Reuben Margolin: Sculpting waves in wood and time

Translator: Timothy Covell Reviewer: Morton Bast

翻译人员: Tyler Yan 校对人员: Feiyi Kuai

Usually I like working in my shop,

平时我就挺喜欢我的工作室的

but when it's raining and the driveway outside turns into a river,

但当雨水降临，在门前的车道汇成小河的时候

then I just love it.

我爱死它了

And I'll cut some wood and drill some holes and watch the water,

我就边欣赏着雨水，边割块木头钻几个孔

and maybe I'll have to walk around and look for washers.

或者四处寻找（装置用的）垫圈

You have no idea how much time I spend.

你恐怕想不到我在这事上花了多少时间

This is the "Double Raindrop."

这个装置名为“两颗雨滴”

Of all my sculptures, it's the most talkative.

在我所有的雕塑里，这件是最有表现力的

It adds together the interference pattern

它把两颗雨滴掉落在相邻的地方时的波纹

from two raindrops that land near each other.

组合在了一起

Instead of expanding circles, they're expanding hexagons.

不过波纹不像圆圈那样散开的，而是以六边形扩散

All the sculptures move by mechanical means.

所有的雕塑都由机械系统制动的

Do you see how there's three peaks to the yellow sine wave?

看见这个黄色的正弦波纹有三个波峰么

Right here I'm adding a sine wave with four peaks and turning it on.

我在这里加入了第四个波峰，然后启动它

Eight hundred two-liter soda bottles --

八百个两公升的苏打瓶子

oh yea.

太赞了

(Laughter)

（笑）

Four hundred aluminum cans.

四百个铝罐子

Tule is a reed that's native to California,

图里苇（Tule）是加州本土的一种芦苇

and the best thing about working with it is that it smells just delicious.

最让人享受的是芦苇在使用过程中所散发的香气

A single drop of rain

一颗雨滴

increasing amplitude.

波幅会逐渐增大

The spiral eddy that trails a paddle on a rafting trip.

划船时咬着你船桨的漩涡

This adds together four different waves.

这个装置把四个波形组合到了一起

And here I'm going to pull out the double wavelengths

我把这双波减小一点

and increase the single.

把单波加大

The mechanism that drives it has nine motors

这个装置由九个马达

and about 3,000 pulleys.

和三千个滑轮驱动

Four hundred and forty-five strings in a three-dimensional weave.

四百四十五根线从四面八方编在一块儿

Transferred to a larger scale --

现在这个规模更大……

actually a lot larger, with a lot of help --

事实上在大家的帮助下 变得大多了……

14,064 bicycle reflectors --

14060个自行车反光镜

a 20-day install.

在20天内组装好的

"Connected" is a collaboration

"结"是和舞蹈家吉迪恩(Gideon Obarzanek)

with choreographer Gideon Obarzanek.

合作完成的作品

Strings attached to dancers.

线与舞者相连

This is very early rehearsal footage,

这还是很早以前排练的场景

but the finished work's on tour

不过现在完成品已经在巡回展览了

and is actually coming through L.A. in a couple weeks.

并且几周之后就会在洛杉矶展出

A pair of helices and 40 wooden slats.

一对螺旋装置和四十块木板

Take your finger and draw this line.

伸出你的手指来比划一下

Summer, fall, winter, spring,

夏，秋，冬，春

noon, dusk, dark, dawn.

正午，黄昏，黑夜，破晓

Have you ever seen those stratus clouds

看过一片又一片平行着的云

that go in parallel stripes across the sky?

划过天际吗？

Did you know that's a continuous sheet of cloud

那其实是一整块云

that's dipping in and out of the condensation layer?

在对流层翻来覆去形成的

What if every seemingly isolated object

那些看起来彼此分离的个体

was actually just where the continuous wave of that object

会不会其实也是某个完整的东西

poked through into our world?

钻进我们这个世界所显露出的浪尖？

The Earth is neither flat nor round.

地球不是平的。不是圆的

It's wavy.

而是由波组成的

It sounds good, but I'll bet you know in your gut that it's not the whole truth,

听起来不错。但你们心里肯定知道这不是真的

and I'll tell you why.

