Luke Syson: How I learned to stop worrying and love "useless" art

Prevodilac: Miloš Milosavljević Lektor: Mile Živković

Two years ago, I have to say there was no problem.

Pre dve godine, nije bilo problema.

Two years ago, I knew exactly what an icon looked like.

Pre dve godine, znao sam tačno kako treba da izgleda slika.

It looks like this.

Ovako.

Everybody's icon, but also the default position

Svačiji izbor, ali takođe i izbor

of a curator of Italian Renaissance paintings, which I was then.

kustosa italijanskih renesansnih slika, što sam tada bio.

And in a way, this is also another default selection.

I ovo je takođe još jedan uobičajen izbor.

Leonardo da Vinci's exquisitely soulful image

Izvanredno osećajna slika Leonarda da Vinčija

of the "Lady with an Ermine."

"Dame sa hermelinom".

And I use that word, soulful, deliberately.

Namerno koristim reč "soulful" (osećajan).

Or then there's this, or rather these:

Onda, tu je ova ili "ove"

the two versions of Leonardo's "Virgin of the Rocks"

dve verzije Leonardove "Bogorodice među stenama"

that were about to come together in London for the very first time.

koje je trebalo da stignu u London po prvi put

In the exhibition that I was then in the absolute throes of organizing.

na izložbu koju sam se tada mučio da organizujem.

I was literally up to my eyes in Leonardo,

Bio sam do guše u Leonardu

and I had been for three years.

tokom tri godine.

So, he was occupying every part of my brain.

Okupirao je svaki deo mog mozga.

Leonardo had taught me, during that three years,

Leonardo me je naučio tokom te tri godine

about what a picture can do.

šta slika može da učini.

About taking you from your own material world into a spiritual world.

Da vas prenese iz vašeg materijalnog sveta u duhovni svet.

He said, actually, that he believed the job of the painter

Rekao je da veruje da je posao slikara

was to paint everything that was visible and invisible in the universe.

da slika sve što je vidljivo i nevidljivo u svemiru.

That's a huge task. And yet, somehow he achieves it.

To je ogroman zadatak. Pa ipak, nekako ga postiže.

He shows us, I think, the human soul.

Pokazuje nam ljudsku dušu.

He shows us the capacity of ourselves

Pokazuje nam naš kapacitet

to move into a spiritual realm.

da se prebacimo u carstvo duha.

To see a vision of the universe that's more perfect than our own.

Da vidimo sliku univerzuma koji je savršeniji od našeg.

To see God's own plan, in some sense.

Da vidimo božiji plan, u neku ruku.

So this, in a sense, was really what I believed an icon was.

Tako da je ovo bilo ono kako sam mislio da treba da izgleda slika.

At about that time, I started talking to Tom Campbell,

I negde u to vreme, počeo sam da razgovaram sa Tomom Kempbelom,

director here of the Metropolitan Museum,

ovdašnjim direktorom Metropoliten muzeja,

about what my next move might be.

o tome koji bi mogao da bude moj sledeći korak.

The move, in fact, back to an earlier life,

Korak unatrag, u stvari, u raniji period

one I'd begun at the British Museum,

kada sam počinjao u Britanskom muzeju,

back to the world of three dimensions --

natrag u trodimenzionalni svet

of sculpture and of decorative arts --

skulpture i dekorativne umetnosti,

to take over the department of European sculpture and decorative arts, here at the Met.

da preuzmem odeljenje evropskog vajarstva i dekorativne umetnosti ovde u Met-u.

But it was an incredibly busy time.

To je bio period sa neverovatno puno posla.

All the conversations were done at very peculiar times of the day --

Svi razgovori su bili obavljani u vrlo čudna doba dana -

over the phone.

preko telefona.

In the end, I accepted the job

Na kraju sam prihvatio posao,

without actually having been here.

a da u stvari nisam bio ovde.

Again, I'd been there a couple of years before,

Bio sam par godina pre toga,

but on that particular visit.

ali ne zbog toga.

