特朗普是個觀念藝術家嗎？

墨西哥提華納——唐納德·特朗普是個觀念藝術家嗎?

That’s the intriguing possibility put forth in an online petition Tuesday that seeks to have the group of eight prototypes for Trump’s controversial Mexican border wall designated a national monument.

周二，一場網(wǎng)絡請愿希望將特朗普充滿爭議的墨西哥邊境墻項目的八個樣品指定為國家歷史文物，也提出了這個頗為有趣的可能性。

The prototypes were built at a cost of $3.3 million in federal funds and unveiled last October along the United States border near San Diego. The petition, sponsored by the puckishly named nonprofit, MAGA (the acronym recalls the president’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again”), seeks to protect the prototypes from demolition by invoking the Antiquities Act of 1906 and characterizes the structures as “a major Land Art exhibition” of “significant cultural value.”

這組邊境墻的樣品墻耗資330萬美元，經費主要來源于聯(lián)邦基金，于去年10月在圣迭戈附近的美國邊境上揭幕。請愿由一個非營利性組織贊助，該組織的名字有些惡作劇的意味，名為MAGA(讓人想起總統(tǒng)競選口號的首字母縮寫“讓美國恢復偉大榮光”[Make America Great Again])。該組織引用《1906年聯(lián)邦文物法》以尋求保護這些樣品墻不被拆除，稱這些結構為“有顯著文化價值的大型地景藝術”。

The notion that the prototypes could qualify as conceptual art might seem somewhat far-fetched. They were designed to U.S. Customs and Border Protection specifications, built to withstand a 30-minute assault from sledgehammers to acetylene torches, and to be difficult to scale or tunnel beneath. Aesthetic considerations are largely secondary to brute strength, but, when viewed up close, the walls collectively have the undeniable majesty of minimalist sculpture.

這些樣品墻也可以是觀念藝術的概念，可能看起來有些牽強。它們是為了美國海關及邊境保衛(wèi)局(U.S. Customs and Border Protection)設計的，可經受住從大錘到乙炔炬長達30分鐘的襲擊，此外，它們難以攀爬，也很難從下方挖掘隧道通過。相對于粗暴的力量而言，美學方面的考慮是次要的，但如果近距離看的話，這些墻整體而言的確給人以極簡主義雕塑的雄偉壯觀之感。

Trump dramatically reduced the size of two existing national monuments under federal protection just last month. He would need to issue a presidential proclamation to establish the group as a monument. (A White House spokesperson did not respond this week to questions about the border wall project and Trump.)

就在上個月，特朗普大幅削減了兩個獲得聯(lián)邦政府保護的國家紀念地的大小。如果要把這些樣品墻列為國家歷史文物，他將需要發(fā)布一則總統(tǒng)令。(關于這個邊境墻項目與特朗普的問題，一名白宮發(fā)言人本周末沒有予以回應。)

That particular irony is not lost on Christoph Büchel, the Swiss-Icelandic artist behind MAGA. Büchel originally posted the petition to the White House’s We the People website, started in 2011 by the Obama administration to allow citizens to lobby the president’s staff directly, but the site was taken down for maintenance until the end of January. MAGA has since created a website to promote the project and gather signatures.

克里斯托夫·布切爾(Christoph Büchel)也注意到了尤為諷刺的這一點，布切爾是支持MAGA的一名瑞士裔冰島藝術家。布切爾原本將請愿發(fā)布在了白宮的“我們人民”(We the People)網(wǎng)站上，這個網(wǎng)站由奧巴馬政府在2011年設立，旨在讓公民直接與總統(tǒng)的員工對話，但直到一月底，該網(wǎng)站一直處于維護中。MAGA后來創(chuàng)建了一個網(wǎng)站，來宣傳該項目，并且收集簽名。

Standing on a stepladder and gesturing at the prototypes towering just beyond the rusting border fence near the Otay Mesa Port of Entry, south of San Diego, Büchel was adamant that he has no creative stake in the project.

站在一個活動梯子上，指著矗立在位于圣迭戈以南， 奧泰梅薩入境口岸那生銹的邊境圍欄外的樣品墻，布切爾堅稱他對這個項目沒有貢獻創(chuàng)意。

“I am an artist, but not the artist of this,” Büchel said. Instead, he said, MAGA endorses the concept that Americans, by electing Trump, allowed his obsessions to be given form that qualifies as an artistic statement. The fact that the prototypes were designed and built by six private contractors matters less, he said, than the impression that, upon completion, they constitute an unintended sculpture garden willed into existence by the president and his supporters. “This is a collective sculpture; people elected this artist,” Büchel said.

“我是個藝術家，但不是這個項目的藝術家，”布切爾說。相反，他表示，美國人通過選舉特朗普，賦予了他的癡迷一種形式，而這種形式恰恰可以作為一種藝術上的聲明，MAGA認可這一概念。他說，這些樣品墻建造完成之時，就在不經意間構成了一個雕塑群，而這個雕塑群是通過總統(tǒng)及其支持者的意志形成的。和它相比，這些樣品墻由六家私人承包商設計、建造的這件事不怎么重要。“這是一種集體雕塑，是人們選舉出來了這位藝術家，”布切爾說。

Büchel insisted that the petition was not a jab at Trump’s signature policy-achievement-in-waiting. Even if the border wall is never built, Büchel said, the prototypes “need to be preserved because they can signify and change meaning through time. They can remind people there was the idea to have this border wall once.”

布切爾堅稱請愿不是為了批評特朗普那標志性的尚待完成的政策成就。布切爾說，盡管邊境墻沒有進行建造，但這些邊境樣品墻“需要被保存下來，因為它們代表著一些意義，而且這些意義經過時間的演變也處于變化之中。它們提醒人們，曾經存在過一種要建造這個邊境墻的想法。”