Vintage is thenew vanguard

　　懷舊也是一種潮流

　　Most art biennials are incoherent and exhausting.Istanbul s is an exception;

　　藝術雙年展大多支離破碎江郎才盡。唯有伊斯坦布爾的雙年展是個例外;

　　Virtually every day of the year sees another art biennial opening somewhere in the world.The role of these exhibitions is to showcase contemporary art, attract affluent tourists andstimulate local culture. Most biennials are a sprawling messand the worst look likecommercial art fairs studded with brand-name trophies. However, those that succeed inmaking sense of some aspect of global culture can be both enlightening and memorable.This year s Istanbul Biennial, which opened on September 17th and runs for almost twomonths, is a case in point. Poignant, relevant and intellectually engaging, it has managedto create a coherent exhibition out of works by 130 artists from 41 countriesa rareachievement.

　　實際上，在一年中的每一天，在世界上的某個地方，都有一場藝術雙年展會舉辦。這些展覽的作用是展出當代藝術，吸引大量游客，并促進當地文化發展。大多數雙年展不過是一團糟最糟糕的看起來就像商業性質的藝術集會，到處充斥著品牌的戰利品。不過，那些成功詮釋了全球文化中某個方面的雙年展倒是十分具有啟發性，值得紀念。今年，于9月17日開幕，為期將近兩個月的伊斯坦布爾藝術雙年展就是這樣一個雙年展。動人，切題，十分具有知性吸引力，通過展出來自41個國家的130個藝術家的作品，它成功的創造出一場融會貫通的展覽取得了罕見的成功。

　　The Istanbul Biennial is held in two huge former warehouses on the banks of the Bosporus.Untamed, the buildings would force viewers into a monotonous marathon of spectatorship.But the biennial s curators, Adriano Pedrosa and Jens Hoffmann ,enlisted the help of a master of exhibition design, a Japanese architect called RyueNishizawa, who has introduced new energy into the space by creating rooms of different sizesand marking off exterior spaces with corrugated-steel walls.

　　伊斯坦布爾雙年展在博斯普魯斯海峽岸邊的兩座巨大的老舊庫房里舉行。如果不加修飾的話，這種建筑很容易讓觀眾陷入一種單調冗長的觀賞過程之中。但是展館館長阿德里亞諾佩德羅薩和吉斯霍夫曼得到了一個展館設計大師的幫助，他是一位名叫西沢立衛的日本建筑師，他建造了幾個大小不同的房間，并用波紋鋼板墻將外部空間區分開來，通過以上方式為整個空間注入了活力。

　　As curators, Mr Pedrosa and Mr Hoffmann have also adopted an effective premise. Ratherthan using a theory or theme as a unifying rubric, the biennial has a museFlixGonzlez-Torres, an artist who died in 1996 and who was selected posthumously to be theofficial American representative at the 2007 Venice Biennale.

　　做為館長，佩德羅薩和霍夫曼也采用了令人印象深刻的方式開幕。并沒有用千遍一律的紅字標注展覽主題，這次的雙年展自己的繆斯菲利克斯岡薩雷斯托雷斯，這位藝術家1996就英年早逝，死后在2007年的維納斯雙年展上被選為正式的美國代表。

　　Born in Cuba and educated in Puerto Rico, Gonzlez-Torres made minimalist conceptualworks that were aesthetically innovative and politically sophisticated. Like its muse, theIstanbul Biennial is thoughtful rather than aggressive or sensationalist. Activistsspoon-feed messages but artists create works with layered meanings, explains Mr Pedrosa.

