从未止步。但留住时间的想法是不可能实现的，相反，时间会留下它存在的证据。

Which is more real—the river that flows without pause, or the river that has been extracted and fixed within a fraction of a second? There may be no absolute answer between the real and the unreal. The more precisely one attempts to observe, the more fragmented reality becomes. Undefined moments, unconventional images, growing mold—these unexpected “deviations” and the impossibility of absolute precision are what ultimately complete the imagination behind A Block of River Water. The human desire to stop time persists, yet to truly preserve time remains impossible. What we are left with, instead, is evidence of its presence.

一块河水的创作灵感源自《论语·子罕》中的“逝者如斯夫，不舍昼夜”。

The inspiration for A Block of River Water comes from a passage in the Analects of Confucius:

“逝者如斯夫，不舍昼夜” — Time passes like this river, flowing day and night without rest.