杰里米戴勒和艾伦凯恩的《民间档案》

杰里米戴勒和艾伦凯恩的《民间档案》

Jeremy Deller and Alan Kane

Folk Archive

2005

Mixed media

Dimensions variable

杰里米.戴勒和艾伦.凯恩

民间档案，2005

可变尺寸

杰里米•戴勒和艾伦•凯恩知道自己创作的《民间档案》跨越了一条微妙的边界。他们对二十世纪末和二十一世纪初英国当代流行艺术作品的收藏和分类处于艺术和人类学之间的宽阔边界地带，而且这两位艺术家知道他们冒着偏离主题的风险。正如他们从一开始就承认的：“对于那些喜欢人类学方法的人们，我们必须道歉，因为我们知道‘档案’这个词使用在这儿未免有失偏颇，同时我们对细节的处理也充满着艺术的随意。对于从事民间或地方文化研究的人们，我们也要道歉，因为我们的‘民间’内容十分粗浅，对这些领域的粗略纵览也缺乏可靠的依据。”①但是，正是由于这两方面细微的背离之处，我们才能看到戴勒和凯恩希望借助《民间档案》传达的主题：在神圣艺术世界的雷达下跳动着喷发创造性的广大的公众之心。

这个档案包括从古至今英国各地的节日庆典的纪念品、往往被人忽视的咖啡馆主、汉堡包售卖车车主和小店店主的行动、以及更具有政治意义的抗议者和监狱犯人的活动。每件作品都是人们为了传递信息情感而发，无论是爱、悲伤、愤怒或一杯好茶。例如，坎伯兰和威斯特摩兰郡精美的男性摔跤服，有着手工刺绣的雅致卷曲花叶图案，经常被评论家挑选出来作为民俗文化的特别代表。在坎布里亚纳的埃格蒙特克拉布嘉年华活动中，男人们穿着这种装饰精美的服装参加摔跤比赛，这个节日从1387年开始，包括一系列令人眼花缭乱的盛装游行和比赛活动。汤姆•莫顿描述道：“这种包裹着华丽雄蕊和花瓣图案类似劳伦斯重构的男性形象也许不能在全国范围内流行（电视上的硬汉不会穿着玫瑰图案的短裤死去），但是对这个小地方的摔跤爱好者来说，这却似乎完全说得通。”②

同时，在这个档案中，除了长期的（而且往往是乡村的）传统之外，也有主流的流行艺术。例如，其中收入了戴安娜王妃的纪念作品，还有一幅在谢菲尔德墙上的“辛普森一家”的画，即使它与我们熟悉的卡通人物并不相像。观者还会看到做成圣约翰救护车形状的针垫、无上装酒吧女郎倒啤酒的水彩铅笔画、插花、定制的摩托头盔和生日信息等。

然而，观者会不止一次地在这些作品之间发现：其中隐含着收藏和展出它们的艺术家的嘲讽或窃笑。《民间档案》一个值得争辩的基础是一种理解，认为“现在，这个无心世界的心脏是流行文化，而不是宗教。”③ 在这里，爱的行为从盛大辉煌到平凡琐屑，无所不在，无法用当代艺术的冷眼去旁观。正如戴勒所说：“沃霍尔说流行艺术就是关于喜欢事物，而对于我来说，民间艺术则是热爱事物。”④ 虽然《民间档案》中也收入了政治旗帜和艺术作品，但是其中最具政治意义的可能是它揭示的一种对普通大众的基本而制度化的不信任，以及进一步揭示了这种不信任的缺乏根据。在这个档案中，观者很容易看出，普通大众并不是被动地盲目前行的一群过客，而是积极主动有个性的个人，他们是在不断创造、制造、改变和组织的人们。戴勒和凯恩虽然公开地背离了主题，但实际上却展示了一种内在深刻、长期存在的革命性力量。

①杰里米•戴勒和艾伦•凯恩，《民间档案：英国当代流行艺术》，（伦敦，Book Works，2005）

②汤姆•莫顿，“民间档案”，Frieze杂志，93（2005年9月），134

③大卫•比奇，“一堆好屎：关于流行文化的伦理关系”，选自杰里米•戴勒《生活是责备一切：1992-99作品项目集》，（伦敦：Salon 3，2001），94

④戴勒被塔妮娅•布兰尼根在“概述”中引用《卫报》（2004年11月3日），13

Alan Kane and Jeremy Deller

Jeremy Deller and Alan Kane know that they tread a delicate line with the Folk Archive. Their collection and documentation of contemporary popular art in the UK at the turn of the century is situated in the rich seam between art and anthropology – and the artists knew they ran the risk of exploiting their subjects. As they conceded from the start, ‘For those interested in an anthropological approach, we must apologise for the rather too knowing misuse of the phrase “archive” and an artistic casualness with details. For all involved in the folk or vernacular cultural scenes we must similarly apologise for the cheap “folk” shot and a fly-by-night plundering of whole worlds.’ It is only through these two small betrayals, however, that we are able to see what Deller and Kane are getting at with Folk Archive, and that is: a large public heart beating out creativity under the radar of a sanctified art world.

The archive contains relics from festivals and celebrations across Britain, ancient and modern, as well as the ignored efforts of owners of cafes, burger vans and shops, and the somewhat more politicised efforts from protesters and prison inmates. Each work is made by people who have, quite simply, created things to convey their message, be it love, sadness, rage, or a nice cup of tea. The beautifully hand-embroidered male wrestling costumes of Cumberland and Westmoreland, for example, with their curling images of dainty flowers and leaves, are often picked out by commentators as vernacular and culturally specific. The decorative costumes are worn by men taking part in wrestling matches as part of the Egremont Crab Fair in Cumbria, a festival established in 1387 and encompassing a bewildering array of parades and contests. As Tom Morton describes, ‘This D.H. Lawrence-like reframing of masculinity as something intertwined with the fecund stuff of stamens and petals wouldn’t play on a national stage (no TV hard man would be seen dead in rose-patterned briefs), but in this small community of wrestling enthusiasts it seems to make sense.’

As well as long-held (and often rural) traditions, however, proper pop is present too. Memorials to Princess Diana are included, as is a painting of ‘The Simpsons’ on a Sheffield wall, albeit bearing little resemblance to the familiar cartoon characters. Viewers might also stumble across a pincushion made in the shape of a St John’s Ambulance vehicle, a watercolour pencil drawing of a topless Page 3 stunner pulling a pint, flower arrangements, customised motorcycling helmets and birthday messages.

Not once, however, will you find an underhand sneer or snigger from the artists who collected and presented this work. Arguably, what underpins Folk Archive is an understanding that ‘it is popular culture now, not religion, that is the heart of a heartless world’. The acts of love here range from the grand to the quotidian, impossible to view with the cool eye of contemporary art. As Deller comments, ‘Warhol said that pop art was about liking things, whereas for me folk art is about loving things.’ Though there are political banners and artworks here, perhaps the most politicised thing about Folk Archive is that it reveals a basic, institutionalised mistrust of the general public, which is, in turn, revealed to be unfounded. It is possible to discern here a general public that is not a passive, shuffling and pedestrian herd, but a mobilised set of individuals who create, make, change and organise. Deller and Kane, whilst openly betraying their subjects, reveal a potentially revolutionary, yet heartfelt, force that was there all along.

L.M.F.