An Art Powerhouse From North Korea
ART & DESIGNJanuary 26, 2016
興建吳哥博物館，柬埔寨請朝鮮幫忙
藝術與設計2016年1月26日
柬埔寨暹粒——門廳里的巨幅壁畫描繪的是一張笑意盈盈的石雕臉，讓人得以一窺新建成的吳哥全景博物館(Angkor Panorama Museum)內部的宏偉。博物館裡，360度繪製的風景圖覆蓋的區域幾乎相當於四個籃球場大小。在這張巨大的環形畫幕上，有4.5萬多個人物，描繪的是12世紀的吳哥歷史。
這座博物館於去年12月對外開放，是對歷史學家口中9到15世紀間世界上最偉大的城市之一的全面致敬。這裡也是高棉帝國的都城。不過，讓這家博物館成為現實的一切——資金、概念、設計和藝術家——幾乎都來自朝鮮，而不是柬埔寨，具體來說，是朝鮮最大的藝術工作室萬壽台(Mansudae)。
在全世界的大量注意力放在朝鮮反覆無常的領導人和核能力上時，這家工作室的作品正在悄無聲息地走出這個隱秘王國的大門。萬壽台的藝術家是當代的社會現實主義大師。近年來，他們創作的紀念碑和雕塑作品出現在了非洲、中東、東南亞乃至德國。
Luc Forsyth for The New York Times
全景畫描述的是12世紀的吳哥歷史。圖為全景畫的一處細節。
吳哥全景博物館是萬壽台最耗時費力的國外項目。從朝鮮坐飛機前來的63名藝術家，費時四個月才畫好這個環形畫幕。
「在插圖、繪畫和建築方面，萬壽台有着非凡的才華和良好的口碑，」負責管理吳哥建築群的政府機構阿帕莎拉(Apsara)的博物館事務代理負責人伊特·准達羅(Yit Chandaroat)這樣解釋柬埔寨為何選擇萬壽台作為合作夥伴。
Luc Forsyth for The New York Times
這幅作品上有45000多個人物。
設在平壤的萬壽台創作社(Mansudae Art Studio)成立於1959年，是世界上最大的藝術工作室之一。據其在美國和歐洲的代表皮耶爾·路易吉·切喬尼(Pier Luigi Cecioni)稱，萬壽台有大約4000名僱員，其中包括朝鮮最有才華的800到900名藝術家。
那裡出品各種作品，包括散布在朝鮮各地的大部分的宣傳性藝術品和雕塑。據稱，只有萬壽台的藝術家獲准在藝術作品中表現統治該國的金氏家族。1972年，萬壽台在該國首都平壤的一座小山丘上建起了一尊66英尺（約合20米）高的金日成(Kim Il-sung)塑像。金日成是朝鮮的開國領袖，也是現任領導人的祖父。2012年，在金日成的兒子兼繼任者金正日(Kim Jong-il)去世後，金日成塑像的旁邊又樹起了一尊大小類似的金正日塑像。
Nichole Sobecki for The New York Times
塞內加爾達喀爾的非洲復興紀念碑
從90年代開始，萬壽台也開始承接國外項目。東南亞和非洲一些國家的政府以較低的成本，將大型項目委託給萬壽台的藝術家。這些項目包括塞內加爾達喀爾的非洲復興紀念碑(African Renaissance Monument)和法蘭克福的童話噴泉(Fairy Tale Fountain)。萬壽台還在北京的798藝術區設立了一家美術館，就在佩斯畫廊(Pace Gallery)和林冠藝術基金會(Faurschou Foundation)的對面。
伊特表示，幾年前，萬壽台的海外部門主動找到柬埔寨政府的投資機構柬埔寨發展委員會(Council for the Development of Cambodia)，建議在暹粒建一座博物館。
柬埔寨和朝鮮歷來關係緊密。這主要是基於金日成和2012年去世的柬埔寨國王諾羅敦·西哈努克(Norodom Sihanouk)之間的私交。
70年代，朝鮮領導人金日成將平壤郊外的一處宮殿送給了西哈努克。西哈努克曾稱金日成「超越朋友，超越兄弟」。流亡在外的多年時間裡，這位柬埔寨君主每年都要在朝鮮待幾個月。他甚至還親自編寫劇本，執導了一系列由朝鮮人擔任主演的電影。
Luc Forsyth for The New York Times
博物館門廳
如今，朝鮮在柬埔寨開辦了幾家餐廳，屬於其規模日漸擴大的餐飲生意的一部分。專家稱，對財政吃緊的平壤政府來說，這門生意是一個重要的收入來源。
