ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Gabriel Barcia-Colombo - Video sculptor
Gabe Barcia-Colombo creates madcap art inspired both by Renaissance era curiosity cabinets and the modern-day digital chronicling of everyday life. Think: miniature people projected in objects and a DNA Vending Machine.

Why you should listen

Gabe Barcia-Colombo is an American artist who creates installation pieces that both delight and point to the strangeness of our modern, digital world. His latest work is a DNA Vending Machine, which dispenses vials of DNA extracted from friends at dinner parties. He's also created video installations of "miniature people" encased inside ordinary objects like suitcases, blenders and more. His work comments on the act of leaving one's imprint for the next generation. Call it "artwork with consequences."

As he explains it: "While formally implemented by natural history museums and collections (which find their roots in Renaissance-era 'cabinets of curiosity'), this process has grown more pointed and pervasive in the modern-day obsession with personal digital archiving and the corresponding growth of social media culture. My video sculptures play upon this exigency in our culture to chronicle, preserve and wax nostalgic, an idea which I render visually by 'collecting' human beings (alongside cultural archetypes) as scientific specimens. I repurpose everyday objects like blenders, suitcases and cans of Spam into venues for projecting and inserting videos of people."

Barcia-Colombo is an alumnus and instructor at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program. Read about his latest work on CoolHunting and in his TED Fellows profile.

More profile about the speaker
Gabriel Barcia-Colombo | Speaker | TED.com
TED2012

