TEDGlobal 2011
Aparna Rao: High-tech art (with a sense of humor)
阿帕玛･饶：（幽默的）高科技艺术
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身为艺术家和TED Fellow的阿帕玛･饶对熟悉的事物以惊奇的幽默的方式进行再次想像。通过和索伦･普尔兹的合作，她创作出一系列高科技的艺术作品－一个会发邮件的打字机，一个让你在屏幕上消失而跟踪拍摄你的摄像机－这些让寻常事物充满了趣味和互动性。
Aparna Rao - Artist
A part of the Bangalore-based artist duo Pors & Rao, TED Senior Fellow Aparna Rao works with electro-mechanical systems and interactive installations. Full bio
A part of the Bangalore-based artist duo Pors & Rao, TED Senior Fellow Aparna Rao works with electro-mechanical systems and interactive installations. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:15
Hi. Today, I'm going to take you through glimpses
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大家好 今天我带大家了解一下
00:17
of about eight of my projects,
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我的八个艺术作品
00:19
done in collaboration with Danish artist Soren Pors.
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我和丹麦艺术家索伦･普尔兹一起创作的作品
00:22
We call ourselves Pors and Rao,
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我们的组合叫普尔兹和饶
00:24
and we live and work in India.
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我们在印度居住和工作
00:26
I'd like to begin with my very first object,
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第一个作品
00:29
which I call "The Uncle Phone."
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叫做“叔叔电话”
00:31
And it was inspired by my uncle's peculiar habit
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这个作品是从我叔叔的一个
00:34
of constantly asking me to do things for him,
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总爱使唤我做事的习惯中获得灵感
00:36
almost like I were an extension of his body --
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我就像他身体的延伸部分－
00:38
to turn on the lights or to bring him a glass of water,
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帮他开灯或者倒水
00:40
a pack of cigarettes.
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买包烟
00:42
And as I grew up, it became worse and worse,
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我长大后就被使唤得更厉害了
00:44
And I started to think of it as a form of control.
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我开始觉得这是种控制
00:46
But of course, I could never say anything,
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但是我不能怎么样
00:48
because the uncle is a respected figure
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因为在印度家庭里
00:50
in the Indian family.
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叔叔是很受尊敬的
00:52
And the situation that irked me and mystified me the most
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最烦我而又让我不解的是
00:55
was his use of a landline telephone.
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他用座机打电话的方式
00:57
He would hold on to the receiver and expect me to dial a number for him.
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他拿着听筒然后让我给他拨号码
01:00
And so as a response and as a gift to my uncle,
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作为一个给他的回应和礼物
01:03
I made him "The Uncle Phone."
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我给他做了这个“叔叔电话”
01:05
It's so long that it requires two people to use it.
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这个长到要两个人才能使用的电话
01:08
It's exactly the way my uncle uses a phone that's designed for one person.
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正是我叔叔使用明明一个人也能用的电话的方式
01:12
But the problem is that, when I left home and went to college,
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但问题是当我离家上大学后
01:15
I started missing his commands.
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我开始怀念他的使唤
01:17
And so I made him a golden typewriter
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于是我给他做了一个金色的打字机
01:19
through which he could dispense his commands
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这样他能通过电子邮件
01:21
to nephews and nieces around the world as an email.
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使唤他四散在世界各地的侄子侄女们
01:24
So what he had to do was take a piece of paper, roll it into the carriage,
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他只要拿张纸放进纸夹
01:27
type his email or command and pull the paper out.
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打印出电子邮件或他的命令然后抽出纸
01:30
This device would automatically send the intended person
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这个设备就能自动把这封信作为电子邮件
01:33
the letter as an email.
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寄送个收件人
01:35
So here you can see, we embedded a lot of electronics
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你看 我们把许多能检测机械动作
01:38
that understands all of the mechanical actions
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并将其转化为数字信号的
01:40
and converts it to digital.
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很多电子配件组装起来
01:42
So my uncle is only dealing with a mechanical interface.
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这样我叔叔只需使用这个机器外端设备
01:45
And of course, the object had to be very grand and have a sense of ritualism,
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当然这个机器得是很漂亮并带有形式主义的感觉
01:48
the way my uncle likes it.
