在華爾街23號展現充滿暴力的想像
Across the street from the New York Stock Exchange in Lower Manhattan, the British artist Simon Birch sat in a cavernous room with fireproofed girders, a rickety table and three wobbly office chairs for company. For most of the 20th century, 23 Wall Street was a temple of profit, the sumptuous headquarters of J. P. Morgan & Company. For the last decade or so, save for the occasional fund-raising event, it has been a neglected hulk. But Mr. Birch, 41, a tall man dressed in black, with neon-green sneakers and a sweep of dark-blond hair, hopes to restore some of its luster with a huge art installation opening here April 14.
英國藝術家西蒙·伯奇(Simon Birch)坐在曼哈頓下城紐約證券交易所對面一個有防火房樑的寬敞房間裏，身邊是一張搖搖晃晃的桌子和三把顫顫巍巍的辦公椅。20世紀的大部分時間裏，華爾街23號都是J·P·摩根公司(J. P. Morgan & Company)奢華的總部，是個賺大錢的地方。而在最近十年左右的時間裏，除了偶爾舉辦籌款活動，這裏只是一處被人遺忘的空殼家。伯奇是個高大的男子，41歲，一身黑衣，腳穿亮綠色帆布鞋，暗金色頭髮，他希望4月14日在這裏展出的一件大型藝術裝置作品，可以爲此地恢復一些昔日榮光。
He is the driving force behind “The 14th Factory,” a $3 million exhibition that will feature his work and that of about 30 other artists and creative types, including architects and filmmakers, who will fill almost 150,000 square feet, over seven floors, with paintings, sculptures, videos and interior landscapes.
伯奇是“14號工廠”(The 14th Factory)展覽的策劃者，這項耗資300萬美元的展覽，將展出他與其他大約30位藝術家和創意人士的作品，這些人包括建築師和電影製作人。他們將填滿七層樓高、約1.39萬平方米的空間，展品包括繪畫、雕塑、視頻和室內景觀。
The project revolves around vague, sprawling themes like the expansion and collapse of empires. That includes America, whose endless pursuit of growth, Mr. Birch seems to believe, has led to the brink of major change — making the show’s location, right in the heart of the capitalist machine, perhaps all the more dramatic.
展覽圍繞一些模糊、寬廣而散亂的主題展開，例如帝國的擴張與覆滅。其中也包括美國，伯奇似乎相信，美國對發展無止盡的追求導致重大變革即將發生，因此，展覽地址選擇在帝國主義機器的核心，或許就顯得更加戲劇化。
“We’re going to splash down in New York,” he said, resting his rangy frame on the table.
“我們要橫掃紐約，”他瘦高的身體靠在桌邊，說道。
The scope is dizzyingly ambitious, with other challenges, as well. “There’s a huge art system here going on already, which we’re not really part of, to be honest,” Mr. Birch said. “We’re kind of nobodies.”
展覽內容令人極具野心，而且面臨其他的挑戰。“這裏已經有了成型的龐大藝術體系，誠實地說，我們並不是其中的一部分，”伯奇說。“我們是無名小卒。”
That might be true in the United States. In Hong Kong, however, where he has been based since 1997, Mr. Birch is a well-known maker of spectacles.
在美國或許的確如此。然而，伯奇自1997年常駐香港，在那裏，他以製造轟動場面聞名。
In 2010, his show “Hope & Glory: A Conceptual Circus” drew over 60,000 visitors in Hong Kong, where at 20,000 square feet it was one of the biggest multimedia shows the city had seen. It included a 3-D film of a white horse and a mirrored ramp that children could skate on, and mixed Mr. Birch’s creations with works from other artists.
2010年，他的展覽“希望與榮耀：概念性的馬戲團”(Hope & Glory: A Conceptual Circus)在一處約1860平方米的場地舉行，這是香港規模最大的多媒體展覽之一，吸引了大約6萬名觀衆。展覽包括一部關於一匹白馬的3-D電影，以及一個帶鏡子的活動坡道，孩子們可以在上面玩滑板，作品來自伯奇與其他藝術家。
Like “Hope & Glory,” the new installation, which will be up for four to six weeks, will be free to the public. Mr. Birch has set up a nonprofit foundation to support it, and he has sold his paintings to raise initial funds. After its run, much of the art will be auctioned off, with most of the proceeds, he says, going to New York-based youth charities like the Robin Hood Foundation and the Madison Square Boys and Girls Club. An area that includes the bank vault will house a temporary education center, where Mr. Birch hopes to bring students and other visitors to discuss and dissect the artworks.
