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Article published In: Text and Context Revisited Within a Multimodal Framework
Edited by Yves Gambier and Olli Philippe Lautenbacher
[Babel 70:1/2] 2024
► pp. 234–250

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Images that translate

 | University of Salamanca
Published online: 11 December 2023
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https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.00378.vid
Abstract
The connection between translation and contemporary art is a hitherto under-researched avenue. Some scholars have analyzed the translation of exhibition catalogue essays (Krein-Kühle, Monika. 2021. “Translating Contemporary Art: Challenges and Implications.” In Translation – Kunstkommunikation – Museum / Translation – Art Communication – Museum, edited by Barbara Ahrens, Silvia Hansen-Schirra, Krein-Kühle, Michael Schreiber, and Ursula Wienen, 23–60. Berlin: Frank & Timme.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) or the museum as a translation site (Sturge, Kate. 2007. Representing Others. Translation, Ethnography and the Museum. Manchester: St. Jerome.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Neather, Robert. 2008. “Translating Tea: On the Semiotics of Interlingual Practice in the Hong Kong Museum of Tea Ware.” Meta: Translators’ Journal 53 (1): 218–240. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . 2012. “‘Non-Expert’ Translators in a Professional Community. Identity, Anxiety and the Perceptions of Translator Expertise in the Chinese Museum Community.” The Translator 18 (2): 245–268. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . 2021. “Museums as Translation Zones.” In The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Globalization, edited by Esperança Bielsa and Dionysios Kapsaskis, 306–320. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Liao, Min-Hsiu. 2018. “Museums and Creative Industries: The Contribution of Translation Studies,” JoSTrans 291: 45–62.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . 2021. “A Journey Home? Cultural Back-Translation of Ethnographic Artifacts in Museums.” In Translation – Kunstkommunikation – Museum / Translation – Art Communication – Museum, edited by Barbara Ahrens, Silvia Hansen-Schirra, Krein-Kühle, Michael Schreiber, and Ursula Wienen, 99–115. Berlin: Frank & Timme.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Although these are important and necessary research avenues, my aim here is different. I intend to study translation beyond the verb-centric tradition, looking at how artworks have been using translation for decades and how the images used by artists communicate through nonverbal semiotic systems. This will be done by (1) examining the artworks that use words as images (with special emphasis on John Baldessari, Lawrence Weiner, and Robert Barry), (2) by studying how many contemporary artists use translation in their artworks (Ghada Amer, Danica Dakić, Nalini Malani, Mona Hatoum, among others) and (3) by concentrating on exhibitions which deal with translation as a way of looking at the world.
Résumé
Jusqu’à présent, traduction et arts contemporains n’ont guère été étudiés ensemble. Certes, certains ont analysé la traduction de catalogues d’exposition (Krein-Kühle, Monika. 2021. “Translating Contemporary Art: Challenges and Implications.” In Translation – Kunstkommunikation – Museum / Translation – Art Communication – Museum, edited by Barbara Ahrens, Silvia Hansen-Schirra, Krein-Kühle, Michael Schreiber, and Ursula Wienen, 23–60. Berlin: Frank & Timme.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) ou le musée comme site traduit (Sturge, Kate. 2007. Representing Others. Translation, Ethnography and the Museum. Manchester: St. Jerome.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Neather, Robert. 2008. “Translating Tea: On the Semiotics of Interlingual Practice in the Hong Kong Museum of Tea Ware.” Meta: Translators’ Journal 53 (1): 218–240. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . 2012. “‘Non-Expert’ Translators in a Professional Community. Identity, Anxiety and the Perceptions of Translator Expertise in the Chinese Museum Community.” The Translator 18 (2): 245–268. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . 2021. “Museums as Translation Zones.” In The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Globalization, edited by Esperança Bielsa and Dionysios Kapsaskis, 306–320. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Liao, Min-Hsiu. 2018. “Museums and Creative Industries: The Contribution of Translation Studies,” JoSTrans 291: 45–62.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . 2021. “A Journey Home? Cultural Back-Translation of Ethnographic Artifacts in Museums.” In Translation – Kunstkommunikation – Museum / Translation – Art Communication – Museum, edited by Barbara Ahrens, Silvia Hansen-Schirra, Krein-Kühle, Michael Schreiber, and Ursula Wienen, 99–115. Berlin: Frank & Timme.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Ces recherches sont pertinentes et nécessaires étant donné les questions qu’elles soulèvent ; néanmoins, l’objectif ici est différent puisque mon intention est d’analyser comment des réalisations artistiques ont eu recours, pendant des décennies, à la traduction et comment des images utilisées aujourd’hui par des artistes deviennent de nouveaux textes. Pour ce faire, je vais (1) examiner des œuvres qui intègrent des mots comme images, notamment en m’appuyant sur les travaux de John Baldessari, Lawrence Weiner et Robert Barry, (2) étudier la façon dont des artistes contemporains utilisent la traduction dans leur production (Ghada Amer, Danica Dakić, Nalini Malani, Mona Hatoum, entre autres) (3) et considérer certaines expositions qui intègrent des traductions comme manière de voir le monde.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Translating outwards
  • 3.Translating with contemporary art
    • 3.1The artist translator’s gaze: Images as texts/texts as images
    • 3.2Artworks that translate
  • 4.Concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • References
References (71)
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