Janet Echelman: Taking imagination seriously

翻译人员: Lan Xu 校对人员: Jenny Yang

This story

这个故事

is about taking imagination seriously.

是想告诉大家要珍惜想象力

Fourteen years ago,

14年前

I first encountered this ordinary material, fishnet,

我第一次接触到这个普通的材料，渔网

used the same way for centuries.

几百年来人们一直用它捕鱼

Today, I'm using it to create

今天，我用它来创造

permanent, billowing, voluptuous forms

永久的，随风飘逸的，动感十足的

the scale of hard-edged buildings

如坚固建筑物大小的雕塑

in cities around the world.

竖立在世界各地的城市中

I was an unlikely person to be doing this.

我本来不太可能做出这样的成就

I never studied sculpture,

我从未学习过雕塑

engineering or architecture.

工程设计或者建筑

In fact, after college

事实上，大学毕业后

I applied to seven art schools

我申请了七所艺术学院

and was rejected by all seven.

而无一例外地都遭到了拒绝

I went off on my own to become an artist,

我决定自己走上艺术家之路

and I painted for 10 years,

我画了十年的画

when I was offered a Fulbright to India.

终于拿到傅尔布莱特奖学金，被邀请去印度

Promising to give exhibitions of paintings,

许诺了要办画展

I shipped my paints and arrived in Mahabalipuram.

我将画送上船运，然后抵达了玛玛拉普兰（Mahabalipuram）

The deadline for the show arrived --

画展快要开幕了

my paints didn't.

可画还没运到

I had to do something.

我必须找到代替品

This fishing village was famous for sculpture.

这个渔村以雕塑闻名

So I tried bronze casting.

因此我尝试了铜雕

But to make large forms was too heavy and expensive.

但要雕刻大型的铜像很笨重且很费钱

I went for a walk on the beach,

一日我去海滩散步

watching the fishermen

看着渔民

bundle their nets into mounds on the sand.

在沙滩上将网捆绑成型

I'd seen it every day,

每天经过时我都看到这一场景

but this time I saw it differently --

但这一次，我观察的角度变了

a new approach to sculpture,

我看到了一种新的雕塑方式

a way to make volumetric form

它可以塑造立体几何的造型

without heavy solid materials.

而不必运用沉重坚实的材料

My first satisfying sculpture

我第一个令人满意的雕塑

was made in collaboration with these fishermen.

是和这些渔人们合作的成果

It's a self-portrait

它是一个自画像

titled "Wide Hips."

名为“宽臀”

(Laughter)

笑声

We hoisted them on poles to photograph.

我们用杆将它支起来拍照

I discovered

我发现

their soft surfaces

它柔软的表面

revealed every ripple of wind

展现了风的褶皱

in constantly changing patterns.

伴随着不断变化的图案

I was mesmerized.

我被迷住了

I continued studying craft traditions

我继续学习工艺传统

and collaborating with artisans,

与工匠们合作

next in Lithuania with lace makers.

随后在立陶宛与花边编织者合作

I liked the fine detail

我喜欢将这精美的细节

it gave my work,

赋予到我作品中

but I wanted to make them larger --

但我想把作品放大

to shift from being an object you look at

让它不仅能供人观赏

to something you could get lost in.

还能让人迷失其中

Returning to India to work with those fishermen,

回到印度后，我与渔人们合作

we made a net

编织了一张网

of a million and a half hand-tied knots --

有一百五十万个半手工编制的结

installed briefly in Madrid.

在马德里短暂安置

Thousands of people saw it,

数千人看到了这件作品

and one of them was the urbanist

其中一人是城市规划专家

Manual Sola-Morales

索拉莫拉雷斯（Manual Sola-Morales）

who was redesigning the waterfront

当时他正在重新设计

in Porto, Portugal.

葡萄牙波尔图的海滨

He asked if I could build this

他问我能不能把作它建成

as a permanent piece for the city.

一座永久的作品，立在城市中

I didn't know if I could do that

我不知道我能否在这样做的同时

and preserve my art.

