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qualified English>Spanish translator, 17 years as a freelancer - traductora titulada inglés-español, 17 años como freelance
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English to Spanish: art critique text / crítica de arte General field: Art/Literary Detailed field: Art, Arts & Crafts, Painting
Source text - English Jan Verwoert
Gestures Towards a New Life:
The Avant-Garde as a Historical Provocation
1. What to do with the Avant-Garde?
What does an avant-garde want – from art, from people, from society? What is it getting at? How can we find that out? What if we begin by not asking about an avant-garde’s motivations, goals, and influences, and instead con¬sider the gestures with which avant-gardists stage themselves? Avant-gardists are never without a gesture, for their appearance on the stage of art history must have the necessary power to unhinge this history (as it previously con¬ceived itself) with a long-lasting effect. The appearance of an avant-garde indeed only goes down in history if it successfully performs gestures that make conceivable another course of history. These gestures correspond in their form and status to a coup d’etat in art history and its politics. The suc¬cessful performance of an avant-garde gesture entails a coup, a historical feat. Paradoxically, it lies in the nature of the avant-garde gesture that it is on the one hand transhistorical, to the extent that as a singular event it radically interrupts the course of history, exploding its framework and falling out of all previously valid categories of historiography, while at the same time it is deeply historical, founding the new history in which it will exist and be con¬ceived from now on – as the revolutionary act of founding a new art. The power of the avant-garde gesture could not even be measured if we didn’t somehow feel the impact of the break it causes, and thus did not perceive the break as an event with a still undiminished – that is, transhistorical – effectivity. But adequately describing the significance of this power means nonetheless presenting its long-term impact from an overarching historical perspective. To grasp the coup of an avant-garde thus entails understanding the force of the gesture at its core in its simultaneously historical and trans-historical dimensions.
Indeed, it seems quite a general characteristic of gestures that the context in which they take on meaning is historical and transhistorical at the same time. On the one hand, historical reality manifests itself so clearly in gestures because they belong to the inventory of means of expression available at a certain point in time. In their function as cultural-historical specific forms of interaction, gestures are signs of their time. On the other hand, the significance of a gesture is always also absolutely contemporary in the transhistorical sense, for we only understand the gesture if we allow it to have an impact upon us in the moment we perceive it, if it engages us in an exchange in that moment. Gestures demand a direct response. When someone greets, they expect to be greeted back. Someone who makes a scene is courting attention. Whoever cries saddens, and so on. Gestures create presence to the extent that they always commit us to participating in an exchange in that moment. Because it seems to lie in the nature of the gesture that the person who performs it intends to provoke a reaction, it can be said that the gesture is “provocative” in a literal sense. The practical meaning of the gesture thus lies not least in the provocation that it causes. Provocation is inherent to gestures.
That provocation is the intention of an avant-garde can surely be counted as a commonplace of art history. The slogan “Épater le bourgeois” is almost proverbially associated with the concept of the avant-garde. The expanded perspective that this understanding of the intrinsically provocative character of the gesture allows is that provocation no longer presents itself as a mere attitude of the avant-garde, but an immanent force of artistic practice. The power of the avant-garde gesture that strives for the historical coup in its performance is its provocative power. But whom does this gesture provoke? Here as well, the answer must remain ambivalent: on the one hand, the avant-garde gesture provokes the witnesses of its performance, that is, both the historical witnesses as well as those interested in its history, who try to re-experience the power of the provocation in order to attest to it. On the other hand, the avant-garde gesture provokes not just its witnesses, but his¬tory itself – here also in a double sense. Avant-gardists pro-voke, or indeed e-voke history to the extent that they summon history as the system of refer¬ences for their artistic practice. It is precisely here that avant-gardists differ from ordinary art producers, for they understand their artistic acts always directly as historical acts, as entries in – and rewritings of – the book of history. Through the radical transformation of our habits of perception, they seek to cause an event in art that in its radicalness and explosiveness exceeds art history and constitutes a historically new form of experience – that is, a new form of experiencing history. At the same time, they pro-voke history in a still more direct sense, by summoning it, as if calling a ghost to finally show itself: “Reveal yourself, history, let us see how you will be!” is the true motto of avant-garde provocation. The hope here is that the ghost of his¬tory, if it would allow itself to be lured into making an appearance, might take on the shape of a revolution. Through the provocation of their gestures, avant-gardists are interested in nothing less than causing a revolution as the eventful appearance of a new history.
