博物館翻修帶來什麼
(本文譯文原標題為《大都會和羅德島設計學院等博物館都在更新古代文物的陳展方式》)
作者《紐約時報》GERALDINE FABRIKANT
譯者 霍淑賢
案例研究 Beatriz Ribeiro(左)和她的妹妹Natalia Cleto，在芝加哥藝術博物館的其中一個古代與拜占庭藝術展廳里觀看希臘的展品。圖片：《紐約時報》Alyssa Schukar
多年來，在羅德島設計學院博物館裡，所有古代文物展廳的窗戶都被貼上了各種古遺址的彩色膠片。這樣做是希望通過阻擋外部的干擾，使參觀者能夠完全沉浸在古代世界的氛圍中。
現在，這些遮蓋物都不見了。2013年，當博物館完成了長達7年的翻新後，古代藝術部的策展人吉娜·鮑羅麥歐(Gina Borromeo)，採取了相反的做法。
「我試著把儘可能多的光線和空氣帶進來，」她說，是為了照亮博物館裡那些來自希臘，羅馬和埃及的藏品。
羅得島設計學院博物館在完成這些翻新後，參觀人數從每年7.3萬上升到10萬。而它並不是唯一一所重新思考如何展示其文物的博物館。
近年來，洛杉磯蓋蒂別墅，波士頓美術博物館，芝加哥藝術博物館，巴黎盧浮宮，耶路撒冷的以色列博物館，還有英國牛津大學的阿什莫林博物館紛紛花重金對它們的古代藝術展廳進行翻新。
而翻修期間，恰巧一些博物館的古代文物成為了遺產糾紛的焦點，讓潛在的捐助者可能會擔心類似的負面影響。
但他們也許並沒有(我們想像中的)那麼害怕。「恐懼是一個因素，但它並不會削減捐助者的熱心慷慨，」卡洛斯·皮孔(Carlos Picón)，紐約大都會博物館希臘與羅馬藝術的策展人說。「很多人沒有意識到，大眾只會驚嘆於這些古物的迷人之處，而並不會真的去跟進所有法律上的爭議。」
事實上，有鑒於伊斯蘭極端分子最近在伊拉克對文物造成的破壞，對古代文物的保護已經成為一個更受關注的話題。
重新設計 左起：羅德島設計學院博物館裡公元1世紀羅馬和希臘的半身像，12世紀日本的佛像。圖片：Erik Gould/羅德島設計學院博物館
大都會博物館也進行了近年來成本最高、最全面的翻修，總共投入了超過2.2億美元，終於在2007年完成了全新的希臘和羅馬展廳。在這些展廳向公眾開放的10個月內，它吸引了超過一百萬名參觀者，而且參觀人數還在持續上升。為了這次翻修，博物館從收藏家那裡籌集資金，其中包括邁克爾和瑪麗·扎哈尼斯，比爾·布拉斯，謝爾比·懷特和萊昂·利維。
隨著翻修的進行，對藏品的陳展方法也發生了根本性的改變。即使藏品本身是古老的，策展人也希望它的展示方式是最前沿的。
「對藝術的呈現方式正在發生一些重大變化，」珍妮弗·志(Jennifer Chi)，紐約大學的古代世界研究所的展覽部主任及首席策展人說。「比如說，現在參觀者對於博物館用來裝飾牆壁的「假畫」不那麼感興趣了，」她指的是仿照古代風格所畫的裝飾畫。她說，「如今，博物館都在用數字技術——幻燈片和互動展示，來解釋一個歷史時期，這樣的話，比如說，你就可以360度地展示文物了。
有了更時髦的、用真玻璃而不是有機玻璃做的現代展櫃，配合最先進的燈光系統，可以集中觀眾的注意力。
雖然策展人們似乎都贊同新展示方式的美觀性和技術性是重要的，但是他們並不認為有任何單一的理念可以決定布展的外觀。當大都會博物館重新裝修它的古代文物展廳後，它決定展出大概95%的藏品，而以前只展出30%。
「這個想法，只要有空間的話人們都會去做，」皮孔先生說。「現在我們只會把浪費展示空間的藏品放在倉庫——比如太具重複性的物品。」
相反地，五年前當以色列博物館重新布置它的藏品時，儘管展廳空間變得更大了，但博物館卻將展品數目減到4000件，足足少了一半，博物館館長詹姆斯·斯奈德(James Snyder)說。
「我們的目標是試著通過所有的藏品分區來講述一個連續的故事，從最早的歷史直到現在，所有的展品都在一個更大的敘事情境中，」斯奈德說。他補充說，這樣做的目的是「通過展示與宏大敘事相關的最美麗、最有意義的物品，」讓觀眾有一個更震撼的體驗。
他說，博物館有幾個第一聖殿時期(公元前10世紀到公元前6世紀)的祈禱看台，全都是獨一無二的。「如果將它們全部展示出來，只會混淆人們對它們獨特性的理解。如果只展示一個，就正好強調了它的獨特性。」
每一個博物館的布展理念也不一定是相同的。
芝加哥藝術博物館裡公元前6世紀的青銅怪獸頭。圖片：《紐約時報》Alyssa Schukar
「以前是根據媒介來布展的，」皮孔先生說。「現在的趨勢是將它們混合，並以時間和主題為順序。」
蒂莫·西波茨(Timothy Potts)，蓋蒂博物館的館長，就偏好以年代為順序的方式。他說，兩年半以前他剛到任時，「蓋蒂博物館的展覽是按主題來策劃的：黃金，統治者，特洛伊戰爭，」「但我想按照時間的順序來推動文化的發展。」
