行者十步 Footprints of the Walker：蔡明亮 Tsai Ming-Liang

行者，不只是穿越時空的修行者，更意味著形象的轉生。

2011年，李康生在排練舞台劇《只有你》的〈李康生的魚・我的沙漠〉時，以極慢步伐行走短短幾公尺之間，轉換蔡明亮父親與玄奘法師的角色。此姿態讓蔡明亮深受震撼。這種既懸置又推進的步調，不僅凝聚了他與李康生數十年合作的精髓，也為他正在醞釀的、更開放的電影形態埋下了轉變的伏筆。

如果李康生慢行的一小步是他與蔡明亮長年合作所淬鍊出的結晶，那麼自2012年至2024年間，他們共同完成的《行者》系列，則可謂透過李康生化身紅袍僧侶的徐步實踐跨藝術的壯跡。

具體而言，這個系列包括十部長短不一的影片——《無色》、《行者》、《夢遊》、《金剛經》、《行在水上》、《西遊》、《無無眠》、《沙》、《何處》、《無所住》——亦包含舞台劇《玄奘》。此外，它也延伸至電影展覽，如「無無眠大展」（北師美術館）、「行者 蔡明亮」大展（壯圍沙丘旅遊服務園區）與「取經」（龐畢度中心）等，探索影像與空間的結合。

顧名思義，「行者十步：蔡明亮」呼應「十部」影片的諧音，指向這些受到唐代玄奘法師西行天竺十七載取經啟發的影像創作。十餘年來，《行者》影片除了涉足台北、雲林與宜蘭，也輾轉香港、古晉與東京，甚至遠行至馬賽、巴黎與華盛頓。影片以長鏡頭描寫聖僧自台北行向四方，從內心行至世間的經行。

在美術館中，這些影片並非單獨存在，而是彼此聯繫，形成一個有機整體，同時結合紙張、經文、鏡面、椅子、素描、畫作、物件與檔案等素材，藉由多重銀幕與裝置藝術的方式營造沉浸式影像空間；光影與色彩、線條與皺褶、錯過與相遇、生命與幻影、有限與無窮交織，形塑出獨特的行者世界。

「行者十步：蔡明亮」象徵著蔡明亮身為導演的藝術轉向，開啟另一種影像取經的旅程。試想，當年長安僧侶不顧朝廷的禁令，義無反顧地踏上西行求法之路；而蔡明亮則以影像為經，遊走於電影、劇場與展覽之間，在跨越空間、媒介與藝術邊界的過程中持續追尋，開闢一條凝視時間的行者之道。

The Walker is more than a pilgrim through time and space, it’s the transformation of imagery.

In 2011, while rehearsing the stage play Only You, in the monologue The Fish of Lee Kang-sheng: The Journey in the Desert, Lee walked at an extremely slow pace for just a few meters. He shifts between the roles of Tsai Ming-liang’s father and the Tang Dynasty Buddhist monk Xuanzang. This movement profoundly affected Tsai. These steps both suspended and advanced the forward motion. It encapsulated the essence of the decades-long collaboration between Tsai and Lee. It also planted the seed for the open form of cinema Tsai has been nurturing.

If Lee’s slow walk is the crystallization of his years of collaboration with Tsai, then The Walker series, which they completed between 2012 and 2024, can be seen as a grand artistic journey across disciplines, realized through Lee ’s embodiment of a red-robed monk in slow, deliberate motion.

This series includes ten films of varying lengths—No Form, Walker, Sleepwalk, Diamond Sutra, Walking on Water, Journey to the West, No No Sleep, Sand, Where, and Abiding Nowhere—as well as the stage play The Monk from Tang Dynasty. Additionally, it extends into cinematic exhibitions such as No No Sleep at MoNTUE －Tsai Ming-Liang Solo Exhibition, Walker, Tsai Ming-Liang at the Zhuangwei Dune Visitor Center and A Quest at the Centre Pompidou. Together, they explore the fusion of film and space.

Footprints of the Walker: Tsai Ming-Liang refers to the ten films, pointing to this body of work inspired by the 17-year-long journey of Xuanzang in search of sutras from India. Over the past decade, The Walker series has set foot not only in Taipei, Yunlin, and Yilan but also Hong Kong, Kuching, and Tokyo, and extended as far as Marseille, Paris and Washington D.C. Through long takes, the films depict the monk’s journey outward from Taipei in meditative movement—from the inner self to the broader world.

Within the gallery space, these films do not exist independently but interconnect to form an organic whole. Presented alongside paper, sutras, mirrors, chairs, sketches, paintings, objects, and archival materials, an immersive visual environment is created through multi-screen installations and video art. Light and shadow, color and texture, missed encounters and fateful meetings, life and illusion, the finite and the infinite—these elements weave together to shape the unique world of the Walker.

Footprints of the Walker: Tsai Ming-Liang symbolizes the artistic transformation of Tsai as a director, opening up a new cinematic pilgrimage. Imagine the ancient monk from Chang’an who, defying the imperial decree, set out resolutely on his westward journey in search of the Dharma. Similarly, Tsai uses film as his scripture, moving between cinema, theater and exhibition spaces, continuously  searching beyond spatial, media, and artistic boundaries—to carve out a Walker’s path that gazes upon time itself.