　　岡薩雷斯托雷斯出生于古巴，求學于波多黎各，他創造的抽象主義作品兼具美學的創新性和政治的復雜性。就像它的繆斯一樣，伊斯坦布爾雙年展的風格是沉思的，而不是咄咄逼人或是多愁善感的。政治活動家向人們強制性的灌輸信息，然而藝術家創造意義層次分明的作品，佩德羅薩如是解釋道。

　　The biennial also has an intelligent structure. There are five group shows around the mainthemes that inspired Gonzlez-Torres s worklove, death, abstraction, contested historiesand territories. Each group show occupies a large grey room and acts as a hub for a clusterof solo shows featuring 50 artists, all in smaller white rooms. The elegant solution to thespaces stands in contrast to the names of the group shows, which repeat Untitled in anawkward manner. Nevertheless, it is moving to walk through the room called Untitled named after the artist s longtime lover, Ross Laycock, who died in 1991 ofAids-related causes, like Gonzlez-Torres himself.

　　雙年展的空間安排也十分討喜。有五組展出岡薩雷斯托雷斯的作品主題愛，死亡，抽象，歷史紛爭以及領土紛爭。每一組展出都占據了一間灰色的大屋子，這些展出也是50個風格各異的藝術家的獨展中心，所有的獨展在一間小一點的白屋子里進行。和空間的完美分布形成對比的是展出的名字，這些展出都是清一色用一種尷尬的方式強調著無題這個名字。不過，你還是情不自禁的想去逛一逛這件名叫無名的房間，無名以岡薩雷斯托雷斯的最愛，羅斯雷科克命名，像岡薩雷斯一樣，他也于1991年死于艾滋病。

　　Another of the group shows, Untitled , displays 20 works about maps andnational identity. Hank Willis Thomas s A Place to Call Home depicts North America andAfrica as big black continents joined by an isthmus. Jorge Macchi s Seascape covers all thelandmasses below the equator with cut-outs of the northern seas. Displayed as acommentary to Mr Macchi s drowned hemisphere is a video by Kutlug Ataman, one ofTurkey s most critically acclaimed artists, which depicts bands of choppy sunlit water.

　　另一組展出名叫無題，展出了20幅關于地圖和國籍的作品。漢克威利斯托馬斯的作品一個名叫家的地方將北美洲和非洲刻畫成了兩個由地峽連接起來的黑色大洲。喬治馬奇的《海景畫》將北邊的海洋剪掉，描繪了赤道以南的所有陸地形態。卡特拉格奧特曼制作了一個視頻，算是對馬奇將整個半球浸在水里的做法的評論，卡特拉格是土耳其最后非議的一位藝術家，他在視頻里刻畫了一排排波光里里的海浪。

　　In a series of vitrines in the same room, Baha Boukhari, a Ramallah-based cartoonist,shows the passports issued to his father under the British mandate in Palestine. Many of theartworks incorporate objects and documents found in historical archives. Contemporary artin 2011 has a distinctly vintage feel.

　　在同一間房子里還擺放著一系列的玻璃櫥窗，拉馬拉籍卡托畫家巴哈布克汗展示了英國在巴勒斯坦發行給父親的護照。許多藝術作品都把就檔案里找到的物品和文件組合在一起。2011年的當代藝術別有一番懷舊風味。

　　The curators are right not to let themselves be overly distracted by the latest thing; workmade yesterday is not always the art that is most relevant to the present. They have chosento include a range of historical artworks by women who they believe deserve greaterrecognition. For example, they have installed photo collages from Martha Rosler s Bringingthe War Home series , which were made during the Vietnam war between1967 and 1972, but which still resonate because of America s continuing presence in Iraqand Afghanistan.

　　這兩個館長十分明智，沒有過分受到潮流的影響;但是過去創造的作品并不總是和現在密切相關。于是他們選擇了一系列由女藝術家創作的老作品，因為他們認為女性藝術家更應該受到公眾認同。比如他們安插了一系列由瑪莎羅絲拍攝的名為把戰爭帶回家照片，這些照片攝于1967年到1972年越戰時期，因為美國發動了伊拉克戰爭和阿富汗戰爭，所以它們在今天仍然能引起廣泛共鳴

　　The Istanbul Biennial also gives solo shows to a number of exciting emerging artists. Manyvisitors were impressed with Cabaret Crusades: The Horror Show File, a video by WaelShawky, an Egyptian artist, in which marionettes act out the story of the crusades from anArab point of view. Also much discussed were Tin Soldiers by Ala Younis, a Jordanian, andHistorical Record Archive by Dani Gal, an Israeli artist.

