艾未未新作在舊金山"惡魔島"展出

SAN FRANCISCO — Judging from the large bags of colorful Legos on the floor and dozens of plastic base plates piled on tables, this room could have been the activities station for a well-funded summer camp. And the five women and men drifting in and out, slicing open boxes and rooting around for the right size toy bricks, were young enough to pass as camp counselors.

舊金山——從地上放着的大袋大袋彩色樂高積木和桌子上的幾十個塑料底座判斷，這個房間像一個經費充裕的夏令營活動站。五個男女忙進忙出，他們劃開盒子，尋找大小合適的積木；這幾個人年紀輕輕，很容易被人當成夏令營的輔導員。

Only the place where they were working is the opposite of summer camp: Alcatraz, the notoriously bleak military prison turned maximum-security penitentiary turned national park. With its banks of small windows and a “gun gallery” for surveillance, this building is where inmates once laundered military uniforms. It’s usually off limits to tourists.

只不過這裏跟夏令營正好相反——這裏是阿爾卡特拉斯，它起初是一座淒涼暗淡、臭名昭著的軍方監獄，後來成了最高安全級別的監獄，最後又變成了國家公園。這棟建築有成排的小窗口和一座用來監視犯人的“槍廊”，犯人曾在這裏給部隊洗軍裝。該樓平時禁止遊客入內。

But starting Sept. 27, visitors will be able to see for themselves, spread across the floor, where so many Legos were heading: an ambitious installation by the Chinese activist-artist Ai Weiwei, featuring 176 portraits of prisoners of conscience and political exiles around the world — from the South African leader Nelson Mandela and the Tibetan pop singer Lolo to the American whistle-blower Edward Snowden — composed of 1.2 million Lego pieces. The work is part of an exhibition running through April 26 called “@Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz,” organized by For-Site, a San Francisco producer of public art, in the prison hospital, A Block cells, dining hall and that former laundry building.

但是從9月27日起，遊客們就可以入內一探究竟了——許多的樂高積木在地上鋪陳開來：這件規模宏大的裝置藝術是中國社會活動者、藝術家艾未未的作品，由176幅來自世界各地的政治犯與政治流亡者的肖像構成，從南非領導人納爾遜·曼德拉(Nelson Mandela)、西藏流行歌手洛洛(Lolo)到美國的揭祕者愛德華·斯諾登(Edward Snowden)，它們由120萬塊樂高積木製成。這件作品是截止至4月26日結束的展覽“@Large: 艾未未在阿爾卡特拉斯”的一部分，展覽由舊金山公共藝術製作機構Fore-Site承辦，地點設在監獄醫院、A區牢房、用餐大廳和這座以前的洗衣樓。

Given Mr. Ai’s sharp critiques of the Chinese government and the tireless campaigning for freedom of expression that led to his own imprisonment in 2011, he could have included himself in the group portrait. He did not. But his 81-day detainment, a numbing and mostly solitary confinement, fueled some of the exhibition’s themes, and the seizure of his passport at that time — it was never returned — has shaped the making of this show.

艾未未因爲對中國政府的尖銳評論，以及爲言論自由的奮力抗爭，結果在2011年受到監禁，他本可以把自己的肖像也加入這組羣像之中。但他並沒有這樣做。81天的關押經歷——令人麻木而且基本上是單獨監禁——啓發了該展覽中的若干主題；當時他的護照也遭沒收，至今尚未歸還，這也決定了該展覽的製作方式。

“Even now, I am still in a soft detention, my passport withheld by the state and my right to move freely across borders restricted,” he explained in a series of lengthy email exchanges.

“直到如今，我還在軟禁之中，我的護照被當局扣押，我自由出國的正當權利受到限制，”他在一系列很長的電子郵件往來中寫道。

His situation makes the “@Large” title seem wishful, if not ironic, and raises questions both practical and philosophical. How exactly did this outspoken artist manage to realize this site-specific exhibition without ever visiting the site and despite an ever-present risk of reincarceration? And to what extent are installations like this — which required more than 100 volunteers in San Francisco and For-Site staffers on Alcatraz Island helping with assembly, as well as Amnesty International contributing research — truly Mr. Ai’s work?

