2006年VOA标准英语-Controversial Art Exhibit Blends Visual Art wit

By Zulima Palacio
Washington
20 June 2006
 
Watch Art and Politics report

An exhibit now showing at American University's Art Gallery in Washington, D.C. blends visual art with political statement. It includes statements against war and violence, racism¹, and environmental damage. VOA producer Zulima Palacio takes a look. Paige Kollock narrates² her report.

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Political art  
  
The exhibit called "Visual Politics: The Art of Engagement" deals with the intersection³ between art and politics.  It includes nearly 50 works by 40 artists, mostly living in the U.S. western state of California.  The exhibit is divided into sections dealing⁴ with war and violence, discrimination, the environment and contemporary politics.

 
Jack⁵ Rasmussen
  
Jack Rasmussen, Director and Curator at the American University Museum, talked about some of the pieces in the exhibit, such as the one behind him, called The Human Condition.

"It's looking at people living today and in particular the artist and what they are seeing today," he said. "If you come up close you can even look into the artist's brain, you can see the kinds of issues that the artists have to balance."

Many pieces done more than a decade ago are still current, such as the these ones on immigration. This painting called "When Paradise Arrived" was done in California by Mexican artist Enrique Chagoya 18 years ago. Rasmussen describes the painting. It "Depicts⁶ a young Mexican child and the giant hand of Mickey Mouse coming down to whap it," he said.

 
Political sculpture 
  
Rasmussen says political art by definition is art of opposition⁷ against the status quo. It tries to spur change through the public's reaction and confrontation⁸. He talks about a painting illustrating⁹ an anti-Vietnam War rally at Kent State University.

"It was painted in response to the shootings at Kent State around 1970," he said.  "It's a very illustrative and completely powerful and moving, particularly in the details."

Virtual detention¹⁰ tour   
  
But perhaps one of the most fascinating pieces in the show, for its technical and visual content, is this virtual tour of a U.S. detention camp for Japanese people during the World War II. 

"The artist has taken photographs from the camp and put them into the virtual buildings of the camp, these are all archival photographs… the camp is enclosed in barbed wire, you can't escape," Rasmussen said.

You can enter the buildings, see the ghosts of those who were in the camp, hear their voices.

"You can escape into the mind of the internee who was escaping from this reality and remembering life back in Japan," he continued.

But that does not last very long and you are thrown back into the camp, where you can see documents and many pictures. The virtual tour was done by Japanese-American and Iranian-American artists using video game technology.  As it moves on to the 1980s, it explores U.S. relations with Iran during the American hostage crisis.

"When you get up close to look at these pictures of the Iranian-Americans, like this cowboy here, all of the sudden you slip into another reality….  This is an incredible thing, you are looking at a photograph of a woman getting married in her wedding dress and you move a little closer, and then you are looking at women holding machine guns," said Rasmussen.

You can escape again, this time into a Persian miniature. 

“But the escape is very brief as you come up to today's reality as we may be getting ready to bomb Iran,” he continued.

The exhibit also criticizes environmental destruction. There are "Inconvenient¹¹ Truths" as the new environmental movie puts it, about mining, oil exploitation, the ivory trade in Africa and deforestation  Museum Director Rasmussen concludes an exhibit like this might only be seen in a university setting, because of the tradition of academic freedom of speech. 

1 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

2 narrates   

v.故事( narrate的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• It narrates the unconstitutional acts of James II. 它历数了詹姆斯二世的违法行为。 来自辞典例句
• Chapter three narrates the economy activity which Jew return the Occident. 第三章讲述了犹太人重返西欧后的经济活动。 来自互联网

3 intersection   

n.交集，十字路口，交叉点；[计算机] 交集

参考例句：

• There is a stop sign at an intersection.在交叉路口处有停车标志。
• Bridges are used to avoid the intersection of a railway and a highway.桥用来避免铁路和公路直接交叉。

4 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

5 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

6 depicts   

描绘，描画( depict的第三人称单数 )； 描述

参考例句：

• The book vividly depicts French society of the 1930s. 这本书生动地描绘了20 世纪30 年代的法国社会。
• He depicts the sordid and vulgar sides of life exclusively. 他只描写人生肮脏和庸俗的一面。

7 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

8 confrontation   

n.对抗，对峙，冲突

参考例句：

• We can't risk another confrontation with the union.我们不能冒再次同工会对抗的危险。
• After years of confrontation,they finally have achieved a modus vivendi.在对抗很长时间后，他们最后达成安宁生存的非正式协议。

9 illustrating   

给…加插图( illustrate的现在分词 )； 说明； 表明； （用示例、图画等）说明

参考例句：

• He upstaged the other speakers by illustrating his talk with slides. 他演讲中配上幻灯片，比其他演讲人更吸引听众。
• Material illustrating detailed structure of graptolites has been etched from limestone by means of hydrofluoric acid. 表明笔石详细构造的物质是利用氢氟酸从石灰岩中侵蚀出来。

10 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

11 inconvenient   

adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的

参考例句：

• You have come at a very inconvenient time.你来得最不适时。
• Will it be inconvenient for him to attend that meeting?他参加那次会议会不方便吗？