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 chain of images: the window that demarcated isolation and freedom during the pandemic lockdowns, the window through which the decision on a visa application is pronounced, the windows at hospitals, post offices, and banks handling miscellaneous transactions, the so-called window period that grants us extra leeway; the myriad windows opened by the new millennium that allowed China to embrace the world, the Microsoft Windows that once sparked countless imaginations … The window as a threshold embodies both folded space and suspended time, fleeting and fragile, yet substantial and concrete. Think about the windows at home—physically separating the indoors from the outdoors, the thin and transparent window panes made of sturdy materials. As part of the wall, they ward off threats, while overlaying imaginative and voyeuristic gazes from both interior and exterior worlds onto each other. Every such window carries hope, anxiety, dreams, and fears. Projected with the desire of oneself and the gaze of others, it is simultaneously a battleground for conflicting forces and a shelter for their disparities. This is the beauty and peril of windows, a symbol of the infinite possibilities offered by periods of transition as well as their evanescence.