VOA标准英语2011--New York Museum's 9/11 Exhibit Features

New York Museum's 9/11 Exhibit Features Pre-Attack Art

The September 11 terror attacks may have changed our view, even of objects created before 9/11/2001. A new exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art’s branch in New York’s Long Island City explores this idea. The exhibit features pieces made years before the attacks, which seen in a new context, find different meanings and responses.
Those who remember New York on the days following the 9/11 terrorist attacks are familiar with scenes like this - impromptu¹ memorials to loved ones. The shrine² on this street corner, however, is an art installation from 1997 by Swiss born artist Thomas Hirschhorn, called "Mondrian Altar."
"Mondrian Altar" is part of an exhibit called "September 11" at the Museum of Modern Art’s Queens outpost, PS1. But while the exhibit opened on the 10th anniversary of the attacks, most of the pieces in it were created before the attacks took place.
Altered perception
On the morning of September 11, 2001, in this very space at PS1, Canadian artist Janet Cardiff had mounted her experimental installation "The Forty Part Motet" using 40 speakers - each representing a member of a choir³, singing a mournful piece of medieval English church music.
Now, 10 years later, PS1 has re-installed the piece as part of its effort to show the effect of the attack on our perceptions - even of things that came before it.
For example, in this landscape painted 15 years before 2001, we can’t avoid seeing the shadow of the Twin Towers.
Changing everything
This documentary by artist Jem Cohen is about a victory parade that celebrated⁴ the return of American troops after the 1991 Gulf⁵ War. But the film of that victory parade 10 years before 9/11 reminds the viewer of the September 11 attacks.
"What we saw in 1991 was a reaction of extreme nationalism, pride and patriotism," said Cohen. "In 2001, those events reshaped the piece. It indicated that sometimes we made historical documents that we don’t control."
The only piece directly pointing to 9/11 is a collage⁶ by American artist Ellsworth Kelly. The show's creator, PS1 curator Peter Eleey, said the approach in this simple collage is what he wanted to extend to the entire show.
"I was interested how particularly Kelly’s approach allows us to look differently at this location, which for us was so sort of marred⁷ by the violence that occurred there," said Eleey. "And I began to think about how an exhibition could offer something similar by looking differently, that we could in a sense create our own meaning, if I could expand the context within which we consider 9/11."
With this approach, the PS1 exhibit revives, renews and enlivens art pieces of the recent past - art that had become either too familiar and commonplace - or had been forgotten, like this crushed car from 1982 by sculptor⁸ John Chamberlain, which now stands for the violence of that day.
Looming⁹ shadows
Another piece from 1980, by American artist Sarah Charlesworth, stands for the heart-wrenching scenes that were repeated 20 years after it was made.
"There were seven blowups like this, and they were all taken from newspaper photos of people jumping, obviously the association that people are going to have about that day. I had to consider whether it altered the meaning of the work too much," said Charlesworth.
Newspaper photos also are the subject of another installation that covers the walls of a large hall.
"This is the work by a Dutch artist named Willem De Rooji. It's an archive of images he cut out of newspapers beginning early in 2000, continuing through mid-2002," said Eleey.
Moving exhibit
This otherwise pleasant shot of a sunny day on a plane takes on an ominous¹⁰ meaning and identity, when we consider the crash of planes full of fuel and people into the tall buildings.
Presiding over the central hall of the exhibition is a piece by New York sculptor George Segal, who died a year before 9/11. Segal’s woman looks down at a grey powder which covers the entire floor.
"It’s in fact pulverized¹¹ passenger jet engine by the British artist Roger Hiorns, which he sent to an industrial company that ground it into a very fine powder - mostly aluminum¹² and steel," said Eleey.
The exhibit continues at PS1 through January 9 of next year.

1 impromptu   

adj.即席的，即兴的；adv.即兴的(地)，无准备的(地)

参考例句：

• The announcement was made in an impromptu press conference at the airport.这一宣布是在机场举行的临时新闻发布会上作出的。
• The children put on an impromptu concert for the visitors.孩子们为来访者即兴献上了一场音乐会。

2 shrine   

n.圣地，神龛，庙；v.将...置于神龛内，把...奉为神圣

参考例句：

• The shrine was an object of pilgrimage.这处圣地是人们朝圣的目的地。
• They bowed down before the shrine.他们在神龛前鞠躬示敬。

3 choir   

n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱

参考例句：

• The choir sang the words out with great vigor.合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
• The church choir is singing tonight.今晚教堂歌唱队要唱诗。

4 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

5 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

6 collage   

n.拼贴画；v.拼贴；把……创作成拼贴画

参考例句：

• A collage of coloured paper covers a table top.一副彩纸拼贴画盖在桌面上。
• He has used a mixture of mosaic,collage and felt-tip pen.他混合使用了马赛克、拼贴画和毡头笔。

7 marred   

adj. 被损毁, 污损的

参考例句：

• The game was marred by the behaviour of drunken fans. 喝醉了的球迷行为不轨，把比赛给搅了。
• Bad diction marred the effectiveness of his speech. 措词不当影响了他演说的效果。

8 sculptor   

n.雕刻家，雕刻家

参考例句：

• A sculptor forms her material.雕塑家把材料塑造成雕塑品。
• The sculptor rounded the clay into a sphere.那位雕塑家把黏土做成了一个球状。

9 looming   

n.上现蜃景（光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼）v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• The foothills were looming ahead through the haze. 丘陵地带透过薄雾朦胧地出现在眼前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Then they looked up. Looming above them was Mount Proteome. 接着他们往上看，在其上隐约看到的是蛋白质组山。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 回顾与展望

10 ominous   

adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的

参考例句：

• Those black clouds look ominous for our picnic.那些乌云对我们的野餐来说是个不祥之兆。
• There was an ominous silence at the other end of the phone.电话那头出现了不祥的沉默。

11 pulverized   

adj.[医]雾化的，粉末状的v.将…弄碎( pulverize的过去式和过去分词 )；将…弄成粉末或尘埃；摧毁；粉碎

参考例句：

• We pulverized the opposition. 我们彻底击败了对手。
• He pulverized the opposition with the force of his oratory. 他能言善辩把对方驳得体无完肤。 来自辞典例句

12 aluminum   

n.(aluminium)铝

参考例句：

• The aluminum sheets cannot be too much thicker than 0.04 inches.铝板厚度不能超过0.04英寸。
• During the launch phase,it would ride in a protective aluminum shell.在发射阶段，它盛在一只保护的铝壳里。