ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Golan Levin - Experimental audio-visual artist
Half performance artist, half software engineer, Golan Levin manipulates the computer to create improvised soundscapes with dazzling corresponding visuals. He is at the forefront of defining new parameters for art.

Why you should listen

Having worked as an academic at MIT and a researcher specializing in computer technology and software engineering, Golan Levin now spends most of his time working as a performance artist. Rest assured his education hasn't gone to waste, however, as Levin blends high tech and customized software programs to create his own extraordinary audio and visual compositions. The results are inordinately experimental sonic and visual extravaganzas from the furthest left of the field.

Many of his pieces force audience participation, such as Dialtones: A Telesymphony, a concert from 2001 entirely composed of the choreographed ringtones of his audience. Regularly exhibiting pieces in galleries around the world, and also working as an Assistant Professor of Electronic Time-Based Art at Carnegie Mellon University, Levin is unapologetically pushing boundaries to define a brave new world of what is possible.

His latest piece, Double-Taker (Snout), is installed at the Pittsburg Museum of Art.

More profile about the speaker
Golan Levin | Speaker | TED.com
TED2004

Golan Levin: Software (as) art

Golan Levin 的電腦軟體藝術

Filmed:
658,857 views

在這個 TED 令人印象深刻的簡短演講中,身兼工程師和藝術家的Golan Levin,分享他寫的兩個電腦原始軟體程式 -- 它把視覺、聽覺和科技的結合推向新的視野。
- Experimental audio-visual artist
Half performance artist, half software engineer, Golan Levin manipulates the computer to create improvised soundscapes with dazzling corresponding visuals. He is at the forefront of defining new parameters for art. Full bio

