米卡·羅滕伯格
Mika Rottenberg
(1976 - )
Contemporary New York-based artist Argentine-Israeli video artist
出生於阿根廷、成長於以色列、常駐紐約的當代藝術家
1976年出生在布宜諾斯艾利斯,羅滕伯格在以色列度過了她的性格形成時期,然後搬到美國,在那裡她獲得了紐約視覺藝術學院的學士學位,並於2004年在哥倫比亞大學獲得了藝術碩士學位。
Born in Buenos Aires in 1976, Rottenberg spent her formative years in Israel then moved to the US where she earned her BA from the School of Visual Arts in New York and followed this with an MFA at Columbia in 2004.
米卡·羅滕伯格創作了一些迷你工廠,農場,和其他場景, 各種異常肥胖,高挑,健碩, 長發, 長指甲的女人在裡面生產各式各樣產品。這些女人,生活中靠自己的異常表演(作為一種產品)謀生,在她的影片裡扮演著產品生產者的角色。為了生產他們的產品,女主角們需要做各種動作:踩板,擠壓, 哭泣,流汗, 按摩,翻土,推,挖洞,變形, 橫跨大洲,當然還要比鍊金術多一點的東西。 每個細節被做到了極致,而且故意顛倒了。你聞到花香就出汗;你聽到呼吸的聲音, 指甲拍打聲, 汗水蒸發聲,牛奶滴到盒子的聲音;你會感受到清風,肉塊被擠壓,各種約束被爆發。
Video-installation artist Mika Rottenberg creates mini-factories, farms, and tableaux, which produce products variously made by tremendously fat, tall, muscled, long-haired or long-fingernailed women. Women, who in their own lives commodify their eccentricities, are, in Rottenberg’s films, featured as 「bearers of production.」 To make their merchandise, the protagonists have to pedal, squeeze, cry, sweat, massage, dig, push, burrow, morph, cross continents, and use more than a bit of alchemy. Every detail and orthodoxy is taken to its extremes, turned upside down. You smell the flowers and sweat; you hear the sounds of breathing, nails tapping, sweat sizzling, milk hitting tin; you feel the breezes, and the squeezing of flesh, it's bursting out of constraints. Yet Rottenberg treats the superabundance with such normalcy it makes me laugh.
(因版權問題,此視頻無聲音)
米卡·羅滕伯格致力於嚴謹的實踐,結合電影、建築裝置和雕塑,探索當代超資本主義世界的勞動和價值生產理念。
她利用電影和雕塑的傳統,在世界各地尋找有特定生產和商業體系的地方,比如中國的一家珍珠工廠和一個墨西哥邊境小鎮。通過編輯過程,以及在她的工作室裡搭建的布景鏡頭,羅滕伯格將看似不相干的地方和事物連接起來,創造出精緻而顛覆性的視覺敘事。通過將事實與虛構交織在一起,她強調了我們當代存在的內在美和荒謬。
Mika Rottenberg is devoted to a rigorous practice that combines film, architectural installation, and sculpture to explore ideas of labour and the production of value in our contemporary hyper-capitalist world.
Using traditions of both cinema and sculpture, she seeks out locations around the world where specific systems of production and commerce are in places, such as a pearl factory in China, and a Calexico border town. Through the editing process, and with footage from sets built in her studio, Rottenberg connects seemingly disparate places and things to create elaborate and subversive visual narratives. By weaving fact and fiction together, she highlights the inherent beauty and absurdity of our contemporary existence.
羅滕伯格的每一個視頻作品都位於一個劇場裝置內,由她視頻中豐富而奇異的平行世界的物體組成。一袋袋珍珠、充氣泳池玩具、塑料花和噝噝作響的煎鍋似乎為工作打開了一扇大門。她的多維度電影項目往往伴隨著獨立的雕塑作品,通過寓言聯繫在一起。
Each of Rottenberg’s video works is situated within a theatrical installation, made up of objects from the lush and bizarre parallel worlds in her videos. Sacks of pearls, deflated pool toys, plastic flowers and sizzling frying pans seem to open a portal into the realm of the work. Her multi-dimensional film projects are often accompanied by standalone sculptural works, connected by allegory.
