家园（2020）

I immediately thought like, "You don't need artwork.
而是更大的解决方案
You need a bigger intervention.
你们需要一个能加工九万棵树的木材厂”
You need a mill where these 90,000 trees could be processed."
也许我的艺术品就是这个木材厂本身
And maybe my artistic intervention would be to build the mill.
（木材厂）
（替换）
我发现我们的木材厂里发生了三件事
What I found in our mill is that three things are happening.
第一件是切割树木
One thing is that trees are being cut
人们学会了如何加工树木
and people are learning how to mill trees.
这很好
That's great.
第二件是我们在制♥作♥产品
The second thing is that we're creating products.
我们在制♥作♥桌子、硬木地板
We're making tables, we're making hardwood flooring,
我们在制♥作♥艺术品
and we're making art.
第三件是木材的副产品
Then this third zone is, the by-product of the wood
给我们的木窑提供燃料
feeds our wood kiln.
我们创造了一种闭合循环
So, we've created this kind of closed loop
用木材加工的副产品
between the offshoots of the milling process
提供窑所需的能量或燃料
and the energy or the fuel needed in order to fire our kilns,
窑再烧制出非常美丽的陶制品
which makes really exceptionally beautiful ceramic objects.
但我认为木材厂的作用不仅只有这些
But I also think that there are these other things like
比如它的哲学意义
this kind of philosophical arm of the mill
“我们该如何让南区的生活 变得更加丰富多彩？”
that's like, "What can we do to make life on the South Side more rich?"
我认为我们把这些木板能做的东西
I think that the more we can start to demonstrate
展示得越多越好
what can be done with these pieces, the better.
所以如果我们知道
So, if we know that we have
我们有400块奥塞奇树木板 或800块灰树木板
400 pieces of Osage like this, or 800 pieces of ash,
我们就可以去想象
it then starts to allow us to think about,
“一栋全部由灰树木材建造的房♥子 是什么样子的？”
"Okay, what could a house look like that's all ash?"
我们的财富在于这大量的木材当中
The wealth is in the excess of wood that we have
是用很低的价格买♥♥来的
that we're getting very cheap.
这很好 这些木板很漂亮
This is great. These are beautiful boards.
此事的意义不在于树木
It's not about trees.
也不在于废弃的建筑物
It's not about abandoned buildings.
而在于我们是否有能力、动力和信仰
It's do we have the ability, the drive, the faith
来将芝加哥变成家园？
to make Chicago home?
我认为西斯特的作品传达了几个信息
I think that there are several messages in Theaster's work.
他的信息是关于文化的
His messages are about culture.
是关于非裔美国人社区的
His messages are about the African American community.
是关于他的成长过程以及他的视角
His messages are about how he grew up and what he perceives.
我认为他的灵感正是来源于此
This is where I think he finds inspiration.
随着年龄的增长
As I got older,
我试图寻找一种途径
I was trying to figure out a way
阻止我身处的居民区 发生我所见到的文化流失
to stop the hemorrhaging that I saw happening in my neighborhood.
于是我学习了城市规划
And so I studied urban planning.
我上过建筑执照课
I had taken a buildings permit class.
我进修过区域划分课
I was learning more about mapping.
后来情况变了
And at some point, it shifted...
人们告诉我
and I started being taught
黑人和棕色人种是各城市的问题
that black and brown people are the challenges of cities.
因为他们懒惰、不愿工作
And it's because they're lazy and they don't want to work.
这种观点与我这个人…
And that whole idea was rubbing up against...
是完全对立的
who I am.
我记得之前的感觉
And I just remember this feeling that I had of, like,
“这个世界对穷♥人♥漠不关心”
"This world does not care about the poor."
毫不关心
It just doesn't.
于是我开始意识到
So, I started to realize that...
最有见识的城市规划师
the most savvy urban planners...
都不是居民区的拥护者
are not neighborhood advocates.
他们不是社会活动家
They're not social activists.
某些城市问题可能有解决方案
There could be solutions to some of the challenges of the city,
（2006年及以后：从建筑学入手）
但必须要有远见
but one actually has to have a vision.
所以必须有人决定
And so someone has to decide
某块土地将用于某项特定用途
that land is gonna be used for a particular mission.
我则致力于确保那块土地…
And I'm committed to making sure that that land serves...
为需要机会的人服务
people who need the opportunity.