他的處境令“@Large”這個展覽標題顯得即便不是充滿諷刺，也如同一種願望，並且提出了實務層面與哲學層面的問題。這位坦率直言的藝術家根本無法參觀場地，還常常冒着再度遭到監禁的危險，他又該怎樣實現這個在特定場地舉辦的展覽呢？此外，這件裝置作品需要舊金山的100多名志願者與For-Site的員工到阿爾卡特拉斯島拼裝完成，大赦國際組織也協助進行了研究工作，那麼，這樣的裝置作品在多大程度上真正是艾未未的作品呢？

Certainly, the monumental Lego installation, “Trace,” has his fingerprints all over it. A few celebrity freedom fighters aside, most of the portraits showcase figures “forgotten by society,” he said. One is Shin Suk-ja, a South Korean prisoner of North Korea who was sent into penal labor with her two daughters in 1987 after her husband defected to Europe. Ms. Shin appears to have died in captivity, according to an information binder provided by For-Site.

當然，這件豐碑式的樂高裝置“Trace”上到處都有艾未未的痕跡。他說，除了幾個著名的自由鬥士，大多數肖像展現的是“被社會遺忘”的人。其中包括申淑子(Shin Suk-ja)，她是一個被朝鮮關押的韓國人，1987年，因爲丈夫叛逃歐洲，她和兩個女兒一起被關進勞改營。根據For-Site提供的資料，申淑子似乎已在囚禁中死去。

The new work recalls Mr. Ai’s responses to the Sichuan earthquake of 2008, which provoked him to identify students killed as a result of shoddy school construction and to create perhaps his most powerful installation, “Remembering.” His mural in Munich in 2009 used 9,000 custom-made children’s backpacks to spell out his message: “She lived happily in this world for seven years.”

這件新作令人想起艾未未對2008年四川地震的反應。很多學生因質量低劣的校舍建築在地震中死去，艾未未確認了這些學生的身份後，創作了可能是他最有力量的裝置作品《記住》。這是2009年他在慕尼黑的牆體裝置藝術，使用了9000個特別定製的學生揹包，拼出了他的信息：“她在這個世界上開心地生活過七年”。

His Lego work likewise provides a visual accounting, creating conceptually a community of prisoners too large to be ignored.

他的這件樂高作品也同樣提供了一種視覺記述，從概念上創作出一羣巨大到無法忽視的囚犯。

“I think it’s a big leap for Weiwei, addressing free speech issues and human rights violations not just in China but globally,” said Cheryl Haines, the founder of For-Site. Asked whether his broader focus could help protect him from retaliation or reincarceration by his own government, she responded: “I honestly don’t know the answer. The Chinese government is so unpredictable in its responses.”

“我認爲這是艾未未的飛躍，它表達出言論自由問題與對人權的侵犯不只在中國有，也是全球問題，”For-Site的創始人謝里爾·海恩斯(Cheryl Haines)說。在問到他這種更爲廣泛的關注是否會免遭中國政府的報復或再次監禁時，海恩斯答道：“我真的不知道答案。中國政府的反應太難預測了。”

Mr. Ai, long a fan of clay bricks for their simplicity, said the idea of toy bricks came in part from witnessing his 5-year-old son’s “endless passion” for Legos. “They are very simple and straightforward, but can also be easily destroyed and taken apart, ready to be remade and reimagined,” he wrote. “I like the idea of using this language and material as an expression of human nature and the hand of creation.”