(以下是Judith Hudson對Mika Rottenberg進行的採訪片段)
JH:
對我而言,想像力是最為私密, 最能反映一個人的東西。它是把我吸引到你的作品的原因。我感覺,你利用戀物癖等無意識的認同感誘惑了觀眾。
To me, imagination is the most private and revealing aspect of a person. It’s what attracts me to your work. You submerge people in your imagination. I feel as if you seduce the viewer with unconscious sympathies, like fetishism or caged energies.
MR:
對的,所有那些物件都會拍打著每個人的潛意識記憶。我們的內心或多或少都是相似的。我必須通過更深層地拍打人們的內心深處,才能吸引他們。而且,這不單是視覺的,也是力量爆發式的。目的在於讓無形的感覺變得清晰。整個事情某程度上說,註定是失敗的,因為你無法讓情感,感覺,記憶,氣味等抽象概念變得清晰可辨。
Right, things that tap into everyone’s subconscious memory. We’re pretty similar in our cores, more or less. I have to tap deeper into this psychological vein, so then I can drag people with me. It’s not just visual; it’s energetic. It’s about trying to locate feeling that has no shape. The whole thing is meant to fail on some level because you can’t give shape to abstract emotions, sensations, memories, and smells.
JH:
你的靈感是怎麼萌芽的呢? 感覺像無限編織一樣, 這讓我想起作家James Joyce的意識流手法。你肯定對事物有很深刻的感受吧——但我感覺到你工作時,你必須得完全控制你的情感,那樣才能很好地處理各種混亂狀況。
How do your ideas germinate? They seem to spin out exponentially, reminding me of James Joyce transforming the unconscious into art. You must feel things very deeply—but I sense that when you’re working, you have to be in complete control of your feelings, so you can organize all this chaos.
MR:
編織是一個很好的隱喻. 我的工作是從找到一個核心概念開始的: 它可以是聲音, 氣味, 或者一種質感等等.
「Spinning」 is a really good metaphor. I start the process by finding the core—it can be a sound or a smell or a texture …
JH:
就那麼簡單?
Do you actually start with something that simple?
MR:
對的。比如說,你對某些東西過敏時你鼻子會癢,然後我會設定一個可以放進更多細節的情景。我的創作都是從很不起眼的感覺開始的。然後,我就會思索怎樣可以讓這些不起眼的事物,變得永遠不會被忽略。通過這個框架,抽象的感覺可以變得有形和具有物質性。比如,做瑜伽時,你讓自己處於一個特定框架中的同時,你自身得以解放。不然,你只會迷失。
Yeah, for me, even the smallest part of the work has these little tensions. So if I put a core detail in, say, the itch you feel in your nose when you are allergic to something, I then create a structure where you can throw in more details and spin those around. It starts from that feeling that doesn’t quite manifest. Then it becomes a search for what manifests this thing that can never quite be manifested. I want to create this structure to fence these abstract sensations in, to give them shape and materiality. For example, in doing yoga, you put yourself into this rigid structure to liberate yourself. Otherwise, you』d just get lost.
JH:
嘗試搭建一個框架時,不管是工廠還是農場,你需要的不單是一個念頭吧?
When you build the structure, whether it’s a factory or a farm, you must have more than a germ?
MR:
某些時侯我會想,我必須勇敢地去著手搭建點什麼。我知道自己很可能變得焦慮,因為我會忘記為什麼我要建這麼巨型的框架,而我甚至不清楚要用來做什麼。另一種情況是,我和某個天才戀愛上了——常常是某個我在網絡上遇到的人,比如麵團(Dough)裡面的Raqui。我是在網站上largeincharge.com看到她後邀請她合作的。作品的框架就是為她的龐大身軀量身定做的。
There’s a moment when I think, I have to be brave and just start building something. I know I’m probably going to panic because I will forget why I』ve built this huge construction without even knowing exactly what I will do with it. Another starting point is me 「falling in love」 with a 「talent」 — usually someone I meet online, for example, Raqui from Dough. I saw her on the website largeincharge.com and knew I wanted to work with her. The structure for the video was built to fit her big presence.