　　伊斯坦布爾雙年展還給許多令人振奮的藝術新星舉辦了獨展。由希臘藝術家威爾夏科拍攝的視頻卡巴來改革：恐怖展覽檔案給許多參觀者留下了深刻的印象，在這段視頻里，他從阿拉伯視角，用各種木偶演繹了改革的故事。約旦藝術家阿拉又斯的小錫兵和以色列藝術家丹尼蓋爾的歷史檔案記錄也掀起了一場熱議。

　　It is interesting to view these works against the background of the recent political upheavalsin the Middle East and to see the unexpected interaction between Arab artists and thosefrom South America. Both areas are on the periphery of European modernity and thebiennial s artists have found much common ground over urban decay, disenfranchisementand the arbitrariness of national borders. Mr Pedrosa and Mr Hoffmann have played to theirstrengths, choosing more artists from South America than any other continent. It is atestament to the Turkish philanthropists who underwrite the biennial, particularly the Kocand Eczacibasi families, that the curators came under no pressure to include more localartists. Indeed, the stylish internationalism of the Istanbul Biennial feels entirely natural.

　　在近期中東政治動蕩的大背景下審視這些作品是件很有意思的事情，還能乎意料的看到來自阿拉伯和南美的藝術家之間的互動。這兩個地方都深受歐洲現代性影響，來參加雙年展的藝術家們在城市墮落，民權喪失以及國界犯罪猖獗等方面找到了共同話題。佩德羅薩和霍夫曼憑借一定便利請到了許多南美藝術家，要多于來自其他大洲的藝術家。這次雙年展也見證了贊助方土耳其的慈善精神，尤其是科克和伊扎斯巴斯兩大家族，兩位館長以及許多當地的藝術家都來自這兩大家族。毋庸置疑的是，伊斯坦布爾雙年展的國際風格毫不做作，給人感覺十分自然。

　　Vintage is thenew vanguard

　　懷舊也是一種潮流

　　Most art biennials are incoherent and exhausting.Istanbul s is an exception;

　　藝術雙年展大多支離破碎江郎才盡。唯有伊斯坦布爾的雙年展是個例外;

　　Virtually every day of the year sees another art biennial opening somewhere in the world.The role of these exhibitions is to showcase contemporary art, attract affluent tourists andstimulate local culture. Most biennials are a sprawling messand the worst look likecommercial art fairs studded with brand-name trophies. However, those that succeed inmaking sense of some aspect of global culture can be both enlightening and memorable.This year s Istanbul Biennial, which opened on September 17th and runs for almost twomonths, is a case in point. Poignant, relevant and intellectually engaging, it has managedto create a coherent exhibition out of works by 130 artists from 41 countriesa rareachievement.

　　實際上，在一年中的每一天，在世界上的某個地方，都有一場藝術雙年展會舉辦。這些展覽的作用是展出當代藝術，吸引大量游客，并促進當地文化發展。大多數雙年展不過是一團糟最糟糕的看起來就像商業性質的藝術集會，到處充斥著品牌的戰利品。不過，那些成功詮釋了全球文化中某個方面的雙年展倒是十分具有啟發性，值得紀念。今年，于9月17日開幕，為期將近兩個月的伊斯坦布爾藝術雙年展就是這樣一個雙年展。動人，切題，十分具有知性吸引力，通過展出來自41個國家的130個藝術家的作品，它成功的創造出一場融會貫通的展覽取得了罕見的成功。

　　The Istanbul Biennial is held in two huge former warehouses on the banks of the Bosporus.Untamed, the buildings would force viewers into a monotonous marathon of spectatorship.But the biennial s curators, Adriano Pedrosa and Jens Hoffmann ,enlisted the help of a master of exhibition design, a Japanese architect called RyueNishizawa, who has introduced new energy into the space by creating rooms of different sizesand marking off exterior spaces with corrugated-steel walls.