艾未未長期以來都喜歡磚塊的簡潔，他說使用玩具積木這個主意部分是來自他五歲的兒子對樂高積木“無窮的熱情”。“它們簡單直接，但可以輕易被摧毀和分解，隨時可以進行重建和重新想象，”他寫道。“我喜歡運用這種語言和材料來表達人性與造物主之手的想法。”

He largely managed the assembly process from his Beijing studio. He made several sample Lego portraits before generating digital blueprints for the full suite, breaking down each portrait into four or more templates used by the volunteers. To keep details of the show under wraps until completion, volunteers were never shown images of the full artwork.

他主要是在北京的工作室管理組裝過程。他做了幾個樂高肖像樣品，之後又製作了整套作品的數碼設計圖，把每個肖像分解爲四個或更多供志願者使用的模版。爲了在完成之前不泄露展覽的細節，志願者們都沒有看過完整作品的圖像。

He also sent three assistants from his studio to California to coordinate the Lego project, and two others (“different skill sets,” he noted) to install near it a massive dragon kite made by Chinese artisans from traditional bamboo and fabric. The body of the kite features emblems of some 30 countries implicated in “Trace.”

他還派遣工作室的三名助手到加利福尼亞協助完成這個樂高項目，並派另外兩人（“不同的技能”他說）去安裝旁邊的一個巨大的龍風箏，它由傳統的竹子和織物製成，由中國手工藝人制作。風箏的身體上有“Trace”中涉及的大約30個左右的國家的象徵圖案。

The kite is “symbolic of freedom,” he wrote, even more so within a prison setting. The work also has personal associations, from his boyhood in the 1960s, when he built a kite with his father, the poet Ai Qing, who by then had been banished by Mao’s regime to the Gobi Desert and forced to clean toilets.

艾未未寫道，這個風箏是“自由的象徵”，特別是它被放置在一個監獄的環境裏。這件作品也有個人化的聯想，涉及他的童年，那是20世紀60年代，他和父親，詩人艾青一起做了一個風箏，艾青當時被毛澤東政府流放到戈壁沙漠，被迫做清掃廁所的勞動。

The family lived in a hole dug in the earth. To build a kite, father and son obtained the bamboo rods from a neighbor’s door curtain and “collected string from all families nearby,” Mr. Ai wrote.

全家人生活在一個地上挖出的洞裏。爲了做風箏，父子兩人弄來鄰居門簾上的竹篾，還“去附近所有人家討來了線，”艾未未寫道。

“All materials were precious,” he continued. “I will never forget the first time I saw the kite hanging far from us in the wind, so far out that our eyes had to search for its position in the sky.”

“所有材料都很珍貴，”他寫道，“我永遠不會忘記第一次看着風箏在風中高飛時的情形，飛那麼高，我們只得在空中搜尋它的位置。”

Another installation, set in the penitentiary dining hall, allows visitors to send postcards to many of the prisoners in “Trace,” a gesture inspired by Mr. Ai’s memory of his own acute loneliness when detained. Clusters of tiny porcelain flowers planted in toilets and sinks of the hospital examination rooms reflect his penchant for using this traditional material in unlikely ways.

另一件裝置放在監獄的犯人飯廳，參觀者可以寫明信片給“Trace”中涉及的許多囚犯，靈感來自艾未未對自己拘押期間極度孤獨感的記憶。在醫療檢查室內，有一簇簇小小的陶瓷花朵從馬桶和水槽裏生長出來，這反映出他以不太可能的方式使用傳統材料的傾向。

Though Mr. Ai, 57, is Internet-savvy, with more than 250,000 Twitter followers, he is blocked from visiting certain websites and has slow download times like other Chinese residents. He thus relied on For-Site as his collaborator on one research-intensive, permissions-heavy art work in particular: a sound installation in Cell Block A. The cells, usually closed to tourists, look decrepit, their paint peeling and plumbing corroded, but 12 will be opened for visitors to enter, sit on a stool and listen to recordings by famous political prisoners, from the music of Fela Kuti of Nigeria and Pussy Riot, the Russian feminist group, to poetry readings by Liao Yiwu of China and Mahjoub Sharif, who died in April in Sudan.