我懂

I have a two-year-old daughter who's the best thing ever.

我有一个两岁的女儿。世界上最美的东西

And I'm just going to come out and say it:

我现在要告诉你们:

My daughter is not a wave.

我女儿就不是波

And you might say, "Surely, Rueben, if you took even just the slightest step back,

你可能会说,"罗本（Rueben）,你只要回顾一下就会发现,

the cycles of hunger and eating,

饥饿与进食，

waking and sleeping, laughing and crying

醒与梦，笑与泪，

would emerge as pattern."

这些周期都是一种波形."

But I would say, "If I did that,

不过让我告诉你:"如果我这样观察世界，

too much would be lost."

那我也会损失很多东西."

This tension between the need to look deeper

到底是去深入思考这个世上的一切，

and the beauty and immediacy of the world,

还是欣赏它第一眼的美貌？

where if you even try to look deeper you've already missed what you're looking for,

当你想要去深入探究事物时，它们的韵味就已经淡去了

this tension is what makes the sculptures move.

正是这种矛盾推动着我的作品

And for me, the path between these two extremes

对我而言，这两种极端

takes the shape of a wave.

就是由波形来连接的

Let me show you one more.

再给你们看最后一件

Thank you very much. Thanks.

谢谢。十分感谢

(Applause)

（掌声）

Thanks.

谢谢

(Applause)

（掌声）

June Cohen: Looking at each of your sculptures,

朱科恩:"你的一件件作品

they evoke so many different images.

展示了许多不同的画面

Some of them are like the wind and some are like waves,

一些像是风，一些像是波浪

and sometimes they look alive and sometimes they seem like math.

有时候它们看起来栩栩如生，有时候像是数学的表达

Is there an actual inspiration behind each one?

我想知道每一件作品背后都有灵感的来源吗？

Are you thinking of something physical or somthing tangible as you design it?

你有没有从什么实物上面获得过灵感？?

RM: Well some of them definitely have a direct observation --

罗本:"很明显有一些是观察现实生活而获得的灵感--

like literally two raindrops falling,

比如说 看着两个雨滴落地的过程

and just watching that pattern is so stunning.

那波纹就足够震撼人心了

And then just trying to figure out how to make that using stuff.

之后我就想着怎么样能把这幅画面用实物表现出来

I like working with my hands.

我喜欢自己动手

There's nothing better than cutting a piece of wood

切割木头并让它们运动

and trying to make it move.

真是最棒的工作

JC: And does it ever change?

朱可恩: "它们会偏离你的初衷吗?

Do you think you're designing one thing,

你在设计的时候想着某个东西,

and then when it's produced it looks like something else?

完成后会不会看起来像别的东西？"

RM: The "Double Raindrop" I worked on for nine months,

罗本:"诺，那个"两颗雨滴"。我在它身上花了九个月，

and when I finally turned it on,

可是最后启动它时，

I actually hated it.

我竟然感到厌恶

The very moment I turned it on, I hated it.

就在启动它的那一霎那，我讨厌它了

It was like a really deep-down gut reaction, and I wanted to throw it out.

它看起来就像肠胃的蠕动，搞的我想把它给丢出去"

And I happened to have a friend who was over,

正巧这时候一个朋友来访

and he said, "Why don't you just wait."

他问:"干吗不等等看?"

And I waited, and the next day I liked it a bit better,

于是我等了。第二天我稍微喜欢它了一点

the next day I liked it a bit better, and now I really love it.

第三天我又稍微多喜欢了一点,现在我爱上它了

And so I guess, one, the gut reactions a little bit wrong sometimes,

我想，首先，肠胃有时候会蠕动不畅--

and two, it does not look like as expected.

然后，这个作品也许不像我当初设想的那样

JC: The relationship evolves over time.

朱可恩: "的确,事态毕竟都会发展

Well thank you so much. That was a gorgeous treat for us.

RM: Thanks. (JC: Thank you, Reuben.)

十分感谢，你的演讲让我们大饱眼福"

罗本:"谢谢" (朱可恩:"谢谢")

(Applause)

(掌声)