Brian Dettmer: Old books reborn as intricate art

翻译人员: Jack Qiu 校对人员: Sherry Chen

I'm an artist and I cut books.

我是个艺术家，而我剪书。

This is one of my first book works.

这是我首批作品之一，

It's called "Alternate Route to Knowledge."

名为“通往知识的另一条路”。

I wanted to create a stack of books so that somebody could come into the gallery

我想创造一堆书， 让人能在来展览馆看这堆书时，

and think they're just looking at a regular stack of books,

认为他们只是一堆普通的书。

but then as they got closer they would see this rough hole carved into it,

但是当他们走进时， 他们会看到中间这个的洞，

and wonder what was happening, wonder why,

开始猜想发生了什么事， 为什么会这样，

and think about the material of the book.

并思考书是由什么材料做成的。

So I'm interested in the texture,

我对质地很感兴趣，

but I'm more interested in the text and the images that we find within books.

但我对书中的文字和图像更加感兴趣。

In most of my work, what I do is I seal the edges of a book with a thick varnish

在我的大部分作品中， 我把书的边角用厚重的油漆封起来，

so it's creating sort of a skin on the outside of the book

在书外表制造出类似皮层的东西，

so it becomes a solid material, but then the pages inside are still loose,

让它成为一种硬质地的材料， 然而里面的书页还是松散的，

and then I carve into the surface of the book,

然后我从书的表面雕刻进去，

and I'm not moving or adding anything.

而并没有添加或剪切任何东西。

I'm just carving around whatever I find interesting.

我只是雕刻我感兴趣的地方。

So everything you see within the finished piece

在所有完成的作品中，你所看到的

is exactly where it was in the book before I began.

和我开始创作时是完全一致的。

I think of my work as sort of a remix, in a way,

我认为我的作品像是混音，

because I'm working with somebody else's material

因为我在用别人的材料创作，

in the same way that a D.J. might be working with somebody else's music.

就和一个音乐播音者 混搭着别人的音乐差不多。

This was a book of Raphael paintings, the Renaissance artist,

这是文艺复兴画家拉斐尔的一本画册，

and by taking his work and remixing it, carving into it,

而用他的作品来混合雕刻，

I'm sort of making it into something that's more new and more contemporary.

我把它变成一些更现代化的东西。

I'm thinking also about breaking out of the box of the traditional book

我也在考虑打破传统书籍的框架，

and pushing that linear format,

打破它的线性规律，

and try to push the structure of the book itself

并尝试改变书本身的结构，

so that the book can become fully sculptural.

让书本能够被完全雕刻。

I'm using clamps and ropes and all sorts of materials, weights,

我使用夹子和绳之类的各种材料， 增加它的重量，

in order to hold things in place before I varnish

让它在上漆前能够固定住，

so that I can push the form before I begin,

因此我就能在开始雕刻前 改变它的形状，

so that something like this can become a piece like this,

所以这样的东西， 能够变成一件这样的东西，

which is just made from a single dictionary.

这只是由一本字典做成的。

Or something like this can become a piece like this.

或者像这样的东西， 能够成为一件这样的东西。

Or something like this,

或者是像这样的书，

which who knows what that's going to be or why that's in my studio,

没人知道它将会变成什么， 或是为什么它会在我的工作室里，

will become a piece like this.

而它将会变成一件这样的东西。

So I think one of the reasons people are disturbed by destroying books,

我认为人们因摧毁书 而感到不安的原因之一，

people don't want to rip books

他们不想去撕书，

and nobody really wants to throw away a book,

而且没有人想扔掉一本书，

is that we think about books as living things,

那是因为我们把书看成有生命的东西，

we think about them as a body,

我们把它们看成一个生命体，

and they're created to relate to our body, as far as scale,

按照规模来说， 它们是为我们量身定做的，

but they also have the potential to continue to grow

但是他们也有继续生长的潜力，

and to continue to become new things.

并继续成为新的东西。

So books really are alive.

所以书本确实是活物。

So I think of the book as a body,

因此我把书籍看做是一个生命，

and I think of the book as a technology.

并看作是科技。

I think of the book as a tool.

我把它看做是一件工具。

And I also think of the book as a machine.

同时我也把它看做是一个机器。

I also think of the book as a landscape.

我也把书籍看作是一处山水。

This is a full set of encyclopedias that's been connected and sanded together,

这是一整套全部连接 并打磨完毕的百科全书，

and as I carve through it,

当我进行雕刻时，

I'm deciding what I want to choose.