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

00:27
Imagine想像 spending開支 seven years年份 at MITMIT and research研究 laboratories實驗室,
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想像花了7年的時間待在MIT (麻省理工學院) 的研究室裡,
00:30
only to find out that you're a performance性能 artist藝術家.
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到後來發現你只是一個表演藝術家......
00:35
(Laughter笑聲)
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(笑聲)
00:39
I'm also a software軟件 engineer工程師,
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同時我也是一位軟體工程師,
00:42
and I make lots of different不同 kinds of art藝術 with the computer電腦.
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我利用電腦創造了各種形式的藝術作品。
00:44
And I think the main主要 thing that I'm interested有興趣 in
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我認為我最主要感興趣的是
00:46
is trying to find a way of
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試著找出一種方法
00:48
making製造 the computer電腦 into a personal個人 mode模式 of expression表達.
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讓電腦進入一種自體表達的模式
00:51
And many許多 of you out there are the heads of MacromediaMacromedia公司 and Microsoft微軟,
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而且在場大部份都是Macromedia和Microsoft的領導者,
00:56
and in a way those are my bane誅戮:
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在某種程度上,你們是我的剋星,
00:58
I think there's a great homogenizing均質 force
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不過我認為這是一個很棒的均質力
01:01
that software軟件 imposes強加 on people and limits範圍 the way they think
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軟體對人造成的影響、界定他們思考的方式
01:07
about what's possible可能 on the computer電腦.
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透過各種電腦軟體發展的可能性
01:09
Of course課程, it's also a great liberating解放 force that makes品牌 possible可能,
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當然,這也是一種可以實現的自由
01:12
you know, publishing出版 and so forth向前, and standards標準, and so on.
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你知道的,透過發表、出版、規格標準諸如此類...等。
01:15
But, in a way, the computer電腦 makes品牌 possible可能 much more
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但在某種程度上,電腦更能夠實現
01:19
than what most people think, and my art藝術 has just been about
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比我們想的還要做的更多,而我的藝術作品
01:22
trying to find a personal個人 way of using運用 the computer電腦,
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是找出一種能透過個體使用模式的電腦
01:24
and so I end結束 up writing寫作 software軟件 to do that.
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所以,我最後寫出這個軟體程式。
01:28
Chris克里斯 has asked me to do a short performance性能,
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Chris 已經要求我做簡短的表演,
01:30
and so I'm going to take just this time -- maybe 10 minutes分鐘 --
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所以我大概會利用10分鐘的時間
01:33
to do that, and hopefully希望 at the end結束 have just a moment時刻
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向各位展出,希望到播完後,會有一些時間
01:35
to show顯示 you a couple一對 of my other projects項目 in video視頻 form形成.
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能讓你們看看我其他作品計畫的影片。
13:11
Thank you.
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謝謝。
13:13
(Applause掌聲)
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(觀眾掌聲)
13:24
We've我們已經 got about a minute分鐘 left.
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我們大概還有一分多鐘。
13:26
I'd just like to show顯示 a clip from a most recent最近 project項目.
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我想向各位播放一些最近作品計畫的片段。
13:28
I did a performance性能 with two singers歌手
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我之前和兩位歌手做了一項表演,
13:31
who specialize專攻 in making製造 strange奇怪 noises噪音 with their mouths嘴巴.
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他們專長是用嘴巴發出特殊古怪的聲音。
13:34
And this just came來了 off last September九月 at ARSARS Electronica電子樂;
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這是去年九月在奧地利電子藝術節的表演。
13:37
we repeated重複 it in England英國.
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我們在英國重複那次表演。
13:39
And the idea理念 is to visualize想像 their speech言語 and song歌曲 behind背後 them
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這個想法是把口說演講的表現視覺化,並且
13:42
with a large screen屏幕.
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用音樂節奏當作背景,呈現在大型的螢幕上。
13:43
We used a computer電腦 vision視力 tracking追踪 system系統
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我們用了電腦視覺追蹤系統,
13:45
in order訂購 to know where they were.
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定位他們的位置。
13:47
And since以來 we know where their heads are,
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我們知道他們頭部的位置之後,
13:48
and we have a wireless無線 micMIC on them
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同時也在他們身上放了無線麥克風,
13:50
that we're processing處理 the sound聲音 from,
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以取得聲音的來源。
13:51
we're able能夠 to create創建 visualizations可視化
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我們創造了多種的視覺影像,
13:53
which哪一個 are linked關聯 very tightly緊緊 to what they're doing with their speech言語.
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可以跟他們表演做緊密地結合。
13:56
This will take about 30 seconds or so.
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大概會花30秒的時間。
14:01
He's making製造 a, kind of, cheek-flapping臉頰撲 sound聲音.
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像是在弄出拍擊臉頰時的聲音。
14:43
Well, suffice滿足 it to say it's not all like that, but that's part部分 of it.
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雖然播放的不夠完整,但是以足夠表達出來。
14:46
Thanks謝謝 very much. There's always lots more.
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謝謝。總是有更多的東西。
14:48
I'm overtime隨著時間的推移, so I just wanted to say you can, if you're in New York紐約,
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我超過時間了,所以我想說,如果你在紐約的話
14:50
you can check out my work at the Whitney惠特尼 Biennial雙年展 next下一個 week,
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可以去看看我下禮拜在 Whitney Biennial 展出的作品,
14:52
and also at BitformsBitforms Gallery畫廊 in Chelsea切爾西.
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同時也可以在切爾西(Chelsea)的Bitforms Gallery 看到。
14:55
And with that, I think I should give up the stage階段,
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我想我得離開這個舞台了,
14:57
so, thank you so much.
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謝謝大家聆聽。
Translated by Chen Sheng-fu
Reviewed by Wang Qian

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Golan Levin - Experimental audio-visual artist
Half performance artist, half software engineer, Golan Levin manipulates the computer to create improvised soundscapes with dazzling corresponding visuals. He is at the forefront of defining new parameters for art.

Why you should listen

Having worked as an academic at MIT and a researcher specializing in computer technology and software engineering, Golan Levin now spends most of his time working as a performance artist. Rest assured his education hasn't gone to waste, however, as Levin blends high tech and customized software programs to create his own extraordinary audio and visual compositions. The results are inordinately experimental sonic and visual extravaganzas from the furthest left of the field.

Many of his pieces force audience participation, such as Dialtones: A Telesymphony, a concert from 2001 entirely composed of the choreographed ringtones of his audience. Regularly exhibiting pieces in galleries around the world, and also working as an Assistant Professor of Electronic Time-Based Art at Carnegie Mellon University, Levin is unapologetically pushing boundaries to define a brave new world of what is possible.

His latest piece, Double-Taker (Snout), is installed at the Pittsburg Museum of Art.

More profile about the speaker
Golan Levin | Speaker | TED.com