JH:
在開始之後, 你會引入更多的元素嗎?
Do you introduce more elements once you’re rolling?
MR:
相反,我會減少元素。最初,我都會是瘋狂的而無法實現的想法。之後,我就會換成小團隊合作的方式: 比如,我和Katrin Altekamp還有Quentin Conybeare在場景工程的合作,與Mahyad Tousi在影片拍攝的合作。
I reduce the elements. I start with something insane, something that’s impossible to make. First, it’s like diving in and throwing a lot of stuff out, designing a crazy structure that’s physically powerful and impossible and has way too many elements and way too many loose parts. Then I start working with a small team: for example, in the last piece, I worked with Katrin Altekamp and Quentin Conybeare on set engineering, and with Mahyad Tousi on cinematography. I’m constantly refining rather than adding. It’s like automatic writing. Then I go back and find the core logic. I go from being a child to critic to the child. First, you let it all go, then you step back.
JH:
那是因為你希望對正在發生的各種體驗保持一種開放態度嗎?
Because you want to remain open to any experience that’s going to happen?
MR:
當它剛發生時,重要的不是要去過濾,而是把文字和形狀記錄在紙上。它結束的時候和它開始的時候肯定不可能一樣。重要的是要開始,把自己推向一個被擠壓,被收縮的境地。
When it first happens, it’s not about filtering anything; it’s putting words and shapes on paper. There’s no way I』ll start with a thing and have it end up to be what I started with. It’s about starting, about putting myself in a situation where I feel squeezed, contracted.
JH:
你的作品充滿矛盾。擠壓感覺很性感,而且你又讓它很官能性地呈現。同時它也是壓迫式的。這是兩重性的存在。
You work with contradictions. A squeeze seems sexy, and you depict it as visually sensual, but it’s also oppressive. There’s this duality.
MR:
欲望是多重性的,從被解放到被壓迫,只是那能量不是隨時都受到控制。或者那是一個控制與釋放之間不斷協調的過程。
There’s a plurality to desire that ranges from being liberating to being oppressive and its power is not always in your control. Or maybe it’s a constant negotiation between controlling it and releasing it.
JH:
看起來,從拘禁中釋放是你作品中的一個重要元素。你所有的表演者,都具有難以忽視的身體特徵,你都讓他們置於壓迫性的建築結構內。你有什麼特別的目標嗎?
It seems to be a big element of your work, this liberation through confinement. You place your performers, all of whom have distinct physical features, in architecturally confining structures. Do you have a goal in mind?
MR:
我嘗試搭建一個允許我建立自由,同時具備邏輯性的情景,就像發明一種新的邏輯。目標非常固定。我清楚知道,我想要舌頭抖動,架子移動,萵苣被削皮等等。它是線性的,但又具備發生意外或天命的空間。
I try to create a structure that will allow me creative freedom but will still be bound to logic. It’s like inventing a new kind of logic. The goal is very set. I know I want a tongue to flick, a shelf to move, lettuce to get shovelled up. There’s linearity, but with room between for accidents or providence.
瑪麗的櫻桃裡,一個儀式性的櫻桃突然出現。女人踩著踏板給電燈供電,以便瑪麗的大紅手指甲可以持續生長。大紅手指甲之後會被剪下,從地板上的一個洞掉下給下一層的Barbara。Barbara給指甲按摩並壓平後,會掉下給大胸的Rock Rose,她就會把他們做成酒浸櫻桃,也就是瑪麗的櫻桃。
There’s a ritualistic cherry popping in Mary’s Cherries. Women pedal bicycles that power lights that grow Mary’s bright-red fingernails that are then clipped and dropped through a hole one story down to Barbara. Barbara massages and flattens them then drop them into another room where the big-breasted Rock Rose forms them into maraschino cherries, aka Mary’s Cherries.
