How we experience time and memory through art | Sarah Sze

I want to start with a question.

翻译人员: Nan Yang 校对人员: Jiasi Hao

我想先从一个问题开始。

Where does an artwork begin?

"一个艺术品从何而来？"

Now sometimes that question is absurd.

有时候这个问题听起来很可笑。

It can seem deceptively simple,

它可能看起来很简单，

as it was when I asked the question with this piece, "Portable Planetarium,"

就像当我对着自己创作于 2010年的“便携式天文馆”

that I made in 2010.

问出问题的时候。

I asked the question:

我问的是：

"What would it look like to build a planetarium of one's own?"

“建立一个自己的天文馆 会是什么样子？”

I know you all ask that every morning,

我知道你们每天早上 都会问自己一个问题，

but I asked myself that question.

但我会问自己那个问题。

And as an artist,

而且作为一个艺术家，

I was thinking about our effort,

我考虑的是我们的付出，

our desire, our continual longing that we've had over the years

我们的欲望， 我们这几年持续的向往：

to make meaning of the world around us

通过素材让我们周围的世界

through materials.

变得有意义。

And for me, to try and find the kind of wonder,

对于我，去试图找到一种奇迹，

but also a kind of futility that lies in that very fragile pursuit,

和一种脆弱追求下的徒劳，

is part of my art work.

是我的艺术工作的一部分。

So I bring together the materials I find around me,

我把周围能找到的素材 聚集在一起，

I gather them to try and create experiences,

试着去创造体验，

immersive experiences that occupy rooms,

能够充斥房间的，

that occupy walls, landscapes, buildings.

能够蔓延四壁、景观 和建筑的沉浸式体验。

But ultimately, I want them to occupy memory.

但是最终，我想它们占据回忆。

And after I've made a work,

每当我完成一个作品后，

I find that there's usually one memory of that work that burns in my head.

我发现通常有一段记忆 在我脑中挥之不去。

And this is the memory for me --

那个记忆对我——

it was this sudden kind of surprising experience

是一种突然的，

of being immersed inside that work of art.

沉浸在艺术作品中 所获得的惊喜的经历。

And it stayed with me and kind of reoccurred in my work

它一直跟随着我， 并在之后的大概十年

about 10 years later.

反复出现在我的工作中。

But I want to go back to my graduate school studio.

但是我想回到我 研究生学院的工作室。

I think it's interesting, sometimes, when you start a body of work,

有意思的是， 有时当你开始工作，

you need to just completely wipe the plate clean,

你只需要彻底擦干净调色盘，

take everything away.

清走一切东西。

And this may not look like wiping the plate clean,

这个可能看起来 不像是在擦调色盘，

but for me, it was.

但对我来说是的。

Because I had studied painting for about 10 years,

因为我已经研究绘画十年，

and when I went to graduate school,

而当我去研究生院，

I realized that I had developed skill, but I didn't have a subject.

我意识到我学到了技巧， 但是我没有主题。

It was like an athletic skill,

它就像是一种运动技巧，

因为我可以很快画出图像，

because I could paint the figure quickly,

但是我不知道为什么。

but I didn't know why.

I could paint it well, but it didn't have content.

我可以画得很好， 但我的作品却没有内涵。

所以我决定把所有画 搁置一段时间，

And so I decided to put all the paints aside for a while,

and to ask this question, which was:

然后问这个问题：

"Why and how do objects acquire value for us?"

“物体为什么以及如何 为我们带来价值？”

How does a shirt that I know thousands of people wear,

一件几千个人穿的衬衫，

a shirt like this one,

就像这样的一件，

how does it somehow feel like it's mine?

是怎么感觉出来它就是我的？

So I started with that experiment,

所以我开始了一个实验，

I decided, by collecting materials that had a certain quality to them.

我决定收集一些 有一定品质的材料。

They were mass-produced, easily accessible,

它们是批量生产，容易获取，

completely designed for the purpose of their use,

完全出于使用目的而设计的，

not for their aesthetic.

而并非为美感。

So things like toothpicks, thumbtacks,

所以，对于牙签，图钉，

pieces of toilet paper,

卫生纸这样的东西，

to see if in the way that I put my energy, my hand, my time into them,

我想看看如果我投入 我的精力、双手和时间进去，

that the behavior could actually create a kind of value in the work itself.

