Narstalgia

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       Narstalgia is a long-term, cross-disciplinary film and international creative research project. Co-created between London and Iceland since 2019, this ongoing seven-year project spans both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. It encompasses a diverse series of works developed across various stages, including an award-winning short film, audiovisual installations, spatial projections, mixed reality, and immersive new media exhibitions. The project examines "eco-grief" radiating from the Arctic Circle to a global scale, focusing on psychological and cultural environmental phenomena, such as Icelandic residents holding a funeral for the melting glacier, and Greenland's status of having the world’s highest suicide rate.

The title Narstalgia is a neologism coined by director Robert Chang Chien, blending "narwhal" with "solastalgia." According to Barry Lopez’s seminal work of nature writing Arctic Dreams, the name "narwhal" has carried connotations of human death in Old Norse; some Nordic residents still refer to it as the "corpse whale," associating it with shipwrecks. By employing symbolic imagery such as the narwhal, aurora, glaciers, the midnight sun, and black holes, the director links the human psyche, nature, and the cosmos, exploring narratives and emotions that seem distant yet are profoundly interconnected with our existence.

The term "solastalgia," coined by Australian environmental philosopher Glenn Albrecht, describes the nexus between environmental change and human mental health, defining it as "the homesickness you feel when you are at home." The director first traveled to Iceland in 2019 for field research and interviews with local residents. Returning in 2022 for a 3-month-long artistic residency and research exchange, he gathered extensive footage and compelling narratives, translating profound existential inquiries and scientific discourse into a poetic, cinematic, and immersive experience that invites collective empathy.

This immersive cinematic production integrates cross-disciplinary media, experimentally blending the footage captured by the director in Iceland with time-lapse photography, 3D animation, VFX, and creative coding. The sound design intertwines field recordings and interview audio with synthetic soundscapes simulating a void, creating a transcendent dynamic woven between reality, dreams, and the spiritual world. As of 2026, the film Narstalgia and its immersive adaptations have been screened and exhibited internationally in London, Tokyo, Gwangju, Reykjavik, Taipei, and Melbourne.


      《角鯨之殤 》 (Narstalgia) 是2019年於英國與冰島兩地開始建立， 持續進行的長期影像跨域創研計畫，包含一系列於不同研究階段發展出的影音創作，例：電影短片、實驗音像裝置、投影、沈浸式展覽等，核心內容探討北極地區的環境悲痛（Eco-grief）科學現象，如 『 冰島居民為消融的冰河舉行葬禮 』 等環境心理與文化事件。

片名原文“Narstalgia” 是旅英導演 張簡長倫(Robert Chang Chien)為本計畫創造之詞彙，含義是獨角鯨(Narwhal)與鄉痛(Solastalgia)的組合；依據著名博物學家 貝瑞·洛佩茲(Barry Lopez)的《北極夢》(Arctic Dreams)一書，獨角鯨之名自古北歐語裡即有人類死亡之意涵；部分北歐居民仍稱其為「屍體鯨」，並認為與海難相關。導演使用獨角鯨、極光、冰川、永晝、黑洞等圖像符號，串連人類精神世界、地球環境與浩瀚宇宙之間的關係，試圖探索看似遙遠卻與我們密切相關的故事與感受。

 鄉痛(Solastalgia)一詞出自澳洲環境哲學家 格倫·阿爾布雷希特(Glenn Albrecht)，描述環境變遷與人類心理健康的關聯：「當你人就在家鄉，卻感到鄉愁」。2019年，張簡導演因得知冰島正舉行冰川葬禮，首次前往冰島進行田野調查，並拍攝採訪當地居民與學者；2022年，導演再度前往冰島，於冰島視覺藝術家協會(SIM)進行三個月駐留研究和創作交流，收集更多珍貴的拍攝成果與故事，進駐期間曾親自會面冰島總理與文化部長、拍攝極光與火山噴發，並嘗試將嚴肅的氣候、生命議題及科研內容，轉化爲更接近大眾、具詩意與電影感的沈浸式感官體驗。

本電影作品結合冰島實拍影像、3D動畫、視效(VFX)、創意編成(Creartive Coding)與AI輔助設計的實驗性合成，聲音部分結合現場環境音、訪問錄音與模擬虛無之境的特殊音效設計，試圖透過跨領域媒材實驗性整合，打造出交織於現實、夢境及精神世界的動態關係。截自2025年12月，此計畫早期發展之同名短片電影Narstalgia已獲倫敦獨立電影節等多個國際影展肯定，後續亦改編為沈浸式影音作品，先後於在英國 倫敦(RCA)、日本 東京(TIPMA)、韓國 光州(G.MAP)、冰島 雷克雅維克(SIM)、台灣 台北(C-LAB)、澳洲 墨爾本(PSEUDO)等多國指標性沈浸式場域展出，持續擴大本計畫的國際影響力。

2026年8月，受到文化部舉辦的 「晴空季」 邀請，睽違4年再度於台北C-LAB穹頂劇場放映。

✴︎ Credit List 

✴︎ Research & Technical Development

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✴︎ Immersive Editions 

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The original short film Narstalgia has been re-created and adapted into immersive works, showcased at the following international places:

➤   TIPMA             |   Tokyo, Japan   |     2020
➤   C-LAB              |   Taipei, Taiwan   |    2022
➤   SIM                   |   Reykjavik, Iceland   |    2022
➤   G.MAP             |   Gwangju, South Korea   |    2024
➤   PSEUDO         |   Melbourne, Australia   |   2025
➤   SKYWARD     |   Taipei, Taiwan    |    2026

✴︎ International Touring Progress

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📍 Gwangju Media Art Platform (G.MAP), South Korea   _{(Sep-Dec 2024)}

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📍 Future Vision Lab / C-Lab, Taipei, Taiwan   _{(Nov-Dec 2022)}

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📍 Tokyo Big Sight / TIPMA, Japan  _{( July-Nov, 2020)}  

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✴︎ Royal  College of Art, London  _{- Where It Began  (2018-2020)}

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