Railing Codex

看见“窗口”一词联想到的是诸多画面：疫情居家状态下标界隔离与自由的窗口、在签证面谈处等待宣判的窗口、医院邮局银行等地处理繁多事务的窗口、各种所谓的给人留下余地的窗口期、千禧年让中国拥抱世界的种种窗口、曾带给人们无数遐想的微软Windows……窗口作为临界点指代的既是折叠的空间也是漂浮的时间，短暂、脆弱却又是坚实的存在。这就好比家中的玻璃窗，作为分隔屋内与屋外的实体，薄而透明，却又质地坚硬，作为墙体的一部分抵御着威胁，同时透视着屋内外对彼此的多重想象与窥视。可以说这样的每一个窗口都承载着企盼、焦虑、梦想、恐惧，投射着自我的欲望与他者的凝视，让多股权力在此斗争却又为各方提供着庇护。这既是窗口之美，也是窗口之险，代表着某种过渡期的无限可能与转瞬即逝。

The word “window” evokes a series of images: the window that demarcated isolation from freedom during the pandemic lockdown; the window that awaits the decision of a visa application; the windows of hospitals, post offices, and banks that handle miscellaneous tasks; the so-called windows of opportunity that grant extra chances; the myriad windows that helped China embrace the world at the turn of the new millennium; the Microsoft Windows that once sparked countless imaginings … The window as a threshold embodies both a folded space and a suspended time—fleeting, fragile, yet undeniably present. Just like the windows in a home, as a physical barrier that separates the inside from out, they are thin and transparent, but also sturdy; as part of the wall, they ward off threat, while revealing the imaginative and voyeuristic gazes of both interior and exterior overlaid upon one another. Every window can be said to carry hope, anxiety, dreams, and fears. With both the desires of oneself and the gazes of others projected upon it, it is simultaneously a battleground for conflicting forces and a shelter for their disparities. This is the beauty, and the peril, of windows, a symbol of the infinite possibilities offered by transitional periods and their evanescence. 