Gabriel Barcia-Colombo: Capturing memories in video art

Gabriel Barcia-Colombo: Capturando memórias em vídeo arte

Filmed:
800,296 views

Usando mapeamento de vídeo e projeção, o artista Gabriel Barcia-Colombo captura e compartilha suas memórias e amizades. Na palestra dos TED Fellow, ele mostra seu charmoso e profundo trabalho -- que surge para preservar as pessoas em sua vida em potes, maletas, liquidificadores ...
- Video sculptor
Gabe Barcia-Colombo creates madcap art inspired both by Renaissance era curiosity cabinets and the modern-day digital chronicling of everyday life. Think: miniature people projected in objects and a DNA Vending Machine. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:16
I love to collect things.
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Eu adoro colecionar coisas.
00:19
Ever since I was a kid, I've had massive collections
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Desde criança, eu tive muitas coleções
00:21
of random stuff, everything from bizarre hot sauces
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das mais variadas, de bizarros temperos apimentados
00:23
from all around the world to insects
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de todos os cantos do mundo a insetos
00:27
that I've captured and put in jars.
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que capturava e punha em potes.
00:29
Now, it's no secret, because I like collecting things,
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Agora, não é segredo, por gostar de colecionar coisas,
00:31
that I love the Natural History Museum
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eu amo o Museu de História Natural
00:33
and the collections of animals
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e a coleção de animais
00:34
at the Natural History Museum in dioramas.
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do Museu de História Natural em dioramas.
00:36
These, to me, are like living sculptures, right,
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Estes, para mim, são como esculturas vivas, certo,
00:38
that you can go and look at,
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que você pode ir e ver,
00:40
and they memorialize a specific point of time
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e eles representam um momento específico
00:41
in this animal's life.
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na vida deste animal.
00:43
So I was thinking about my own life,
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Daí estava pensando em minha própria vida,
00:45
and how I'd like to memorialize my life, you know,
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e como gostaria de comemorar minha vida, sabe,
00:47
for the ages, and also — (Laughter) —
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através dos tempos, e também - (Risos) -
00:50
the lives of my friends, but
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a vida de meus amigos, mas
00:52
the problem with this is that my friends aren't quite keen
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o problema é que meus amigos não gostaram tanto
00:55
on the idea of me taxidermy-ing them. (Laughter)
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da idéia de eu empalhá-los. (Risos)
00:58
So instead, I turned to video,
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Em vez disso, eu resolvi filmar,
01:01
and video is the next best way to preserve and memorialize
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e filmar é a segunda melhor maneira de preservar e homenagear
01:03
someone and to capture a specific moment in time.
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alguém e capturar um momento específico.
01:06
So what I did was, I filmed six of my friends
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Daí o que fiz foi, filmei seis de meus amigos
01:08
and then, using video mapping and video projection,
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e aí, usando mapeamento e projeção de vídeo,
01:10
I created a video sculpture, which was these six friends
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eu criei uma escultura em vídeo, que são estes seis amigos
01:13
projected into jars. (Laughter)
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projetados em potes. (Risos)
01:17
So now I have this collection of my friends
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Agora eu tenho esta coleção de meus amigos
01:18
I can take around with me whenever I go,
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que posso levar comigo onde quer que eu vá,
01:20
and this is called Animalia Chordata,
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e é chamada de Animalia Chordata,
01:22
from the Latin nomenclature for
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da nomenclatura em latim para
01:24
human being, classification system.
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o ser humano, no sistema de classificação.
01:26
So this piece memorializes my friends in these jars,
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Assim estas peças representam meus amigos nestes potes,
01:29
and they actually move around. (Laughter)
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e eles na verdade se movem. (Risos)
01:33
So, this is interesting to me,
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Isto é interessante para mim,
01:36
but it lacked a certain human element. (Laughter)
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mas faltava um certo lado humano. (Risos)
01:39
It's a digital sculpture, so I wanted to add
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É uma escultura digital, daí eu queria ter
01:41
an interaction system. So what I did was,
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uma interação. E foi isto que fiz,
01:43
I added a proximity sensor, so that when you get close
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coloquei sensores de proximidade, daí quando você se aproxima
01:45
to the people in jars, they react to you in different ways.
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das pessoas nos potes, elas reagem a você de diferentes formas.
01:47
You know, just like people on the street
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Sabe, exatamente como as pessoas nas ruas
01:49
when you get too close to them.
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quando você se aproxima delas.
01:50
Some people reacted in terror. (Laughter)
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Algumas pessoas reagem aterrorizadas. (Risos)
01:53
Others reacted in asking you for help,
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Outras reagem pedindo socorro,
01:55
and some people hide from you.
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e algumas se escondem de você.
01:58
So this was really interesting to me, this idea of
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Então isto era muito interessante para mim, esta idéia de
02:00
taking video off the screen and putting it in real life,
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tirar o vídeo da tela e trazer para a vida real,
02:02
and also adding interactivity to sculpture.
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e colocar interatividade na escultura.
02:04
So over the next year, I documented 40 of my other friends
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Depois, por quase um ano, eu documentei 40 outros amigos meus,
02:09
and trapped them in jars as well
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os aprisionei nos potes
02:10
and created a piece known as Garden,
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e criei uma obra chamada Jardim,
02:12
which is literally a garden of humanity.
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que é literalmente um jardim da humanidade.
02:15
But something about the first piece,
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Mas algo sobre a primeira peça,
02:17
the Animali Chordata piece, kept coming back to me,
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a Animali Chordata, ficava voltando à minha mente,
02:19
this idea of interaction with art,
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esta ideia de interagir com a arte,
02:21
and I really liked the idea of people being able to interact,
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e eu realmente gosto da ideia das pessoas serem capazes de interagir,
02:23
and also being challenged by interacting with art.
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e também serem desafiadas a interagir com a arte.
02:25
So I wanted to create a new piece that actually
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Então eu queria criar uma nova obra que realmente
02:27
forced people to come and interact with something,
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obrigasse as pessoas a vir e interagir com alguma coisa,
02:29
and the way I did this was actually by projecting
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e o modo como fiz isto foi projetando
02:31
a 1950s housewife into a blender. (Laughter)
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uma dona de casa da década de 50 em um liquidificador.(Risos)
02:35
This is a piece called Blend, and what it does is
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Esta obra se chama Blend, e ela
02:37
it actually makes you implicit in the work of art.
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faz você tomar parte da obra de arte.
02:39
You may never experience the entire thing yourself.
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Você pode não experimentar isto em sua vida.
02:42
You can walk away, you can just watch as this character
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Você pode ir embora, pode olhar apenas, enquanto o personagem
02:44
stands there in the blender and looks at you,
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que está em pé no liquidificador olha para você,
02:46
or you can actually choose to interact with it.
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ou você pode escolher interagir com ela.
02:48
So if you do choose to interact with the piece,
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Se escolher interagir com a obra,
02:53
and you press the blender button, it actually sends
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você pressiona o botão do liquidificador, e ele põe
02:55
this character into this dizzying disarray of dishevelment.
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este personagem nesta confusão, desordem e desalinho.
02:58
By doing that, you are now part of my piece.
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Fazendo isso, você agora faz parte da minha obra.
03:02
You, like the people that are trapped in my work
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Você, assim como a pessoa que está presa em meu trabalho
03:04
— (Blender noises, laughter) —
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-- (Barulho do liquidificador, risos) --
03:08
have become part of my work as well. (Laughter)
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passou a fazer parte do meu trabalho também. (Risos)
03:15
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
03:17
(Applause)
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(Aplausos)
03:20
But, but this seems a bit unfair, right?
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Mas, isto parece um pouco injusto, certo?
03:23
I put my friends in jars, I put this character,
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Coloquei meus amigos nos potes, eu coloquei este personagem,
03:26
this sort of endangered species character in a blender.
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este tipo de espécime em perigo em um liquidificador.
03:29
But I'd never done anything about myself.
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Mas não tinha feito nada comigo.
03:31
I'd never really memorialized myself.
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Eu não tinha realmente registrado a mim.
03:32
So I decided to create a piece which is a self-portrait piece.
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Decidi então criar uma obra que é um auto-retrato.
03:35
This is sort of a self-portrait taxidermy time capsule piece
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Este tipo de obra: auto-retrato empalhado encapsulado no tempo
03:37
called A Point Just Passed,
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chamada: Um ponto se passou,
03:39
in which I project myself on top of a time card punch clock,
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na qual eu me projeto no topo de um relógio de cartão de ponto,
03:42
and it's up to you.
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e depende de você.
03:43
If you want to choose to punch that punch card clock,
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Se você resolver bater o cartão,
03:45
you actually age me.
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você estará me envelhecendo.
03:47
So I start as a baby, and then if you punch the clock,
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Eu começo como um bebê, e aí se você bate o cartão,
03:50
you'll actually transform the baby into a toddler,
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você irá transformar o bebê em uma criança,
03:54
and then from a toddler I'm transformed into a teenager.
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e aí de um criança, sou transformado em um adolescente.
03:57
From a teenager, I'm transformed into my current self.
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De um adolescente, sou transformado em meu eu atual.
04:00
From my current self, I'm turned into a middle-aged man,
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Do meu eu atual, transformo-me em um homem de meia idade,
04:03
and then, from there, into an elderly man.
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e aí, daquele, em um homem idoso.
04:07
And if you punch the punch card clock a hundred times
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E se você bater o relógio de ponto cem vezes
04:10
in one day, the piece goes black
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num dia, a peça fica preta
04:13
and is not to be reset until the next day.
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e não reinicia até o dia seguinte.
04:16
So, in doing so, you're erasing time.
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Fazendo isso, você está apagando o tempo.
04:18
You're actually implicit in this work
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Você toma parte nesta obra
04:20
and you're erasing my life.
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e você está apagando a minha vida.
04:22
So I like this about interactive video sculpture,
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Eu gosto da interatividade da escultura em vídeo,
04:24
that you can actually interact with it,
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que você pode interagir com ela,
04:25
that all of you can actually touch an artwork
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que todos vocês podem tocar uma obra de arte
04:27
and be part of the artwork yourselves,
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e ser parte da obra de arte,
04:29
and hopefully, one day, I'll have each and every one of you
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e quem sabe, um dia, eu terei todos vocês
04:32
trapped in one of my jars. (Laughter)
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presos em um dos meus potes. (Risos)
04:34
Thank you. (Applause)
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Obrigado. (Aplausos)
Translated by Wanderley Jesus
Reviewed by Viviane Ferraz Matos

