您是如何看待“界限”的？

How do you perceive boundaries? 

像“界限”或“边界”诸词勾起了我的童年记忆。我在四岁时曾遭受意外，自己不小心被小刀划伤了右眼，当时急需做角膜移植手术。在1989年之前，罗马尼亚的边境是关闭的，因此我父亲花了数周的时间才把我带到匈牙利境内德布勒森的一家医院，并在那里接受了手术治疗。

Words like “boundary” or “border” take me back to my childhood, when because of the accident that I suffered (I stabbed myself in the right eye with a pocket knife at age four), my parents had to bring me to a hospital that could perform cornea transplants. Before 1989 borders were closed in Romania, so it took a few weeks until my father managed to get me over the border with Hungary to a hospital in Debrecen, where I finally had the cornea transplant that I desperately needed. 

几年前，我开始接触到宇航员所说的“总览效应”，它被称之为一种可以改变人生观念的体验行为。近年来，“总览效应”的概念逐渐引起了人们的关注。这是认知的一种转变，通过上帝之眼所看到的视觉景象，带来深刻的、可以改变生活的体验。研究者将其定义为敬畏之心，可以超越自我，激发感官上的刺激。当宇航员从太空中俯瞰地球时，他们通常会生发出饱满的情绪，对美的感知力以及与其他人和整个地球的联系也随之增强。这种效应有着改变个体意识与价值体系的可能，最终走向自我革新。

A few years back I started reading about what astronauts are calling “the overview effect”. They describe it as a life changing experience. The concept of the "overview effect" has gained attention in recent years, particularly among astronauts who have had the opportunity to view Earth from space. This phenomenon is described as a cognitive shift that brings about a profound and life-changing experience. Researchers have characterised it as a state of awe, accompanied by self-transcendent qualities, triggered by a visually striking stimulus. When personally experiencing the Earth from space, astronauts commonly report feelings of appreciation, a heightened perception of beauty, overwhelming emotions, and an increased sense of connection to both other people and the planet as a whole. This effect has the potential to bring about changes in one's self-concept and value system, ultimately leading to transformative experiences. 

作为一名旅行艺术家和移民，我不断穿越边界，见证了文明、宗教、国家和种族的变化，这些经历一直是我艺术实践的灵感来源。我经常说，要重塑我们的社会，实现地球上的和平，我们或许需要将78亿人送上太空去待几天，让他们亲眼看看人类在浩瀚的宇宙中是怎样的微不足道，我们在地球上创造的那些虚构的界限是多么的荒谬。我们人类之间的差异非但没有被颂扬，反而被发展为意在分裂的符号与意识形态，之后形成了边界。

My own experience as a travelling artist and an immigrant, continuing crossing borders and witnessing variations in culture, religion, nation, race, has been a source of information and inspiration for my art practice. I often say that for remodelling our society and achieving peace on Earth we would need to send 7.8 billion people to space for a few days, so that they can see with their own eyes how insignificant we are as a planet and as a human race in the vastness of the universe and how ridiculous all these imaginary dividing lines that we invented here on Earth are. Instead of being celebrated, our differences are made into symbols and ideologies meant to divide; they are turned into borders. 

将熟悉的东西陌生化，进而又建立一种新的熟悉，熟悉与陌生之间，除了先入为主的观念变化，对您来说意味着什么？

The process of defamiliarising the familiar and subsequently creating a new sense of familiarity, besides challenging preconceived notions, what does it mean to you? 

“陌生化”一词由俄罗斯形式主义者提出，是一种艺术性的手法，以不熟悉的、陌生的方式呈现熟悉的物体或概念。这种方式旨在为观众提供新的视角，鼓励他们从不同的角度看待世界。它被认为是艺术和诗歌的核心理念。

Defamiliarization, as defined by the Russian formalists who coined the term, is an artistic technique that involves presenting familiar objects or concepts in an unfamiliar or strange manner. This technique aims to provide audiences with new perspectives and encourage them to see the world in a different light. It is considered to be the central concept of art and poetry. 