艾未未57歲，精通互聯網，在Twitter上有超過25萬名關注者，但他和其他中國居民一樣，某些特定網站無法訪問，有時下載速度很慢。A區牢房的聲音裝置展品需要大量研究和許可工作，因此在這個展品上他需要依靠For-Site這個合作者。這些牢房，通常不對遊客開放，它們看上去非常破舊，油漆斑駁，水管已遭腐蝕，但是其中12間將向參觀者開放，允許他們入內，坐在一個凳子上傾聽若干著名政治犯的錄音，其中包括尼加拉瓜的費拉·庫蒂(Fela Kuti)與俄羅斯的女性主義團體“Pussy Riot”的音樂，還有中國的廖亦武以及今年四月在蘇丹去世的馬喬布·謝里夫(Mahjoub Sharif)的詩朗誦。

Ms. Haines of For-Site played a critical role in the project, raising $3.5 million from mainly private sources to cover expenses, including $460,000 for Legos. No government money was provided, but she worked closely on research and visitor logistics with the National Park Service, which oversees Alcatraz, and the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, a nonprofit group.

For-Site的海恩斯女士在這個項目中起到了關鍵作用，她籌集了350萬美元的經費，主要是來自私人，其中46萬美元來自樂高公司。沒有任何來自政府的資金。但她與負責監管阿爾卡特拉斯的美國國家公園管理局與非盈利組織金門國家公園管理處密切合作，進行研究工作和遊客接待工作。

Back in 2011, while Mr. Ai was imprisoned, she was busy organizing an exhibition on the Golden Gate Bridge, tied to its 75th anniversary. It provided a good vantage for looking out at Alcatraz. “I kept thinking this would be a great place to activate with art,” she said.

2011年，艾未未被監禁的時候，海恩斯正忙於在金門大橋組織一個和金門大橋落成75週年有關的展覽。從那裏可以很好地眺望阿爾卡特拉斯島。“我一直都在想，這裏會是一個進行藝術活動的好地方，”她說。

Visiting Mr. Ai’s studio in Beijing after his release, Ms. Haines planted the seed with him. “I immediately accepted her offer,” he wrote.

艾未未獲釋後，海恩斯去他的工作室拜訪，爲他帶去了這個想法。“我立即接受了她的建議，”艾未未寫道。

On later visits, she brought him at his studio, which she describes as “very calm and well organized,” books and movies exploring the history and legends of Alcatraz, photographs of the prison, and site plans of buildings. In April, she carried in three conspicuous suitcases filled with Legos because his studio was unable to obtain enough for its prototypes. But customs officials never questioned her about them.

海恩斯說，艾未未的工作室“非常安靜，井井有條”，後來再去拜訪時，她帶去了有關阿爾卡特拉斯的歷史與傳奇的書籍和錄像，監獄的照片，還有建築的平面圖。四月，她帶去了三個引人矚目的手提箱，裏面裝滿樂高積木，因爲他的工作室無法買到足夠的做模型用的積木。但海關官員並未就這些積木對她進行詢問。

“In most cases, the authorities will not interfere with my art practice,” Mr. Ai explained. “Normally, interference only happens after the exhibition has already begun.”

艾未未說，“在大多數情況下，官方不會干預我的藝術實踐；一般情況下，干擾是在作品開始展覽後發生。”

Conveying the physical facts of the prison to him was easy, she said. “What’s harder to communicate is the emotive or sensory content, the feeling you have walking into a room,” she said, describing the oddly calming light of the psychiatric ward, for example. “That’s something I tried more to do with him in person.”

她說，向他傳達監獄外觀方面的資料並不難，“難的是傳達情感或感知的內容，就是走進一個房間的感覺，”比如說，精神病人監護室裏那種奇異而寧靜的燈光，“這是我努力去親身向他傳遞的東西。”

She described her role as facilitator and curator, adding: “It’s Weiwei’s work. It’s his vision through and through.”

