牛津下雪了!

 從2001年來英國到現在我這個中國東北佬第一次激動地見到了牛津的雪.所以我很同情在文學城網站人在英國的一個網友貼子’下雪了’貼了兩次因此遭到一個網友的挪揄.

 

我起床後照例拉開窗簾映入我眼簾的不是通常的黑色屋頂而是一片銀白.除馬路上白的少點兒外所有都是白的.這令人稀罕的白,這令人驚喜的白!快門按動,留駐這一瞬間.因為我知道IT WON’T LAST LONG.果然中午太陽高懸後一切又變得和往日一樣赤裸起來.但氣溫卻沒有恢複而且嗖嗖小風吹得人麵色紅潤.今天騎自行車和步行不失為一種比較頑強的選擇.

 

從BLACKWELL咖啡店出來興奮地走在回家的路上,忽然想起了一星期前在大學圖書館前的CLARENDON QUAD舉辦的戶外ICE GARDEN 展覽.一些藝術家,科學家和教師們去了趟北北冰洋回來創造了很多同冰有關的作品.但和我們中國每年哈爾濱的冰雕藝術不一樣.這次展覽的主題是有關GLOBAL WARMING全球變暖的. 在展覽的前兩天我大概在晚上經過圖書館看到諾大的圖書館兩層之間的空間被當成橫幅上麵流淌著一句句英文.後來我在展覽正式開始那天將這些文字朗讀並錄到我的錄音器裏.下麵我已將它謄寫下來:

 

The pressure of our numbers the abundance of our inventions the blind forces of our desires and needs are generating a heat, the hot breath of our civilisation. How can we begin to restrain ourselves? We resemble a successful lichen,a ravaging bloom of algae, a mould enveloping the food…We are fouling our nest and we know we must act decisively against our immediate inclinations. But can we agree among ourselves we are a cleaver and quarrelsome species? In our public debates we can sound like rookery in full throat. We are superstitious, hierarchical and self interested. Just when the moment requires us to be rational even handed and altruistic… We are shaped by our history and biology to frame our plans within the short term, within the scale of single life time. Now we are asked to address the well being of unborn individuals we will never meet and who, contrary to the usual terms of the human interaction. We’ll not be returning favour. Pessimism is intellectually delicious, even thrilling, but the matter before us is too serious for mere self pleasuring. On our side we have our rationality which finds it highest expression and formalisation in good(?) science. We have a talent for working together when it suits us. Are we at the beginning of an unprecedented era of international co-operation or are we living in an Edwardian summer of reckless denial? Is this the beginning or the beginning of the end?

 

上麵這段文字是整個展覽的唯一文字也是其靈魂.如果大家對在看過展覽中一個裸體健壯的懷孕婦女在冰山斷裂聲中從海洋裏走向陸地走向太陽還感到費解的話,那麽上麵的這一段文字簡直是一目了然:大家都知道地球發生了什麽.人類的未來將會因為我們現在這一代的胡作非為承受什麽樣的代價?這是一段催人猛醒震聾發聵的文字,希望有時間慢慢將其譯出來.

 

望著一快快疊起的冰陣,一群大概20多個穿著整齊且比較統一的中國大陸遊客閃動著手中的快門.這一切被走向圖書館的我收入眼中.他們是來旅遊牛津參觀大學圖書館的,真巧趕上了展覽的準備工作,趕上了這’難得’的拍照機會.但遺憾的是這些同胞們沒有機會來真正地參觀一下這個展覽.看看那位懷著人類未來的婦女,聽聽北冰洋冰雪的融化聲.另外主辦方(http://www.capefarewell.com)還在18日中午搞了一個辯論,主題為:環球變暖--對亞洲的影響.因為那天事情太多沒抽出時間去看熱鬧.現在回想起來覺得很遺憾.

 

思緒回到眼前又飄起的小雪花.走在路上感到比平日格外的冷.快到家時路過ROSE AND CROWN 忍不住鑽進去喝了兩杯.端著酒杯望著壁爐裏竄動的火苗心裏萌升了一個計劃.這個計劃現在公布還為時過早,但一定要做.走出酒吧前來了一群看起來都像到了18歲的英國青少年.他們想買酒被酒吧主人拒絕.後來酒吧主對我說,我們製定了法就要執行.不能象西班牙和歐洲一些國家那樣由警察來執法.

 

從酒吧出來雪花似乎有些大了而且更大膽地在夜幕的掩護下舞蹈起來.

 

附:在牛津大學舉辦的’冰園展覽’

15-18 December 2005
Clarendon Quad, Bodleian Library, Oxford
Heather Ackroyd & Dan Harvey, Kathy Barber, David Buckland, Peter Clegg, Max Eastley, Ian McEwan

The Ice Garden is the first Cape Farewell exhibition showing works inspired by voyages with artists, scientists and educators into the High Arctic. Artists Heather Ackroyd & Dan Harvey, Kathy Barber, David Buckland, Peter Clegg, Max Eastley, and Ian McEwan have developed sound, light, text and sculptural installations for the Clarendon Quad in front of the Bodleian Library.

The Ice Garden features ten two-metre-high columns of ice, signalling the volume of carbon dioxide generated by each person in the UK each year. On a sheet of water, messages and images from the frozen Arctic fleetingly appear. Projected onto the walls of the Bodleian Library, a chilling call to action. Elsewhere in the quad a fragment of glacier, complete with pieces of earth, emits the sound of disintegrating ice.

The exhibition runs from 4pm-8pm and admission is free. Download a PDF version of the exhibition brochure below.
Download Brochure 616Kb

Sunday 18 December, 1-3pm
Climate Change - The Impact in Asia
is an open discussion, led by Saleemul Huq, director of the Climate Change Programme at the International Institute for Environment and Development, with Professor Diana Liverman of Environmental Change, Oxford University and David Buckland. The discussion is taking place at The Asian Cultural Centre, Manzil Way, Oxford.