3月23日，由波兰艺术家Goshka Macuga策划的展览“我曾为何物?”（Goshka Macuga: What Was I?）在Prada基金会的支持下，于上海百年宅邸Prada荣宅开幕。  

March 23, Prada presents "What Was I？", a new exhibition project conceived by artist Goshaka Macuga, with the support of Fondazione Prada officially opened at Prada Rong Zhai.

开幕当天，ACTIVATION EVENTS邀请京剧艺术家、国家一级演员蓝天和田慧，带来现场表演《四郎探母》选段《坐宫》。此剧讲述了宋朝杨家将与敌国辽邦交战，中伏兵败，杨家四郎（杨延辉）被擒，为保性命改名木易，十五年后欲回家探母，却难以相认，不经发出“我曾为何物？”的无奈自问，与展览主题不谋而合。京剧大师梅兰芳也曾于荣宅献唱，今日ACTIVATION EVENTS使故地重现梨园风采，以表对大师的敬意。

On the opening day, ACTIVATION EVENTS invited two Beijing Opera National Class-A artists, Lan Tian and Tian Hui, to perform "The Confession". This opera tells the story about Yang Yanhui, the fourth son of General Yang from Song State, is captured by the troops of enemy state Liao during a fierce battle. In order to survive, he changes his name. 15 years later, when he wanted to visit his mother but was limited by his new identity, he was devastated and kept asking himself "What was I?", which perfectly matches the exhibition theme. In addition, the Beijing Opera artist Mei Lan Fang once performed at Rong Zhai, ACTIVATION EVENTS wants to bring back the spirit of Beijing Opera to the same place and in this way to pay a tribute to Mei Lan Fang.

ACTIVATION LIQUID则负责此次开幕活动的宾客邀请及活动管理，一同探索“我曾为何物”的答案。ACTIVATION LIQUID was responsible for the guests invitation and onsite management, exploring the answer of "What Was I?"

Goshka Macuga  

关于展览 What Was I? 

此次展览经以机器人为核心，其余的作品则分布在荣宅的其他房间中。这些由Prada藏品中精选而出的抽象及实验艺术作品，横跨1950至1970年代，亦包括Macuga近期的三件“离散模型”系列拼贴作品。

 This exhibition using android as the core while other works are distributed in other spaces of Rong Zhai. These abstract and experimental artistic works are carefully selected from Prada's objects from 1950s to 1970s, including three recent paper collages by Macuga. 

本次展览是一次万花筒之旅，发生在因技术过度发展而导致人类崩溃的“后人类世”时代。这次意外之旅的主人公是一个由 Macuga 设计、并由 A Lab 在日本制作的机器人，它背诵/排练着从众多重要演讲中摘录的独白，声称自己是人类演讲的存储库。在这个未来风格的场景中，人类视角已经不再重要，机器人成为 Prada 荣宅的唯一居住者，亦是住宅中的独立存在。而作为机器人演讲的结束语——《弗兰肯斯坦》中的独白片段以及最后“我曾为何物?”之质问，亦呼应了本次展览的主题，以及展览出口处Macuga的霓虹灯作品。

 "What Was I?"  is a kaleidoscopic journey in the post-Anthropocene epoch, after the collapse of humankind due to the effects of technological overdevelopment. The protagonist of this unexpected voyage is an android created by Macuga and produced in Japan by A Lab. The android recites his monologue constructed from numerous excerpts of seminal speeches, claiming himself to be a repository of human knowledge. In this futuristic scenario,where the human perspective is no longer valid, the android is the only inhabitant of Prada Rong Zhai and a discrete presence in the residence. The key and dramatic question: "What Was I?", that closes his enunciation and gives the title to a Macuga's neon piece and to her new project, was originally pronounced by Frankenstein's monster in the gothic novel written by Mary Shelley in 1818.