泰特美术馆Tate Britain今天为其最新的Duveens Commission项目——来自艺术家Fiona Banner的《鹞和捷豹》（Harrier and Jaguar）揭幕，同时这也是Banner迄今为止创作的最大件艺术作品，材料来自两架货真价实、从战场前线归来的战斗机，如今它们改头换面作为Banner艺术创作的一部分呈现在新古典主义的杜威恩展厅（Duveen Galleries）中。《鹞和捷豹》（Harrier and Jaguar）由苏富比特别支持，作为泰特美术馆2010杜威恩项目（Tate Britain Duveens Commission 2010）亮相英伦。

在杜威恩南厅（South Duveens），一架海鹞战斗机（Sea Harrier jet）正在垂降，顶天立地于展厅中，几乎充满了整个空间还要往外突。模仿与其同名的鹰鹞，机身表面被手工涂满了天然鸟羽的花纹——驾驶舱、眼睛、锥形鼻子，鸟喙——那鹰钩鼻直指地面，让人脑中即刻浮现出被缚之鸟的形象。

在杜威恩北厅（North Duveens），一架捷豹战斗机（Sepecat Jaguar）仰天躺在地板上，她优雅细长的身躯延展着展厅的长度。经过油漆剥离和打磨，呈现出金属表面, 整架喷气式飞机俨然成为一组巨大的多面镜，映射着周遭的一切与参观者的脸庞与反应。

《鹞和捷豹》（Harrier and Jaguar）无疑达到了气宇轩昂的艺术效果与对战争的深沉反思。

艺术家Fiona Banner表示：“很难相信这些飞行器是因其战斗功能而被发明的，她们多美呀！然而她们确确实实、百分百地是为了战斗功能而诞生的，正如自然中的秃鹰与猎豹一样，她们生来便是杀手。而如今我们提出的课题是她们与生俱来的美，以及与之息息相关的人类智慧与道德准则。我对人类的感觉与思想之间的巨大鸿沟与矛盾非常感兴趣。”

泰特美术馆的总监Penelope Curtis则称：“Banner的项目之所以吸引我们，不仅仅因其简单或融合，更是因为她的想法：将两架玩儿真的战斗机弄到新古典主义的杜威恩展厅里来！”

对语言与符号的痴迷是Fiona Banner持之以恒的艺术追求，战斗机的寓意就好像是她艺术生涯的一个标志性符号，并解开了符号解读历史的新的一页。这件作品的雏形出现在她就读大学期间的手稿中，一些铅笔素描，然后在她1994年的处女作“语言羽轴”（wordscape）中找到影子，这件作品将影片《壮志凌云》（Top Gun）拆分成一帧帧的分散剧本。她的飞行器创作主题同样出现在其最近的作品Airfix中，这是一个将现行服役的全球范围内的所有战斗机都做了模型并以这些战斗机的昵称而作了归类。《鹞和捷豹》（Harrier and Jaguar）正是这一系列作品的深度探索，并展现了一个全新的充满喜剧感的、具有历史里程碑式意义的冒险之旅。

苏富比欧洲的执行主席Lord Poltimore评论道：“泰特美术馆Tate Britain的杜威恩项目Duveens Commission总是展现当前艺术界中最值得大规模展示的艺术作品，同时这也是苏富比的荣幸来再次赞助这一卓越杰出的项目，更是对泰特——这一全球当代艺术界最具先锋开拓精神机构的衷心支持。”

Banner的《鹞和捷豹》（Harrier and Jaguar）是泰特美术馆杜威恩项目（Duveen Galleries at Tate Britain）的最新一季展出作品。这个当代雕塑项目系列每年一次，起始于2008年，全程得到了苏富比的倾情赞助。受邀主持这一项目的历届艺术家包括：Eva Rothschild (2009), Martin Creed (2008), Mark Wallinger (2007), Michael Landy (2004), Anya Gallaccio (2002) 以及Mona Hatoum (2000)。这一系列项目建立在杜威恩展厅（Duveen Galleries）悠久的展出历史之上，不得不提的大师级参展人包括Richard Long, Richard Serra和Luciano Fabro。

《鹞和捷豹》（Harrier and Jaguar）
主办方：泰特美术馆Tate Britain
策展人：Lizzie Carey-Thomas
艺术家：Fiona Banner

LONDON.- Tate Britain today unveils its new Duveens Commission, Harrier and Jaguar, by Fiona Banner. Banner’s largest work to date, Harrier and Jaguar brings the highly-charged physicality of two real fighter jets, both previously in active military service, into the unexpected setting of the neoclassical Duveen Galleries. Harrier and Jaguar has been specially devised for the Tate Britain Duveens Commission 2010, supported by Sotheby’s.

In the South Duveens, a Sea Harrier jet is suspended vertically, its bulk spanning floor to ceiling, wall to wall. Mimicking its namesake the harrier hawk, the aircraft’s surface has been reworked with handpainted graphic feather markings – the cockpit, the eyes, the nose cone, the beak – and hung nose pointing towards the floor, bringing to mind a trussed bird.

In the North Duveens, a Sepecat Jaguar lies belly-up on the floor, its elegant, elongated body traces the length the gallery. Stripped of paint and polished to reveal a metallic surface, the aircraft becomes a mirror that reflects back its surroundings and exposes the audience to its own reactions. Harrier and Jaguar achieves a powerful presence loaded with the seductive and yet troubling qualities of these objects of war.

Fiona Banner said: “It’s hard to believe that these planes are designed for function, because they are beautiful. But they are absolutely designed for function, as a bird or prey is, and that function is to kill. That we find them beautiful brings into question the very notion of beauty, but also our own intellectual and moral position. I am interested in that clash between what we feel and what we think.”

Penelope Curtis, Director of Tate Britain, said: “The power of Banner’s project lies in its simple but unlikely juxtaposition: two fighter jets in a suite of neo-classical galleries.”

A fascination with language and signs is central to Fiona Banner’s practice. The emblem of the fighter jet recurs throughout her work, part of an ongoing enquiry into how signs translate experience. They appeared in pencil drawings she made at art college and then later in her first ‘wordscape’ in 1994 which transcribed the film Top Gun into a frame-by-frame written account. Aircraft are also present in more recent work where the artist has created Airfix models of all the war planes currently in service throughout the world and a taxonomy of fighter-plane nicknames. Harrier and Jaguar extends the artist’s exploration of these themes whilst constituting a dramatic new departure in terms of its monumental scale and the use of actual fighter jets.

Deputy Chairman, Sotheby’s Europe, Lord Poltimore, commented: “Tate Britain’s Duveens Commission is among the art scene’s most celebrated events and Sotheby’s is extremely proud to once again be supporting it, and Tate, one of the world’s leading public art institutions.”

Banner’s Harrier and Jaguar is the latest in a series of sculpture displays in the Duveen Galleries at Tate Britain. The contemporary sculpture commissions have been an annual event for three years since 2008, through the generous support of Sotheby’s. Artists who have previously undertaken the Commission include Eva Rothschild (2009), Martin Creed (2008), Mark Wallinger (2007), Michael Landy (2004), Anya Gallaccio (2002) and Mona Hatoum (2000). The series builds on a long tradition of exhibitions in the Duveen Galleries, which has included memorable installations by Richard Long, Richard Serra and Luciano Fabro.

Harrier and Jaguar is curated by Tate Britain Curator Lizzie Carey-Thomas in collaboration with the artist.