Translation - Spanish Jan Verwoert
Gestos para una vida nueva:
La vanguardia como provocación histórica
1. ¿Qué hacer con la vanguardia?
¿Qué pretende una vanguardia – del arte, de la gente, de la sociedad? ¿Qué se propone? ¿Cómo podemos averiguarlo? ¿Y si en lugar de empezar por preguntarnos sobre los motivos, objetivos e influencias de una vanguardia consideramos los gestos con los que los vanguardistas hacen su puesta en escena? Los vanguardistas nunca prescinden del gesto, pues su irrupción en la historia del arte debe ser tan potente como para hacer que tiemblen sus cimientos (cómo se concebía a sí misma anteriormente) y producir un efecto de larga duración. La aparición de una vanguardia de hecho solo hace historia si representa con éxito los gestos que permiten imaginar otro devenir histórico. Estos gestos, en cuanto a forma y estatus, equivalen a un coup d’etat, un golpe de estado contra la historia del arte y su política. El gesto vanguardista representado con éxito implica un golpe, un corte (“coup”), un hito histórico. Paradójicamente, es inherente a la naturaleza del gesto vanguardista el ser, por un lado, transhistórico - en la medida en que, como evento singular, interrumpe el curso de la historia reventando sus límites para quedar fuera de las categorías historiográficas válidas hasta el momento -, y ser a un tiempo profundamente histórico, al fundar la nueva historia en la que existirá y de la que se le considerará parte desde entonces, como acto revolucionario que establece un nuevo arte. El poder del gesto vanguardista no podría siquiera apreciarse si no advirtiéramos de alguna manera la trascendencia de la ruptura que provoca, ni percibiéramos, por tanto, dicha ruptura como un evento con una efectividad aún incipiente (es decir, transhistórica). Pero describir adecuadamente la trascendencia de este poder conlleva, aún así, presentar su efecto a largo plazo desde una amplia perspectiva histórica. Captar el impacto de una vanguardia supone comprender la fuerza que entraña la esencia del gesto en sus dimensiones histórica y trans-histórica simultáneamente.
Ciertamente, parece que los gestos comparten la característica general de adquirir sentido en un contexto que es histórico y transhistórico al mismo tiempo. Por un lado, la realidad histórica se manifiesta tan claramente en los gestos porque pertenecen al inventario de recursos expresivos disponibles en un determinado momento. En su función como formas específicas de interacción histórico-cultural, los gestos son signos de su tiempo. Por otro lado, la relevancia de un gesto también es siempre absolutamente contemporánea en el sentido transhistórico, ya que solo comprendemos el gesto si le permitimos tener un efecto en nosotros en cuanto lo percibimos, si nos involucra en un intercambio al instante. Los gestos exigen una respuesta directa. Cuando alguien saluda, espera que se le devuelva el saludo. Alguien que monta una escena busca atención. Alguien que llora induce a la tristeza, etc. Los gestos crean presencia en la medida en que siempre nos comprometen a participar en un intercambio en el momento de darse. Puesto que parece propio de la naturaleza del gesto que quien lo ejecute trate de provocar una reacción, puede decirse que los gestos son literalmente “provocadores”. Por tanto, el sentido práctico del gesto radica en igual medida en la provocación que causa. La provocación es inherente al gesto.
