家园（2020）

（伊利诺伊州 芝加哥）
作为一名艺术家
As an artist...
我心中的家
when I think about "home" for myself...
它与房♥子本身的关系不大
it has less to do with the house.
更重要的是我居住的地方
It has more to do with my neighborhood.
在芝加哥南区
On the South Side of Chicago...
人们常说这里是个充满暴♥力♥的地区
where people would normally say this is a violent place,
或是说这个地区与美无关
or this is a place where beauty doesn't live,
我却一直被这种美所围绕
I'm constantly surrounded by this beauty.
问题在于 没有人去记录这些美的事物
The problem is, ain't no camera capturing the beautiful things.
我心想：“好
And so it's like, "All right.
我能做些什么？
What can I make
让我们将日常生活中 普通人的美展现出来？”
that allows us to then be a reflection of the beauty of everyday people?"
用这些空间就可以做到
These spaces do that.
我的个人经历 并不是先拿到了美术学士学位
My history was not a history of, like, a bachelor's of fine arts
再拿到美术硕士学位
and then a master's of fine arts.
我的经历是先拿到了城市规划学历 然后工作了一段时间
My history was a degree in urban planning and time on the job.
我爸是做房♥顶的
My dad was a roofer.
所以我从小就接触做房♥顶 我学会了如何切割
So, growing up roofing, you're learning how to cut things,
我学会了如何预知哪里会漏水
you're learning how to, like, anticipate where water falls.
但我解决的那些房♥顶问题
But those roofing problems that you're solving for
和创作上的构思没有区别
are no different from trying to figure out compositional things.
我认为艺术大概就是这样
And I think that art is kind of like that.
有些似乎很不起眼的小东西
There's something in the idea of the seemingly small
对我来说却有成为艺术品的巨大潜力
that has, for me, the greatest potential for art.
比如有黑色油画颜料
So, it's like, all right, there's black oil painting.
（房♥主兼艺术家 西斯特盖茨）
有黑色丙烯酸颜料
There's black acrylic.
这些我都没有 我有柏油
I didn't have those. I had tar.
（黑人男子）
（《乌木》杂♥志♥）
当人们想到秀的艺术家时 无论他们是非裔美国人
When you think about fantastic artists, whether they are African American
白人或是拉丁裔
or white or Latino,
西斯特盖茨就在这个圈子里
Theaster Gates is in that milieu.
（约翰逊出版社首席执行官 琳达约翰逊莱斯）
他是这个圈子中的佼佼者
He is at the very, very peak.
我认为西斯特的艺术品不同寻常
I would describe Theaster's art as unconventional
但能引起人们的共鸣、通俗易懂
but relatable and accessible.
（文化评论家 布瑞特朱利斯）
他很热衷于将传统视觉艺术圈中 不常用的材料
He is really interested in repurposing materials that are
改造、加工成艺术品
maybe not traditionally considered to be a part of the visual arts world.
（《JET》杂♥志♥）
（《乌木》杂♥志♥）
他给老旧的物品带来了新的样貌
He takes old things and gives them a refreshed look,
但他总是会给这些东西赋予一些历史感
but then he always puts some historical relevance within them.
（彩虹推广联盟 珍妮特威尔逊教士）
我记得他的消防水管系列作品
I remember the fire hose series that he did
该作品诞生于几年前的种族暴♥乱♥
born out of the race riots several years ago.
很不可思议 有着巨大的影响力
And that was incredible and very significant.
然后他只用木材创作作品
And then he does the pieces that are all in wood,
用玻璃和灯光来创作
and then he works in glass and in light.
他还从事表演艺术
And then he does performance art.
很难把他的作品归结到一种类别
It's hard to just pinpoint him into one genre and say,
“这就是西斯特的风格”
"This is just what Theaster does."
这是不可能的
It's not possible.
但我认为他的艺术也升华到了
But I think his art also transcends into
他的真爱城市规划中去
his real love, which is urban planning.
（伊利诺伊州 芝加哥南区）
去调查这个街区最先发生了什么
It's so interesting to try to track what happened first...
是很有趣的事
on the block.
我会去试一试
I'll give it a shot.
（南多彻斯特街）
（东69街）
我搬到南区 买♥♥了房♥之后
When I moved to the South Side and I bought my house,
我们当时就知道那一区域的房♥价很低
we knew that the property values in my neighborhood were low.
我们都不知道这里的房♥价会不会变动
And none of us knew about whether or not those values would ever change.
（黑人的财富居住于此）
我那些懂得理财的朋友们都说
Friends of mine who had money sense would say,
“不要把全部的资金投入到这栋房♥子上
"Don't invest all your money in this building,
因为它永远不会升值的”
'cause you're never gonna get your money out of it."
我对再次出♥售♥的价值不担心也不在意
And so I wasn't worried about or concerned about resale value.