2018年，我开始了一个名为“宇宙之巷”的项目。这个项目的背后故事是以一个吸血鬼为主角，他在特兰西瓦尼亚一条名为“宇宙之巷”的街道上长大。吸血鬼有一种难以抗拒的冲动——除了通常的那种去找血的冲动，他想要寻找被丢弃和遗忘的普通物品，如香烟、意大利面、脏球网、破碎的鸟屋和干草叉等。不知何故，所有这些普通的物品都莫名其妙地出现在了外太空，之后不久又毫无缘由的随机地落向了地球。

In 2018 I started a project called “The Alley of the Universe”. The story behind this project has as a central figure a vampire who grew up on a street called “The Alley of the Universe” situated in Transylvania. The vampire feels an overwhelming impulse, (other than the usual one, which is to go in search of blood) to look for discarded and forgotten ordinary objects like cigarettes, spaghetti, a dirty tennis ball, broken bird houses and a pitchfork, among other things. Somehow all these ordinary things found themselves, unknowingly, first in outer space and then shortly thereafter falling to Earth, randomly, without reason. 

现在，它们都神秘地落在了世界各地的天文台附近，比如泽西城、纽约、里斯本、巴黎、布加勒斯特、布鲁塞尔。地球上的普通物体突然被炼金术改变了，它们被铜所覆盖，像一件件雕像一样，变成了非常重要的干草叉、袋子、鞋子和衣架。有趣的是，落到地球上之后的这些无生命的物体也突然变得有知觉了，所以它们不仅能思考，还能感受到情感和这种未知的力量，这种力量驱使它们以某种方式聚集在一起。最终，他们在这个新的“宇宙小巷”中找到了彼此，从此幸福地生活在那里。

Now mysteriously all these ordinary objects fell to sites situated near observatories around the world in cities like Jersey City, New York, Lisbon, Paris, Bucharest, Brussels. And on Earth the ordinary objects are suddenly alchemically transformed, covered in copper, statuesque, becoming really important pitchforks, bags, shoes, and most of all really important hangers. And interestingly enough after they all fell to Earth, these inanimate objects also became suddenly sentient, so they could not only think, but they could feel emotion and this unknown force that drove them to all come together in some way. Eventually they found each other in this new Alley of the Universe, living there happily ever after. 

“西西弗斯”系列的创作背景与此类似：乍一看，我正在制作的只是“石头”。但我把它们带到世界各地，就像著名神话中的希腊主人公一样。它们的大小、我将它们置于概念和物理背景下的方式以及制作它们的技术，我将它们标记为“DYI陨石”，它们的共同作用，使熟悉的事物变得陌生，并吹走了我们单调生活中的灰色尘埃，旨在向观众——哪怕只有一秒钟，传达另一种维度的思考。

The process behind the “Sisyphus” series is a similar one: at a first sight I’m making “just” rocks. But I move them around the world, like the Greek protagonist of the famous myth. Their size, the way I contextualise them both conceptually and physically, the technique that I employ to produce them, labeling them as DYI meteorites, they all work together to defamiliarise the familiar and blow away the grey dust of our monotonous lives, aiming at teleporting the viewer (even if only for a second) to another dimension. 

您的作品往往蕴含丰富的故事性，您是如何赋予的？

Your works often contain rich narratives; how do you infuse them? 

我作品中的故事性灵感常常是从每件作品创作前或创作过程中发生的真实事件中获得。偶尔，我会改编这些现实生活中的故事或事件，以达到戏剧性的效果，并借用古希腊神话中的人物，然后将它们结合在一起，我经常发现自己会陷入一种荒谬的境地之中。

The narratives within my works often draw inspiration from real events that occurred before or during the creation of each piece. Occasionally, I modify these real-life stories or events for dramatic effect and incorporate references to characters from ancient Greek myths. I frequently find myself entangled in absurd situations, which I then incorporate into my work. 