與“希望與榮耀”一樣，這個新的裝置將展出四到六週，免費對公衆開放。伯奇成立了一個非盈利基金會來支持它，並且賣掉了自己的畫作，籌集了首批款項。展出結束後，其中的大部分藝術品將進行拍賣，伯奇說，大部分的收益將用來資助羅賓漢基金會(Robin Hood Foundation)和麥迪遜廣場男孩女孩俱樂部(Madison Square Boys and Girls Club)等紐約青年慈善組織。包括銀行保險庫在內的場地將成爲一個臨時的教育中心，伯奇希望學生和其他參觀者們在這裏討論和分析藝術品。
The intersection of theme and location is striking, but it is just one of a series of serendipities that convinced Mr. Birch that the project was fated to happen: A Chinese urban planner he approached to design a poppy-dappled interior landscape learned the same day that her grandfather had been involved in the opium trade. The lead architect on the project, Paul Kember, could fulfill Mr. Birch’s desire to replicate a set from “2001: A Space Odyssey” because his uncle and great-uncle had worked on the sets for the original film.
展覽主題與地點的碰撞令人震驚，不過，這只是伯奇遇到的衆多巧合中的一個，它們令他相信這個項目是命中註定的：他曾經與一箇中國的城市規劃師接洽，設計一個點綴着罌粟的室內景觀，當天，這位規劃師得知，她自己的（外）祖父曾經參與鴉片貿易。展覽的首席建築師保羅·肯姆博(Paul Kember)可以滿足伯奇的願望，複製出《2001太空漫遊》(2001: A Space Odyssey)的一個場景，因爲保羅的叔叔和叔祖父就曾在這部影片的片場工作過。
Perhaps most striking, “The 14th Factory” had originally been planned for the James A. Farley Post Office Building, on Eighth Avenue at 33rd Street, but found a home earlier this year at 23 Wall Street — right next door to where Mr. Birch had been living for two years while conceptualizing it.
最驚人的可能要算是，“14號工廠”本來計劃在33街與第八大道交匯的詹姆斯·A·法雷郵局大廈(James A. Farley Post Office Building)舉辦，但是今年（指2015年）年初卻在華爾街23號找到了地址――兩年前，伯奇構思這個作品的時候，就住在隔壁。
For the artist, though, that sense of inevitability extends throughout his artistic and personal life.
不過，對於這位藝術家來說，這種命中註定的感覺貫穿他的全部藝術與個人生活。
Mr. Birch was born in Brighton, south of London, and grew up in the English Midlands. He moved out at 16, to a rough neighborhood in Leicester, where he started working in bars and clubs as a bouncer and D.J. just as rave culture was exploding. By 18, he was hosting his own raves. As his events became more ambitious, he found he couldn’t handle the financial side and ended up in debt. Violent events surrounded his collapse: His older brother was stabbed and nearly died in front of Mr. Birch. A friend was shot and killed outside a club.
伯奇出生在倫敦南部的布萊頓，在英格蘭中部地區長大。16歲那年，他搬到萊斯特一個充滿暴力的社區，當時正值銳舞文化盛行一時，他在酒吧和俱樂部當保安和DJ。18歲那年，他開始主持自己的銳舞派對。他搞的活動野心愈來愈大，他發現自己財務方面搞不定，開始負債。後來伯奇的崩潰與暴力難解難分：他的哥哥被人捅刀子，差點死在伯奇面前。一個朋友在俱樂部外遭到槍殺。
“I’m not a gangster, you know? I’m an artist,” he said. “I left, with nothing in my pockets. Literally, I had 50 quid to my name.”
“我不是匪徒，你知道，我是藝術家，”他說。“那時候我兜裏什麼也沒剩下。我名下真的只有50鎊。”
He soon found himself in Hong Kong, working in construction. Throughout, even though he had no professional training, he was painting and drawing.
不久後他去了香港，做建築行業。在那期間，儘管他沒受過職業訓練，卻一直創作油畫和素描。
His early work was generally figurative: bodies or large heads floating in space — perhaps falling, perhaps rising — rendered in slash-like brush strokes that conveyed both energy and violence. Friends started asking for portraits, and word spread.