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就象我叔叔喜欢的那样
01:50
The next work is a sound-sensitive installation
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下面一个作品是感声的装置
01:53
that we affectionately call "The Pygmies."
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我们亲切地称之为“俾格米人”（非洲小矮人）
01:56
And we wanted to work with a notion of being
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这个作品的概念是围绕着我们的
01:58
surrounded by a tribe of very shy, sensitive and sweet creatures.
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一群很害羞，敏感而又可爱的部落
02:02
So how it works is we have these panels, which we have on the wall,
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这些挂在墙上的板的后面
02:05
and behind them, we have these little creatures which hide.
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藏着这些小人
02:08
And as soon as it's silent, they sort of creep out.
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只要很安静的环境下，他们就悄悄探出头来
02:11
And if it's even more silent, they stretch their necks out.
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如果更佳安静，他们就一直会伸出脖子来
02:13
And at the slightest sound, they hide back again.
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稍稍有动静，他们就立马藏进去
02:16
So we had these panels on three walls of a room.
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这儿一个屋子的三面墙上装着这些板子
02:19
And we had over 500 of these little pygmies hiding behind them.
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板子后藏着五百多个这些小俾格米人
02:22
So this is how it works.
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看看它是怎样的
02:24
This is a video prototype.
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这是一段视频
02:26
So when it's quiet, it's sort of coming out from behind the panels.
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当很安静的时候，他们就从板子后探出脑袋来
02:29
And they hear like humans do, or real creatures do.
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就象人或者活物一样
02:31
So they get immune to sounds that scare them after awhile.
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过了一会儿他们慢慢熟悉了吓到他们的声音
02:34
And they don't react to background sounds.
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就对背景声音不再反应
02:37
You'll hear a train in moment that they don't react to.
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一会儿你能听到火车声音但他们没有反应
02:40
(Noise)
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（噪声）
02:42
But they react to foreground sounds. You'll hear that in a second.
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但他们对前景声音仍然敏感 你马上能听到
02:45
(Whistling)
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（口哨）
02:50
So we worked very hard
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我们为了
02:52
to make them as lifelike as possible.
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令其栩栩如生费了很大劲
02:56
So each pygmy has its own behavior, psyche,
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每一个俾格米人有其各自的行为特征，心理
02:58
mood swings, personalities and so on.
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情绪波动和人格特征
03:01
So this is a very early prototype.
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这是个很早起的样板
03:03
Of course, it got much better after that.
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当然现在的改进了很多
03:05
And we made them react to people,
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我们让其和人们互动
03:07
but we found that people were being quite playful and childlike with them.
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我们发现人们此时会变得象孩子一样很爱玩
03:11
This is a video installation called "The Missing Person."
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这是一个叫“失踪者”的摄影装置
03:14
And we were quite intrigued
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我们被隐身这个概念
03:16
with playing with the notion of invisibility.
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启发
03:18
How would it be possible to experience a sense of invisibility?
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如果能体验隐身会是什么样的？
03:21
So we worked with a company
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我们就一家
03:23
that specializes in camera surveillance,
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专业从事摄像监视的公司合作
03:25
and we asked them to develop a piece of software with us,
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请他们为我们设计了一个软件
03:28
using a camera
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通过一台摄像机
03:30
that could look at people in the room, track them
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能够监视屋子里的人，跟踪他们
03:32
and replace one person with the background, rendering them invisible.
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然后以背景替代影像使其得以隐身
03:35
So I'm just going to show you a very early prototype.
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这儿看一下早期的视频样板
03:38
On the right side you can see my colleague Soren,
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右边你能看到是我的同伴索伦
03:40
who's actually in the space.
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他确实在那儿
03:42
And on the left side, you'll see the processed video
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左边你看到处理过的视频
03:44
where the camera has made him invisible.
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摄像机帮他隐身了
03:47
Soren enters the room. Pop! He goes invisible.
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索伦进了屋子 唰 他就不见了
03:50
And you can see that the camera is tracking him and erasing.
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你能看到摄像机在跟踪他并删除其影像
03:53
It's a very early video,
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这是个很好的视频
03:55
so we haven't yet dealt with the overlap and all of that,
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还没有处理好影像重叠等问题
03:57
but that got refined pretty soon, later.