So, it was just before the time that the Leonardo show was due to open

Neposredno pre nego što je Leonardova izložba trebalo da se otvori,

when I finally made it back to the Met, to New York,

stigao sam u Met, u Njujork

to see my new domain.

da vidim moje novo polje rada,

To see what European sculpture and decorative arts looked like,

da vidim kako evropsko vajarstvo i dekorativna umetnost izgledaju,

beyond those Renaissance collections with which I was so already familiar.

van ovih Renesansnih zbirki koje su mi već poznate.

And I thought, on that very first day, I better tour the galleries.

I pomislio sam, tog prvog dana, da je možda bolje da obilazim galerije.

Fifty-seven of these galleries --

Pedeset sedam ovih galerija,

like 57 varieties of baked beans, I believe.

kao 57 vrsta pasulja.

I walked through and I started in my comfort zone in the Italian Renaissance.

Prošao sam ih i počeo u svojoj oblasti - italijanskoj renesansi.

And then I moved gradually around,

I onda sam postepeno išao dalje

feeling a little lost sometimes.

i osećao sam se izgubljeno na momente.

My head, also still full of the Leonardo exhibition

Moja glava, još puna Leonardove izložbe,

that was about to open, and I came across this.

koja je trebalo da se otvori, i naleteo sam na ovo.

And I thought to myself: What the hell have I done?

I pomislio sam: šta sam to, dođavola, uradio?

There was absolutely no connection in my mind

Nisam video apsolutno nikakvu vezu

at all and, in fact, if there was any emotion going on,

i ako sam osetio ikakvu emociju,

it was a kind of repulsion.

to je bila neka vrsta odbojnosti.

This object felt utterly and completely alien.

Ovaj predmet mi je bio potpuno stran.

Silly at a level that I hadn't yet understood silliness to be.

Besmislen do nivoa koji još nisam poznavao.

And then it was made worse --

A onda je postalo još gore -

there were two of them.

bilo ih je dve.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

So, I started thinking about why it was, in fact,

I tako sam počeo da razmišljam

that I disliked this object so much.

zašto mi se ovaj predmet toliko nije svideo.

What was the anatomy of my distaste?

Kakva je bila anatomija moje odbojnosti?

Well, so much gold, so vulgar.

Toliko zlata, tako vulgarno.

You know, so nouveau riche, frankly.

Tako snobovski, iskreno.

Leonardo himself had preached against the use of gold,

Sam Leonardo je bio protivnik upotrebe zlata,

so it was absolutely anathema at that moment.

Tako da je to bilo apsolutno neprihvatljivo u tom trenutku.

And then there's little pretty sprigs of flowers everywhere. (Laughter)

Onda, te male lepe grančice sa cvećem na sve strane. (Smeh)

And finally, that pink. That damned pink.

I na kraju, ta roze boja. Ta prokleta roze.

It's such an extraordinarily artificial color.

Neverovatno veštačka boja.

I mean, it's a color that I can't think of anything that you actually see in nature,

Ne mogu da se setim da se može videti bilo šta u prirodi

that looks that shade.

što je u toj nijansi.

The object even has its own tutu. (Laughter)

Predmet čak ima svoju baletsku suknju. (Smeh)

This little flouncy, spangly, bottomy bit

Ovaj mali naborani, blistavi deo

that sits at the bottom of the vase.

na dnu vaze.

It reminded me, in an odd kind of way,

Podsetilo me je, na čudan način,

of my niece's fifth birthday party.

na žurku za peti rođendan moje sestričine.

Where all the little girls would come either as a princess or a fairy.

Gde su sve devojčice došle obučene kao princeze ili vile.

There was one who would come as a fairy princess.

Bila je jedna koja je došla obučena u princezu vilu.

You should have seen the looks.

Da ste videli te izraze lica.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

And I realize that this object was in my mind,

I shvatio sam da je taj predmet, po mom shvatanju,

born from the same mind, from the same womb,

rođen u istom umu, iz iste utrobe

practically, as Barbie Ballerina. (Laughter)

kao i Barbika balerina. (Smeh)

And then there's the elephants. (Laughter)

A tu su i slonovi. (Smeh)

Those extraordinary elephants

Ti neobični slonovi

with their little, sort of strange, sinister expressions

sa svojim malim, nekako čudnim zlokobnim izrazima

and Greta Garbo eyelashes, with these golden tusks and so on.

i Greta Garbo trepavicama, sa zlatnim surlama itd.