这种行为是否会 让作品产生一种价值。

One of the other ideas is, I wanted the work to become live.

另一种想法是， 我希望这个作品能生动起来。

So I wanted to take it off of the pedestal,

所以我想把它从底座取下来，

not have a frame around it,

而不用框架围着，

have the experience not be that you came to something

能够有一种切身体验， 不再是当你靠近某个东西，

and told you that it was important,

被告知它很重要，

but that you discover that it was in your own time.

而是用你自己的时间来发现的。

So this is like a very, very old idea in sculpture,

所以这个就像雕塑艺术中 一种非常非常古老的思考，

which is: How do we breathe life into inanimate materials?

即：我们如何将生命 带入无生命的物质中？

And so, I would go to a space like this,

因此，我会想要进入 一个像这样的空间，

where there was a wall,

里面有一面墙，

and use the paint itself,

利用涂料本身，

pull the paint out off the wall,

把涂料从墙上“拉下来”，

the wall paint into space to create a sculpture.

于是涂料进入空间， 形成了一个雕塑。

Because I was also interested in this idea

因为我对这个想法也感兴趣，

that these terms, "sculpture," "painting," "installation" --

这些术语， “雕塑”， “绘画”， “装置’——

none of these mattered in the way we actually see the world.

这些与我们实际 看待世界的方式无关。

So I wanted to blur those boundaries,

所以我想要模糊那些边界，

both between mediums that artists talk about,

模糊那些艺术家谈论到的 媒介之间的边界，

but also blur the experience of being in life and being in art,

也模糊生活和艺术的边界，

so that when you are in your everyday,

这样当你在日常生活中，

or when you are in one of my works,

或当你在我的一个作品中时，

and you saw, you recognized the everyday,

你看见了，意识到了每一天，

you could then move that experience into your own life,

你可以把那些体验变成自己的生活，

and perhaps see the art in everyday life.

或许可以在日常生活中看见艺术。

I was in graduate school in the '90s,

我在九十年代念的研究生，

and my studio just became more and more filled with images,

我的工作室里摆放了 越来越多的图像，

as did my life.

和我的生活一样。

And this confusion of images and objects

而图像和物体的这种混乱

was really part of the way I was trying to make sense of materials.

确实是我尝试理解素材 的一种方式。

And also, I was interested in how this might change

而且，我对于这可能如何改变 我们实际体验时间的方式

the way that we actually experience time.

很感兴趣。

If we're experiencing time through materials,

如果我们通过素材体验时间，

what happens when images and objects become confused in space?

当图像和物体在空间中 变得混乱时会发生什么？

So I started by doing some of these experiments with images.

所以我开始用图片做一些实验。

And if you look back to the 1880s,

如果你回顾19世纪80年代，

that's when the first photographs started turning into film.

那是第一批照片变成电影的时候。

And they were done through studies of animals,

它们是通过对动物的研究完成的，

the movement of animals.

动物的运动，

So horses in the United States, birds in France.

比如美国的马，法国的鸟。

They were these studies of movement

先是对运动的研究，

that then slowly, like zoetropes, became film.

然后慢慢地，像西洋镜一样， 变成了电影。

So I decided, I will take an animal

所以我决定要选个动物，

and I'm going to play with that idea

然后研究这个想法：

of how the image is not static for us anymore, it's moving.

图像如何对于我们 不再静止，而是运动的，

It's moving in space.

在空间中运动。

And so I chose as my character the cheetah,

然后我选择了豹子作为我的动物，

because she is the fastest land-dwelling creature on earth.

因为它是地球上 跑得最快的陆地动物，

And she holds that record,

它一直保持着这项记录，

and I want to use her record

我想要利用这一记录

to actually make it kind of a measuring stick for time.

作为一种衡量时间的量尺。

And so this is what she looked like in the sculpture

这是豹子在空间移动时

as she moved through space.

在雕塑中呈现的样子。

This kind of broken framing of the image in space,

这是一幅破碎的空间图像，

because I had put up notepad paper

因为我挂上了记事本纸，

and had it actually project on it.