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但是这个很快改进了
04:00
So how we used it was in a room where we had a camera looking into the space,
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一个屋子里有一个摄像机监视着
04:03
and we had one monitor, one on each wall.
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然后每个墙上都有一个显示器
04:06
And as people walked into the room,
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当人们走进屋子
04:08
they would see themselves in the monitor, except with one difference:
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他们能在显示器上看到自己
04:11
one person was constantly invisible
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但是总有一个人不论在屋子里怎么移动
04:13
wherever they moved in the room.
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他都是隐身的
04:15
So this is a work called "The Sun Shadow."
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这个作品叫做“太阳的影子”
04:17
And it was almost like a sheet of paper,
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它看上去就象张纸而已
04:20
like a cutout of a childlike drawing
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像是个孩子涂鸦出的
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of an oil spill or a sun.
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一个油渍或者太阳
04:24
And from the front, this object appeared to be very strong and robust,
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正面看这个物体看上去很有活力
04:27
and from the side, it almost seemed very weak.
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但是从侧面则看起来很虚弱
04:30
So people would walking into the room and they'd almost ignore it,
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当人们走进这个屋子 他们基本都没有注意到
04:33
thinking it was some crap laying around.
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以为这只是地上垃圾之类
04:35
But as soon as they passed by,
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但是一旦他们经过旁边
04:37
it would start to climb up the wall in jerky fashion.
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它就开始一抽一抽地往上爬
04:39
And it would get exhausted, and it would collapse every time.
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接着就精疲力尽 掉了下去
04:42
(Laughter)
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（笑声）
04:44
So this work
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这个作品
04:46
is a caricature of an upside-down man.
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是个一个倒立的人的漫画形象
04:48
His head is so heavy, full of heavy thoughts,
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他的头非常重，充满了沉重的想法
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that it's sort of fallen into his hat,
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所以他是倒立的帽子着地
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and his body's grown out of him almost like a plant.
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他的身体象长出来的植物一样
04:54
Well what he does is he moves around
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他会像醉酒的人一样
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in a very drunken fashion on his head
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用一种混乱又极慢的动作
04:58
in a very unpredictable and extremely slow movement.
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移动着
05:01
And it's kind of constrained by that circle.
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但是限制在这个圆内移动
05:04
Because if that circle weren't there, and the floor was very even,
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因为要是没有这个圆，地板不是很平
05:07
it would start to wander about in the space.
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他就会开始在整个房间乱转
05:09
And there's no wires.
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他身上没有一根电线
05:11
So I'll just show you an instance --
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给你们展示一下－
05:13
so when people enter the room, it activates this object.
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当人们进屋的时候 就启动了这个装置
05:15
And it very slowly, over a few minutes,
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几分钟内他就很缓慢的
05:17
sort of painfully goes up,
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痛苦地倒立起来
05:19
and then it gains momentum
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动量聚集到一定程度
05:21
and it looks like it's almost about to fall.
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他就看上去快要倒下去的样子
05:23
And this is an important moment,
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这是个关键时刻
05:25
because we wanted to instill in the viewer
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因为我们希望激发起观看者的
05:27
an instinct to almost go and help, or save the subject.
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本能去扶起他拯救他
05:29
But it doesn't really need it,
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但是并不真正需要
05:31
because it, again, sort of manages to pull itself up.
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因为他能再次把自己拉起来
05:34
So this work was a real technical challenge for us,
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这个作品对我们来说是个真正的技术挑战
05:37
and we worked very hard, like most of our works, over years
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我们努力的几年
05:40
to get the mechanics right and the equilibrium and the dynamics.
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才把机器装配好 调整好他的平衡和动态运动
05:43
And it was very important for us
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确定他倒下去的精确时间
05:45
to establish the exact moment that it would fall,
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对我们来说是非常重要的
05:48
because if we made it in a way that it would topple over,
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因为如果我们让其倒下去
05:51
then it would damage itself,
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他可能就伤到自己
05:53
and if it didn't fall enough, it wouldn't instill that fatalism,
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但是如果倒得不够 又不能产生破坏感
05:56
or that sense of wanting to go and help it.
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让人有拯救他的欲望
05:58
So I'm going to show you a very quick video
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这儿我给你们看一段间断的视频
06:00
where we are doing a test scenario -- it's much faster.
