我想起高中语文的某次作文题,讲一个建筑系的学生设计了一个纪念碑,把黑色的花岗岩埋入地下,颠覆了以往对纪念碑高耸入云,方尖碑式的形象定式.结果设计方案被选中。话题作文,写出来,大都讲不露锋芒啊,隐忍啊什么的.反正是对比高大,张扬和低调,沉默,褒谁贬谁,一般学生都可以接得住翎子.读大学的时候,这样的纪念碑对号入座一下也只有一个,它背后所隐藏的意义远远不止把石头埋入地下那么简单.我顿时觉得我被那段材料忽悠了.
那个建筑系学生的其实是林璎,那个纪念碑就是越战纪念碑,那次评选是美国举办的全国性设计大赛.林璎的方案,黑色花岗岩墙排成v字型,向左指向华盛顿纪念碑,向右指向林肯纪念堂.v字,惯常是代表胜利符号,一个黑色,倒在地上的v字又象征着怎样的胜利.之所以把整个墙体埋入地下,是为了表达一种撕扯的强烈情绪,就想战争对大地撕扯,然后在大地和人们心灵里留下伤痕. 逐渐走向最低点的坡度是为了呈现墙体的变化,镌刻在岩石上的名字从第一个排到最后一个,首尾相接,形成一个轮回.中间墙体消失的地方,正是意味这这个轮回被大地打断,可以解释为这些名字的所有者都被土地带走.我们隔着光可鉴人的岩石,看到的仿佛是另一个世界.中选,有时并不是好事,因为她才是个耶鲁大学三年级的学生,因为她是女性,因为她是亚裔,结果每一条都备受攻击.导致揭幕典礼上,没有任何人致辞时提及设计者的名字。熬过一段艰难的日子以后,争议和喧嚣都逐渐平静,越战纪念碑成为美国最受欢迎的十大建筑.林璎成为耶鲁最年轻的博士,2002年当选校董."我知道你在看我作品时,你会哭.不论你们怎么看我的作品,只有每个人在看到这些作品时油然而生的切身感受,才是最后的评价标准."
林璎来自一个艺术气息浓厚的显赫家族,她的姑姑同样是个建筑师,那就是林徽因.但她所处的时代要比姑姑幸运的多.当年林徽因因为是女生第一年被宾大拒收,后来在中国所作的大量工作是整理建筑史资料,几乎没有独立的作品.我们现今能看到的作品是人民英雄纪念碑和国徽设计.那是政治性多强的"甲方"啊...虽然这是一个令人难受的作品,因为它令人难受才显得意义非凡.对于战争的纪念和反思,融合在简单的线条里,带观者进入一种情绪,然后自己来下判断.以后也许会有阿富汗战争纪念碑,伊拉克战争纪念碑,但是越战纪念碑有着无法超越的地位.因为它的设计者,因为它在手法上的突破.最简单,最直接.就象点圣火,绕鸟巢走一圈的方式我觉得还是不能超越洛杉矶的那一箭,因为在绕场一周的时间里,对圣火点燃的期待实际上被削弱了,走到位置肯定能点上,关注的重点就变成走多久,怎么走上了.拉起弓箭啪地一下,那有多酷.大家心掉到嗓子眼,但是射手胸有成竹,所有累计的期待短时间内迅速聚集,并急速飑升,象是要脱离地球的加速度,最后随着火焰的升腾抵达情绪沸点.一击即中的酷~
显而易见的,我对这个建筑师和她的作品是神圣崇拜的.她奇妙地探索着建筑和艺术的边界.摘抄设计说明如下
Walking through this park-like area,the memorial appears as a rift in the earth,a long,polished black stone wall,emerging from and receding into the earth.Approaching the memorial,the ground slopes gently downward,and the low walls emerging on either side,growing out of the earth,extend and converge at a point below and ahead.Walking into the grassy site contained by the walls of this memorial we can barely make out the carved names upon the memorial’s walls.These names,seemingly infinite in nuimber,convey the sense of overwhelming numbers,while unifying those individuels into a whole.For this memorial is meant not as a monument to the individuel,but rather as a memorial to the men and women who died during this war,as a whole.
The memorial is compased not as an unchanging monument,but as a moving composition,to the under,stood as we move into and out of it;the passage itself is gradual,the descent to the origin slow,but it is at the origin that the meaning of this memorial is to fully understood.At the intersection fo these walls,on the right side,at this wall’s top is carved the date of the first death.It is followed by the names of those who have died in the war,in chronological order.These names continue on this wall,appearing to recede into the earth at the wall’s end.The names resume on the left wall,as the wall emerges from the earth,continuing back to the origin,where the date fo the last death is carved,at the bottom of this wall.Thus the war’s begining and end meet,the war is "complete",coming full circle,yet broken by the earth that bounds the angles open side,and contained within the earth itself.As we turn to leave,we see these walls streching into the the distance,directing us to the Washington Monument to the left and the Lincoln Memorial to the right,thus bringing the Vietnam Memorial to histrial context.We ,the living are brought to a concrete realization of these death.
Brought to a sharp awareness of such a loss,it is up to each individual to resolve or come to terms with this loss.For death is in the end a personal and private matter,and the area contained withinthisi memorial is a quiet place meant for personal reflection and private reckoning.The black granite walls,each 200 feet long ,and 10 feet below ground at their lowest point(gradually ascengding towards ground level)effectively act as a sound barrier,yet are of such a height and length so as not to appear threatening or enclosing.The actual area is wide and shollow,allowing for a sense of privacy and the sunlight from the memorial’s southern exposure along with the grassy park surrounding and within its wall contribute to the serenity of the area.Thus this memorial is for these who have died,and for us to remember them.
The memorial’s origin is located approximately at the center of this site;it legs each extending 200 feet towards the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.The walls ,contained on one side by the earth are 10 feet below ground at their point of origin,gradually lessening in height,until they finally recede totally into the earth at their ends.The walls are to be made of a hard,polished black granite,with the names to be carved in a simpleTrajan letter,3/4 ince high ,allowing nine inches in length for each name.The memorial’s construction involves recontouring the area within the wall’s boundaries so as to provide for an easily accessible descent,but as much of the site as possible should be left untouched(inculding trees).The area should be made into a park for all the public to enjoy.
只有当你接受和承认痛苦的现实之后,才有机会去愈合那些伤口并走出它们的阴影,从而超越它们.就在你读到并触摸每个名字的瞬间,这种痛苦会立刻渗透出来.而我的确希望人们会为之哭泣,然后从中找到生存下去的勇气,并从此主宰着自己回归光明与现实.假如你不能接受这个现实,就永远无法从中解脱出来.
by Maya Lin