我在考虑我要该雕刻什么。

So with encyclopedias, I could have chosen anything,

就百科全书而言， 我能够选择任何东西，

but I specifically chose images of landscapes.

但是我着重选择了风景的图画。

And with the material itself, I'm using sandpaper

就材料而言，我用砂纸

and sanding the edges so not only the images suggest landscape,

去打磨它的边角， 因此不仅图案展示风景，

but the material itself suggests a landscape as well.

自身的材料也展现了风景。

So one of the things I do is when I'm carving through the book,

我做的其中一件事是， 当我雕刻书本的时候，

I'm thinking about images, but I'm also thinking about text,

我在考虑书的图案， 但同时我亦考虑其文字，

and I think about them in a very similar way,

我以类似的方式看待它们，

because what's interesting is that when we're reading text,

因为有趣的是，当我们阅读文字时，

when we're reading a book,

当我们在读书时，

it puts images in our head,

它会在我们的脑海里展现出图像，

so we're sort of filling that piece.

因此我们把图文相结合。

We're sort of creating images when we're reading text,

我们在阅读时就在构造一幅图像，

and when we're looking at an image, we actually use language

当我们看一幅图片时，我们使用语言

in order to understand what we're looking at.

去理解我们看到的东西。

So there's sort of a yin-yang that happens,

这有点类似于阴阳平衡，

sort of a flip flop.

就像是两面。

So I'm creating a piece that the viewer is completing themselves.

我在创作一件能令观者 结合图文的作品。

And I think of my work as almost an archaeology.

我把我的工作看作是考古。

I'm excavating and I'm trying to maximize the potential

我在挖掘并尝试着 最大限度地提高它的潜质，

and discover as much as I possibly can

尽可能地去发掘更多，

and exposing it within my own work.

并将它在我的作品中展示出来。

But at the same time,

但是与此同时，

I'm thinking about this idea of erasure,

我有个关于“抹除”的点子，

and what's happening now that most of our information is intangible,

如今大多数的信息是无形的，

and this idea of loss,

而这个关于“失去”的想法，

and this idea that not only is the format constantly shifting within computers,

不仅仅是在电脑里不断转换的格式，

but the information itself,

而且信息本身也不断在变化，

now that we don't have a physical backup,

如今我们没有一个实体备份，

has to be constantly updated in order to not lose it.

必须要不断更新才不会丢失信息。

And I have several dictionaries in my own studio,

我的工作室里有几本字典，

and I do use a computer every day,

而我也每天使用电脑，

and if I need to look up a word, I'll go on the computer,

如果我需要查找一个单词， 我会用电脑去找，

because I can go directly and instantly to what I'm looking up.

因为我可以立即找到我要找的东西。

I think that the book was never really

我认为书本并不完全

the right format for nonlinear information,

适用于非线性的信息，

which is why we're seeing reference books

这也是为什么我们看见参考书

becoming the first to be endangered or extinct.

成为第一类濒危或灭绝的书种。

So I don't think that the book will ever really die.

所以我并不认为书籍将会被完全取代。

People think that now that we have digital technology,

人们认为如今我们有了电子科技，

the book is going to die,

书籍将会被取代，

and we are seeing things shifting and things evolving.

我们看见事物不断变化和进化。

I think that the book will evolve,

我认为书籍将会进化，

and just like people said painting would die

正如人们说当相机和 打印机成为日常用工具时，

when photography and printmaking became everyday materials,

绘画就会被取代，

but what it really allowed painting to do

但是相机和打印机所能做的

was it allowed painting to quit its day job.

是不需要人每天都到画板前去作画。

It allowed painting to not have to have that everyday chore of telling the story,

它让绘画不再限制于画板和笔，

and painting became free and was allowed to tell its own story,

我们能够用不同的方式绘画， 去叙述不同的故事，

and that's when we saw Modernism emerge,

现代主义就是这么出现的，

and we saw painting go into different branches.

我们发现各种不同的画风。

And I think that's what's happening with books now,

我认为同样的事情 也发生在书本的身上。

now that most of our technology, most of our information,

如今我们大多数的科技、信息、

most of our personal and cultural records are in digital form,

私人信息都以电子形式记录下来，

I think it's really allowing the book to become something new.

我觉得这能让书本成为一种新的东西。

So I think it's a very exciting time for an artist like me,

所以对像我这样的艺术家来说， 这是一个激动人心的时期。

and it's very exciting to see what will happen with the book in the future.

我很渴望看看书籍 在未来是如何发展的。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）