The U.S. government has been sending dancers and musicians on international goodwill missions for decades. Now, for the first time, it is sending artists abroad as cultural ambassadors.
几十年来，美国政府不断派遣舞蹈家和音乐家到世界各地去展开亲善活动。现在，美国政府第一次要派遣艺术家作为文化使者到国外去。
The Obama Administration's new cultural diplomacy program is called smART Power. The Bronx Museum of the Arts in New York oversees the initiative.
奥巴马政府新的文化外交项目叫做“聪明实力”或者是“艺术实力”。纽约的布朗克斯艺术博物馆被选来负责这个计划。
smART Power
"I think it's fantastic," says Holly Block, the museum's director. "The Bronx Museum itself has done quite a few projects related to community engagement and [having artists] work closely with the community, as well as international artists all over the world. So this fits perfectly. This is the first opportunity I think we've ever had where we're actually able to send U.S.-based artists outside [the U.S.]. Normally we receive artists."
博物馆负责人哈莉·布鲁克说：“我觉得这简直太棒了。布朗克斯博物馆本身就参与了好几个和社区有关的项目，我们的艺术家能够和社区以及世界各地的艺术家紧密合作。这件事对我们非常合适。这是我们第一次有机会把美国的艺术家派到国外去，通常是我们接待来自其它国家的艺术家。”
Block says visual artists - including painters, sculptors, architects, designers - may apply for the program starting January 3.
布鲁克说，视觉艺术，包括绘画、雕塑、建筑、设计等领域的艺术家，从明年1月3号开始可以申请参加这个项目。
"They will submit their materials with a concept," she explains. "We'll expect them to write a small narrative on what they would like to do. But the idea of this project is really special in the sense that you need to think about community and think about visiting this place and creating a project that's in relationship with maybe some topic that's already going on there, or some of the ideas that you bring to them. We will be working very closely with the artists in selecting partner sites to receive the artists and help them realize their work."
“艺术家们需要提交一些资料，显示要表达的概念。我们期待他们简单写写他们要做什么。但是这个项目的特殊之处在于，艺术家需要考虑他们要去的地方的特色，提出一个和当地正在进行的一些项目相关的计划，或者给当地人的建议。我们会和这些艺术家紧密切合作，挑选接待他们的伙伴机构，并帮助他们完成计划。”
Cultural diplomacy
After 15 artists are selected to participate, they will be sent to work on public art projects with students, teachers, athletes and artists in 15 countries, including Pakistan, Venezuela, China, Nigeria and Lebanon.
最后将有15名艺术家被挑选出来前往15个国家，和当地的学生、教师、运动员和艺术家一起创作公共艺术项目。这些国家包括巴基斯坦、委内瑞拉、中国、尼日利亚和黎巴嫩。
"I think it's important for many artists to get out of the bubble of their studio," says Tim Rollins, an artist who is on the Bronx Museum's Board of Directors. Since the 1980s, he has been helping young artists get involved in their communities and visit other cities as well. He believes traveling expands an artist's horizon.
布朗克斯博物馆理事会理事、画家蒂姆·罗林斯说：“我认为，让很多艺术家走出画室是很重要的。”1980年代以来，罗林斯一直帮助年轻艺术家参与社区活动，到别的城市参观。他说，旅行能够扩大艺术家的视野。
"In every single experience I've ever had, traveling and working abroad, a new concept is created, a new approach becomes possible," Rollins says. "That's often unpredictable. You don't know exactly who you're going to work with, who is going to have an idea that you maybe had never thought of before. When you're together with other communities, it's like a big Thanksgiving Day dinner. The food is really important, but it's often a wonderful experience to get together for an exchange would never have happened."
“我的经验是，每一次旅行，每一次到国外工作，我都能获得一个新想法，或者找到一个新办法。这往往是不可预测的。你不知道你将跟谁合作，谁会有那些你以前从来没有过的想法。”
Rollins expects it will be easy for the smART Power ambassadors to initiate a dialogue with local artists wherever they're sent.
罗林斯预计，不管艺术大使们被派到哪儿，他们和当地艺术家开始对话都不会是一件难事。
"In my previous experiences - working in all these different places - local artists tend to want to meet you. They want to be involved. They want to know what's going on in the U.S. It's not competitive, it's not spiteful. It's a genuine curiosity. That's one of the most exciting and rewarding aspects of this sort of collaboration is the fact that you meet with many wonderful new people and they are like-minded and creative. And it's all good."
“我以往的经验是，不管你在哪里，当地的艺术家都希望和你见面，希望参与。他们想了解美国的事情。这不是竞争，没有任何恶意，就是纯粹的好奇。这种合作最让人激动和最有回报的就是，你能够认识很多非常棒的新朋友，他们和你有相同的看法，也非常有创造力。这都是好事。”
Lasting value
As artist in residence for New York City's Sanitation Department, Mierle Ukeles creates major public artworks that explore the social aspects of waste management - such as putting mirrors on trash trucks to reflect the people who create the trash and choreographing a ballet for trucks at a landfill. She can imagine similar projects in other cities around the world. To succeed though, she says artists need to know more about those foreign communities and have the freedom to express themselves.
米尔勒·尤克里斯是纽约市公共卫生部的驻地艺术家，创作了一些反映垃圾处理中社会问题的大型公共艺术作品，比如在垃圾车上装上镜子，反照出制造垃圾的人，比如编排一段表现垃圾掩埋场工作的芭蕾舞。尤克里斯表示，她能够想象，世界各国其他城市也需要类似的项目。她说，为了成功，艺术家们需要更多地了解国外社区，并且要能自由表达。
"Art is about freedom," she says. "You do whatever you want to. It's always about freedom. Nobody can tell the artist you what to do this or you can do that. Then it's not art. It's something else. I hope that people go with open heart."
“艺术说到底就是自由。做任何你想做的事情，这永远和自由有关。没有人可以告诉艺术家你可以这样做或那样做。那就不是艺术了。我希望人们能保持一个开放的心态。”
Rollins expects they will. While smART Power is funded by the U.S. government, he says artists are the ones who will shape the program.
画家蒂姆·罗林斯也有这样的期待。尽管“艺术实力”项目得到美国政府的资助，但是罗林斯表示，让这个项目真正活起来的是艺术家们。
"Part of the excitement of coming up with projects is to figure out what's going to work," Rollins says. "So it isn't just that the government is sponsoring your vision as an artist in a selfish way. Really it is about what can we do, what can we come up with, which will engage the community that we're going to be visiting? And that's what we are - we are visitors. And, yeah, play the role of being a visitor as opposed to being a tourist, as opposed to being a propaganda instrument for the U.S. That won't work. What will work is a genuine dialogue between the communities to produce something that is of lasting, excellent and cultural value."
他说：“确实，这关乎到我们能够做什么，我们能有什么想法，让我们即将前往的社区能够参与进来。我们是访问者，所以要发挥一个访问者的作用，而不是旅游者，不是美国政府的宣传工具。如果是那样，事情就办不成了。要想成功，必须和当地社区展开真诚的对话，这样才能创造出持久、优秀而且具有文化价值的东西。”
And, all those involved hope the smART Power dialogue will also produce something that gives people a better understanding of America and American visual arts.
所有参与这个工作的人都希望，“艺术实力”对话还将产生一些作品，让人们更了解美国及美国的视觉艺术。 |