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我们正在测试－动作很快
06:02
That's my colleague. He's let it go.
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那是我的同伴 他放开装置
06:04
Now he's getting nervous, so he's going to go catch it.
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他变得紧张 要去抓住他
06:06
But he doesn't need to,
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但是没有必要
06:08
because it manages to lift itself up on its own.
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装置能自己站起来
06:10
So this is a work that we were very intrigued with,
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这个作品我们将
06:13
working with the aesthetic of fur
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具有审美感的皮毛上
06:15
embedded with thousands of tiny different sizes
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嵌入上千个不同大小的
06:18
of fiber optics, which twinkle like the night sky.
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能在夜里发光的光纤
06:21
And it's at the scale of the night sky.
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背景设置有如真正夜空般大小
06:23
So we wrapped this around a blob-like form,
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我们把它裹在一个类似流体态物体上
06:25
which is in the shape of a teddy bear,
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它是个泰迪熊的外形
06:27
which was hanging from the ceiling.
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挂在天花板上
06:29
And the idea was to sort of contrast
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这个作品的概念是要把
06:31
something very cold and distant and abstract like the universe
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象宇宙一样广漠抽象的东西
06:34
into the familiar form of a teddy bear,
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和一个泰迪熊一样熟悉的物体对比
06:36
which is very comforting and intimate.
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而泰迪熊的感觉是舒适亲密的
06:38
And the idea was that at some point
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这个作品是想让你
06:40
you would stop looking at the form of a teddy bear
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能够在某一刻忘记它泰迪熊的形态
06:42
and you would almost perceive it to be a hole in the space,
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几乎觉得它只是屋子里的一个洞
06:45
and as if you were looking out into the twinkling night sky.
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而你能通过它看到星光点点的夜空
06:49
So this is the last work, and a work in progress,
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这个是最后一个作品，目前还在制作中
06:51
and it's called "Space Filler."
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它叫做空间填充器
06:53
Well imagine a small cube that's about this big
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试想一下屋子中间
06:55
standing in front of you in the middle of the room,
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有一个立方体
06:57
and as you approached it, it tried to intimidate you
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当你靠近它 它就会
07:00
by growing into a cube
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变成两倍高度四倍体积大小
07:02
that's twice its height and [eight] times its volume.
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来和你互动
07:05
And so this object is constantly expanding and contracting
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这个作品就会在有人在周围移动的时候
07:08
to create a dynamic with people moving around it --
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通过扩大和缩小来产生动态效果
07:10
almost like it were trying
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就好像它试着
07:12
to conceal a secret within its seams or something.
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在结构里藏着什么秘密似的
07:14
So we work with a lot of technology,
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我们得用上很多科技
07:17
but we don't really love technology,
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但是我们并不很热衷科技
07:19
because it gives us a lot of pain in our work over years and years.
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因为这让我们的工作长久以来费神费力
07:22
But we use it because we're interested
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但是我们应用科技因为
07:24
in the way that it can help us
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它能帮我们
07:26
to express the emotions and behavioral patterns
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通过这些作品表达
07:29
in these creatures that we create.
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感情和行为特征
07:31
And once a creature pops into our minds,
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一旦一个作品的想法出现
07:33
it's almost like the process of creation
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这个创造的过程
07:35
is to discover the way this creature really wants to exist
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就是发现这个物体是要和何种方式存在
07:38
and what form it wants to take and what way it wants to move.
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拥有什么形态和什么方式移动
07:40
Thank you.
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谢谢
07:42
(Applause)
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(掌声)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Aparna Rao - ArtistA part of the Bangalore-based artist duo Pors & Rao, TED Senior Fellow Aparna Rao works with electro-mechanical systems and interactive installations.
Why you should listen
With the clever use of technology, TED Fellow Aparna Rao creates art installations that let people experience familiar objects and interactions in refreshingly humorous ways. From her sound-sensative "Pygmies" to her 2-person "Uncle Phone," Rao's work encourages participation rather than spectatorship. By combining high-tech and high-art, she imbues her creations with playful expression and quirky behaviors.
Rao studied at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad, India, and at Interaction Design Institute in Italy. In 2005 she partnered with Soren Pors and they've worked in collaboration ever since as Pors & Rao.
Aparna Rao | Speaker | TED.com