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Gabriel Barcia-Colombo - Video sculptor
Gabe Barcia-Colombo creates madcap art inspired both by Renaissance era curiosity cabinets and the modern-day digital chronicling of everyday life. Think: miniature people projected in objects and a DNA Vending Machine.

Why you should listen

Gabe Barcia-Colombo is an American artist who creates installation pieces that both delight and point to the strangeness of our modern, digital world. His latest work is a DNA Vending Machine, which dispenses vials of DNA extracted from friends at dinner parties. He's also created video installations of "miniature people" encased inside ordinary objects like suitcases, blenders and more. His work comments on the act of leaving one's imprint for the next generation. Call it "artwork with consequences."

As he explains it: "While formally implemented by natural history museums and collections (which find their roots in Renaissance-era 'cabinets of curiosity'), this process has grown more pointed and pervasive in the modern-day obsession with personal digital archiving and the corresponding growth of social media culture. My video sculptures play upon this exigency in our culture to chronicle, preserve and wax nostalgic, an idea which I render visually by 'collecting' human beings (alongside cultural archetypes) as scientific specimens. I repurpose everyday objects like blenders, suitcases and cans of Spam into venues for projecting and inserting videos of people."

Barcia-Colombo is an alumnus and instructor at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program. Read about his latest work on CoolHunting and in his TED Fellows profile.

More profile about the speaker
Gabriel Barcia-Colombo | Speaker | TED.com