他的早期作品總體來說帶有象徵意味：身體或巨大的頭顱漂浮在空中――可能是下落，也可能是上升――它們用刷子般的筆觸繪成，傳達出能量與暴力的訊息。朋友們開始索要他的作品，他漸漸有了口碑。
That timing was lucky: The Hong Kong contemporary art scene was still in its infancy, said Valerie C. Doran, a curator who later worked with Mr. Birch on “Hope & Glory” and describes him as “kind of like a pinball — he bumps up against something and reacts to it.”
時機非常幸運：後來曾與伯奇在“希望與榮耀”中合作的策展人瓦萊麗·C·多蘭(Valerie C. Doran)說，當時，香港當代藝術場景仍處在蹣跚學步之期。她還形容伯奇“就像彈珠一樣，總是撞上什麼東西，並且做出反應”。
Things began to happen fast — ”more projects, more work,” Mr. Birch said. He won an Asian art award and considered doing a show in New York or London.
事態的發展開始加速――“更多項目，更多作品，”伯奇說。他獲得了一個亞洲藝術獎項，之後開始考慮在紐約或倫敦做一個展覽。
“Unfortunately,” he said, “that’s when I got put in my place.”
“當我回到本土，就不那麼幸運了，”他說。
In 2008, doctors told him he had a rare, aggressive form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and gave him a slim chance of survival. He began a six-month run of chemotherapy and radiation, as well as every form of alternative therapy he could find. He also gathered his friends and told them they were going to be his team.
2008年，他被診斷出患有一種罕見、惡性的非霍奇金淋巴瘤，生存機率極小。他接受了爲期六個月的化療與放療，嘗試各種另類療法。他把朋友們召集起來，告訴他們，他們就是他的團隊。
“It was an incredibly beautiful experience to be surrounded by people that didn’t want me to die,” he said. “It changed me forever.”
“身邊圍繞着一羣不希望我死去的人，這真是非常美好的體驗，”他說。“這段經歷永遠改變了我。”
Five years after his diagnosis, he was told the cancer was in full remission. He began to do charity events, hoping to give back some of the good will he had received. And his paintings changed. “They just became so much looser, and more fluid, and more abstract,” he said. “It was like I had nothing to hold back anymore.”
被診出患病之後五年，他被告知癌症已經徹底得到緩解。於是他開始做慈善事業，希望能回報自己所得到的善意。他的畫風也改變了。“它們變得鬆弛了很多，更流暢，更抽象，”他說。“就好像我再也沒有什麼可以保留的了。”
Johnson Chang, a prominent Hong Kong curator and dealer, said he wasn’t impressed with Mr. Birch’s art in itself. “He was doing, frankly, very boring paintings,” he recalled, but “Hope & Glory” captured his attention. “Not entirely because it was a spectacle,” Mr. Chang said, “but I was impressed to see that he had exceeded himself.”
香港著名策展人與交易者張頌仁(Johnson Chang)說，觸動他的並不是伯奇的作品本身。“坦率地說，他的畫很乏味，”他回憶，但是“希望與榮耀”還是吸引了他的注意。“不完全是因爲它是一個大場面，”張頌仁說，“打動我的是，他超越了自己。”
In 2010, Mr. Birch exploded from his figurative work with that show. With its $1 million cost, brash visuals and obscure historical references — one piece spelled out “Tigranes,” the name of an Armenian king (Mr. Birch is partly Armenian by ancestry), in giant, carnival-like letters — it excited the local art scene. Ms. Doran, the curator, who is on the advisory board for “The 14th Factory,” said its interactive elements in particular resonated with a broad audience. “It was really like a living space,” she said.
2010年，伯奇的展覽突破了他的象徵色彩作品。展覽耗資100萬美元，充滿自信的視覺效果與模糊的歷史涵義，其中一幅作品，用巨大的、狂歡般的字體寫出“提格蘭”(Tigranes)字樣，這是一個亞美尼亞國王的名字（伯奇的祖先中有亞美尼亞人），這幅作品令本地藝術圈興奮不已。策展人多蘭目前在“14號工廠”的顧問委員會任職，她說這幅作品的互動元素特別能與廣大的觀衆產生共鳴。“它就像一個活的空間，”她說。
For years, Mr. Birch tried to figure out a sequel of sorts in New York and on a bigger scale. When the post office space fell through, one of his patrons lent him an apartment overlooking 23 Wall Street, and he found himself gazing at the empty building. “The thing was under our feet the whole time,” he said.
