用消失抗議霧霾的中國隱形人

BEIJING — As Beijing disappeared into the heavy smog shrouding the region in recent days, an artist covered seven models with body paint until they, too, faded against a desolate grove of trees on the eastern outskirts of the city.

北京——隨着最近幾日北京被濃重的霧霾籠罩，一名藝術家在北京東部郊區，對七名模特進行身體彩繪僞裝，直至他們與背後的荒涼樹林融爲一體。

“Instead of passively disappearing, I’d rather actively make people disappear to express my attitude,” said the artist, Liu Bolin, who has been called the “Invisible Man” for blending into his surroundings by meticulously applying paint to his body.

“與其被動消失，我更願意主動使人消失，從而表達我的態度，”藝術家劉勃麟說。因爲善於通過仔細地在身上進行彩繪，將自身融入周圍環境，他被稱爲“隱形人”。

“I’m using this active disappearance to voice my protest,” he said in an interview about his latest work, “Winter Solstice.”

“我通過這種主動的消失，來表達抗議，”他在最近接受採訪，談到最新作品《冬至》時說道。

Last year, he made four rows of people disappear against a photograph of Tiananmen Gate, which was grayed by smog. This time, Mr. Liu said his new work was inspired by the red alerts issued this month in Beijing for hazardous levels of air pollution.

去年，他對四排人進行彩繪僞裝，使他們融入了背景中被霧霾籠罩的天安門的照片。劉勃麟表示，這一次，作品的靈感來自北京因空氣污染達到有害程度，而發佈的紅色預警。

On Saturday, Beijing issued its second-ever red alert, the highest level of a four-tier warning system, effective through Tuesday. It came only a week after its first one, even though the capital has been plagued by heavy smog for years. By Wednesday, 10 cities in China had issued red alerts, the state news agency Xinhua reported.

上週六，北京發佈了有史以來的第二次紅色預警——四個預警級別中的最高級別，此次預警持續到週二。而在一週之前，北京纔剛剛發佈首次紅色預警，儘管北京多年來一直受到嚴重霧霾的困擾。官方通訊社新華社報道，截至週三，中國已有十座城市發佈紅色預警。

Mr. Liu decided to name his new work “Winter Solstice” because it was carried out on Sunday, two days before the winter solstice, an important festival in the traditional Chinese calendar.

劉勃麟決定將新作品命名爲《冬至》，因爲該作品是在週日，也就是冬至的兩天之前創作的，冬至在中國是一個重要的節氣。

The seven models, all modern dancers, posed for photographs and then danced for a video, Mr. Liu said.

這七名模特都是現代舞者，他們先擺好姿勢拍照，然後又拍攝了一段舞蹈視頻，劉勃麟說。

“These are the movements people instinctively make when their lives are suppressed,” he said of the dance moves, adding that this was the first time he had portrayed his disappearing subjects in motion.

他形容其中的舞姿時說，“這些動作是人們在生活受到壓制時，本能做出的動作。”他還表示，這是他首次讓隱形人動起來。

The work is a continuation of the political and social commentary often found in Mr. Liu’s works. He has staged disappearances into backdrops that have included the Great Wall, the Temple of Heaven, a wall painted with Communist Party slogans, a portrait of Mao and a police officer to reflect ordinary Chinese people’s sense of invisibility in a fast-changing economy.

該作品延續了劉勃麟一貫以來的政治及社會評論風格。他曾融於長城、天壇、塗有共產黨口號的牆壁、毛澤東及一名警察的畫像等背景之中，以此體現普通中國民衆隱形於快速變化的經濟之中的感覺。

Mr. Liu, 42, first went invisible in 2006. When Suo Jia Cun, an artists’ village in suburban Beijing where he worked as a sculptor’s assistant, was forcibly demolished, Mr. Liu disappeared into the ruins to protest the destruction. That became the first work in his “Hiding in the City” series, which won him international attention.

42歲的劉勃麟於2006年第一次化身爲隱形人。當時他在北京郊區索家村藝術區，爲一位雕塑師擔任助理。當索家村被強行拆除時，他隱形於廢墟之中，抗議強拆行動。這成爲了《城市迷彩》(Hiding in the City)系列的第一個作品。他憑藉這一系列作品，贏得了國際關注。

“Smog, as a top-level carcinogen, has created fear among Chinese people,” Mr. Liu said of “Winter Solstice.” (The World Health Organization has classified outdoor air pollution and one of its major components, particulate matter, as cancer-causing agents.)

“霧霾是高度致癌的，它在中國民衆當中引發了擔憂，”劉勃麟評價《冬至》時說。（世界衛生組織將室外空氣污染及其主要成分顆粒物質歸類爲致癌物。）

“This work actually shows the helplessness modern people feel,” he said. “The fear in their hearts. Their struggles.”

“這個作品實際上展現了現代人的無助感，”他說。“他們心中的恐懼。他們的掙扎。”