ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Shih Chieh Huang - Artist
Shih Chieh Huang doesn’t make art that’s meant to be admired from afar. He dissects and disassembles the detritus of our lives—household appliances, lights, computer parts, toys—and transforms them into surreal experiences.

Why you should listen

Shih Chieh Huang has one goal with his art: to create experiences for people to explore. He finds inspiration for his work from some highly unusual sources: a bioluminescent fish, a garbage bag, even his belly button.

A TED Fellow, Shih Chieh Huang grew up in Taiwan, where he enjoyed discovering strange objects in his local night market. He developed a passion for taking apart everyday objects and transforming them into something new. These experiences—as well as a fellowship at the Smithsonian Institute studying bioluminescent organisms—deeply inform his work.

Shih Chieh Huang has created a helmet that records the movement of the eye, and then uses the blinks to turn on and off a nightlight. He’s also used similar mechanisms to send glowing water pumping through tubes. His most recent work, however, takes plastic bottles, garbage bags and other everyday items and transforms them into gigantic sculptures that move and light up—as if they were actual sea creatures.

More profile about the speaker
Shih Chieh Huang | Speaker | TED.com

TED2014

Shih Chieh Huang: Sculptures that’d be at home in the deep sea

Filmed: 2014-03-17

Readability: 4.2

858,849 views

When he was young, artist Shih Chieh Huang loved taking toys apart and perusing the aisles of night markets in Taiwan for unexpected objects. Today, this TED Fellow creates madcap sculptures that seem to have a life of their own—with eyes that blink, tentacles that unfurl and parts that light up like bioluminescent sea creatures.

Shih Chieh Huang - Artist
Shih Chieh Huang doesn’t make art that’s meant to be admired from afar. He dissects and disassembles the detritus of our lives—household appliances, lights, computer parts, toys—and transforms them into surreal experiences. Full bio

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

00:12

I was born天生 in Taiwan台湾.

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我是在台湾出生的。

00:14

I grew成长 up surrounded包围 by

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我成长于一个身边满是

00:16

different不同 types类型 of hardware硬件 stores商店,

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各式五金杂货铺的环境。

00:19

and I like going to night markets市场.

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我很喜欢去逛夜市。

00:21

I love the energy能源 of the night markets市场,

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我喜爱夜市的热闹和能量，

00:23

the colors颜色, the lights灯火, the toys玩具,

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那儿色彩斑斓，灯火通明，有着各种玩具。

00:25

and all the unexpected意外 things I find every一切 time I go,

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每每光顾，我都能有意外惊喜，

00:29

things like watermelon西瓜 with straw稻草 antennas天线

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比如插着吸管当天线的西瓜啦，

00:32

or puppies小狗 with mohawks莫霍克.

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或者是有着红色莫霍克发型的狗宝宝啦。

00:36

When I was growing生长 up, I liked喜欢 taking服用 toys玩具 apart距离,

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我在成长的阶段，就很喜欢拆解玩具，

00:39

any kind类 of toys玩具 I'd find around the house屋,

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任何我在家里能找到的玩具，都拆。

00:41

like my brother's兄弟 BBBB gun枪 when he's not home.

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比如，我兄弟的玩具枪，他不在家我就把它给拆了。

00:43

I also也 liked喜欢 to make environments环境

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我也喜欢弄些东西

00:45

for people to explore探索 and play玩.

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可以让人去探索和玩的。

00:47

In these early早 installations安装,

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在我早期的这些设备装置中，

00:49

I would take plastic塑料 sheets床单, plastic塑料 bags包装袋,

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我会用到塑料布，塑料袋，

00:52

and things I would find in the hardware硬件 store商店

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和我在五金杂货铺里找得到的东西

00:53

or around the house屋.

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或者是自家附近有的东西。

00:55

I would take things like highlighter荧光笔 pen钢笔,

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我会用到比如荧光笔，

00:57

mix混合 it with water水, pump泵 it through通过 plastic塑料 tubing管道,

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和水混合后，泵压经过塑料管子，

01:01

creating创建 these glowing泛着 circulatory循环系统 systems系统

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创建起这些发光循环系统，

01:03

for people to walk步行 through通过 and enjoy请享用.

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人们可以在其中穿行并欣赏。

01:06

I like these materials物料 because of the way they look,

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我之所以喜欢这样的材料，是因为它们的外观，

01:08

the way they feel, and they're very affordable实惠.