MR:
我看到一個故事:一個女人發現自己的血型非常罕見,於是她辭掉工作,開始賣血。她的身體自身生長的東西,她卻拿去賣掉。根據這故事我畫成草圖:傳輸帶,手指甲和酒浸櫻桃。在瑪麗的櫻桃裡面,我解釋了酒浸櫻桃(一種真實的產品),是怎樣製作的。我希望製作一種以重力為動力的系統,因此做出了一個垂直的結構。
I read a story about a woman who had a rare blood type and decided to quit her job and sell her blood. Her body grows its own stuff and she sells it. That idea morphed with a drawing of mine that showed a conveyor belt with fingernails and maraschino cherries. InMary’s Cherries I created a fiction to explain how maraschino cherries, a real product, are made. I wanted to make a system powered by gravity, therefore a vertical structure.
熱帶的清風中,Heather Foster,實際生活中的冠軍健身員,開著改裝卡車;它同時是汗水打包的商店。她眉毛那流出汗水一直流到臉頰。Felicia Ballos,舞者,在卡車後面一臺臨時裝置上不停地蹬著踏板。她用腳趾撿起紙巾,用她嚼過的口香糖把紙巾粘到自行車供能的活動洗衣繩上。紙巾傳送到 Heather處,她拿來擦掉臉上的汗水後,再把溼的紙巾回傳給Felicia,同樣藉助那口香糖和洗衣繩,包裝待售。他們每個人散發著20世紀50年代電視裡的快樂氣氛。
In the video Tropical Breeze, Heather Foster, who in real life is a champion bodybuilder, drives a converted truck; it’s also a shop that packages sweat. Sweat forms on her brow and trickles down her cheek. Felicia Ballos, a dancer, is in the back of the truck pedalling a makeshift device. She picks up tissues with her toes, uses gum she chews to stick them to a clothesline powered by the bicycle, and sends them to Heather, who then wipes the sweat off her face and sends the moist tissues back to Felicia, via the same chewed gum and clothesline, to be packaged for sale. Everyone has the happy demeanour of 1950s TV, including a naked, muscular, male jogger Heather passes on the road.
MR:
出汗的行為,還有水平的動作。我希望做類似鐘錶的作品:一個人工作,需要花一定的時間才能出汗,這就可以測量你流了多少汗。這就是目標。我決定搭建一個微型工廠,因為它是水平結構的。同時我讓產品不斷傳遞,這樣就可以保持新鮮。
The action of sweating and, in this case, a horizontal movement. I wanted to create a sort of clock: a person works, takes a certain amount of time to create sweat, then there is a measurement of how much you sweat. The goal is set. I chose to make the truck the factory because of its horizontal structure. I also wanted to make the product as it’s delivered, so it’s always fresh.
我其中一個靈感來自於卡爾·馬克思資本論第一章裡勞動與價值的描述。我被吸引是因為馬克思把人類生產物件的過程,描述為物品與外在世界的關係,非常詩意。馬克思對勞動的定義是:人類與自然之間的過程。
One inspiration was my getting into Karl Marx’s theory of labour and value as he describes it in volume one of Capital. I was attracted to the poetic way he describes a person producing an object, as this relationship between a subject and the external world. Marx’s definition of labour is a process between a person and nature.
JH:
你在哪裡找到Heather的?
Where did you find Heather?
MR:
Heather Foster是在網絡上遇到的,她是職業健身教練,平時的工作是私人健身訓練員和理療師。
Heather Foster was online, she has a professional bodybuilding career, and her day job is being a personal trainer and physical therapist.
JH:
所以你售賣的是「職業」汗水咯?
So you are selling professional sweat?