我已经在南区住了六、七年了
I had been living on the South Side already for six or seven years,
我曾驾车路过这栋银行大楼
and I had, you know, driven past this bank building.
（南石岛街）
这是一栋非常棒的楼
This building was an amazing building,
但我从一位朋友那里听说
and I found out from a friend
这栋银行大楼要被拆除了
that the bank was about to be demolished.
在1960年代
In the '60s,
这栋楼
this building was testament to
曾是南岸光明与财富的证明
the brightness and the wealth of South Shore.
到了1970年代中期
And in the middle '70s,
新移♥民♥潮开始了
new migrations started to happen.
白人开始搬离城区
That's when white flight occurred.
白人从市中心
And so you had the white people
搬到了郊区
moving out of the inner city to the suburbs.
随着他们的搬离 城市资源也一起离去了
As they moved out, the resources moved with them.
那栋银行大楼变成了
The bank building became a representative of
人们将投资从南区挪走的代表
the flight of investment away from the South Side.
银行之落寞
The demise of the bank
其实也是我的居民区之落寞
was really also a demise of, you know, my neighborhood.
我和市长见了一次面
So, I had a meeting with the mayor,
我请求市长不要把那栋楼拆除
and I asked the mayor to not tear down the building.
我当时身陷困境
I was in over my head.
我不知道我学过的那些城市规划
I didn't know how my history of learning urban planning
和这栋楼有什么直接关系
would directly relate to this building,
感觉两者是完全无关的
and it felt like those things were worlds apart.
于是我发现自己…
And so I found myself...
非常热情
enthused...
自信满满但十分无知
confident and ignorant,
当时也许有些
and that there was something maybe necessary
必要、正确的元素
that was the right set of ingredients
来让我在翻新工作上一步步艰难地走下去
to keep me plowing forward with the renovation.
我知道我想庆祝
I knew that I wanted to celebrate
那栋楼作为一种抵抗行动得以保存下来
the continued existence of the building as a kind of act of resistance.
它像是一种
That there would be something fighting against
对抗持续衰退的力量
what felt like constant decay--
我们与之对抗的方法
that we would just fight that
就是坚持让一栋很棒的建筑重现辉煌
with the insistence of making a great building great again.
于是我们开始画草图、做规划
So, we started making sketches and making plans and saying,
“第一层将作为展厅 并有现场音乐表演
"The first floor is gonna be an exhibition space with live music,
第二层将作为图书馆
and the second floor is gonna have this library.
第三次将作为办公区”
Third floor is gonna be offices."
没人相信此项目能够做成
And no one really believed in it.
我对人们说出我的看法 讲解楼层结构
I would tell people my vision, I'd walk them through the space,
人们说：“好吧 这个项目会让你破产的
and people would just say, "Yeah, this is gonna break you.
它不值得你花这么多钱和力气”
It's just not worth the money and effort."
（东68街 南石岛街）
我在芝加哥出生、长大
I'm born and raised in Chicago,
几十年来 我驾车路过那家银行多次
so I've driven past that bank for decades,
这几十年来 它一直毫不起眼
and for decades, it was nothing.
只是在不断衰败
It was just crumbling.
当西斯特带我去时
And so when Theaster took me over there,
它的样子非常萧条
it was in complete disrepair.
我心想：“你到底该如何修复这建筑？
And I'm like, "Now, how in the world are you going to fix this?
这项工程太浩大了”
This is a huge undertaking."
但我相信西斯特
But I trusted Theaster.
琳达来了 她邀请我去约翰逊出版社
Linda came over, and she invited me to Johnson Publishing,
我们来到了七层楼
to the seventh floor.
那里是他们的研究室
And it was their research library.
（黑人演说家及演说辞）
约翰逊出版社是我父母创立的
Johnson Publishing Company was started by both of my parents,
约翰和尤妮丝约翰逊
John and Eunice Johnson.
这里是《乌木》杂♥志♥的诞生地
This is where Ebony magazine was born
也是《JET》杂♥志♥的诞生地
and where Jet magazine was born.
我说：“听着
I said, "Listen.
我们必须搬出这里 我有大量的藏书”
We've gotta move out of here, and I've got this library of books."
具体数字我不知道 大概有一万或一万五千本
There's probably, I don't know, 10,000 or 15,000.
她说：“书都可以给你”
She said, "You can have the books."
我不敢相信