"Inches of Time" problematizes the status of conventional measurement based on centimeters and inches. As an artist, Ni caresses the rationalized objective they embody, only in order to overturn its authority. This series contemplates human subjectivity, taking as its departure point the notion of time and distance, standard and deviation. Using teakwood derived from old buildings as well as copper wires and nails, Ni creates unique Chinese rulers with hand-drawn – and therefore arbitrary – units of measurement.
Every millimeter slowly expands according to an instantaneous feeling. Each scale eventually forms a certain “numerical length”: a ruler that reads “207 cm”, in actuality, measures 200 cm. As subjectivity bearing the appearance of an objective threshold, the labor of manufacturing precision alludes to the conceived arbitrariness that defines and guides meditation and – by extension – mindfulness.
Ni captures these shifting contexts within "Inches of Time" in his self-directed film of the same title, a 4-minute black-and-white silent documentary that follows his making of one of these rulers at Three on the Bund in Shanghai.
這組作品是從另一個角度懷疑我們習慣的「標準」。厘米、英寸、寸這些都是社會上約定俗成的標準,作為藝術家,倪想試著一邊用手去體驗這些標準,一方面又用自己的方式打破或是篡改這些標準。在「寸光陰」這個系列的作品中,關鍵字是「時間和距離」、「標準和誤差」之間的關係。大致是將老房子里拆遷下來的一批老柚木料加工成寬窄長短厚薄均不等的木條,然後在每一根木條上,憑主觀感覺刻畫每一格「毫米」直到推理出一把有手工誤差的「虛假的尺」。同樣,還使用傳統中國尺中嵌入銅絲或銅釘的工藝手工製作虛假的中國尺寸。
在這些「尺子」上,每一「毫米」都是憑當時一瞬間的感覺一格一格緩慢生發出來,最終形成一定的「數值長度」,但每一把都與實際長度之間存在不同程度的誤差。比如在尺上最後推導出的長度顯示為「207 cm」,實際物體的尺寸卻是200 cm。整個製作過程有點像廟裏僧侶敲木魚或抄經的狀態——主觀上極其認真的設定每一格刻度,但客觀上又是虛設的、不准確的。最終製作出來的每一把尺都是一把主觀的尺。
根據這個系列作品拍攝的影像《寸光陰》,是藝術家首部自導自演的微型紀錄片。4分鐘的黑白默片記錄的是倪有魚在上海外灘三號製作一把尺的過程。