她把自己的角色描述爲協調者與策展人，並說：“這是未未的作品，從頭到尾都是他的設想。”

Richard Koshalek, who was director of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden when it organized its 2012 Ai Weiwei survey, said he, too, relied heavily on an outside curator — Mami Kataoka of Tokyo — as liaison because of the artist’s travel constraints.

2012年赫希洪博物館和雕塑園主辦艾未未展期間，理查德·科沙萊克(Richard Koshalek)擔任館長，他說，當時艾未未由於旅行受到限制，同樣需要一位外部策展人，即來自東京的片岡美作爲聯絡人。

While Mr. Koshalek has not seen the Alcatraz exhibition, he described the concept as “very important for the city of San Francisco” for “going beyond museums and galleries to take universal issues of human rights directly into a public site, a site with a huge history of despair, penance and rage.”

科沙萊克還沒有看過阿爾卡特拉斯的展覽，但他說這個概念“對於舊金山來說非常重要”，因爲它“超越了博物館與畫廊的範疇，把人權方面普遍存在的問題直接帶入一個公共場所，而這個場所又有着失望、悔罪與憤怒的宏大歷史。”

The show is not designed to drive more tourist traffic to Alcatraz Island, which the National Park Service says is already near capacity with 1.4 million to 1.5 million visitors a year. (Standard ferry tickets to Alcatraz, $30 for adults, include access to the “@Large” exhibition at no extra charge.) Visitor numbers are capped to protect the site, a seabird habitat as well as a historic landmark.

展覽並非爲了吸引更多遊客來到阿爾卡特拉斯島，國家公園管理局說，公園每年的遊客已接近140萬人至150萬人（到阿爾卡特拉斯島的普通輪渡票是成人30美元，看“@Large”展覽不另行收費）。爲保護海鳥棲居地和歷史建築，設置了參觀者人數上限。

Initially, Mr. Ai envisioned visitors walking on the Lego portraits, not unlike the way museumgoers at the Tate Modern in London stepped on his carpet of one million hand-painted porcelain “sunflower seeds” in 2010 (until halted by hazardous levels of dust).

艾未未最初的設想是讓參觀者在樂高肖像上走過，有點像2010年他在倫敦泰特現代藝術館的展覽，人們可以從地面上鋪滿的100萬顆手繪的瓷質“葵花籽”上走過（後來因爲行走揚起的灰塵達到危險程度而被中止）。

This summer, the Alcatraz plans changed: Having 5,000 sightseers daily walking on “Trace” was ruled out, Mr. Ai said, for “technical and safety reasons.”

今年夏天，阿爾卡特拉斯島改變了計劃，每日讓5000名參觀者從“Trace”上走過的方案被排除，艾未未說，是出於“技術與安全原因”。

Then there is the change he would have made to “Trace” given a slightly different timeline — a reminder that any artwork about political dissidents is bound to be a work in progress.

由於發生時間的微小差異，艾未未本來或許可以對“Trace”做出一個改動——這提醒人們，任何關於政治異見者的藝術作品都註定是不斷髮展的。

He would have added an image of the Chinese civil rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang, who represented Mr. Ai during his detention and was himself arrested in June as part of a broader push in China to punish even moderate reformers.

他本來可以把中國人權律師浦志強的肖像加進去，在艾未未被拘禁期間，浦志強曾是他的律師。今年6月，浦志強亦遭到逮捕，這是中國打擊較爲溫和改革者的廣泛行動的一部分。

“I did not put him in ‘Trace,’ because I believed he would be released right away,” Mr. Ai wrote. “Time has proven that I was wrong. He has committed no crime and is still in jail. It is a massive shame that an advocate with such a strong voice has been completely silenced.”

“我沒有把他加入‘Trace’，是因爲我相信屆時他應該已經被釋放了，”艾未未寫道，“時間證明我是錯的。他並沒有犯任何罪，現在還被關在監獄。一個這樣強大的聲音被徹底噤聲，這真是巨大的恥辱。”