　　伊斯坦布爾雙年展在博斯普魯斯海峽岸邊的兩座巨大的老舊庫房里舉行。如果不加修飾的話，這種建筑很容易讓觀眾陷入一種單調冗長的觀賞過程之中。但是展館館長阿德里亞諾佩德羅薩和吉斯霍夫曼得到了一個展館設計大師的幫助，他是一位名叫西沢立衛的日本建筑師，他建造了幾個大小不同的房間，并用波紋鋼板墻將外部空間區分開來，通過以上方式為整個空間注入了活力。

　　As curators, Mr Pedrosa and Mr Hoffmann have also adopted an effective premise. Ratherthan using a theory or theme as a unifying rubric, the biennial has a museFlixGonzlez-Torres, an artist who died in 1996 and who was selected posthumously to be theofficial American representative at the 2007 Venice Biennale.

　　做為館長，佩德羅薩和霍夫曼也采用了令人印象深刻的方式開幕。并沒有用千遍一律的紅字標注展覽主題，這次的雙年展自己的繆斯菲利克斯岡薩雷斯托雷斯，這位藝術家1996就英年早逝，死后在2007年的維納斯雙年展上被選為正式的美國代表。

　　Born in Cuba and educated in Puerto Rico, Gonzlez-Torres made minimalist conceptualworks that were aesthetically innovative and politically sophisticated. Like its muse, theIstanbul Biennial is thoughtful rather than aggressive or sensationalist. Activistsspoon-feed messages but artists create works with layered meanings, explains Mr Pedrosa.

　　岡薩雷斯托雷斯出生于古巴，求學于波多黎各，他創造的抽象主義作品兼具美學的創新性和政治的復雜性。就像它的繆斯一樣，伊斯坦布爾雙年展的風格是沉思的，而不是咄咄逼人或是多愁善感的。政治活動家向人們強制性的灌輸信息，然而藝術家創造意義層次分明的作品，佩德羅薩如是解釋道。

　　The biennial also has an intelligent structure. There are five group shows around the mainthemes that inspired Gonzlez-Torres s worklove, death, abstraction, contested historiesand territories. Each group show occupies a large grey room and acts as a hub for a clusterof solo shows featuring 50 artists, all in smaller white rooms. The elegant solution to thespaces stands in contrast to the names of the group shows, which repeat Untitled in anawkward manner. Nevertheless, it is moving to walk through the room called Untitled named after the artist s longtime lover, Ross Laycock, who died in 1991 ofAids-related causes, like Gonzlez-Torres himself.

　　雙年展的空間安排也十分討喜。有五組展出岡薩雷斯托雷斯的作品主題愛，死亡，抽象，歷史紛爭以及領土紛爭。每一組展出都占據了一間灰色的大屋子，這些展出也是50個風格各異的藝術家的獨展中心，所有的獨展在一間小一點的白屋子里進行。和空間的完美分布形成對比的是展出的名字，這些展出都是清一色用一種尷尬的方式強調著無題這個名字。不過，你還是情不自禁的想去逛一逛這件名叫無名的房間，無名以岡薩雷斯托雷斯的最愛，羅斯雷科克命名，像岡薩雷斯一樣，他也于1991年死于艾滋病。

　　Another of the group shows, Untitled , displays 20 works about maps andnational identity. Hank Willis Thomas s A Place to Call Home depicts North America andAfrica as big black continents joined by an isthmus. Jorge Macchi s Seascape covers all thelandmasses below the equator with cut-outs of the northern seas. Displayed as acommentary to Mr Macchi s drowned hemisphere is a video by Kutlug Ataman, one ofTurkey s most critically acclaimed artists, which depicts bands of choppy sunlit water.

