美国国家公共电台 NPR LA's 14th Factory Offers A Warehouse Full Of Art And 'Otherworldly' Experiences

 

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

Now, NPR arts correspondent Mandalit del Barco is going to take us to a new pop-up art installation in Lincoln Heights. That's a neighborhood here in LA, just east of downtown. And she reports the exhibition by artist Simon Birch is unusual.

MANDALIT DEL BARCO, BYLINE¹: The 14th Factory fills an enormous building the size of a Costco warehouse². It was once the site of a Chinese import-export business. The first of many gallery spaces you enter is almost pitch black. When your eyes adjust, you see giant metal shards³ that look like an asteroid⁴ has imploded⁵. At the center, you step inside a bright, almost blinding white room. It's that bedroom from the final scene of the Stanley Kubrick classic film "2001: A Space Odyssey⁶."

Light floods in from the floorboards. There's neoclassical furniture, knickknacks and paintings on the wall. And there's the bed where, in the movie, astronaut David Bowman lies down as an old man and transforms into a star baby.

SIMON BIRCH: It's such a perfect symbol. And it's a metaphor⁷ for the entire project.

DEL BARCO: Artist Simon Birch is a tall, lanky⁸ Brit. He's a big sci-fi fan. And he says he always wanted to recreate that set piece. It took a stroke of luck to make that happen. All the models and props⁹ from 2001 had been destroyed under Kubrick's orders, so Birch asked his architect friend Paul Kember to rebuild the set.

BIRCH: Paul got up from the table with a smile on his face. He says, I don't need to watch the movie, "2001: A Space Odyssey," to work out the dimensions of that room. I just need to call my uncle Tony. He said, well, my uncle Tony just happened to be Stanley Kubrick's chief draftsman, set designer and built that original room.

DEL BARCO: The "2001" room and other 14th Factory installations captivated visitors John and Susan Di Maina, Scott Meisse and his daughter Scarlett.

JOHN DI MAINA: Wild.

SUSAN DI MAINA: The white room was sort of disorienting.

SCOTT MEISSE: It's otherworldly.

SCARLETT: It felt like it came out of a dream, like, I felt like I was in. It was very surreal.

DEL BARCO: Here are some of the other installations by Birch and his collaborators - architects, filmmakers and multimedia¹⁰ artists. A room of pitchforks hanging down overhead, giant screens with slow motion images of acrobats¹¹ and a horde¹² of Chinese men punching each other. In one room, you're surrounded by videos of Hong Kong apartments. The camera tracks up and down the towers, making you feel as though you are floating.

MEISSE: It's not like a traditional museum, that's for sure. It's the exhibition I'd want to go to.

DEL BARCO: Each room it's a distinct, immersive experience. At the center of the factory is a green lawn with a crater¹³ and swings hanging from the ceiling. Another video space projects multiple angles of a car crash, Birch's own red Ferrari, with parts of the car's wreckage¹⁴ on display. Outside, 40 salvaged¹⁵ airplane tails are planted in a pool like an aircraft boneyard. Birch says he came out of obscurity to create all of this.

BIRCH: Nobody's ever heard of me or the projects, so it's a weird¹⁶ paradigm¹⁷ from the ground up. And I suppose I'm a weird artist. I'm not trained. I didn't go to art school. I actually come from a very rough background.

DEL BARCO: Simon Birch grew up in the English midlands, where he was a club DJ known for throwing raves¹⁸. From his violent neighborhood of hooligans, Birch made his way to Hong Kong to work in construction. In his spare time, he picked up a paintbrush.

BIRCH: I used to paint my mates that I worked with, who were Chinese gangsters¹⁹ covered in tattoos²⁰, and so quite realist, figurative work. And that led to sort of wealthy people commissioning me to paint them in my style. So I started sort of doing portraits for heads of the big banks.

DEL BARCO: He got solo and group shows. But then eight years ago, he was diagnosed with cancer, given six months to live. He survived that and began creating the 14th Factory. Red tape and logistics were too difficult in Hong Kong and in New York. When he found this 150,000 square foot space in LA, he sunk everything he had into it.

BIRCH: There's an unknown group of guerilla pirate renegades, you know, doing this massive project. We have no money. I have no money. I started selling everything I owned, sold everything. And literally²¹ so I now have one suitcase of clothes. That's my life.

DEL BARCO: Birch says the 14th Factory will stay open as long as people keep coming and donating money - right now, at least until the end of May. Mandalit del Barco, NPR News.