然而，專家稱，不同於餐廳，萬壽台雖屬於國有，但享有相對獨立於政府之外的自主性，包括涉及向外擴展的決定。
「我不認為這家博物館是朝鮮在試圖投射軟實力，」和萬壽台合作了20多年的北京藝廊高麗工作室(Koryo Studio)創始人尼古拉斯·邦納(Nicholas Bonner)說。「萬壽台是一個大型工作室，他們需要不停地工作，以便從國內外獲取收入。」
在一個重要的方面，吳哥這家博物館和萬壽台以前的項目有所不同。據博物館領導和專家稱，萬壽台的工作通常都會收費，而這是其首次投入大量資金。
Luc Forsyth for The New York Times
博物館禮品店裡的工作人員
「我們通常會聽到萬壽台謀利的方面，這一次似乎不符合這一點，」英格蘭利茲大學(University Of Leeds)講師亞當·卡思卡特(Adam Cathcart)說。「但話說回來，涉及朝鮮的時候，總會有幕後的故事。」
萬壽台和柬埔寨首都金邊的朝鮮大使館均未回復通過電子郵件、電話和柬埔寨博物館領導傳達的置評請求。
吳哥全景博物館的建設施工始於2011年。伊特表示，萬壽台在設計博物館的建築和全景畫的過程中，徵求了一個由柬埔寨官員組成的委員會的意見。
按計劃，博物館的收益將分三個階段支出。一開始，收入將歸萬壽台。10年（或者不到10年，如果成本提前收回的話）後，收入歸雙方所有。在第三個，也就是最後一個階段，博物館的財產和管理都將被移交給阿帕莎拉。
阿帕莎拉的發言人朗·科薩爾(Long Kosal)稱，博物館是一項長遠計劃的一部分。該計劃旨在讓吳哥建築群的景點多元化，並把日漸增多的遊客對寺廟的影響降到最低。朗·科薩爾稱，去年，吳哥建築群接待了250多萬外國遊客，而2000年的外國遊客人數約為40萬。他說，預計在建築群的中央售票廳搬去博物館旁邊的新樓時，博物館很快便會迎來客流。博物館目前還不是吳哥建築群正式的一部分。針對外國遊客的環形畫幕門票是15美元。
與此同時，博物館領導稱，每天平均只有大約20名遊客。前不久的一個下午，博物館裡幾乎看不到人。遊客少之又少，當其中一人走近大廳時，一名工作人員急忙打開燈，解釋說為了省錢，工作人員被要求盡量少開燈和空調。
「這裡非常濕熱，不像家裡那麼涼爽，」在博物館的咖啡廳里，一名在那裡工作的年輕朝鮮女子用流利的英語說。「難以適應。」
翻譯：陳亦亭SIEM REAP, Cambodia — The giant mural in the foyer depicting a smiling stone face offers a mere taste of the grandiosity within the new Angkor Panorama Museum here. Inside, a 360-degree painted vista covers an area the size of nearly four basketball courts. Over 45,000 figures populate this cyclorama, a depiction of 12th-century Angkorian history.
The museum, which opened in December, is a sweeping homage to what historians call one of the greatest cities in the world between the ninth and 15th centuries and the capital of the Khmer empire. But almost everything that went into this building — the money, the concept, the design and the artists — came not from Cambodia but from North Korea, namely, Mansudae, the largest art studio in that country.
