A New Art Capital Refines Its Voice
阿布達比古根漢打造文化
By Carol Vogel

DHABI, United Arab Emirates – The site of the future Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is desolate these days: just arid land and concrete pilings jutting out over a peninsula on Saadiyat Island, north of the city’s urban center. But it is poised to become an international tourist attraction in about three years, when a stunning museum designed by Frank Gehry, a tumble of giant plaster building blocks and translucent blue cones, is scheduled to open.
未來古根漢美術館阿布達比分館所在地暫無人煙：在市中心以北沙迪亞特島的一座半島，放眼只見不毛之地與凸出的水泥樁基。然而約3年後它將成為國際觀光景點。屆時，出自名建築師蓋瑞之手，以巨大灰泥砌塊及半透明藍色圓錐體構成的一座令人驚艷的美術館將隆重開幕。

The $800 million museum will be about 42,000 square meters, or 12 times the size of the Guggenheim’s Frank Lloyd Wright landmark in New York and will showcase art from the 1960s to the present.
這座造價8億美元的美術館占地約4.2萬平方公尺，是萊特所設計紐約地標古根漢美術館的12倍大，將展出1960年以來的藝術作品。

The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is one of three museums under construction that are being financed by the government of Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. A branch of the Louvre, designed by Jean Nouvel, is opening next year. And the Zayed National Museum, lionizing a former ruler, designed by Norman Foster and created with the British Museum as a consultant, is expected to open its doors in 2016.
它是阿聯大公國首都阿布達比市政府資助興建的三大美術館之一。努維爾設計的羅浮宮分館預定明年啟用。紀念一名前統治者的沙耶德國家美術館由福斯特設計，大英博物館任顧問，預定2016年啟用。

“We have to begin somewhere,” said Zaki Anwar Nusseibeh, a cultural adviser at the emirates’ Ministry of Presidential Affairs. “We know we cannot create culture overnight, so we are strategically building museums that in time will train our own people, so we can find our own voice. Hopefully, in 20 or 30 years’ time, we will have our own cultural elite, so our young people won’t have to go to London or Paris to learn about art.”
阿聯總統事務部文化顧問努斯塞貝赫說：「我們總得從某處著手。我們知道文化不可能旦夕創造，策略性建造的美術館假以時日可以訓練我們自己的人，進而找到自己的聲音。我們希望能在20到30年內擁有自己的文化精英，讓年輕人不必去倫敦或巴黎學習藝術。」

Abu Dhabi announced the project eight years ago, but economic fears and political unrest froze work by 2012. “All the pilings were in, and then everything just stopped,” Mr. Gehry recalled. “Everybody was silent.” A year ago, he said, he heard from a new group at the development company determined to see the projects through.
阿布達比8年前宣布這項計畫，然而至2012年，經濟恐慌與政治動盪導致計畫喊停。蓋瑞說：「樁基全已運到。接著，一切停頓。人人沉默。」他說，一年前，開發公司裡一個決心完成計畫的團隊跟他聯繫了。

More recently, the region has been at the center of a worker-abuse scandal, focused on the New York University campus in Abu Dhabi, which was built by migrant laborers. The group Gulf Ultra Luxury Faction has led several protests at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.
更晚近，該區域爆發一宗剝削勞工的醜聞，焦點集中於外勞興建的紐約大學阿布達比分校。民間組織「海灣超豪華陣營」在紐約古根漢分館前數度帶頭抗議。

Even before the protests, Mr. Gehry said, he was contacted by Human Rights Watch. “I spoke to the emirates,” Mr. Gehry said. “And they’re concerned about it, too. We’re going to make sure everything is done properly.”
蓋瑞說，人權觀察組織曾在抗議前與他接觸。他說：「我向阿聯當局反映；他們也很關心。我們必須確保一切合宜。」

Abu Dhabi has been modest in its acquisitions. People close to the museum say they have a budget of about $600 million. About 250 works have been purchased so far.
阿布達比蒐購館藏很節制。與館方接近者說預算約6億美元，約已採購250件藝術品。

