PBS高端访谈:不同寻常的非洲博物馆（在线收听）

JUDY WOODRUFF: Detroit is home to an unusual museum that draws on African history and customs, including a city block filled with installations and sculptures. It also allows visitors hands-on experiences and is a stabilizing force in the city. Special correspondent Mary Ellen Geist reports, as part of our ongoing arts and culture series, Canvas.

MARY ELLEN GEIST: Olayami Dabls is an artist and the founder of Detroit's MBAD African Bead Museum.

OLAYAMI DABLS, Founder, MBAD African Bead Museum: You have got to do some things for just the average person. I decided that I would open up an African Bead Museum, specially learning that the beads embodied the culture and the history of the people. And that's something that was missing in the history of Africans in this country.

MARY ELLEN GEIST: The museum is located in one of Detroit's most distressed neighborhoods, and for two decades has provided something else that was missing, stability. It has expanded to include a bead gallery and 18 outdoor sculptures covering an entire city block.

OLAYAMI DABLS: I decided to take the relationship between Africans and Europeans over a 500-year period of time and put them in storylines. And, to my surprise, the community was elated over this and said, oh, man, this is nice. The best indicator that we have been accepted by the community, this place is out in the open. You can access it 24/7. Anyone can come. If people wanted to destroy it, they could destroy it in one day, years of work.

MARY ELLEN GEIST: Maurice Cox is the former director of Detroit's Planning and Development Department.

MAURICE COX, Former Director, Detroit Planning and Development Department: Artists have a very special superpower to take the ordinary and turn it into something extraordinary. The area that Dabls adopted was an area that was devastated and had gone through trauma. He found a way to tell that story, but also to find some joy in the retelling of the story.

MARY ELLEN GEIST: In telling the story of his neighborhood, Dabls has inspired Detroit officials to rethink how to structure the city's recovery.

MAURICE COX: He's begun to show us how the city can recover in increments. His Bead Museum is a building that, in one part, it's completely ornate and it's been transformed. But then you go to another portion of it, and the roof is caved in and it's waiting for investment. He's said, oh, OK, here's a way that you can incrementally go about stabilizing an area or a building that wasn't.

That's a brand-new way of creating an institution. That's not normally how we do it.

OLAYAMI DABLS: This is not a traditional museum. This is a museum for exposure to connect with what's inside of you. The community engages with us on their own terms.

MARY ELLEN GEIST: Dabls has continued to engage the surrounding community by starting an internship program. Over time, the surrounding neighborhood may change, but Dabls says the guiding principle behind his work and the MBAD African Bead Museum will not.

OLAYAMI DABLS: Just because a person is poor, just because a person is homeless, just because a person doesn't have anything, they still can have an appreciation for art.

MARY ELLEN GEIST: For the PBS NewsHour, I'm Mary Ellen Geist in Detroit, Michigan.

朱迪·伍德拉夫：底特律有一家不同寻常的博物馆，这里蕴藏着非洲历史和习俗，包括一个充满各种艺术品和雕塑的城市街区。这里能让游客们获得一手的体验，是城市里难得能让人获得内心平静的地方。下面请听特派记者玛丽·埃伦发回的报道。本期节目属于艺术与文化主题的帆布系列节目。

玛丽·埃伦：艺术家达布利斯创建了底特律的非洲识珠博物馆。

达布利斯，非洲识珠博物馆创始人：我们要为普通人做些事情。所以我决定开一家这样的博物馆。尤其是在我了解珠子代表非洲文化和非洲历史之后，我创建博物馆的念头就更加强烈了。这正是非洲历史所缺少的部分。

玛丽·埃伦：博物馆坐落于底特律最贫穷的地方。近20年来，这家博物馆提供了底特律一直缺失的东西——稳定。后来，博物馆做了扩张，新增了珠子画廊，还有18个户外雕塑，覆盖了整个城市街区。

达布利斯：我决定将非洲和欧洲在近500年间的关系以故事线的形式展现出来。让我惊喜的是——当地社群对此感到很开心，大家都说：大兄弟，博物馆做的可真棒。这是我们被社群认可的最好证明了，这里现在对外开放了。而且是全天候可参观，任何人都可以。如果有人想毁坏其中物品的话，顷刻间就可以做到，但里面的物品是历时数年才做成的。

玛丽·埃伦：莫里斯·科克斯是底特律规划与发展部的前主任。

莫里斯·科克斯，底特律规划与发展部前主任：艺术家们有一种特殊的超能力，可以化腐朽为神奇。达布利斯选择的那片区域之前是荒废的，满目疮痍。他找到了一种讲述该地区故事的方式，同时也不失趣味。

玛丽·埃伦：在讲述该地区故事的过程中，达布利斯启发了底特律的一些官员去重新思考如何重建这座城市。

莫里斯·科克斯：达布利斯开始向我们展示如何逐步重建这座城市。达布利斯建造的识珠博物馆就是这样一座建筑，这样一座华丽转变的建筑。在博物馆的另一个部分，人们会看到房顶也雕刻过了，正在等待投资中。达布利斯说，我想说，这就是一种逐步稳定某个区域或者让某座建筑焕发生机的方法。这是一种创建某机构的崭新方法，与平时常见的方法不同。

达布利斯：这不是一座传统意义上的博物馆，而是与人内心世界相连的博物馆。这个社群以自己的方式与我们互动。

玛丽·埃伦：达布利斯还在以开办实习项目的方式来与周围的社群互动。随着时间的流逝，周围的社群可能也会发生变化，但达布利斯说，博物馆建造和运行的指导原则是不会改变的。

达布利斯：一个人就算贫穷、就算无家可归、就算身无长物，也依然可以欣赏艺术。

玛丽·埃伦：感谢收听玛丽·埃伦从密歇根州底特律发回的《新闻一小时》。