我是对自己的生活投资 对我居住的街区投资
I was investing in my life. I was investing in my block.
当你走过一栋废弃建筑时
When you walk past an abandoned building,
心情很容易就变得沉重起来
it's hard not to feel heavy.
它会提醒你这个地方的破败
It reminds you of a kind of failure of a place.
它会展示出当一个地方失去价值时
It starts to show you the dormancy that happens
那种休眠的状态
when a place no longer has value.
芝加哥南区
The South Side of Chicago
有最高的失业率、贫困率
has the highest unemployment, the highest poverty,
和投资缩减率
the highest disinvestment,
这一地区还有最高的暴♥力♥犯罪率
and these same communities have the highest violent crime rates.
是全市谋杀案最多的地区
They have the highest number of homicides in the city.
南区成了人们不愿居住的地方
South Side neighborhoods have become a place where people don't want to live.
西斯特非常善于
Theaster has a really great eye for
在被摧毁、被忽略、被遗忘的东西中
finding purpose and value in things that get destroyed
发现隐藏的作用及价值
or ignored or forgotten about.
就是说
It is saying that
这些东西比我们最初想象中更有价值
there's more to these things than what we maybe initially thought.
我希望可以走到街区里
I wanted to be able to walk down the block,
去本地的餐厅里享用美味佳肴
go get a nice meal at a local restaurant.
或是去看电影
Or go to the movies.
但这些选项在我住的地方都是不可能的
But those options weren't really available where I lived...
于是我开始想象 这些地方
and I just started imagining that those platforms could exist
不应仅存在于白人的土地上
not just in white space.
伟大的文化有权植根于我住的地方
Great culture had a right to live where I live.
有什么地方比家 更适合去做其他那些事呢？
Where better than the home to make some of those other things happen?
所以我就用当时拥有的材料 在可以的地方创作作品
And so I just built things where I could with what I had,
我是在第一个家中开始的
and I started in my first crib.
我不是专职做建筑与设计的
Architecture and design are not my professions.
我与人工建造出的环境之间 其实没有职业上的关联
I don't have a professional relationship, really, with a built environment.
我造东西是因为这能给我带来满足感 给我带来愉悦
I build because it satisfies me, it gives me joy.
令我很开心
It makes me really happy.
我刚开始重新装♥修♥时
When I was just starting the renovation,
房♥子已经被白蚁侵蚀了
these termites had infested the place.
我们不得不把东西全都搬出去
We had to move all my things out.
我们把厨房♥的地板拆除了
And we took the kitchen floor out,
然后便形成了 这个类似两层楼的半地下室空间
and it revealed this kind of two-story, vaulted area.
比例简直太棒了
The proportion was so beautiful.
我们最后加固了墙壁
And we ended up just stabilizing the walls
安装了内置家具 作为装饰细节的金属栏杆
and building out built-ins, metal rail detailing,
还有保龄球道用的地板
bowling alley floors.
这样便创造出了这个半地下室空间
And we created this kind of vaulted space
它成了聆听之屋的足迹
that is now the footprint of what we call the Listening House.
（聆听之屋）
在我重新装♥修♥时
And while I was renovating it,
我的一个朋友正好在卖♥♥隔壁的房♥子
a friend of mine happened to be selling the building next door,
我很想把那块地买♥♥下来
and I became motivated to buy the land
因为我希望能在我居住的地区做更多事
because I was interested in being able to do more things in my neighborhood.
这次扩建绝对有不同寻常的地方
There's something that is definitely nonconventional about the build-out.
我在建造时会考虑所有的层次
I'd build considering all of the layers...
然后最终回归某种原始结构
and then ultimately getting back to, like, some kind of original structure.
如果把多年的垫层和地毯撤掉
If you pull back the years of underlayment and carpeting,
地面是什么样子？
what do the floors look like?
如果移除一层层的油漆
If you remove the layers and layers of paint,
建筑的原始结构是什么样子？
what do the built-ins look like?
如果把墙壁拆开 内部结构又是什么样子？
If you were to pull out the walls, what do the bones look like?
我的工作就是要找到必要的工具
My job is to just find the tools necessary
将房♥子进行改进 再将其以人们从未见过的全新样貌
to make the thing better than it had been and then re-present it to the world
重新展现给世人
in a way that the world hasn't seen it before.
那栋房♥子后来被称为档案之屋
That building eventually became known as the Archive House.
（档案之屋）
在打造聆听之屋和档案之屋的过程中
So, between the Listening House and the Archive House,
我发现自己成了一位文化制♥造♥者
I found myself becoming a cultural producer.
我会邀请人们到家里来 对他们说
I would invite other people in and say,
“我想建造一个创意空间 一个社区
"I want to build a creative space, community.
你们愿意和我一起建造吗？”
Would you like to build it with me?"
会在那里办展览
Exhibitions would happen there.