French artist entombing himself in rock to hatch eggs

By Kately Miller

法国有一个行为艺术家，曾经把自己塞在毛绒玩具熊肚子里过了两周，还曾经钻进一个巨大的软木塞瓶里漂流过河，这一次他要封闭在一块石灰岩里长达一周，还准备用自己的体温孵化鸡蛋。然而他表示最大的梦想是行走在云端，果然是敢想也敢做。

A French artist is preparing to be entombed （埋葬；葬入坟墓）for a week inside a 12-ton rock in a modern art museum in Paris,after which he will appear and attempt to hatch a dozen eggs by sitting on them for weeks on end.

“I think of it as an inner journey to find out what the world is,”said Abraham Poincheval,who lately hollowed out a hole in the rock just big enough for himself to fit inside.He once spent two weeks inside a toy bear.He buried himself under a rock for eight days and navigated （航 行 ）France's Rhone river inside a giant bottle.He also played at being a human mole （鼹鼠）,and crossed France on foot in a straight line with a friend.

But curator Jean de Loisy,of the Palais de Tokyo museum where Poincheval's “Stone” and “Egg” performances are being held,insisted that his work should not be regarded as stunts（特技表演）but as a series of mystical journeys.Instead they are deep meditations（沉思）on “inner exploration,on modifying（修改；改变）the self and of living in other fields beyond our own,”De Loisy said.The artist said he had spent months mentally and physically preparing himself to smoothly go through the life inside the rock,where he would sit up with his arms outstretched.

Holes have been bored in the rock for air and cables for a heart monitor and emergency telephone line.Poincheval said all he would have to eat during his entombment would be a little dried meat and boxes of soup and other liquids.The only mystery was how he went to the toilet,for which the artist became uncharacteristically evasive（回避的；闪烁其辞的）when pressed on the subject.

Loneliness should not be a problem,he said.When he was buried under a rock outside a gallery in the southern city of Marseille,former prisoners who had been in prison came to keep him company and a young girl talked to him about the violin she had just bought three hours before.

In reality,so many people came to talk to“the stone”that security guards had to be stationed around the rock at night so he could get some sleep.“The real challenge this time might be having to leave the rock after the week”,Poincheval admitted.After previous performances,the end was always what he called“delicate”,marked by a day in the dumps...and a lot of turbulence（骚动；混乱）inside.“It took several weeks to get back to normal”,he said.

His next performance “Egg” will begin in a short period,with Poincheval sitting on a dozen eggs for between three and four weeks until they hatch.He will eat a special diet rich in ginger（姜； 生姜）so he could keep the eggs at a minimum of 37℃,with only a half an hour break every 24 hours to keep him from breaking down.

“The chicks that hatch will go and live with my parents”,Poincheval added.

But his ambitions do not end there.His big dream is to walk on the clouds.“I have been working on it for five years,but it is not quite there yet,”he added.

在巴黎的一家现代艺术博物馆，法国行为艺术家亚伯拉罕·伯安什瓦尔要在重达12吨的石灰岩里生活一周。一周之后，他会从石头里出来，然后用身体孵化12个鸡蛋一连数周直到小鸡出壳。

他在这块石头内部凿出了一个仅够他容身的空间，并且表示：“我把这次表演当作是了解世界的心灵旅程。”他曾在玩具熊肚子里生活了两周。他将自己埋在一块岩石下八天，还曾待在一个巨大的塞瓶里沿着法国罗纳河漂流。他还曾像鼹鼠一样生活，也曾和朋友徒步直线穿越法国。

伯安什瓦尔这场“石头”与“蛋”的表演是在东京宫博物馆开演的，该馆馆长让·德·路易西坚持认为，与其说他的表演是作秀，不如说是一系列神秘之旅。馆长表示：“这些表演谱写了一部关于心灵探索、自我修正、在异空间生活的沉思录”。伯安什瓦尔表示，到时候他将张开双臂坐在石头里。为顺利度过石头里的生活，他花了数月时间进行心理和生理上的调整与准备。

这块大石灰岩上已经钻了一些孔给伯安什瓦尔透气，也连好了电缆，以方便进行心脏监测和拨打求救电话。伯安什瓦尔告诉我们，他待在石头里的这一周，只会吃一点肉干和盒装的汤和饮料。唯一搞不懂的便是他怎样解决如厕问题，每每有人问及此，他就一反常态地闪烁其词。

他说，孤独不是个问题。他之前在法国南部城市马赛的一家画廊外，被埋在岩石下面的时候，有曾经坐过牢的犯人过来陪他，还有个年轻女孩曾与他聊起了她三小时前刚买的那把小提琴呢。

实际上，有很多人慕名前来与这块“石头”聊天，为了让伯安什瓦尔可以睡会儿觉，保安夜间还得在他附近驻守。伯安什瓦尔也承认，他这次表演最大的挑战，便是在石灰岩里待了一周后重返正常生活。他还告诉我们，以前表演结束后，他最终的感受往往是“脆弱”，“心情抑郁又躁动不安，要缓好几周才会恢复正常”。

他的下一场名为“孵蛋”的表演将于近期开始，伯安什瓦尔会坐在一打鸡蛋上，坐上大约三四个星期直到小鸡破壳。 因为他得让鸡蛋保持在至少37摄氏度，所以他到时会摄入一种富含生姜的特殊膳食，而且他每天仅仅只有半小时的自由休息时间。

伯安什瓦尔补充道：“这些孵出来的小鸡将由我的父母来照看。”

然而他的野心并不止于此。

他解释道：“我最大的梦想是有一天可以在云端行走。我为此研究了5年，但目前还不成熟。”