然后把图像投影在上面。

Then I did this experiment where you have kind of a race,

然后通过一些新工具和视频，

with these new tools and video that I could play with.

我在实验中增加了赛跑元素。

So the falcon moves out in front,

鹰在最前面，

the cheetah, she comes in second,

之后是豹子，排在第二，

and the rhino is trying to catch up behind.

犀牛正从后面尝试赶上。

Then another one of the experiments,

在另一个实验中，

I was thinking about how,

我在想如何——

if we try and remember one thing that happened to us

如果我们试图想起 一件发生在我们身上的事，

when we were, let's say, 10 years old.

假如是 10 岁左右的事，

It's very hard to remember even what happened in that year.

我们甚至都很难想起来 在那一年都发生了什么。

And for me, I can think of maybe one, maybe two,

而对于我， 我可以想起来也许一两件事，

and that one moment has expanded in my mind

而那个时刻在我的脑海中扩展开，

to fill that entire year.

填满了那一整年。

So we don't experience time in minutes and seconds.

所以我们并不以分钟和秒 来体验时间。

So this is a still of the video that I took,

这是我拍的一个视频中的一个画面，

printed out on a piece of paper,

我把它打印在了一张纸上，

the paper is torn and then the video is projected on top of it.

纸是撕碎的， 然后视频投影在上面。

And I wanted to play with this idea

我想尝试这种想法：

of how, in this kind of complete immersion of images

完全沉浸在这些笼罩着我们

that's enveloped us,

的图片中，

how one image can actually grow

一张图片是如何变大

and can haunt us.

并在我们脑海中挥之不去的。

So I had all of these --

所以我做了所有的这些——

these are three out of, like, 100 experiments I was trying with images

这些是我十多年来， 用图片做的100 个实验中的

for over about a decade,

三个实验，

and never showing them,

我从未展示过它们。

and I thought, OK, how do I bring this out of the studio, into a public space,

我思考过，我要怎么把这个 从工作室带到公共空间，

but retain this kind of energy of experimentation

但是依旧保留住那种

that you see when you go into a laboratory,

当你进入实验室或者工作室后

you see when you go into a studio,

可以看见的那种实验的能量？

and I had this show coming up and I just said,

那时我马上要举办这个展览， 于是我想，

alright, I'm going to put my desk right in the middle of the room.

我要把我的桌子 放在房间的正中间。

So I brought my desk and I put it in the room,

所以我带了我的桌子， 放在房间里，

and it actually worked in this kind of very surprising way to me,

而它实际上以一种 非常令人惊讶的方式起了作用，

in that it was this kind of flickering, because of the video screens, from afar.

附加了远处的视频屏幕 带来的闪烁感。

And it had all of the projectors on it,

所有投影仪都投在上面，

so the projectors were creating the space around it,

这些投影仪创作了它周围的空间，

but you were drawn towards the flickering like a flame.

但是你被像火焰一样 的闪烁吸引住了。

And then you were enveloped in the piece

然后你被包裹在了碎片中，

at the scale that we're all very familiar with,

以我们都熟悉的规模，

which is the scale of being in front of a desk or a sink or a table,

仿佛站在桌子或者水槽前，

and you are immersed, then, back into this scale,

然后你沉浸其中，回到这种

this one-to-one scale of the body in relation to the image.

跟你的身体大小相当的规模。

But on this surface,

但是在这表面上，

you had these projections on paper being blown in the wind,

投影机投在被风吹拂的纸上，

so there was this confusion of what was an image

人们产生分不清什么是图像，

and what was an object.

什么是实体的困惑。

So this is what the work looked like when it went into a larger room,

这是作品被置于一个 更大房间后的样子，

and it wasn't until I made this piece

而直到我做了这个作品，

我才意识到，我无意中创造了

that I realized that I'd effectively made the interior of a planetarium,

without even realizing that.

一个天文馆的内部。

And I remembered, as a child, loving going to the planetarium.

我记得，在小的时候， 我很喜欢去天文馆。

And back then, the planetarium,

而那时的天文馆

there was always not only these amazing images on the ceiling,

不只有天花板上精彩的图片，

but you could see the projector itself whizzing and burring,

还可以看见投影仪本身 在工作时嘶嘶作响，

and this amazing camera in the middle of the room.