About 10 million tourists came to the region last year. The airport is undergoing a major expansion so that by 2017, it will be able to handle 45 million passengers a year.
去年約有1000萬名觀光客前往該地區。機場正在大幅擴建，預定至2017年每年可接納4500萬人次。

To address this melting pot of cultures, Mr. Armstrong said, he and his curators have been forced “to get away from the bipolarity of seeing art history from the point-of-view of America and Europe.” They describe it as transnational, to reflect “the rich fabric of information being shared among cultures in the Middle East,” Mr. Armstrong said.
所羅門．古根漢基金會主席阿姆斯壯說，為了因應文化混合的問題，他與他的策展人被迫「不再以美國與歐洲的雙極化觀點對待藝術史」。他們形容該美術館超越國界，足以反映「中東不同文化分享中資訊的豐富肌理」。

The museum will consist of four levels, the first primarily for the permanent collection and the others dedicated to special exhibitions. The museum will also have different kinds of spaces, including giant exterior cones that provide shade for visitors. Mr. Gehry said he had devised them after spending time in the Middle East. “I noticed that even though it’s hot, the men tended to hang out outdoors because the air-conditioning is so strong,” he said. His system of cones, somewhat like a tepee, vents hot air out the top. He said the curators plan to commission site-specific artworks within the cones.
美術館有四層，底層陳列永久性收藏品，其他供特別展覽用。美術館也會有各種不同空間，包括可遮陰的大型戶外圓錐體。蓋瑞說，他在中東待了一段時日後才著手設計。他說：「我發現即使天氣很熱，男士們還是喜歡待在戶外，因為空調太強。」他的圓錐體系統有點像美國印第安人的圓錐形帳篷，可將熱空氣自頂部排出。他說，策展人打算委託製作量身打造的圓錐體內藝術作品。

The curators have included big names in American art: Warhol, Rauschenberg, Richard Prince, Frank Stella, Donald Judd, Jeff Koons and James Rosenquist. But there will also be a focus on artists from the Middle East and Asia who are largely unfamiliar to American and European visitors. “We are finally breaking loose from that fixation of Europe and North America,” Mr. Armstrong explained.
策展人已納入美國藝術界一些大人物的作品：勞斯肯柏格、普林斯、史迪拉、賈德、庫恩斯與羅森奎斯特。也會注意美歐遊客不熟悉的中東及亞洲藝術家。阿姆斯壯說：「我們終於掙脫了歐洲與北美的束縛。」

“Seeing Through Light: Selections From the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Collection,” an exhibition of 19 artworks intended for the new museum, opened last month at Manarat, a visitor center on Sadyiaat Island.
「透過光看見：古根漢美術館阿布達比分館館藏精品展」共計展出19件館藏品，上個月在沙迪亞特島的遊客中心揭幕。

It explores artists’ use of light and includes one of Yayoi Kusama’s “Infinity Rooms,” a blackened galaxy of water and mirrors lit by minuscule hand-blown LED lights; a hanging light ball by Otto Piene, of the German Zero group, and a bronze sculpture by the Egyptian-born artist Ghada Amer.
這項展覽探討藝術家運用光線的手法，包括草間彌生的「無限鏡像室」，以人工吹製小型LED燈點亮暗黑的水及鏡子構成的銀河；德國動物園集團藝術家皮納的懸吊燈球；以及埃及藝術家阿莫爾的銅雕。

“We’re trying to look at popular culture across time and space,” said Valerie Hillings, who is leading the curatorial team. “These are different points of reference, yet each is universal.”
首席策展人華蕾莉．希林斯說：「我們試著檢視跨越時空的通俗文化。它們是不同的參照點，卻都具有普遍性。」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/arts/design/inside-frank-gehrys-guggenheim-abu-dhabi.html

2014-12-23聯合報/G5版/UNITED DAILY NEWS 陳世欽譯 原文參見紐時週報十二版上