MR:
她的汗水是有價值的產品: 「熱帶清風檸檬味溼紙巾」。
Her sweat has value. A product is created: 「Tropical Breeze Lemon Scented Moist Tissues.」
麵團裡, 巨型的女人Raqui(花粉持續被吹進她的鼻子裡)淚流不停。淚水流下,愛撫般流過她的身體。滴進地上的孔裡後,滴到一塊熱燙的瓷磚然後蒸發。持續的淚水蒸發,讓麵團不斷膨脹。然後,由皮包骨的6尺9寸高的Tall Kat拉長揉捏,通過不同的孔輸送到不同房間裡。這樣,一個測量勞動力的單位就完成了。
In Dough, an enormous woman, Raqui, has pollen from flowers blown into her nose, causing her to cry. Tears trickle down, caress her body, go through a hole in the floor, and subsequently hit a hot tile on the floor below and evaporate. The tears sizzle and steam, making the dough rise. The dough is then elongated and pushed and pulled through holes into multiple chambers by a skinny, six-foot-nine woman, Tall Kat, who can stretch from room to room. Ultimately, a unit that measures labour is created.
MR:
我喜歡麵團是因為它沒有固定顏色,沒有固定形狀。我希望用一種可以是任何形狀的材料。那塊麵團, 我把它當作一大塊肉一樣,把玩了幾個小時。我的鄰居們可以透過窗子看見整個過程,他們肯定以為我發瘋了。我希望建立這樣一個系統:每塊麵團有一個價值,這樣每一團都有一個測量單位。我是受到卡路裡的單位啟發的。
I was attracted to Dough because it is colourless, shapeless, and formless. I wanted a material that could take any shape. I played with it for hours like it was a big chunk of flesh. My neighbours could see in my window, they must have thought I was crazy. I wanted to build a system that would give each piece of dough a value, make each chunk into a unit of measurement. I was inspired by the unit of the calorie.
JH:
在你的作品裡,鐘錶,單位,價值,時間表和卡路裡這些概念,你卻是通過體型巨大的肉慾的,哭泣的和出汗的女性來展現,我的確為你的才能所折服。你是從哪裡找到Raqui的呢?
It cracks me up that you speak about your work in terms of clocks and units and value and timetables and calories, when you make these lavish pieces with gigantic, voluptuous women who cry and sweat. Where did you find Raqui?
MR:
Raqui我也是在網上找到的。她有自己的網站queenraqui.com,同時也是超大體型者社區網站largeincharge.com的創始人。
I met Raqui on the Internet. She has her own website, queenraqui.com, and she is the founder of the plus-size community website largeincharge.com. I questioned and doubted myself that it was too pat to have a big, fleshy woman and dough, but ultimately I felt it opened up into something more.
JH:
這個女人的身體的確和麵團很像,甚至看起來像發酵過的。這個作品的空間比你其他幾件更加精細。
The woman’s flesh is certainly doughlike. She even looks leavened. The structure is more elaborate than your other pieces.
MR:
我把之前兩個作品的結構挪用到這個作品裡了,還設計成一個加號的形狀。在我看來,整個結構變成了一個小孩想像中的身體內部運作的樣子,一個結合了輸入和輸出的神秘系統。
I took the structures of the two previous pieces and combined them in the shape of a plus sign. The entire structure works for me the way a child imagines the inner workings of the body, this mysterious system with inputs and outputs.
JH:
就像電視廣告或小學科學課本裡,吃藥後,藥片到達身體不同器官裡的整個過程。你說過,整個場景的搭建都是為演員們的身體量身定做的。
It looks like those cross-sections of a body in a TV ad or an elementary school science book, where you see the pill travelling around and around until it gets to where it’s supposed to go. You have said the constructions are tailored to the bodies of the actors.
MR:
一開始我只做了平常的場景結構,後來為了配合演員又重新搭建了。我做的不是讓他們適合我的結構,而是努力讓結構適合他們。搭建場景之前,我就先和Raqui見面的。所有一但我著手搭建時,我已經或多或少知道我要怎樣拍。因此它不應該是壓迫感的,因為我是依據演員來建立整個系統的。
I create the general structure, then recast and rebuild it to fit the actors. I’m not trying to make them fit my architecture; I’m trying to make my architecture fit them. I met with Raqui before I started building the structure. By the time I was building the structure, I knew more or less whom I was going to cast. That’s maybe why it’s not oppressive because I’m making the system fit them.