以及房间中令人惊叹的摄像机。

And it was that, along with seeing the audience around you looking up,

同时还能看见周围的 一些观众抬头向上看，

because there was an audience in the round at that time,

在那时周围会有很多观众，

and seeing them, and experiencing, being part of an audience.

看着他们，体验着 成为观众的一部分。

这个是我从网上下载的

So this is an image from the web that I downloaded

of people who took images of themselves in the work.

人们在作品中自拍的图片。

And I like this image

我喜欢这个图片，

because you see how the figures get mixed with the work.

因为你可以看见人物 是如何与作品融合在一起的，

So you have the shadow of a visitor against the projection,

于是有了游客背对着投影的背影，

and you also see the projections across a person's shirt.

也可以看见投影 穿过一个人的衬衫。

So there were these self-portraits made in the work itself,

这些自拍照由作品本身完成，

and then posted,

然后被发布出来，

and it felt like a kind of cyclical image-making process.

感觉起来像一种 周期性图片制作流程，

And a kind of an end to that.

和一种结束。

But it reminded me and brought me back to the planetarium,

但是它提醒了我， 把我带回了天文馆

and that interior,

和天文馆的内部，

and I started to go back to painting.

然后我开始重新画画。

And thinking about how a painting is actually, for me,

并且思考一幅画， 对于我来说，

about the interior images that we all have.

如何与我们 所有人的内部图像有关。

There's so many interior images,

有很多内部图像，

and we've become so focused on what's outside our eyes.

而我们变得如此专注于 我们眼睛之外的东西。

And how do we store memory in our mind,

还有，我们如何在头脑中存储记忆，

how certain images emerge out of nowhere

某些图片如何突然出现，

or can fall apart over time.

或随着时间的流逝而瓦解。

And I started to call this series the "Afterimage" series,

我开始把这一系列作品 叫做“残像”系列，

which was a reference to this idea that if we all close our eyes right now,

它是这种想法的参考， 如果我们现在都闭上眼睛，

you can see there's this flickering light that lingers,

你可以看见忽隐忽现，徘徊的光，

and when we open it again, it lingers again --

而当我们再次睁开眼睛， 它继续萦绕——

this is happening all the time.

这一直在发生。

And an afterimage is something that a photograph can never replace,

残像是照片永远无法取代的，

you never feel that in a photograph.

你无法在照片中感受到。

So it really reminds you of the limits of the camera's lens.

所以，这确实提醒了你 照相机镜头的局限性。

So it was this idea of taking the images that were outside of me --

这个想法，在我自身外部 照这些图片——

this is my studio --

这是我的工作室——

and then trying to figure out how they were being represented inside me.

然后试图弄清楚 它们是如何表现我的内在的。

So really quickly,

那么很快，

I'm just going to whiz through how a process might develop

我打算为下一个作品 研究这个过程

for the next piece.

可能如何发展。

So it might start with a sketch,

可能从草图开始，

or an image that's burned in my memory

或者从一个我记忆中的图片开始，

from the 18th century --

一幅画，来自18世纪——

it's Piranesi's "Colosseum."

皮拉内西的《罗马竞技场》。

Or a model the size of a basketball --

或者一个篮球大小的模型——

I built this around a basketball,

我围绕着篮球建立了这个，

the scale's evidenced by the red cup behind it.

它的大小可以对比背后的红杯子。

And that model can be put into a larger piece as a seed,

这个模型可以作为种子， 放入更大的作品中，

and that seed can grow into a bigger piece.

然后这个种子可以长得更大，

And that piece can fill a very, very large space.

甚至可以填充 一个非常，非常大的空间。

But it can funnel down into a video that's just made from my iPhone,

但是它也可以集中到 我刚用 iphone拍摄的一个视频中，

of a puddle outside my studio in a rainy night.

一个雨夜， 在我工作室外的小水坑。

So this is an afterimage of the painting made in my memory,

这是我记忆中画作的残像，

and even that painting can fade as memory does.

而那个画作会随着记忆褪色。

So this is the scale of a very small image

这是我素描本中

一张很小的图片的大小。

from my sketchbook.