At a time when much of the world’s focus is on North Korea’s mercurial leadership and nuclear capabilities, this studio’s work is quietly making its way beyond the borders of that hermit kingdom. In recent years, monuments and sculptures made by Mansudae artists, modern-day masters of Socialist Realism, have popped up in Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and even Germany.The Angkor Panorama Museum is the studio’s most ambitious foreign project. It took 63 artists, flown in from North Korea, four months to paint the cyclorama.
“Mansudae has great talent and a good reputation in artwork, painting and construction,” said Yit Chandaroat, acting director of museums for Apsara, the government agency responsible for managing the Angkor complex, explaining why Cambodia chose its partner.Mansudae Art Studio in Pyongyang, founded in 1959, is one of the world’s biggest art factories. It employs about 4,000 people, including 800 to 900 of North Korea’s most talented artists, according to Pier Luigi Cecioni, its representative in the United States and Europe.
The studio produces a variety of works, including most of the propaganda art and sculptures that dot North Korea. Its artists are said to be the only ones permitted to portray that country’s ruling family, the Kims. In 1972, it built a 66-foot-high statue of Kim Il-sung, North Korea’s founding leader and the grandfather of the current leader, on a hill in Pyongyang, the capital. A second, similarly sized likeness of Kim Jong-il, Kim Il-sung’s son and successor, was added beside the original in 2012 after Kim Jong-il’s death.
The African Renaissance Monument in Dakar, Senegal.
Starting in the 1990s, Mansudae also began taking on outside projects. Governments in Southeast Asia and Africa have commissioned its artists for large-scale projects at low costs, among them the African Renaissance Monument in Dakar, Senegal, and the Fairy Tale Fountain in Frankfurt. The studio also maintains a gallery in the 798 Art District in Beijing, opposite the Pace Gallery and the Faurschou Foundation.
Mansudae’s overseas division first approached the Council for the Development of Cambodia, the government’s investment board, with a proposal to build a museum in Siem Reap several years ago, Mr. Yit said.
Cambodia and North Korea have historically maintained strong ties, based largely on the personal relationship between Kim Il-sung and King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia, who died in 2012.
In the 1970s, that North Korean leader gave King Sihanouk, who once referred to Mr. Kim as “more than a friend, more than a brother,” a palace outside Pyongyang. During his many years in exile, the Cambodian monarch spent several months annually in North Korea and even wrote and directed a series of films starring North Korean actors.登录 || 注册（赠阅新闻电邮）
An Art Powerhouse From North Korea
ART & DESIGNJanuary 26, 2016
SIEM REAP, Cambodia — The giant mural in the foyer depicting a smiling stone face offers a mere taste of the grandiosity within the new Angkor Panorama Museum here. Inside, a 360-degree painted vista covers an area the size of nearly four basketball courts. Over 45,000 figures populate this cyclorama, a depiction of 12th-century Angkorian history.
The museum, which opened in December, is a sweeping homage to what historians call one of the greatest cities in the world between the ninth and 15th centuries and the capital of the Khmer empire. But almost everything that went into this building — the money, the concept, the design and the artists — came not from Cambodia but from North Korea, namely, Mansudae, the largest art studio in that country.
At a time when much of the world’s focus is on North Korea’s mercurial leadership and nuclear capabilities, this studio’s work is quietly making its way beyond the borders of that hermit kingdom. In recent years, monuments and sculptures made by Mansudae artists, modern-day masters of Socialist Realism, have popped up in Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and even Germany.
Luc Forsyth for The New York Times
A detail from the panorama, which depicts 12th-century Angkorian history.
The Angkor Panorama Museum is the studio’s most ambitious foreign project. It took 63 artists, flown in from North Korea, four months to paint the cyclorama.
“Mansudae has great talent and a good reputation in artwork, painting and construction,” said Yit Chandaroat, acting director of museums for Apsara, the government agency responsible for managing the Angkor complex, explaining why Cambodia chose its partner.
Luc Forsyth for The New York Times
The work includes over 45,000 figures.
Mansudae Art Studio in Pyongyang, founded in 1959, is one of the world’s biggest art factories. It employs about 4,000 people, including 800 to 900 of North Korea’s most talented artists, according to Pier Luigi Cecioni, its representative in the United States and Europe.