在給博物館用於翻新的眾多捐贈里，就有慈善家Jaharis夫婦許諾未來10年捐給芝加哥藝術博物館的1000萬美元，用於博物館展廳空間的擴建，和新建一個希臘、羅馬和拜占庭藝術的部門。這些新展廳已在2012年對外開放。
「這些展廳的面積是博物館裝修前的四倍，」博物館董事長和古代藝術的策展人凱倫·曼徹斯特(Karen Manchester)說。「我不得不通過長期借展一些藝術作品，來填滿展覽空間。」
但籌集資金的努力可能會遇到阻力。在波士頓美術館，希臘和羅馬藝術資深策展人克里斯丁·康多萊昂(Christine Kondoleon)表示，美術館由於陷入外國政府與其古代藏品的紛爭中，正希望從負面報道中走出來。與此同時，美術館卻仍要籌集資金來完成它的展廳翻修。「我們與義大利政府妥善地解決了問題，我們也把東西歸還土耳其了，」她說。「我希望我們已經翻過了這一頁。」
在其他備受關注的美國博物館紛爭中，還包括2006年大都會博物館同意將描繪《伊利亞特》中某個場景的歐弗洛尼奧斯陶瓶歸還給義大利。
巴黎的盧浮宮已經重新翻修了希臘展廳，並且為了在2017年對羅馬和伊特魯尼亞展廳進行翻修，正準備開展以3000萬美元為目標的籌款活動。
即使是有著128年歷史的賓夕法尼亞大學考古學及古人類學博物館，也正計劃籌集資金來進行翻修。該博物館至今還沒有安裝空調系統，而為了在夏天吸引觀眾，還要降低門票價格。
「我們一直以來都是一所致力於研究科學發展的博物館，但人們才意識到我們的藏品是多麼的了不起，」賓夕法尼亞大學考古學及古人類學博物館的館長朱利安·希格斯(Julian Siggers)在一個採訪中說。「但是，除非你安裝了氣候控制系統，否則任何會受濕度影響的物品，包括金屬、木材、織物就都不能展出，」她補充道：「今天，大家都迫不及待地想做一些有趣的事情。」
英文原文
The Met and RISD Are Among Museums Redisplaying Antiquities
For years, the windows of the antiquities galleries at the RISD Museum, at the Rhode Island School of Design, were blocked out with color transparencies of ancient sites. The idea was to immerse visitors in the ambience of antiquity by shutting out external distractions.
Now those coverings are gone. In a seven-year renovation finished in 2013, the museum』s curator of ancient art, Gina Borromeo, took the opposite approach.
「I tried to bring in as much light and air as possible,」 she said, to illuminate the museum』s collections of Greek, Roman and Egyptian works.
The Rhode Island museum, whose attendance after the changes rose to 100,000 annually, from 73,000, is not alone in rethinking the display of its antiquities.
In recent years, the Getty Villa in Los Angeles; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Louvre in Paris; the Israel Museum in Jerusalem; and the Ashmolean Museum at the University of Oxford in Britain have all undertaken expensive renovations of their galleries of ancient art.
The remodeling is happening at a time when museums』 antiquities holdings have been a focus of patrimony disputes, leaving potential donors possibly skittish about negative publicity.