保留我作品的艺术性

Durable, engineered, permanent --

耐用，工程度高，永久

those are in opposition

这些都与

to idiosyncratic, delicate and ephemeral.

独特，精致，短暂，恰恰相反

For two years, I searched for a fiber

我花了两年的时间，寻找一种纤维

that could survive ultraviolet rays,

能够抵抗紫外线

salt, air, pollution,

盐空气，污染

and at the same time remain soft enough

而同时能够保持足够的柔软度

to move fluidly in the wind.

在风中游动

We needed something to hold the net up

我们需要一些东西支撑大网

out there in the middle of the traffic circle.

让它能竖立在交通环道的中央

So we raised this 45,000-pound steel ring.

因此我们架起了这座45,000镑重的钢圈

We had to engineer it

我们必须进行工程设计

to move gracefully in an average breeze

让网能在微风中优雅地流动

and survive in hurricane winds.

同时又能抵御飓风的袭击

But there was no engineering software

但当时没有设计软件

to model something porous and moving.

来模拟这种多孔物体的移动

I found a brilliant aeronautical engineer

我找到了一个优秀的航空学工程师

who designs sails for America's Cup racing yachts

他设计了美国杯竞赛帆船的帆

named Peter Heppel.

他是彼得·赫普尔（Peter Heppel）

He helped me tackle the twin challenges

彼得帮助我解决了这个二重挑战

of precise shape

模拟了精确的外形

and gentle movement.

和优雅的运动

I couldn't build this the way I knew

我不能按照旧的方式来塑造这次的作品

because hand-tied knots

因为手捆的结

weren't going to withstand a hurricane.

承受不了飓风的袭击

So I developed a relationship

因此我与一个渔网工厂

with an industrial fishnet factory,

结成合作伙伴

learned the variables of their machines,

学习了他们机器的不同变量

and figured out a way

并找出了一种方式

to make lace with them.

通过机器来制作花边

There was no language

当时没有语言

to translate this ancient, idiosyncratic handcraft

来翻译这古老的，独特的手工艺

into something machine operators could produce.

将它转为程序，让机器操作者可以用来生产

So we had to create one.

所以我们得创造了一种

Three years and two children later,

三年后，我有了两个孩子

we raised this 50,000-square-foot lace net.

我们终于竖立起这张50,000平方英尺的花边网

It was hard to believe

难以置信

that what I had imagined

我曾经的想象

was now built, permanent

现在被建成了永久的作品

and had lost nothing in translation.

而在这转化过程中仍保持了原有风味

(Applause)

掌声

This intersection had been bland and anonymous.

这个十字路口曾经是乏味，毫不起眼的

Now it had a sense of place.

而现在已成为一道风景线

I walked underneath it

我第一次漫步

for the first time.

于雕塑下

As I watched the wind's choreography unfold,

看着风的舞姿慢慢伸展

I felt sheltered

我感到被庇护

and, at the same time,

而同时

connected to limitless sky.

又与无尽的天空相连

My life was not going to be the same.

我的生活从那时改变

I want to create these oases of sculpture

我想要创造出这些绿洲雕塑

in spaces of cities around the world.

让他们竖立于世界各地城市的空隙之中

I'm going to share two directions

我想要与大家分享我工作中

that are new in my work.

两个新的方向

Historic Philadelphia City Hall:

历史悠久的费城城市大厅

its plaza, I felt, needed a material for sculpture

这是它的广场，我当时认为，我们需要的雕塑材料

that was lighter than netting.

要比网还轻

So we experimented

我们实验了

with tiny atomized water particles

这些微型原子化水离子

to create a dry mist

创造出一种干的薄雾

that is shaped by the wind

能够被风改变形状

and in testing, discovered

在测试中我们发现

that it can be shaped by people

它也能被人改变外形

who can interact and move through it without getting wet.

并且穿行其中的人们不会被沾湿

I'm using this sculpture material

我用这种雕塑材料

to trace the paths of subway trains above ground

在地表来追踪地铁

in real time --

即时的路径

like an X-ray of the city's circulatory system unfolding.