Que la intención de una vanguardia es provocar puede considerarse sin duda como uno de los lugares comunes de la historia del arte. La máxima “Épater le bourgeois” (escandalizar a la burguesía) se asocia de forma casi automática al concepto de vanguardia. Desde una perspectiva más amplia de este concepto del carácter intrínsecamente provocador del gesto, la provocación no se presenta ya como una mera actitud de la vanguardia, sino como una fuerza connatural a la práctica artística. El poder del gesto vanguardista que trata de marcar un hito histórico al ejecutarse reside en su capacidad de provocación. Pero, ¿a quién provoca este gesto? Aquí la respuesta es asimismo ambivalente: por un lado, el gesto vanguardista provoca a quienes presencian su ejecución, es decir, tanto a sus testigos históricos como a los que están interesados en su historia, quienes tratan de re-vivir la experiencia del poder de la provocación para dar fe de ello. Por otro lado, el gesto vanguardista provoca no solo a sus testigos sino a la propia historia – aquí también en sentido doble. Los vanguardistas pro-vocan, o verdaderamente e-vocan la historia en cuanto a que la reducen a un sistema de referencia de su práctica artística. Es en este aspecto precisamente donde los vanguardistas difieren de los productores artísticos ordinarios, al entender siempre sus actuaciones artísticas como actuaciones históricas, como entradas –y reescrituras- del libro de la historia. Mediante la transformación radical de nuestros hábitos perceptivos, pretenden generar un evento en el arte cuya radicalidad y explosividad superen a la historia del arte y constituyan históricamente una nueva forma de experiencia –es decir, una nueva forma de vivir la historia. Al mismo tiempo, pro-vocan a la historia en un sentido aún más directo, al citarla como si convocaran a un fantasma a manifestarse: “!Revélate, historia, déjanos ver cómo serás¡”, es el auténtico lema de la provocación vanguardista, que abriga la esperanza de que el fantasma de la historia, de avenirse a manifestar su apariencia, lo haga en forma de revolución. Con la provocación de sus gestos, los vanguardistas lo único que pretenden es causar una revolución con la apariencia de una hueva historia.
Born in Bilbao, Spain in 1962. University degree in Translation and Interpreting (BA equivalent), Universidad de Granada, Spain, 1999. Diploma in Translation and Interpreting, Universidad de Granada, Spain, 1992. Fine Art studies, Universidad del País Vasco, 1985-88. Lived and studied in Dublin, Ireland, and London, UK, 1980-1985, 1991-2.
Since
1993, dedicated to translation and related tasks: proofreading/editing; transcription;
glossary development; copywriting; transcreation; localization; linguistic
validation.
Areas of expertise:
Art: Literary translation.
Texts for art gallery’s exhibitions and catalogues (art critique, texts by
artists, scripts, subtitling, labels). Audio guides for museums, galleries and
tourist sites. Websites on art and architectural treasures. Different types of
texts in connection with artists and artistic projects. Painting, sculpture,
video art, film, performance, photography, animation, installations, crafts, etc.
Medical :Interpreting,
translation, and secretarial duties for Harley street doctor and consulting
rooms (gynaecology & obstetrics) and private clinic in central London.
Liaison interpreting between patients and doctors/nurses. Drafting of referral
letters for the patients’ doctors. Translation of data to complete
documentation requirements, patients’ histories and reports, and informed
consent. Translation of specifications and instructions for medical devices and
equipment. Transcription of interviews with doctors, health professionals and
patients. Translation, localization and linguistic validationof Clinical Outcomes Assessments (COAs), clinical
trial management instruments, Patient Reported Outcomes (PRO), QoL instruments
(scales, symptoms questionnaires); reports; instructions; informed consent.
Tourism: Tourism related
texts, particularly websites: detailed information on areas such as hotel and
catering industry, accommodation, travel, history, culture and leisure,
gastronomy and oenology, art, architectural and natural heritage. Web site
translation, proofreading and optimization/ positioning (search engine keyword
analysis, selection and insertion in Web copy). Transcreation, adaptation of
advertising copy for the Spanish market. Audio guides.
Market research/marketing: Translation,
proofreading, transcription of market research materials for different purposes
(qualitative and quantitative research): screeners, questionnaires, IDI and
discussion group’s guides, interviews, verbatim, presentations, conclusions,
reports, manuals, product descriptions, promotional and advertising materials,
labels, etc. Mostly pharmaceutics and consumer products. Adaptation of
advertising copy to Spanish market/ audience; transcreation of promotional copy
for web templates (on banking services, construction, home improvement and DIY,
cosmetics, food & drink…). Branding, brand name analysis and positioning. E-commerce:
Description of products for online catalogues (fashion, women & men’s wear,
footwear, accessories, cosmetics.
Institutional: Guidelines and
policies; project descriptions; EU Whitebook on transport and documentation on transport policies (guidelines, papers,
reports, recommendations); UNPD 2003 Report on Human Development;
manuals on institutional aid; report on the performance of employment promotion
policies. International conference, meetings and seminar documentation
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