经济学人:洛杉矶的新星——地景艺术

THE object in question is really just a very large granite boulder. It weighs 340 tons and is the size of a house. It sat unappreciated in a California quarry until Michael Heizer, an artist, spotted it. He decided to haul the rock to a museum in Los Angeles, in order to suspend it so that visitors could walk through a small channel underneath it and ponder the menace above.
争论中的物体真的是个非常巨大的花岗岩圆石，重340吨，有一座房子那么大。在艺术家迈克尔·黑泽尔发现它以前，它一直默默无闻的躺在加利福尼亚的一座采石场里。迈克尔想把这块巨石拖运到洛杉矶的一座博物馆里，在那里将它悬起来，让游客穿过其下的一条窄窄的通道，来感受头上的重物威胁。

Mr Heizer is not just any arty weirdo. Since the 1960s he has been a pioneer of “earth art”. In one project, which has engrossed him since 1972, he has been carving a vast “city” into the desert of Nevada (without allowing anybody to see it). Artistically, he enjoys the negative spaces his art creates. Personally, he likes living as a hermit in the desert.
黑泽尔先生不仅仅是个艺术怪胎。从20世纪60年代开始，他就是“地景艺术”的先驱。他曾全身心的投入到一个项目中，从1972年开始，他就一直在莫哈维沙漠挖掘一座巨大的“城市”（不让任何人看到）。从艺术上讲，他享受自己艺术创造出来的负空间。而就他自己而言，他喜欢像一位隐士那样住在荒芜的沙漠。

So Los Angeles saw its chance. The city loathes its reputation as a cultural backwater and is keen to challenge New York and London in the world of art. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has acquired an ambitious new director and some rich patrons, and it carefully planned the $10m logistical effort needed to move the “megalith”.
洛杉矶则把这个当做自己的机会。这座城市讨厌被人称为文化上的矮子，并强烈渴望在艺术界挑战纽约和伦敦的地位。洛杉矶艺术博物馆刚迎来一位雄心勃勃的新馆长和几位富有的赞助人，它周密规划了一个耗资一千万美元的物流方案来拖运这个“巨石”。

What a trip it was. A firm that normally transports nuclear equipment built a special structure, a sort of rolling centipede with 196 wheels, to prevent damage to either road or rock. For 11 days this monster, bearing the shrink-wrapped boulder, crawled through four counties and 22 cities, travelling only at night and at walking speed, along bridges and roads that could hold the weight. Street carnivals sprang up wherever the rock paused.
多么浩大的一个工程！承运的公司（此公司通常运输核设备）建造了一个特殊结构——一座有着196个轮子的蜈蚣样的设施——以防止道路或巨石在运输途中受到损害。这个庞大的设施运着在收缩膜包装下的圆石，走了11天，穿过了4个国家和22座城市。它只能在夜间以步行的速度前进，且只能走可以承受其重量的桥梁和道路。街头嘉年华则在巨石停留的地方兴起。

In the wee hours of March 10th the rock finally arrived. It is now being hoisted into place, and will be unveiled this spring or summer. Fans are promoting it as a private-sector stimulus (no taxpayers were harmed). Sceptics are rolling their eyes, imagining what else the money could have bought. And Los Angeles is suddenly crackling with bad puns, with nobody taking anything for granite and everybody playing rock without paper or scissors.
3月10日凌晨，巨石终于到达目的地。它正在被吊到指定位置，预计今年春夏就能和游客见面。粉丝们推崇其为私营部门的刺激物（没有损害纳税人）。而持怀疑态度的人则绞尽脑汁想找出这些钱还能买些其他什么东西。洛杉矶则因坏的双关语而面临分歧，没人为圆石做辩护，所有人都站在同一战线。