But perhaps not that skittish. 「Fear is a factor, but it has not curtailed the generosity of donors,」 said Carlos Picón, curator of Greek and Roman art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. 「What people don』t realize is that the general public finds the material fascinating and is not really following all the legal debates.」
In fact, preservation of antiquities has become a higher-profile concern, given Islamic extremists』 recent destruction of artifacts in Iraq.
The Met undertook the costliest and most extensive of the recent renovations, spending over $220 million on new Greek and Roman galleries completed in 2007. In the 10 months after it opened, it drew over one million visitors, and attendance has continued to rise. The museum raised money for the galleries from collectors including Michael and Mary Jaharis, Bill Blass, and Shelby White and Leon Levy.
With the renovations, the approach to displaying collections is changing radically. Even if the objects are ancient, curators want the displays to be cutting-edge.
「There are major changes going on in how art is presented,」 said Jennifer Chi, exhibitions director and chief curator at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, part of New York University. 「There is less interest in the faux painting that used to decorate the walls, for example,」 she said, referring to paintings in the style of ancient times. 「Today museums are using digital strategies to explain a historical period: slide shows and interactive displays, where you can show objects rotating, for example. 」
Visitor attention is being focused with sleeker modern cases, with glass rather than plexiglass, along with state-of-the-art lighting.
Although curators seem to agree that the aesthetics and technology of new displays are important, there is no single philosophy that determines the look of the installations. When the Metropolitan redid its antiquities wing, it decided to display about 95 percent of its collection, compared with only 30 percent previously.
「It is a concept people would do if they had the space,」 Mr. Picón said. 「We now only have things in storage that we should not waste the real estate on showing — things that are too repetitive.」
In contrast, when the Israel Museum reinstalled its collection five years ago, it reduced the number of objects by half, to 4,000, even though the gallery space is now larger, said the museum』s director, James Snyder.
「Our objective was to try to tell a continuous narrative through all of the collection wings, from the beginning of time to the present, with the objects in context of a larger narrative,」 Mr. Snyder said. He added that the aim was a more powerful visitor experience by showing 「only the most beautiful and meaningful objects relating to the narrative.」
He said the museum had several First Temple-period (10th century to sixth century B.C.) prayer stands, all unique. 「Showing all of them confuses an understanding of just how unique they are,」 he said. 「Showing one emphasizes exactly its uniqueness.」
Nor is the philosophy for the arrangement of objects necessarily the same at every museum.
「It used to be that you installed things by medium,」 Mr. Picóon said. 「Now the trend is to mix it and do it chronologically and thematically.」
Timothy Potts, the Getty』s director, favors a chronological approach. He said that when he came to the museum two and a half years ago, 「the exhibition was done thematically: gold, rulers, the Trojan War,」 he said. 「But I want to push the evolution of cultures through time.」
Gifts for the renovations include the Jaharises』 pledge of $10 million over 10 years to the Art Institute of Chicago, to enlarge the gallery space as well as create a department of Greek, Roman and Byzantine art. The galleries opened in 2012.
「The galleries are four times the size that they were before the museum renovation,」 said Karen Manchester, chairwoman and curator of ancient art. 「I had to borrow some artworks to fill the space, using long-term loans.」
But fund-raising efforts can encounter headwinds. At the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Christine Kondoleon, senior curator of Greek and Roman art, said the museum was still raising money to complete its galleries, even as it hoped to move beyond bad publicity surrounding disputes with foreign governments over ancient art in its collection. 「We settled well with the Italian government, and we gave things back to Turkey,」 she said. 「I hope we are putting that chapter behind us.」
Among other high-profile settlements by American museums is the 2006 agreement in which the Met agreed to return to Italy the Euphronius Crater, depicting a scene from the Iliad.
In Paris, the Louvre has already redone its Greek galleries and is starting a campaign to raise $30 million for its Roman and Etruscan galleries, an upgrade that it plans to begin in 2017.
Even the 128-year-old University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, which has yet to put in air-conditioning and drops its admission price in the summer to attract visitors, is planning a fund-raising campaign to upgrade.
「This was always a research museum focused on the advancement of science, but it has dawned on people that this is a remarkable collection,」 Julian Siggers, the Penn Museum』s director, said in an interview. 「But unless you have climate control, anything that is affected by humidity can』t be shown: metals, wood, fabric,」 adding, 「Today there is a real palpable excitement to do something interesting.」
（編輯：李秀娜）
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