《精神与魔幻之间》带来了六位现居美国的印度、巴基斯坦和伊朗裔艺术家。她们创作的媒介各异,但都保留了根植于各自身份认同中的美学和女性主义考量。从Anila Quayyum Agha,Ambreen Butt 和Jaishri Abichandani 作品中的传统艺术型态,到Ruby Chishti 和Negar Ahkami 创作中活泼的超现实主义,再到Rina Banerjee 的神秘魔幻现实主义,是次展览中的雕塑和平面创作通过作品中基于过程的重要性,以发自肺腑的真诚进行交流。
耶稣
Gay is a word that doesn’t have to mean anything, but sometimes does. It swells into significance on occasions when the difference it implies becomes either the target of dispute or the cause of particular celebration. I’m lucky enough to rarely experience dispute and, for that reason, also see little reason to celebrate. Gay’s the air I breathe: it’s perfectly whatever. - “同性恋”这个词并不一定意味着什么,但有时却意味着什么。当它所暗示的差异成为争论的目标或者成为特别庆祝的原因时,它就变得意义重大。我很幸运,很少遇到争执,因此,也没什么理由庆祝。同性恋是我呼吸的空气:完全随便。
For more than 3,000 years, patronage of art and architecture has been a noteworthy path for women’s agency and self-expression. Over recent decades, patronage studies – which bring together issues of personal and group identity, political power and cultural production – have come to occupy a significant place in the history of art. It is well known that, in many cases, informed and intelligent patrons took an active role in shaping the character of the works they commissioned. The English term ‘patron’ comes from the Latin patronus (protector of clients or dependents, specifically freedmen), which is, in turn, derived from pater (father). Thus, the term ‘patronage’ is inherently gendered and, in nearly all cases, female patrons worked within the limitations of patriarchal societies. Yet, from Antiquity to the present day, women have requested (and collected) works of art and have commissioned buildings and urban interventions. It is important to stress that the patronage systems of the past were based on social stratification and inequalities in power and economic standing – so, in general, patronage by both women and men was the province of elites, who had the means to extend commissions. Some art historians have used the neologism ‘matronage’ when discussing women patrons but, along with most scholars working on the topic today, I prefer to use the traditional – albeit gendered – term patronage. - 3000多年来,赞助艺术和建筑一直是妇女自我表现和代理的重要途径。近几十年来,赞助研究——将个人和群体身份、政治权力和文化生产等问题结合在一起——在艺术史上占据了重要的地位。众所周知,在许多情况下,知情和聪明的赞助人在塑造他们委托的作品的性格方面起到了积极的作用。英语术语“patron”来源于拉丁语的patronus(客户或受抚养人的保护者,特别是自由人),而后者又来源于pater(父亲)。因此,术语“赞助”具有固有的性别,在几乎所有情况下,女性赞助人在父权社会的限制下工作。然而,从古代到现在,妇女已经要求和收集艺术品,并委托建筑和城市干预。必须强调的是,过去的资助制度是建立在社会分层、权力和经济地位不平等的基础上的——因此,一般来说,男女资助都是精英阶层的所在地,精英阶层有扩大佣金的手段。一些艺术历史学家在讨论女性赞助人时,使用了新词“主客观”,但与大多数学者讨论今天的话题相比,我更喜欢使用传统的——尽管是性别的长期赞助。
The first public exhibition of a 15th-century altar-hanging prompts the question: who made it?In Sam Fogg gallery’s latest exhibition of medieval and renaissance textiles in London, a German tapestry went on public display for the first time in its recorded history. Dated at around 1480 and woven from wool and linen in varying colours and configurations, it unrolls to reveal five scenes from the Life of Christ, vertically separated by column-like bands. Read from left to right, the scenes chronicle Christ (identified by his cruciform halo) appearing to his followers after his resurrection. Dressed in radiant white, he lifts his hand in benediction to a kneeling Mary Magdalene; disguised in a grey cloak, he greets two disciples on the road to Emmaus; reduced to no more than his feet, he disappears from the frame and ascends to heaven; rematerializing in the form of a dove on the day of Pentecost, he imbues the Virgin and apostles with the Holy Spirit; and, finally, enthroned on a rainbow during the Last Judgment, he displays his wounds before a sea of bodies. - 第一次公开展示十五世纪祭坛悬挂的问题是:谁做的?在Sam Fogg画廊最近在伦敦展出的中世纪和文艺复兴时期的纺织品展览中,德国挂毯首次在其历史记录中公开展出。日期约为1480,并由羊毛和亚麻织成不同颜色和配置,它展开揭示五个场景从基督的生活,垂直分离的柱状带。从左向右读,基督复活后的纪事纪事(由十字架光环所辨认)出现在他的追随者身上。他身穿白皙的衣服,跪在跪着的Mary Magdalene身上,装扮成灰色斗篷,在埃玛斯的路上迎接两个门徒;他只不过是从脚下消失了,然后爬上了天堂,在一天的时间里以鸽子的形式重新化身。五旬节,他将圣母和使徒灌输给圣灵;最后,在最后一次审判中,在彩虹上登基,在一片尸体面前展示他的伤口。
尤伦斯当代艺术中心(UCCA)为支持中国青年艺术家举办的“新倾向”系列项目,将于2018年6月9日带来最新个展“新倾向:杨露子”。杨露子的影像创作通过对历史、地理和诗歌形式的引用,探索着可感知的语言的极限和秘密,她的创作面貌徘徊在既有感官经验与无法描述的状态之间。从沉溺于历史包袱无法醒来的困顿,到发现既成意识形态工具不曾染指之处的狂喜,再到人类世界与自然世界的和解,艺术家通过展览完成了一次漫长的旅途,一场自我意识的辩证运动,一轮与现实微妙关照的政治考察。以下这十个或显露、或隐匿于杨露子创作中的词汇,也为艺术家的作品和此次展览提供着平行的注解:
图为 2017 年 5 月 25 日拍摄的资料图片,显示了在布拉格旧城广场市政厅翻新期间,钟表制造者彼得•斯卡拉(PetrSkala,中)正在移除布拉格中世纪天文钟的日历表盘。图片来源:法新社/米迦•西泽克。