这就像城市循环系统扩散的X射线

Next challenge,

这是下一个挑战

the Biennial of the Americas in Denver

丹佛将召开两年一次的美洲会议

asked, could I represent

有人问我，能否将

the 35 nations of the Western hemisphere and their interconnectedness

西半球的三十五个国家和他们的关联性

in a sculpture?

表现在一件作品当中

(Laughter)

笑声

I didn't know where to begin,

我不知从何开始

but I said yes.

但我说能

I read about the recent earthquake in Chile

我读到了最近智利的地震

and the tsunami that rippled across

海啸的余波动荡了

the entire Pacific Ocean.

整个太平洋

It shifted the Earth's tectonic plates,

它改变了地球的构造板块

sped up the planet's rotation

加速了地球的自传

and literally shortened the length of the day.

甚至缩短了地球一天的长度

So I contacted NOAA,

我联系了美国国家海洋和大气局（NOAA）

and I asked if they'd share their data on the tsunami,

询问他们是否能够提供海啸的数据

and translated it into this.

然后我将那些数据转变成了这件作品

Its title: "1.26"

它名为“1.26”

refers to the number of microseconds

指代的是地球天数

that the Earth's day was shortened.

被缩短的微妙

I couldn't build this with a steel ring, the way I knew.

我不能依靠钢圈，以我原有的方式来搭建这座雕塑

Its shape was too complex now.

因它的形状太过复杂

So I replaced the metal armature

我将金属的支架

with a soft, fine mesh

用一种柔软，细孔状的纤维代替

of a fiber 15 times stronger than steel.

它比钢强韧15倍

The sculpture could now be entirely soft,

雕塑现在完全是柔软的

which made it so light

因此很轻

it could tie in to existing buildings --

可以被固定在已有的建筑上

literally becoming part of the fabric of the city.

名副其实地成为城市织物的一部分（译者注：fabric这里有双重含义：织物；建筑构筑）

There was no software

当时没有软件

that could extrude these complex net forms

能够模拟这种复杂的网状结构

and model them with gravity.

并模拟重力对它的影响

So we had to create it.

因此我们必须制作一个

Then I got a call from New York City

然后我接到一通来自纽约的电话

asking if I could adapt these concepts

问我能否将这些概念应用到

to Times Square

时代广场

or the High Line.

或者高线公园

This new soft structural method

新的软构架模式

enables me to model these

让我能够模拟这些雕塑外形

and build these sculptures

并且将它们建得

at the scale of skyscrapers.

如摩天大厦一般高大

They don't have funding yet,

邀请方还未筹集到资金

but I dream now

但我现在梦想着

of bringing these to cities around the world

将这些雕塑带给世界各地的城市

where they're most needed.

给那些最需要的地方

Fourteen years ago,

14年前

I searched for beauty

我处处搜寻美

in the traditional things,

在传统事物中

in craft forms.

在手工艺中寻找

Now I combine them with hi-tech materials and engineering

现在，我将其与高科技材料和工程设计结合

to create voluptuous, billowing forms

来创造撩人的，随风波动的

the scale of buildings.

如建筑般大小的作品

My artistic horizons continue to grow.

我艺术的边界不断扩展

I'll leave you with this story.

最后，我要告诉你们这个故事

I got a call from a friend in Phoenix.

我接到了凤凰城一个朋友的电话

An attorney in the office

她是一个办公室律师

who'd never been interested in art,

从未对艺术感兴趣过

never visited the local art museum,

从未去过当地的艺术博物馆

dragged everyone she could from the building

但却把所有她能号召的人拉出大楼

and got them outside to lie down underneath the sculpture.

让大家一起躺在雕塑的下方

There they were in their business suits,

他们躺在那儿，穿着商务套装

laying in the grass,

躺在草地中

noticing the changing patterns of wind

看着雕塑的形状随风而变

beside people they didn't know,

与陌生人一起

sharing the rediscovery of wonder.

分享这重新发现的美

Thank you.

谢谢大家

(Applause)

掌声

Thank you. Thank you.

非常感谢

Thank you.

谢谢大家

Thank you. Thank you.

非常感谢

(Applause)

掌声