I realized this was an elephant that had

Shvatio sam da je ovo slon koji nema apsolutno

absolutely nothing to do with a majestic march across the Serengeti.

nikakve veze sa veličanstvenim maršem preko Serengetija.

It was a Dumbo nightmare. (Laughter)

On je Dambova noćna mora. (Smeh)

But something more profound was happening as well.

Ali i nešto dublje od toga se dešavalo.

These objects, it seemed to me,

Ovi predmeti su, kako mi se činilo,

were quintessentially the kind that I and my liberal left friends in London

suštinski bili od one vrste koju smo ja i moji liberalni prijatelji u Londonu

had always seen as summing up

uvek videli kao simbol

something deplorable about the French aristocracy

nečeg skandaloznog u vezi sa francuskom aristokratijom

in the 18th century.

18. veka.

The label had told me that these pieces were made

Oznaka mi je rekla da su ovi komadi napravljeni

by the Sèvres Manufactory,

u manufakturi u Sevru (Francuska),

made of porcelain in the late 1750s,

od porcelana, kasnih 1750-ih

and designed by a designer called Jean-Claude Duplessis,

i dizajnirao ih je Žan Klod Duplesi,

actually somebody of extraordinary distinction

neko sa velikom reputacijom

as I later learned.

kako sam kasnije saznao.

But for me, they summed up a kind of,

Ali, za mene su one bile oličenje

that sort of sheer uselessness of the aristocracy

one potpune beskorisnosti aristokratije

in the 18th century.

18. veka.

I and my colleagues had always thought

Moje kolege i ja smo oduvek mislili

that these objects, in way, summed up the idea of,

da su ovi predmeti, na neki način, oličenje ideje

you know -- no wonder there was a revolution.

da nije ni čudo što je bila revolucija.

Or, indeed, thank God there was a revolution.

Ili, hvala bogu da je bila revolucija.

There was a sort of idea really, that,

Otprilike da,

if you owned a vase like this,

ako ste imali ovakvu vazu,

then there was really only one fate possible.

onda je samo jedna sudbina bila moguća.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

So, there I was -- in a sort of paroxysm of horror.

Tako da sam bio u grču užasa.

But I took the job and I went on looking at these vases.

Ali prihvatio sam posao i nastavio da gledam ove vaze.

I sort of had to because they're on a through route in the Met.

Nekako sam morao jer se nalaze na prolazu kroz Met.

So, almost anywhere I went, there they were.

Tako da, gde god krenuo, one su bile tu.

They had this kind of odd sort of fascination,

Bio sam fasciniran njima na neki čudan način,

like a car accident.

kao saobraćajnom nesrećom.

Where I couldn't stop looking.

Nisam mogao da prestanem da gledam.

And as I did so, I started thinking:

I kako sam to radio, počeo sam da razmišljam:

Well, what are we actually looking at here?

u šta, u stvari, gledamo ovde?

And what I started with was understanding this

Ono što sam prvo shvatio, bilo je

as really a supreme piece of design.

da je to zaista izvanredan dizajn.

It took me a little time.

Trebalo mi je malo vremena.

But, that tutu for example --

Ova baletska suknja, na primer -

actually, this is a piece that does dance in its own way.

ovo je delo koje pleše na svoj način.

It has an extraordinary lightness

Ima izuzetnu lakoću,

and yet, it is also amazing balanced.

pa ipak, neverovatno je skladna.

It has these kinds of sculptural ingredients.

Ima one sastojke skulpture.

And then the play between --

Pa onda, igra između

actually really quite carefully disposed color and gilding, and the sculptural surface,

pažljivo raspoređene boje i pozlate, i površine skulpture,

is really rather remarkable.

je zaista izvanredna.

And then I realized that this piece went into the kiln

Onda sam shvatio da je ovaj komad stavljan u peć

four times, at least four times in order to arrive at this.

najmanje četiri puta da bi se stiglo do ovoga.

How many moments for accident can you think of

Možete li da zamislite koliko je bilo momenata

that could have happened to this piece?

u kojima je mogla da se desi neka nezgoda ovom predmetu?

And then remember, not just one, but two.

I onda, setite se, nije samo jedan već ih ima dva.