You can see how it can explode

你们能看见 它是如何爆炸式放大到

to a subway station that spans three blocks.

一个跨越三个街区地铁站的尺寸。

And you could see how going into the subway station

而且你可以看见 进入地铁站的过程

is like a journey through the pages of a sketchbook,

就像一段 在素描本纸张间穿梭的旅程，

and you can see sort of a diary of work writ across a public space,

你们可以看见横跨公共区域的 像工作日记一样的东西，

and you're turning the pages of 20 years of art work

当你穿过地铁时，你仿佛正在翻阅

as you move through the subway.

二十年来艺术工作的记录。

But even that sketch actually has a different origin,

但是甚至那个素描实际上 也有不同的起源，

it has an origin in a sculpture that climbs a six-story building,

有个起源 是一个爬了六层楼的雕塑，

and is scaled to a cat from the year 2002.

它在 2002 年被缩小成 一只猫的大小。

I remember that because I had two black cats at the time.

我记得是因为那个时候 我有两只黑猫。

And this is an image of a work from Japan

这是一个来自日本的照片作品，

that you can see the afterimage of in the subway.

你们可以看见地铁站内的残像，

Or a work in Venice,

还有一件威尼斯的作品，

where you see the image etched in the wall.

可以看见刻在墙上的照片。

Or how a sculpture that I did at SFMOMA in 2001,

或者是2001年我如何在 SFMOMA艺术馆制作的雕塑，

and created this kind of dynamic line,

创造了这种动态线条，

how I stole that to create a dynamic line

当你走下地铁站，

as you descend down into the subway itself.

我是如何借鉴 并创造这个动态线条的。

And this merging of mediums is really interesting to me.

这种媒介的出现 对我来说非常有趣。

So how can you take a line that pulls tension like a sculpture

如何能够在一张画作中体现出

and put it into a print?

雕塑线条的那种张力呢？

Or then use line like a drawing in a sculpture

或者像画图一样，

to create a dramatic perspective?

在雕塑中用线条来创造 戏剧性的视角？

Or how can a painting mimic the process of printmaking?

或者绘画如何模仿版画的过程？

How can an installation use the camera's lens

一个装置能如何利用相机镜头

to frame a landscape?

为景观做框架？

How can a painting on string become a moment in Denmark,

弦上的画在长途跋涉中

如何能变成丹麦的一瞬？

in the middle of a trek?

And how, on the High Line, can you create a piece

在纽约的高线公园，如何创造一个

that camouflages itself into the nature itself

能够伪装到大自然中，

and becomes a habitat for the nature around it?

并成为周围自然栖息地的作品？

And I'll just end with two pieces that I'm making now.

最后，我还想介绍一下 另外两件尚未完成的作品。

This is a piece called "Fallen Sky"

这个叫做“坠落的天空”的作品

that's going to be a permanent commission in Hudson Valley,

将成为哈德逊河谷的一件永久作品，

and it's kind of the planetarium finally come down

仿佛是天文馆下凡，

and grounding itself in the earth.

降落于地球。

And this is a work from 2013 that's going to be reinstalled,

这是 2013 年的作品， 即将被重新安装，

have a new life in the reopening of MOMA.

在新开放的MOMA艺术馆重生。

And it's a piece that the tool itself is the sculpture.

这作品的工具本身就是雕塑。

So the pendulum, as it swings,

这个会摆动的钟摆，

is used as a tool to create the piece.

被用作一个工具来创造作品。

So each of the piles of objects

所以每一组物体

go right up to one centimeter to the tip of that pendulum.

都堆叠到距离钟摆尖端一厘米处。

So you have this combination of the lull of that beautiful swing,

于是你既能感受到 这种优美的摆动所带来的平静，

but also the tension that it constantly could destroy the piece itself.

也能体会到时刻都有可能 破坏作品本身的那种张力。

And so, it doesn't really matter where any of these pieces end up,

这些作品最终会如何并不重要，

because the real point for me

因为对于我来说真正有意义的是，

is that they end up in your memory over time,

它们最终会随着时间 消逝在你的记忆中，

and they generate ideas beyond themselves.

并且产生了超越本身的思考。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）