　　另一組展出名叫無題，展出了20幅關于地圖和國籍的作品。漢克威利斯托馬斯的作品一個名叫家的地方將北美洲和非洲刻畫成了兩個由地峽連接起來的黑色大洲。喬治馬奇的《海景畫》將北邊的海洋剪掉，描繪了赤道以南的所有陸地形態。卡特拉格奧特曼制作了一個視頻，算是對馬奇將整個半球浸在水里的做法的評論，卡特拉格是土耳其最后非議的一位藝術家，他在視頻里刻畫了一排排波光里里的海浪。

　　In a series of vitrines in the same room, Baha Boukhari, a Ramallah-based cartoonist,shows the passports issued to his father under the British mandate in Palestine. Many of theartworks incorporate objects and documents found in historical archives. Contemporary artin 2011 has a distinctly vintage feel.

　　在同一間房子里還擺放著一系列的玻璃櫥窗，拉馬拉籍卡托畫家巴哈布克汗展示了英國在巴勒斯坦發行給父親的護照。許多藝術作品都把就檔案里找到的物品和文件組合在一起。2011年的當代藝術別有一番懷舊風味。

　　The curators are right not to let themselves be overly distracted by the latest thing; workmade yesterday is not always the art that is most relevant to the present. They have chosento include a range of historical artworks by women who they believe deserve greaterrecognition. For example, they have installed photo collages from Martha Rosler s Bringingthe War Home series , which were made during the Vietnam war between1967 and 1972, but which still resonate because of America s continuing presence in Iraqand Afghanistan.

　　這兩個館長十分明智，沒有過分受到潮流的影響;但是過去創造的作品并不總是和現在密切相關。于是他們選擇了一系列由女藝術家創作的老作品，因為他們認為女性藝術家更應該受到公眾認同。比如他們安插了一系列由瑪莎羅絲拍攝的名為把戰爭帶回家照片，這些照片攝于1967年到1972年越戰時期，因為美國發動了伊拉克戰爭和阿富汗戰爭，所以它們在今天仍然能引起廣泛共鳴

　　The Istanbul Biennial also gives solo shows to a number of exciting emerging artists. Manyvisitors were impressed with Cabaret Crusades: The Horror Show File, a video by WaelShawky, an Egyptian artist, in which marionettes act out the story of the crusades from anArab point of view. Also much discussed were Tin Soldiers by Ala Younis, a Jordanian, andHistorical Record Archive by Dani Gal, an Israeli artist.

　　伊斯坦布爾雙年展還給許多令人振奮的藝術新星舉辦了獨展。由希臘藝術家威爾夏科拍攝的視頻卡巴來改革：恐怖展覽檔案給許多參觀者留下了深刻的印象，在這段視頻里，他從阿拉伯視角，用各種木偶演繹了改革的故事。約旦藝術家阿拉又斯的小錫兵和以色列藝術家丹尼蓋爾的歷史檔案記錄也掀起了一場熱議。

　　It is interesting to view these works against the background of the recent political upheavalsin the Middle East and to see the unexpected interaction between Arab artists and thosefrom South America. Both areas are on the periphery of European modernity and thebiennial s artists have found much common ground over urban decay, disenfranchisementand the arbitrariness of national borders. Mr Pedrosa and Mr Hoffmann have played to theirstrengths, choosing more artists from South America than any other continent. It is atestament to the Turkish philanthropists who underwrite the biennial, particularly the Kocand Eczacibasi families, that the curators came under no pressure to include more localartists. Indeed, the stylish internationalism of the Istanbul Biennial feels entirely natural.

　　在近期中東政治動蕩的大背景下審視這些作品是件很有意思的事情，還能乎意料的看到來自阿拉伯和南美的藝術家之間的互動。這兩個地方都深受歐洲現代性影響，來參加雙年展的藝術家們在城市墮落，民權喪失以及國界犯罪猖獗等方面找到了共同話題。佩德羅薩和霍夫曼憑借一定便利請到了許多南美藝術家，要多于來自其他大洲的藝術家。這次雙年展也見證了贊助方土耳其的慈善精神，尤其是科克和伊扎斯巴斯兩大家族，兩位館長以及許多當地的藝術家都來自這兩大家族。毋庸置疑的是，伊斯坦布爾雙年展的國際風格毫不做作，給人感覺十分自然。