So he's having to arrive at two exactly matched

Znači, on mora da dobije dve ovakve

vases of this kind.

potpuno identične vaze.

And then this question of uselessness.

A onda, pitanje neupotrebljivosti.

Well actually, the end of the trunks were originally candle holders.

Pa, u stvari, krajevi surli su napravljeni da budu svećnjaci.

So what you would have had were candles on either side.

I tako biste imali sveće na obe strane.

Imagine that effect of candlelight on that surface.

Zamislite efekat svetlosti sveće na toj površini.

On the slightly uneven pink, on the beautiful gold.

Na blago neujednačenoj roze, na divnoj zlatnoj.

It would have glittered in an interior,

Sijala bi u zatvorenoj prostoriji

a little like a little firework.

kao mali vatromet.

And at that point, actually, a firework went off in my brain.

I u tom trenutku, vatromet je bljesnuo u mom mozgu.

Somebody reminded me that, that word 'fancy' --

Neko me je podsetio da reč "fensi" -

which in a sense for me, encapsulated this object --

koja mi je na neki način zatvorila ovaj predmet -

actually comes from the same root as the word 'fantasy.'

u stvari, potiče od istog korena kao i reč "fantazija".

And that what this object was just as much in a way,

I da je ovaj predmet, na neki način -

in its own way, as a Leonardo da Vinci painting,

isto kao i slika Leonarda da Vinčija -

is a portal to somewhere else.

kapija koja vodi negde drugde.

This is an object of the imagination.

Ovo je predmet mašte.

If you think about the mad 18th-century operas of the time -- set in the Orient.

Ako pomislite na ludačke opere iz 18. veka, radnje smeštene na Orijentu.

If you think about divans and perhaps even opium-induced visions of pink elephants,

Ako pomislite na divane i opijumske vizije ružičastih slonova,

then at that point, this object starts to make sense.

u tom momentu ovaj predmet počinje da ima smisla.

This is an object which is all about escapism.

Ovaj predmet je eskapistički.

It's about an escapism that happens --

U vezi je sa eskapizmom koji se dešava -

that the aristocracy in France sought

koji je aristokratija u Francuskoj tražila

very deliberately

namerno

to distinguish themselves from ordinary people.

da bi se razlikovala od običnih ljudi.

It's not an escapism that

To nije eskapizam

we feel particularly happy with today, however.

sa kojim smo danas naročito zadovoljni.

And again, going on thinking about this,

I opet, nastavljajući da mislim o ovome,

I realize that in a way we're all victims

shvatam da smo svi žrtve

of a certain kind of tyranny

neke vrste tiranije

of the triumph of modernism

trijumfa modernizma,

whereby form and function in an object

gde forma i funkcija predmeta

have to follow one another, or are deemed to do so.

treba da prate jedna drugu ili bi to trebalo da rade.

And the extraneous ornament is seen as really,

A nepotrebni ornament se karakteriše

essentially, criminal.

kao zločin.

It's a triumph, in a way, of bourgeois values rather than aristocratic ones.

To je trijumf buržoaskih vrednosti, pre nego aristokratskih.

And that seems fine.

I to izgleda u redu.

Except for the fact that it becomes a kind of sequestration of imagination.

Osim što onda to postaje sužavanje mašte.

So just as in the 20th century, so many people

Tako da su i u 20. veku, mnogi ljudi

had the idea that their faith

imali ideju da se njihova sudbina

took place on the Sabbath day,

desila na Sabat,

and the rest of their lives --

a ostatak života -

their lives of washing machines and orthodontics --

njihovih života mašina za veš i popravljanja zuba -

took place on another day.

se desio drugog dana.

Then, I think we've started doing the same.

Mislim da smo i mi počeli da radimo isto.

We've allowed ourselves to

Dozvolili smo sebi

lead our fantasy lives in front of screens.

da vodimo živote fantazije ispred ekrana.

In the dark of the cinema, with the television in the corner of the room.

U mraku bioskopa, sa televizorom u uglu sobe.

We've eliminated, in a sense, that constant

Eliminisali smo onu konstantu

of the imagination that these vases represented in people's lives.

mašte koju su ove vaze predstavljale u životima ljudi.

So maybe it's time we got this back a little.

