故事

夜晚时分，各式各样的飞蛾佔据了天空，包括哥伦比亚蚕蛾与其他大型月蛾都飞向空中那巨大的光球。然而，云层的变化以及地球磁场，对月光造成不同的影响；加上近几年来太空垃圾的阻扰，让这段旅程更加危险。许多飞蛾在半途中死去，使我们更难得知，它们是如何歷经生命的终点。诚然，望远镜多次记录下它们俯冲进月球巨大坑洞的过程，但是，这些纪录都无法解释，究竟这样自我牺牲的举动，到底是为了进化的目的、或者蛾类只是不自觉的受害者？

创作的想像

月天蚕的创作想法，来自于蛾类夜晚以月光导航的天性，在人类发现了人工光源后，本来无往不利的天赋，却成了自杀的行为，而月的盈昃，想像如同单细胞生物的吞噬行为，将飞蛾消化殆尽。这件作品，以月天蚕被月球吞噬的想像标本，结合了与飞行相关的文字故事与科学事件，转换成为四本菜单，当观赏者欣赏这件作品，他们的行为，如同以眼睛享用由主食到甜点的视觉食粮。

『月天蚕』的数位版画 >

记忆的标本

在2004年底开始这样的创作形式，我称之为『记忆的标本』。
这些标本的源头，是从我脑中的记忆而来，所以称为『记忆的标本』。它结合了切片标本，雕塑，以及书本。其形式，是在片状的压克力或玻璃上，印制一系列的图像，再放置于垂直竖立的架子上呈现。这些超现实的意象，以电脑绘图产生，然后以程式切片，再印制于玻璃与压克力上，就像是现实中制作切片标本一样。这就是我对这个形式着迷的原因：一个可以被阅读的空间，与一种可以建构空间的文字。观赏者因为视角的变化，不同的文字，产生新的重叠；随着观赏者与雕塑的空间位置，新的意义，不断地产生。

四件作品上的文字（David Knowles 的创作）：

一：饮料

Beverages

Milk (Fresh daily)
Peregrine Falcon
Blue Jay
Cockatiel

Blood
Chickadee 1977—well balanced, hearty.
North American Rooster 1985—a time honored favorite, served chilled.
Kingfisher 1990—oak barrel fermented, a classic.
Great Blue Heron 1992—smooth, graceful, versatile.
Caribbean Parrot 2000—bold fruit, distinctive berry finish.
Special Reserve
Dodo 1945—one of a dozen remaining bottles in the world. Price includes a single preserved feather.

二：前菜

Ornithological Tasting Menu

Winged Tasting Menu

2
Barbequed Hummingbird Ribs with Honey-Rosemary Glaze. The chef recommends Violin and Piccolo accompaniment, available an extra charge.

8
California Condor Wings—The planet's largest, lightly breaded and served with garlic aioli. Warning: eating this dish has been known to induce the sensation of flight for several hours afterward.

14
Chicken Feet Vindaloo—Slow roasted over hot coals, the hen's once-tough talons are brushed with balsamic reduction, caramelized, and adorned with a fiery Southwest Indian green curry.

18
Birdsong Intermezzo—To cleanse the palate, a sampling of Whip-poor-will birdsong lightly sprinkled over an outstretched tongue.

24
Trio of Nocturnal Hunters—Roast Breast of Spotted Owl, Grilled Thigh of the White-throated Nightjar, and Slow-Cured Neck of Common Loon (Lune) arranged on the platter an attack formation, each chasing the other in an endless predatory spiral.

27
Pasta Icarus—Earth's highest-flying bird, the Rupell's Vulture, sautéed with white wine and served over linguine.

44
Flightless Cassoulet—A traditional French stew with Penguin and Ostrich. Dining note: due to possible metabolic imbalances, this menu item may not be ordered in conjunction with either the Pasta Icarus or the California Condor Wings.

Dessert

Jordanian Bird's Nest—Recovered from the red cliffs at Petra, these delicate homes of the Arabian Swallow are candied with honey and powdered sugar, and topped with crushed pistachio. Legendary for it curative and nutritional properties, a dipping sauce of Swallow saliva is prepared tableside.

三：主菜

Moon is my guidance, my destiny and my last resting place.

I dream I fly in the pitch black sky, attract to the only light and make it my last resting place.

The metamorphosis of the guidance, the destiny and the grave.

The theory of relativity describes the relative motion of the prey and predator.

One dream takes hold in this darkest slice of night—To alight in the mouth of the moon.

 

四：餐后甜点（幸运饼干）

At night, the smaller migratory birds take to the sky. The sparrows and warblers and finches and thrushes alight toward their beacon. Clouds make little difference. The moon’s presence makes itself known in the magnetic field. The journey has been made dangerous in recent years by the refuse known as “space-junk” that clutters the way. Numerous birds are killed before reaching their final destination. Little is known about the final moments of life. Telescopes have recorded the event but a handful of times, the nosedive into the waiting lunar cavity. Unfortunately, these occasions have failed to answer the question of whether there is some evolutionary purpose to the bird self-sacrifice, or if they are simply unwitting victims.