Reuben Margolin: Sculpting waves in wood and time

Translator: Timothy Covell Reviewer: Morton Bast

譯者: Ann Huang 審譯者: Alex Chiu

Usually I like working in my shop,

通常我比較喜歡在自己的店裡工作

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

但每當下雨，外頭馬路氾濫成一條小河時

then I just love it.

我整個愛死那個景象了

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

我會取一些木材，在上面鑽幾個洞，然後望著水流

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

可能還要四處尋找墊圈

You have no idea how much time I spend.

我投注的時間多到你無法想像

This is the "Double Raindrop."

這是"雙層雨珠"

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

我所有的塑像作品中，它最有看頭

It adds together the interference pattern

它把兩顆雨珠落地時

from two raindrops that land near each other.

產生的波紋干擾結合在一起

Instead of expanding circles, they're expanding hexagons.

擴大的六邊形取代了圓圈

All the sculptures move by mechanical means.

所有的塑像都是藉由機械原理來移動

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

看到黃色正弦波上那三個高點了嗎？

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

現在我要加入一個有四個高點的正弦波並啟動它

Eight hundred two-liter soda bottles --

800個2公升的汽水罐

oh yea.

太棒了

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Four hundred aluminum cans.

四百個鋁罐

Tule is a reed that's native to California,

銳鹿草是加州當地的一種蘆葦

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

用這種植物當材料最棒的地方就是它聞起來很可口

A single drop of rain

單一雨珠

increasing amplitude.

增加中的振幅

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

隨著船槳拖曳出的螺旋漩渦

This adds together four different waves.

這裡頭包含四個不同的波

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

我把這雙波減小一點

and increase the single.

再把單波加大

The mechanism that drives it has nine motors

推動這個的裝置有九個馬達

and about 3,000 pulleys.

和差不多3,000個滑輪驅動

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

四百四十五根線由三向編織法構成

Transferred to a larger scale --

再轉移到更大的規模

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

在大家的幫助下，其實是比以前的大得多了

14,064 bicycle reflectors --

14,064個腳踏車的反光鏡

a 20-day install.

花了20天組裝起來

"Connected" is a collaboration

“結”是和編舞家Gideon Obarzanek

with choreographer Gideon Obarzanek.

合作完成的作品

Strings attached to dancers.

線與舞者相連

This is very early rehearsal footage,

這是很早以前排練時的鏡頭

but the finished work's on tour

不過完成的作品已經在巡迴展出了

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

而且將在幾週後來到洛杉磯

A pair of helices and 40 wooden slats.

一對螺旋裝置和40塊木板

Take your finger and draw this line.

伸出你的手指來畫這個線條

Summer, fall, winter, spring,

夏、秋、冬、春

noon, dusk, dark, dawn.

正午、黃昏、黑夜、黎明

Have you ever seen those stratus clouds

你有看過那些層雲

that go in parallel stripes across the sky?

一層一層的平行在天空上嗎？

Did you know that's a continuous sheet of cloud

你知道那其實是一塊連綿不斷的雲

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

在凝結層穿梭而形成的嗎？

What if every seemingly isolated object

那些看起來孤立的個體

was actually just where the continuous wave of that object

會不會就是從那個物體連續的波動

poked through into our world?

探入我們的世界而來的？

The Earth is neither flat nor round.

地球不是平的，也不是圓的

It's wavy.

而是由波組成的

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

這聽起來不錯，但我敢說你們打心底知道這不是事實

and I'll tell you why.

讓我告訴你們為什麼

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

我有一個兩歲的女兒，她是世界上最美好的事物

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

而我要說：

My daughter is not a wave.

我的女兒不是波

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

你可能會說：”當然囉，魯本，但如果你退一小步觀察“

the cycles of hunger and eating,

飢餓與進食的循環

waking and sleeping, laughing and crying

甦醒與睡眠，笑與哭泣

would emerge as pattern."

都是某種模式“

But I would say, "If I did that,

但我會回答：“如果我這麼看的話，”

too much would be lost."

“就會錯過太多東西了”

This tension between the need to look deeper

有種張力存在於想要更深入探索

and the beauty and immediacy of the world,

和直接體驗這個世界的美之間

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

越是努力想把這世界看得更深入，反而會錯過想要尋找的東西

this tension is what makes the sculptures move.

就是這種張力驅使這些塑像移動

And for me, the path between these two extremes

對我來說，連結這兩個極端的路徑

takes the shape of a wave.

就是以波的形狀存在

Let me show you one more.

讓我再給你們看個東西

Thank you very much. Thanks.

非常謝謝，謝謝

(Applause)

（鼓掌）

Thanks.

謝謝

(Applause)

（鼓掌）

June Cohen: Looking at each of your sculptures,

June Cohen：看著你的每一件塑像

they evoke so many different images.

它們呈現出許多不同的樣貌

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

有些看起來像風，有些像波浪

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

有時候它們像是有生命的，有時候又看起來跟數學一樣

Is there an actual inspiration behind each one?

每一件作品都來自實際的靈感嗎？

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

你在設計的時候，腦中是否想著某個實際的物體呢？

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

RM：有部分的確是來自於實際的觀察

like literally two raindrops falling,

像是當兩顆雨珠落下

and just watching that pattern is so stunning.

然後看著那些激起的波紋是多麼令人驚艷

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

接下來只要想辦法使用材料把它做出來

I like working with my hands.

我很喜歡用自己的雙手工作

There's nothing better than cutting a piece of wood

沒有任何事情比得上切割一塊木頭

and trying to make it move.

然後想辦法讓它移動

JC: And does it ever change?

JC：這個過程發生變化過嗎？

Do you think you're designing one thing,

當你設計出一樣作品

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

結果完成後卻是別的樣子？

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

RM：我花了九個月製作”雙層雨珠“

and when I finally turned it on,

當我終於完成並啓動它的時候

I actually hated it.

我其實非常討厭它

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

從它啟動的那一刻開始，我就討厭它

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

那真的像是打從心底的本能反應，我甚至想把它拿去丟掉

And I happened to have a friend who was over,

而我有個朋友正好來找我

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

他告訴我：”為什麼不等一等呢？“

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

所以我就等等看，第二天我就比較喜歡它一點了

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

再隔一天，我又更喜歡了一點，現在我真的很喜愛它

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

所以我猜，第一，直覺反應有時候不太正確

and two, it does not look like as expected.

第二，這件作品的確不是它原本該有的樣子

JC: The relationship evolves over time.

JC：兩"人"關係總是會不斷發展改變的

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

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

非常謝謝你，給了我們這麼棒的饗宴！

RM：謝謝（JC：謝謝你，魯本）

(Applause)

（鼓掌）