多年來，伯奇都試圖在紐約推出某種規模更大的後續。那個郵局破產時，伯奇的一個客戶租給他一處公寓，從那裏可以俯瞰華爾街23號，他在那裏望着那棟空空的建築。“它一直都在我們腳下，”他說。
The show’s title is a reference to the 13 factories, or warehouses, of Canton (now Guangzhou), which in the 18th and 19th centuries were the centers of foreign trade — the Chinese called them “barbarian houses.” But its structure also alludes to the sequence of actions Joseph Campbell described as the “hero’s journey,” or monomyth. At “The 14th Factory,” the visitor is the hero, moving from the everyday into the supernatural, through trials and battles, to emerge victorious and transcendent.
此次展覽的名字是指廣州的13座工廠或是倉庫，在18世紀到19世紀，它們曾是對外貿易的中心，中國人把它們稱爲“野人屋”。但它的結構也是在暗示一系列約瑟夫·坎貝爾(Joseph Campbell)所謂的“英雄之旅”或稱單一神話(monomyth)。在“14號工廠”中，參觀者就是英雄，從日常生活中來到超自然的環境，通過考驗與戰鬥，進入勝利與超越的境界。
Viewers will enter into a gallery of portraits of punk rockers from the late 1970s (the “original disrupters,” Mr. Birch said), past videos of bodies in motion (subway dancers filmed so they appear suspended in midair), into a large room of deconstructed airplane parts, culled from a large commercial graveyard in the Mojave Desert. Elsewhere will be a huge laser-cut wood sculpture of an object in mid-explosion, the poppy-topped undulating hills (the grass will be artificial, the poppies real), and more video screens showing real-life Chinese factory workers fighting and a car crash involving Mr. Birch’s Ferrari.
參觀者先是進入一個掛滿20世紀70年代末期朋克搖滾樂手畫像的畫廊（他們是“最初的破壞者”，伯奇說），經過一系列播放身體動作的視頻（地鐵上的舞者，拍攝角度使得她們彷彿懸浮在半空），進入一個大房間，裏面是飛機殘骸，是從莫哈韋沙漠的一處大型飛機墳場撿回來的。其他展品還包括一座大型激光切割木雕，彷彿在爆炸的樣子；一座座點綴着罌粟的起伏的小山（草是人工的，罌粟是真的）；還有更多反映中國工廠工人拼命工作的視頻，以及一段反映伯奇開法拉利出車禍的視頻。
Once through that violent imagery, visitors will find well over 100 crowns designed by Mr. Birch — empty symbols of victory — and then projections of buildings falling past them, from which they will exit onto the street.
看過這些充滿暴力的想像之後，參觀者會看到100個由伯奇設計的王冠，它們是象徵着勝利的空虛符號，它們後面有建築的投影，然後觀衆就可以從出口走到街頭。
It’s easy to find references to the Sept. 11 attacks, given the show’s proximity to ground zero, but Mr. Birch said that was unintentional. “I’m not qualified to talk about that event as an artist or as a man,” he said, though Ms. Doran acknowledged that they had discussed it early on.
展覽中也很容易看到對911事件的影射，因爲展覽地點離世貿中心遺址很近，但伯奇說，這並不是故意的。“作爲一個藝術家也好，作爲一個人也好，我並沒有資格討論那一事件，”他說；但多蘭承認，他們曾經討論過這個話題。
“He’d be easy to criticize if he wasn’t putting a lot of stuff on the line,” said Gary Gunn, a composer who is designing sound for the installation
“如果不是放了許多東西進來，他很容易遭到質疑，”爲這次裝置設計了聲音的作曲家加里·甘恩(Gary Gunn)說。
Mr. Birch is aware that the enterprise, which he hopes to reinvent in Los Angeles and perhaps elsewhere, is risky, both financially and critically.
伯奇還想在洛杉磯或其他地方復現這個作品，但他知道，這在財務上擔着風險，也很可能不受好評。
“The truth is, it could be the end of my career,” he said. “I used to work in construction. I’d be happy to go back to that.” He paused. “In theory.”
“真的，它可能是我事業的終結，”他說。“我曾在建築行業工作，我很高興回到那個行業。”他頓了一下。“從理論上是這樣。”