Možda je vreme da vratimo ovo malo.

I think it's beginning to happen.

Mislim da počinje da se dešava.

In London, for example,

U Londonu, na primer,

with these extraordinary buildings

sa ovim sjajnim građevinama

that have been appearing over the last few years.

koje su nicale u poslednjih nekoliko godina.

Redolent, in a sense, of science fiction,

Mirišu, na neki način, na naučnu fantastiku

turning London into a kind of fantasy playground.

pretvarajući London u igralište iz mašte.

It's actually amazing to look out of a high building nowadays there.

Neverovatno je pogledati sa visoke zgrade danas tamo.

But even then, there's a resistance.

Ali čak i pored toga, postoji otpor.

London has called these buildings the Gherkin, the Shard, the Walkie Talkie --

London je nazvao ove zgrade: Gerkin, Šard, Voki-toki

bringing these soaring buildings down to Earth.

spuštajući time ove visoke zgrade na zemlju.

There's an idea that we don't want these

Postoji ideja da ne želimo ova

anxious-making, imaginative journeys to happen in our daily lives.

uznemirujuća, imaginativna putovanja u svojoj svakodnevici.

I feel lucky in a way,

Osećam da sam imao sreće.

I've encountered this object.

Ja sam našao ovaj predmet.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

I found him on the Internet when I was looking up a reference.

Našao sam ga na internetu kad sam tražio reference.

And there he was.

I on je bio tu.

And unlike the pink elephant vase,

i za razliku od ružičaste vaze sa slonovima,

this was a kind of love at first sight.

ovo je bila ljubav na prvi pogled.

In fact, reader, I married him. I bought him.

U stvari, oženio sam se njim. Kupio sam ga.

And he now adorns my office.

I sada krasi moju kancelariju.

He's a Staffordshire figure made in the middle of the 19th century.

To je figura iz Stafordšira napravljena sredinom 19. veka.

He represents the actor, Edmund Kean, playing Shakespeare's Richard III.

Predstavlja glumca Edmunda Kina koji igra Šekspirovog Ričarda III.

And it's based, actually, on a more elevated piece of porcelain.

Postavljen je na jednom uzdignutijem delu porcelana.

So I loved, on an art historical level,

Svideo mi se, na nivou istorije,

I loved that layered quality that he has.

taj slojeviti kvalitet koji ima.

But more than that, I love him.

Ali više od toga, svideo mi se on.

In a way that I think would have been impossible

Na način koji ne bi bio moguć

without the pink Sèvres vase in my Leonardo days.

bez ružičaste vaze iz Sevra iz moje Leonardo faze.

I love his orange and pink breeches.

Volim njegove narandžasto-ružičaste bermude.

I love the fact that he seems to be going off to war,

Volim to što izgleda kao da je krenuo u rat

having just finished the washing up. (Laughter)

pošto se upravo okupao. (Smeh)

He seems also to have forgotten his sword.

Izgleda takođe da je zaboravio svoj mač.

I love his pink little cheeks, his munchkin energy.

Volim njegove ružičaste obraze, njegovu patuljastu energiju.

In a way, he's become my sort of alter ego.

Postao je, na neki način, moj alter ego.

He's, I hope, a little bit dignified,

Malo je dostojanstven,

but mostly rather vulgar. (Laughter)

ali uglavnom je prilično vulgaran. (Smeh)

And energetic, I hope, too.

I energičan, takođe, nadam se.

I let him into my life because the Sèvres pink elephant vase allowed me to do so.

Pustio sam ga u svoj život jer mi je vaza iz Sevra to dozvolila.

And before that Leonardo,

A pre toga Leonardo.

I understood that this object could become part of a journey for me every day,

Shvatio sam da bi ovaj predmet mogao da postane deo moje svakodnevice,

sitting in my office.

postavljen u mojoj kancelariji.

I really hope that others, all of you,

Nadam se da će drugi, i svi vi,

visiting objects in the museum,

gledajući predmete u muzeju

and taking them home and finding them for yourselves,

i odnoseći ih kući,

will allow those objects to flourish in your imaginative lives.

dozvoliti ovim predmetima da se rascvetaju u vašoj mašti.

Thank you very much.

Hvala vam mnogo.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)