The studio produces a variety of works, including most of the propaganda art and sculptures that dot North Korea. Its artists are said to be the only ones permitted to portray that country’s ruling family, the Kims. In 1972, it built a 66-foot-high statue of Kim Il-sung, North Korea’s founding leader and the grandfather of the current leader, on a hill in Pyongyang, the capital. A second, similarly sized likeness of Kim Jong-il, Kim Il-sung’s son and successor, was added beside the original in 2012 after Kim Jong-il’s death.
Nichole Sobecki for The New York Times
The African Renaissance Monument in Dakar, Senegal.
Starting in the 1990s, Mansudae also began taking on outside projects. Governments in Southeast Asia and Africa have commissioned its artists for large-scale projects at low costs, among them the African Renaissance Monument in Dakar, Senegal, and the Fairy Tale Fountain in Frankfurt. The studio also maintains a gallery in the 798 Art District in Beijing, opposite the Pace Gallery and the Faurschou Foundation.
Mansudae’s overseas division first approached the Council for the Development of Cambodia, the government’s investment board, with a proposal to build a museum in Siem Reap several years ago, Mr. Yit said.
Cambodia and North Korea have historically maintained strong ties, based largely on the personal relationship between Kim Il-sung and King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia, who died in 2012.
In the 1970s, that North Korean leader gave King Sihanouk, who once referred to Mr. Kim as “more than a friend, more than a brother,” a palace outside Pyongyang. During his many years in exile, the Cambodian monarch spent several months annually in North Korea and even wrote and directed a series of films starring North Korean actors.
Luc Forsyth for The New York Times
The museum’s foyer.
Today, North Korea operates several restaurants in Cambodia, part of a growing overseas restaurant franchise that experts say is an important revenue generator for the financially struggling government in Pyongyang.
Unlike the restaurants, however, experts say that Mansudae, though state-run, enjoys relative autonomy from the government, including on decisions involving foreign outreach.
“I don’t see this museum as an attempt to project soft power,” said Nicholas Bonner, founder of the Beijing gallery Koryo Studio, who has worked with Mansudae for more than 20 years. “Mansudae is a massive studio, and they need to keep working to bring revenue in from inside and outside of the country.”
The Angkor museum differs from past Mansudae projects in one significant way. According to museum officials and experts, it is the first in which Mansudae, which usually works on a commission basis, has invested a large amount of money.“It doesn’t seem to fit into the profit-making aspect that we usually hear about Mansudae,” said Adam Cathcart, a lecturer at the University of Leeds in England. “But then again, there’s always something going on behind the scenes when it comes to North Korea.”
Neither Mansudae nor the North Korean Embassy in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, responded to requests for comment relayed by email, telephone and Cambodian museum officials.
Construction of the Angkor Panorama Museum began in 2011. Mansudae designed the structure and the cyclorama in consultation with a committee made up of Cambodian government officials, Mr. Yit said.
Proceeds from the museum are scheduled to be disbursed in three stages. Initially, revenue will go to Mansudae. After 10 years (or less, if costs are recovered before then), both sides will share revenue. And in the third and final stage, the museum — both the property and the management — will be transferred to Apsara.
Long Kosal, a spokesman for Apsara, said the museum was part of a long-term plan to diversify attractions at the Angkor complex and minimize the impact of growing numbers of tourists at the temples. More than 2.5 million foreigners visited the complex last year, up from about 400,000 in 2000, Mr. Long said. He said he expected an influx of tourists to the museum soon, after the central ticket booth for the complex is moved to a new building next to the museum, which is not formally part of the complex. The entrance fee for the cyclorama section is $15 for foreign tourists.
In the meantime, museum officials say they are averaging only about 20 visitors a day. On a recent afternoon, there were almost none to be seen. As one of the few approached the main hall, a worker rushed to turn on the lights, explaining that the staff had been instructed to keep the lights and air-conditioning at a minimum to save money.
“It’s very hot and humid here, not cool like back home,” a young North Korean woman working in the museum cafe said in fluent English. “It’s been difficult to adjust.”
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