A French artist is preparing to be entombed for a week inside a 12-tonne limestone¹ boulder² in a modern art museum in Paris, after which he will emerge and attempt to hatch a dozen eggs by sitting on them for weeks on end.

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。

“I think of it as an inner journey to find out what the world is,” said Abraham Poincheval, who has hollowed out a hole in the rock just big enough for himself to fit inside.

他把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。”

Poincheval is no stranger to bizarre and hair-raising performances.

另类惊悚的行为表演对伯安什瓦尔来说已是家常便饭。

He once spent a fortnight inside a stuffed bear, was buried under a rock for eight days and navigated³ France’s Rhone river inside a giant corked⁴ bottle.

他曾在毛绒玩具熊肚子里生活了两周，被埋在一块岩石下八天，还曾呆在一个巨大的软木塞瓶里沿着法国罗纳河漂流。

He has also crossed the Alps in a barrel and last year spent a week on top of a 20-metre pole outside a Paris train station like the stylite saints of the early Christian⁵ church.

他把自己塞进木桶里翻越了阿尔卑斯山，去年，他在巴黎一家车站外20米高的电线杆顶呆了整整一个星期，像极了早期基督教教堂修行的圣人们。

He also played at being a human mole⁶, and crossed France on foot in a straight line with a friend.

他还曾像鼹鼠一样生活，也曾和朋友徒步直线穿越法国。

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 stunts⁷ but as a series of mystical journeys.

伯安什瓦尔名为“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，与其说他的表演是做秀，不如说是一系列神秘之旅。

Instead they are profound meditations⁸ on “inner exploration, on modifying the self and of living in other realms beyond our own,” De Loisy said.

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。”

The artist said he has spent months mentally and physically⁹ preparing himself for the practicalities of life inside the rock, where he will sit up with his arms outstretched.

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准备与调整。

Holes have been bored in the rock for air and cables for a heart monitor and emergency telephone line.

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艺术家拨打求救电话。

Poincheval said all he will have to eat during his entombment will be a little dried meat and cartons of soup and other liquids.

伯安什瓦尔告诉我们，他呆在石头里的这一周，只会吃一点肉干和盒装的汤和饮料。

The only mystery is how he will go to the toilet, with the artist becoming uncharacteristically evasive when pressed on the subject.

唯一搞不懂的便是他怎样解决如厕问题，但每每有人问及此，他就一反常态地闪烁其词。

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 survived solitary¹⁰ confinement¹¹ came to keep him company and a “young girl talked to me about the violin she had just bought for three hours”.

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，曾经被单独监禁的犯人过来陪他，有个年轻女孩还与他聊起了三小时前刚买的那把小提琴呢。

In fact, 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.

其实会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。

The real wrench¹² this time may be having to leave the rock after the week, Poincheval admitted.

伯安什瓦尔也承认，他这次表演最大的挑战，便是在石灰岩里呆了一周后重返正常生活。

After previous performances, the end has always been what he called “delicate”, marked by a “day in the dumps... and a lot of turbulence¹³ inside. It takes several weeks to get back to normal,” he said.

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”。

His next performance “Egg” will begin on 29 March, with Poincheval sitting on a dozen eggs for between three and four weeks until they hatch.

他的下一场名为“蛋”的表演将于2017年3月29日开始，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。

He will eat a special diet rich in ginger¹⁴ so he can keep the eggs at a minimum of 37 degrees Celsius¹⁵, with only a half an hour break every 24 hours to keep him from cracking.

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。

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

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。”

But his ambitions do not end there.

然而他的野心并不止于此。

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 add.

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。”