Interview with Co-founder of Euroart Studios Lorraine Clarke
專訪歐藝術工作室聯合創辦人、藝術家羅琳·克拉克
TRANSLATED BY 翻譯 x Harry Liu 劉競晨
PHOTOGRAPHED BY 攝影 x Syndi Huang 黃煥欣
IMAGE COURTESY BY 圖片提供 x Lorraine Clarke 羅琳·克拉克
Lorraine Clarke (ARBS) is a London based artist whose work expresses a burgeoning interest in the human body, from the tremendous impact of biotechnology to the awesome complexity of the psyche.
She (co)-founded Euroart Studios (with Nigel Young) in 2002 where she develops her art practice alongside her responsibilities as art director.
Unlike other interviewed artist, Clarke has a double identity, an artist and the owner of Euroart Studios. Would Clarke’s own artist experience make her better understand what artists need and then create a Utopia for them? At the same time, as a ‘landlord’, she has to balance the business risk and return. As an artist as well as a ‘landlord’, what is her story with artist studios?
羅琳·克拉克在倫敦生活和工作，她的作品多是表現了其對人類身心的極大興趣和好奇，無論是生物科技對人類的巨大影響，或是人類令人歎為觀止的複雜靈魂都深深地吸引著她；她于2002年與奈傑爾·揚（Nigel Young）一起創辦了歐藝工作室，從那時起她便開始扮演藝術家和工作室運營商的雙重身份。
與其他的受訪人有所不同，羅琳的身份有些特殊，她是一位藝術家，但同時她也是倫敦歐藝藝術家工作室（Euroart）的運營者，這種藝術家外加“房東”的特殊身份讓我們感到非常有意思。因為自己的藝術實踐和創作，羅琳能更好地了解藝術家所需要空間的屬性，這讓她可以真正打造一個設身處地為藝術家提供便利的創作空間；但同時作為一個“房東”，她又要考慮各種商業風險和成本回報之間的平衡，為此我們也特地採訪了她，讓她來給我們講一講她與工作室的故事。
ART.ZIP: You yourself are an artist, how is your normal day in the studio?
ART.ZIP: 作為一名藝術家，每天在工作室裡都是怎樣度過的呢？
LC: Owing to my enduring fascination with the “human condition”, my work, taking multiple forms from large installations to small finely crafted collections, incorporating found and made objects, animation and sound, is infused with research into ancient rites and traditions, belief systems, religion, anthropology, aspects of the medical world.
On average I spend up to ten hours a day in my studio. My studio is my personal museum, my “cabinet of curiosities”, where I surround myself with objects and materials that I consider to be exquisite treasures. Through my creative process, transforming materials – often regarded as detritus, into objects of contemplation, new and strange, yet somehow familiar, I challenge the viewer to reflect upon what it is to be human.
It is also my “library” where time ceases to have definition while reading, researching and contemplating – and a place where I draw inspiration to develop concepts and ideas for my artwork and write poetry.
LC: 因為一直以來我都對“人類的處境”非常著迷，我的作品有很多形式，既有大型的裝置作品也有非常精緻的小巧作品。我所選用的那些天然或是人造的物品、動畫或者聲音都是和人類的生活息息相關的，這些材質都和我們人類的歷史、宗教、醫療等方方面面有著聯繫。
平均來說，我每天會在工作室裡呆上差不多10個小時。工作室對我來說就像是一個私人博物館，是一個“承載我好奇心的盒子”，這裡圍繞我的這些物件兒和材料都是我珍愛的“財寶”。我的創作過程就是將那些本來被視作支離破碎的“廢物”轉化成全新的、陌生的、奇怪的，但卻是似曾相識的、承載著沉靜思考的作品，我要讓觀眾來反思“人”的本源概念到底是什麼。
同時，這裡也是我的文獻倉庫，在閱讀、研究和沉思的時候時間彷彿就失去了意義；工作室也是我獲得靈感、發展自己觀念和想法的地方，有時候我也會寫寫詩。
