美国国家公共电台 NPR Art Star Ragnar Kjartansson Moves People To Tears, Over And Over

Art Star Ragnar Kjartansson Moves People To Tears, Over And Over 

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Well, now, we're going to meet one of the art world's biggest stars, even if he hasn't designed a soy sauce bottle. He is from Iceland, but he's spent the past year going from Berlin to London to Tel Aviv to Washington, D.C. That is where the latest of his one-man shows just opened at the Hirshhorn Museum. NPR's Neda Ulaby paid a visit.

NEDA ULABY, BYLINE²: Some names are almost too much, even for public radio, so bear with me. Ragnar Kjartansson is the artist from Iceland.

RAGNAR KJARTANSSON: (Foreign language spoken).

ULABY: Right now, the 40-year-old is rehearsing a new work. He's talking with his assistant and surrounded by women wearing gold strapless gowns. This piece, like so many of his other works, relies on repetition. One woman at a time will climb onto a slowly rotating pedestal and strum one chord on a golden guitar over and over for two and a half hours.

KJARTANSSON: It's so ridiculously simple. Let's just hear the sound.

ULABY: Kjartansson tells the women their performance will feel meditative³, like a reprieve⁴ from our ADD world of mobile phones and social media.

KJARTANSSON: I mean, it's going to be mind-blowingly boring sometimes (laughter).

ULABY: Each woman seems remote and regal on her pedestal, part of an artistic⁵ tradition of women playing lutes that dates back to ancient Greece, says the museum's chief curator, Stephane Aquin. And he adds that E minor⁶ feels almost other worldly.

STEPHANE AQUIN: Maybe the most melancholy⁷ of all chords.

ULABY: Aquin says work so melancholy and yet so playful is why this artist is such a big deal.

AQUIN: He's a huge deal. He's been sort of rocking the art world in the last 10 or 15 years with amazing performances.

ULABY: Like one filmed a few years ago with nine musicians in a crumbling⁸ Georgian mansion⁹.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

ULABY: The light is soft. It's morning. Each musician has the illuminated¹⁰, lovely face of a Dutch painting. One's lying in bed. One's in a bathtub. They're each in their own rooms on different screens but playing the same phrase together.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

AQUIN: Weighing my words, it is considered one of the greatest works of our young century. It is moving. It takes it out of you. It is just all so touching¹¹.

ULABY: The mesmerizing¹² quality of repetition was impressed on Ragnar Kjartansson in his childhood by his actress mother and playwright-director father. The artist grew up backstage.

KJARTANSSON: Watching him in the theater just, like, repeating the same scenes over and over again. That sort of created what I do in my art.

ULABY: Iceland's not exactly known for its visual art tradition but, Kjartansson says, for its stories.

KJARTANSSON: The air is thick with culture and history, but there's nothing to prove it. It's just all these histories and sagas¹³ but no monuments or old ruins or anything. It's just you're, like - you're standing¹⁴ on a hill and, like, so much stuff happened on this hill, and so much poetry has been written about this hill, but it's just a hill.

ULABY: That said, he's the first to admit that being Icelandic has been something of an advantage in a competitive global art world where nationality can be used as a gimmick¹⁵.

KJARTANSSON: There's that innocence¹⁶ about being Icelandic. It's sort of - people just think you're cute.

ULABY: Kjartansson's performances are filmed and released in limited editions, which sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars. He's had more than 20 exhibitions in the past year alone. People often cry when they sit through a few of his cycles. The artist says that's because repetition is somehow about failing to reach perfection.

KJARTANSSON: All the longing¹⁷ to make something great, but it's never great. It's always mediocre¹⁸. And I - I just love that. I just love it when human beings are trying to achieve something and it sort of doesn't happen. I think it's the ultimate human moment.

ULABY: A moment Ragnar Kjartansson lovingly showcases over and over and over. Neda Ulaby, NPR News.

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 meditative   

adj.沉思的，冥想的

参考例句：

• A stupid fellow is talkative;a wise man is meditative.蠢人饶舌，智者思虑。
• Music can induce a meditative state in the listener.音乐能够引导倾听者沉思。

4 reprieve   

n.暂缓执行（死刑）；v.缓期执行；给…带来缓解

参考例句：

• He was saved from the gallows by a lastminute reprieve.最后一刻的缓刑令把他从绞架上解救了下来。
• The railway line, due for closure, has been granted a six-month reprieve.本应停运的铁路线获准多运行6 个月。

5 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

6 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

7 melancholy   

n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的

参考例句：

• All at once he fell into a state of profound melancholy.他立即陷入无尽的忧思之中。
• He felt melancholy after he failed the exam.这次考试没通过，他感到很郁闷。

8 crumbling   

adj.摇摇欲坠的

参考例句：

• an old house with crumbling plaster and a leaking roof 一所灰泥剥落、屋顶漏水的老房子
• The boat was tied up alongside a crumbling limestone jetty. 这条船停泊在一个摇摇欲坠的石灰岩码头边。

9 mansion   

n.大厦，大楼；宅第

参考例句：

• The old mansion was built in 1850.这座古宅建于1850年。
• The mansion has extensive grounds.这大厦四周的庭园广阔。

10 illuminated   

adj.被照明的；受启迪的

参考例句：

• Floodlights illuminated the stadium. 泛光灯照亮了体育场。
• the illuminated city at night 夜幕中万家灯火的城市

11 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

12 mesmerizing   

adj.有吸引力的，有魅力的v.使入迷( mesmerize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I think you must be mesmerizing me, Charles. 查尔斯，我想你一定在对我施催眠术啦。 来自辞典例句
• The attendant one-dimensional wave equation has mesmerizing harmonic properties. 伴生的一元波平衡具有迷人的和谐特性。 来自电影对白

13 sagas   

n.萨迦（尤指古代挪威或冰岛讲述冒险经历和英雄业绩的长篇故事）( saga的名词复数 )；（讲述许多年间发生的事情的）长篇故事；一连串的事件（或经历）；一连串经历的讲述（或记述）

参考例句：

• Artwork depicted the historical sagas and biblical tales for the illiterate faithful. 墙上的插图为不识字的信徒描绘了历史传说和圣经故事。 来自互联网
• It will complete one of the most remarkable transfer sagas in English football. 到时候，英格兰史上最有名的转会传奇故事之一将落下帷幕。 来自互联网

14 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

15 gimmick   

n.(为引人注意而搞的)小革新，小发明

参考例句：

• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。
• It is just a public relations gimmick.这只不过是一种公关伎俩。

16 innocence   

n.无罪；天真；无害

参考例句：

• There was a touching air of innocence about the boy.这个男孩有一种令人感动的天真神情。
• The accused man proved his innocence of the crime.被告人经证实无罪。

17 longing   

n.（for）渴望

参考例句：

• Hearing the tune again sent waves of longing through her.再次听到那首曲子使她胸中充满了渴望。
• His heart burned with longing for revenge.他心中燃烧着急欲复仇的怒火。

18 mediocre   

adj.平常的，普通的

参考例句：

• The student tried hard,but his work is mediocre. 该生学习刻苦，但学业平庸。
• Only lazybones and mediocre persons could hanker after the days of messing together.只有懒汉庸才才会留恋那大锅饭的年代。