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1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 warehouse   

n.仓库；vt.存入仓库

参考例句：

• We freighted the goods to the warehouse by truck.我们用卡车把货物运到仓库。
• The manager wants to clear off the old stocks in the warehouse.经理想把仓库里积压的存货处理掉。

3 shards   

n.（玻璃、金属或其他硬物的）尖利的碎片( shard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Eyewitnesses spoke of rocks and shards of glass flying in the air. 目击者称空中石块和玻璃碎片四溅。 来自辞典例句
• Ward, Josh Billings, and a host of others have survived only in scattered shards of humour. 沃德、比林斯和许多别的作家能够留传下来的只是些幽默的残章断简。 来自辞典例句

4 asteroid   

n.小行星；海盘车(动物)

参考例句：

• Astronomers have yet to witness an asteroid impact with another planet.天文学家还没有目击过小行星撞击其它行星。
• It's very unlikely that an asteroid will crash into Earth but the danger exists.小行星撞地球的可能性很小，但这样的危险还是存在的。

5 imploded   

v.（使）向心聚爆( implode的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The economies of Brazil and Russia imploded in 1998. 巴西与俄罗斯的经济在1998年宣告破裂。 来自互联网
• A startling number of his nominees for senior positions have imploded. 他所提名的高级官员被否决的数目令人震惊。 来自互联网

6 odyssey   

n.长途冒险旅行；一连串的冒险

参考例句：

• The march to Travnik was the final stretch of a 16-hour odyssey.去特拉夫尼克的这段路是长达16小时艰险旅行的最后一程。
• His odyssey of passion, friendship,love,and revenge was now finished.他的热情、友谊、爱情和复仇的漫长历程，到此结束了。

7 metaphor   

n.隐喻，暗喻

参考例句：

• Using metaphor,we say that computers have senses and a memory.打个比方，我们可以说计算机有感觉和记忆力。
• In poetry the rose is often a metaphor for love.玫瑰在诗中通常作为爱的象征。

8 lanky   

adj.瘦长的

参考例句：

• He was six feet four,all lanky and leggy.他身高6英尺4英寸，瘦高个儿，大长腿。
• Tom was a lanky boy with long skinny legs.汤姆是一个腿很细的瘦高个儿。

9 props   

小道具； 支柱( prop的名词复数 )； 支持者； 道具； （橄榄球中的）支柱前锋

参考例句：

• Rescuers used props to stop the roof of the tunnel collapsing. 救援人员用支柱防止隧道顶塌陷。
• The government props up the prices of farm products to support farmers' incomes. 政府保持农产品价格不变以保障农民们的收入。

10 multimedia   

adj.多种手段的，多媒体的；n.多媒体

参考例句：

• Multimedia is the combination of computer and video technology.多媒体是计算机和视频技术的结合。
• Adam raised the issue of multimedia applications and much useful discussion ensued.亚当提出了多媒体应用的问题，从而引发了许多有益的讨论。

11 acrobats   

n.杂技演员( acrobat的名词复数 )；立场观点善变的人，主张、政见等变化无常的人

参考例句：

• I was always fascinated by the acrobats at the circus. 我总是着迷于马戏团里的杂技演员。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The acrobats' performance drew forth applause from the audience. 杂技演员的表演博得了观众的掌声。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 horde   

n.群众，一大群

参考例句：

• A horde of children ran over the office building.一大群孩子在办公大楼里到处奔跑。
• Two women were quarrelling on the street,surrounded by horde of people.有两个妇人在街上争吵，被一大群人围住了。

13 crater   

n.火山口，弹坑

参考例句：

• With a telescope you can see the huge crater of Ve-suvius.用望远镜你能看到巨大的维苏威火山口。
• They came to the lip of a dead crater.他们来到了一个死火山口。

14 wreckage   

n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏

参考例句：

• They hauled him clear of the wreckage.他们把他从形骸中拖出来。
• New states were born out of the wreckage of old colonial empires.新生国家从老殖民帝国的废墟中诞生。

15 salvaged   

（从火灾、海难等中）抢救（某物）( salvage的过去式和过去分词 )； 回收利用（某物）

参考例句：

• The investigators studied flight recorders salvaged from the wreckage. 调查者研究了从飞机残骸中找到的黑匣子。
• The team's first task was to decide what equipment could be salvaged. 该队的首要任务是决定可以抢救哪些设备。

16 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

17 paradigm   

n.例子，模范，词形变化表

参考例句：

• He had become the paradigm of the successful man. 他已经成为成功人士的典范。
• Moreover,the results of this research can be the new learning paradigm for digital design studios.除此之外，本研究的研究成果也可以为数位设计课程建立一个新的学习范例。

18 raves   

n.狂欢晚会( rave的名词复数 )v.胡言乱语( rave的第三人称单数 )；愤怒地说；咆哮；痴心地说

参考例句：

• She raves about that singer. 她醉心地谈论那位歌手。 来自辞典例句
• His new play received raves in the paper. 他的新剧本在报纸上受到赞扬。 来自辞典例句

19 gangsters   

匪徒，歹徒( gangster的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gangsters offered him a sum equivalent to a whole year's earnings. 歹徒提出要给他一笔相当于他一年收入的钱。
• One of the gangsters was caught by the police. 歹徒之一被警察逮捕。

20 tattoos   

n.文身( tattoo的名词复数 )；归营鼓；军队夜间表演操；连续有节奏的敲击声v.刺青，文身( tattoo的第三人称单数 )；连续有节奏地敲击；作连续有节奏的敲击

参考例句：

• His arms were covered in tattoos. 他的胳膊上刺满了花纹。
• His arms were covered in tattoos. 他的双臂刺满了纹身。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。