在艺术创作时，我一直被外太空和外星生命的可能性存在所吸引。2018年，前往林茨参加电子艺术节（Ars Electronica Festival），我有幸遇到了一位曾在美国宇航局（NASA）工作的科学家。我们的谈话深入到各种各样的话题，如流星、流星体、陨石、小行星、行星和太空碎片。我记得他的背包里还有一块收藏了几十年的陨石，这颗特殊的陨石来源于20世纪40年代发生在苏联的一场流星雨。正是在那个特殊的时刻，我萌生了制作自己的铜陨石的想法。

Throughout my artistic journey, I have always been captivated by outer space and the possibility of extraterrestrial life. In 2018, while attending the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, I had the privilege of meeting a scientist who had previously worked for NASA. Our conversations delved into various topics such as meteors, meteoroids, meteorites, asteroids, planets, and space debris. I recall him carrying a meteorite in his backpack, which he had possessed for several decades. This particular meteorite originated from a meteor shower that occurred in Russia during the 1940s. It was during that particular moment that the concept of crafting my own copper meteorites came to fruition. 

宇宙岩石吸引我的原因有很多，其中之一就是它们有能力在瞬间消灭掉地球上的所有生命，这令人深思，并生发一种谦卑之感。这让我想起了尼尔·德格拉斯·泰森说的：“即使我们拥有了先进的技术和发明，让现代生活更加的便利，但只要一场大的自然灾害就能把这一切抹去，并提醒我们，在地球上，我们仍然逃脱不了大自然的控制。”我亲切地把我的“像石头一样”的手锤铜雕塑系列称为“西西弗斯”，因为它们在画廊空间中、在房子和栅栏之间、甚至在购物车里找到了属于自己的位置。

These cosmic rocks have fascinated me for various reasons, one of them being their power to wipe out life on Earth in a blink of an eye, which should give one food for thought and trigger a feeling of humbleness. This leads me to the words of Neil deGrasse Tyson:  “Even with all our technology and the inventions that make modern life so much easier than it once was, it takes just one big natural disaster to wipe all that away and remind us that, here on Earth, we're still at the mercy of nature.”  I affectionately label my “rock-like” hand hammered copper sculptures series entitled “Sisyphus”, as meteorites, as they find their place within gallery spaces, nestled between houses and fences, or even perched atop shopping carts. 

您跟Ileana Moro合作的“Allienim”，是对未知宇宙的一次具像化表达，出发点是什么？

What was the starting point for your collaboration with Ileana Moro on "Allienim", a visualisation of the unknown universe? 

我和妻子对这个世界及其之所以存在的奥秘有着同样的好奇。我们日常的对话总是围绕着艺术、生活和浩渺的宇宙而展开，由此常常激发出新的项目灵感。2022年，我们在巴黎参加一个驻地项目时，创造了“Allienim”这个词。从那时起，我们就一直进行着持续的探索，设想这些来自另一个世界的功能性艺术作品应该具有怎样的形态。

My wife and I hold a shared perspective on the world and its mysteries. Our daily conversations revolve around art, life, and the vast cosmos, often sparking new ideas and projects. It was during our time in Paris in 2022, while participating in a residency program, that we coined the term "ALLIENIM." From there, we embarked on a gradual exploration, envisioning the appearance of these functional art pieces that originate from otherworldly realms. 

我们的人生经历有许多相似之处。完成学业后，我们都离开了自己的祖国，在美国和欧洲的不同地方旅居过。此外，我们都有着独特的身份，是各自家庭中唯一的艺术家。同时，我们都对宇宙的神秘本质迷恋不已。

Our life stories share many similarities. After completing our studies, we both left our native countries and have since resided in different locations across the United States and Europe. Additionally, we both hold the unique position of being the sole artists in our respective families. Furthermore, we share a deep fascination with the enigmatic nature of the universe. 

我们的目的是做一个稍微偏离我们作为独立艺术家的实践性的项目，于此我们可以探索新的领域，并被我们所谓的“功能艺术”的形式所吸引。

We were aiming to work on a project that was slightly drifting away from our own practices as solo artists, where we could explore new territories, gravitating around what we could call “functional art”.