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它们给人带来的感觉，也因为它们的成本不会太贵。

01:12

I also也 liked喜欢 to make devices设备
that work with body身体 parts部分.

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我也喜欢做一些能够和身体的部位进行互动的装置。

01:14

I would take camera相机 LED lights灯火

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我把摄像头，LED灯

01:17

and a bungee蹦极 cord绳 and strap背带 it on my waist腰部

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和一堆电线绑到我的腰上，

01:19

and I would videotape录影带 my belly肚皮 button按键,

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然后对着我的肚脐眼进行录像，

01:21

get a different不同 perspective透视,

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用另一种角度

01:22

and see what it does.

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看世界。

01:24

(Laughter笑声)

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（观众笑声）

01:26

I also也 like to modify修改 household家庭 appliances家电.

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我也喜欢改装家电。

01:29

This is an automatic自动 night light光.

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这是一个自动夜灯。

01:30

Some of you might威力 have them at home.

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也许你们当中某些人家里也有。

01:32

I would cut切 out the light光 sensor传感器,

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我把光线感应器切了下来，

01:34

add加 an extension延期 line线,

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加上条延长线，

01:35

and use modeling造型 clay粘土,

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用橡皮泥

01:37

stick棒 it onto到 the television电视,

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把它粘在电视机上，

01:39

and then I would videotape录影带 my eye眼,

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然后我让我的眼球活动出现在电视上，

01:41

and using运用 the dark黑暗 part部分 of my eye眼

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用我眼睛的黑色部分

01:43

tricking淋水 the sensor传感器 into thinking思维 it's night time,

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让光线感应器以为是晚上了，

01:45

so you turn转 on the lightbulb灯泡.

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所以它就点亮灯泡。

01:46

The white白色 of the eye眼 and the eyelid眼皮

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眼白和眼皮部分，

01:48

will trick招 the sensor传感器 into thinking思维 it's daytime白天,

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让光线感应器当成了白天，

01:50

and it will shut关闭 off the light光.

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它于是就把灯泡熄灭。

01:53

I wanted to collect搜集 more different不同 types类型 of eyes眼睛,

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我曾想要搜集更多的不同型的眼睛图像，

01:55

so I built内置 this device设备 using运用 bicycle自行车 helmets头盔,

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所以我就用自行车头盔，

01:58

some lightbulbs电灯泡 and television电视 sets套.

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一些灯泡和电视机做了这个装置，

02:00

It would be easier更轻松 for other
people to wear穿 the helmet头盔

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以便于让其他人带上头盔

02:03

and record记录 their其 eyes眼睛.

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好拍下他们的眼睛。

02:05

This device设备 allows允许 me to symbolically象征

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这个装置也让我得以

02:08

extract提取 other people's人们 eyes眼睛,

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将其他人的眼睛图像符号化，

02:10

so I have a diversity多样 of eyes眼睛 to use

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这样我就有各式各样的眼睛图像可用在

02:12

for my other sculptures雕塑.

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我的其他的作品上。

02:20

This sculpture雕塑 has four四 eyes眼睛.

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这个作品有四只眼睛。

02:22

Each每 eye眼 is controlling控制 a different不同 device设备.

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每个眼睛控制一个不同的装置。

02:24

This eye眼 is turning车削 itself本身 around in a television电视.

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屏幕上的这只眼睛指挥电视机转动。

02:28

This eye眼 is inflating充气 a plastic塑料 tube管.

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这只眼睛触发塑料管充气的动作。

02:30

This eye眼 is watching观看 a video视频
of another另一个 piece片 being存在 made制作.

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这只眼睛可以触发播放录像看到另外一个装置的制作过程。

02:34

And these two eyes眼睛 are activating激活 glowing泛着 water水.

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这两只眼睛能够触动装在瓶子里的荧光水。

02:38

Many许多 of these pieces件 are later后来 on shown显示

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这些装置，其中很多在后来被展示于

02:40

in museums博物馆, biennials双年展, triennial三年期 exhibitions展览

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博物馆，双年展，三年展。

02:42

around the world世界.

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世界各地都有。

02:44

I love science科学 and biology生物学.

