When images are hijacked by the viewer’s desire for reality, documentary loses its capacity to converse with reality, devolving instead into a mere accumulation of signs. In such a visual structure, critique ceases to penetrate, and truth is no longer singular.
Is a photographic record of a president inherently political? In an age of image saturation, its revelatory force has long been dulled. The stage seen through the lens, through gestures and arrangements, evokes an underlying order — transforming the act of viewing into a decipherable mythological form.
The title and role of “President” are no longer just identifiers, but ongoing actions. Can the individual truly inhabit this role? Or is it merely a performance sustained by the expectations of the collective? These unanswerable questions turn each appearance into a ritualized enactment — both a presentation of the now, and a space for imagining identity. Between reality and fiction, we are both spectators and participants.
In this process of viewing, the image no longer reflects reality — it begins to produce it. The viewer does not seek stable meaning, but navigates through this interweaving of fact and fabrication to locate their own position. This is not simply the viewer gazing at power; it is the viewer being positioned — revealing how we participate in, and replicate, the arrangements of power.
In this age where images and sensations are tightly entwined, the reality we believe in no longer stems from experience, but from media, performance, and constructed context. The image of the president is no longer defined by actions, but is instead layered through countless lenses, postures, and responses.
The president and the people do not stand at opposing ends. To question what the president represents is also to question the people themselves and the systems they inhabit. This entangled relationship ultimately guides both toward a dynamic equilibrium.
當影像被觀眾對現實的渴望所綁架，紀實便失去了與現實對話的可能，轉而淪為符號的堆疊。在這樣的觀看結構中，批判不再穿透，真實也不再唯一。
單純紀錄總統的影像，是否天生就蘊含政治性？在影像大量生產的年代，它的揭露性早已鈍化。鏡頭下的劇場，透過姿態與排列，召喚一種表面之下的秩序，使觀看轉化為一種可解碼的神話形式。
「總統」這個頭銜與角色，不只是身份的描述，也是一種正在發生的行為。個體是否足以承載這個角色？抑或只是以持續的扮演，回應集體的期待？這些無從驗證的問題，使每一次出場都如同一場儀式性的演出：既是當下的展現，也是身分的想像空間。在真實與虛構之間，我們同時是觀眾，也是參與者。
在觀看的過程中，影像不再回應真實，而開始生產現實。觀者不再尋求一個穩定的答案，而是在虛實交錯之中，探索自身的位置。那不只是觀看者凝視權力，更是觀看者被安排的姿態：反映出自身如何參與，並複製權力的佈局。
在這個影像與感覺彼此纏繞的時代，人們所信仰的現實，不再來自經驗，而是來自媒體、演出與語境。總統的形象已無法由其行為所定義，反而是在無數鏡頭、姿態與回應中被層層建構。
總統與人民並非位於對立的兩端。當我們探究「總統」所代表的意義時，其實也正是在叩問人民自身與其所處的社會體制。這股關聯性的牽動，最終將引領彼此，走向一種動態的平衡。
Copyright from Thinking Taiwan Foundation & The Office of the President, Taiwan