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我喜欢科学和生物学。

02:47

In 2007, I was doing a research研究 fellowship奖学金

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在2007年，我在史密森自然历史博物馆

02:49

at the Smithsonian史密森 Natural自然 History历史 Museum博物馆

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做一个奖学金研究，

02:51

looking at bioluminousbioluminous organisms生物 in the oeanoean.

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观察海洋里的发光生物体。

02:54

I love these creatures生物. I love the
way they look, the way they feel.

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我喜欢这些生物。我喜欢它们的样子，喜欢它们的触感。

02:57

They're soft柔软的, they're slimy泥泞的,

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它们柔软，光滑。

03:00

and I was fascinated入迷 by the way they use light光

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我也着迷于在它们的环境里，

03:02

in their其 environment环境,

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它们是怎样利用光的，

03:03

either或 to attract吸引 mates队友, for self-defense自我防备,

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或者是用来吸引配偶，或者是用来自保，

03:06

or to attract吸引 food餐饮.

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或者是用来吸引猎物。

03:08

This research研究 inspired启发 my
work in many许多 different不同 ways方法,

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从这项研究中，我得到很多启发和灵感并将其应用于我的作品。

03:11

things like movement运动 or different不同 light光 patterns模式.

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例如物体的运动，或是不同的光线变化。

03:18

So I started开始 gathering搜集 a lot of

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所以我在我的工作室里开始收集大量的

03:19

different不同 types类型 of material材料 in my studio工作室

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各种类型的物料

03:22

and just experimenting试验

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进行实验。

03:23

and trying试 this out, trying试 that out,

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试试这个，试试那个，

03:25

and seeing眼看 what types类型 of creatures生物 I can come up with.

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看看用它们我可以造出什么样的东西。

03:27

I used a lot of computer电脑 cooling冷却 fans球迷

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我用到了很多电脑上的散热风扇，

03:30

and just kind类 of put them
together一起 and see what happens发生.

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把它们放在了一起看看会怎么样。

03:33

This is an 8,000-square-foot-平方英尺 installation安装

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这是一个8千平方英尺的装置，

03:35

composed由 of many许多 different不同 creatures生物,

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由许多不同部件组成，

03:37

some hanging挂 from the ceiling天花板
and some resting休息 on the floor地板.

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有的吊在天花板上，有的是在地上。

03:40

From afar远, they look alien-like外星人般的,

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从远处看，它们有点像外星生物，

03:42

but when you look closer接近,

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可是当你走近看，

03:43

they're all made制作 out of black黑色 garbage垃圾 bags包装袋

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它们其实都是用些黑色的垃圾袋

03:45

or Tupperware特百惠 containers集装箱.

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或是特百惠塑料盒子做成的。

03:46

I'd like to share分享 with you how ordinary普通 things

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我在这里想和大家分享的就是:

03:49

can become成为 something magical神奇 and wondrous奇妙.

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平凡日常的东西也可以变身成为魔幻神奇的事物。

04:06

(Applause掌声)

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（观众掌声）

05:04

Thank you.

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谢谢大家。

05:06

(Applause掌声)

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（观众掌声）

Translated by Gena Volz
Reviewed by HUI XU

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Shih Chieh Huang - Artist
Shih Chieh Huang doesn’t make art that’s meant to be admired from afar. He dissects and disassembles the detritus of our lives—household appliances, lights, computer parts, toys—and transforms them into surreal experiences.

Why you should listen

Shih Chieh Huang has one goal with his art: to create experiences for people to explore. He finds inspiration for his work from some highly unusual sources: a bioluminescent fish, a garbage bag, even his belly button.

A TED Fellow, Shih Chieh Huang grew up in Taiwan, where he enjoyed discovering strange objects in his local night market. He developed a passion for taking apart everyday objects and transforming them into something new. These experiences—as well as a fellowship at the Smithsonian Institute studying bioluminescent organisms—deeply inform his work.

Shih Chieh Huang has created a helmet that records the movement of the eye, and then uses the blinks to turn on and off a nightlight. He’s also used similar mechanisms to send glowing water pumping through tubes. His most recent work, however, takes plastic bottles, garbage bags and other everyday items and transforms them into gigantic sculptures that move and light up—as if they were actual sea creatures.

More profile about the speaker
Shih Chieh Huang | Speaker | TED.com

THE ORIGINAL VIDEO ON TED.COM

Shih Chieh Huang: Sculptures that’d be at home in the deep sea | TED Talk | TED.com