ABOUT THE SPEAKER
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.

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.

More profile about the speaker
Aparna Rao | Speaker | TED.com
TEDGlobal 2011

Aparna Rao: High-tech art (with a sense of humor)

阿帕玛・饶:(幽默的)高科技艺术

Filmed:
951,514 views

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。
- 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

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

00:15
Hi你好. Today今天, I'm going to take you through通过 glimpses瞥见
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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项目,
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我的八个艺术作品
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doneDONE in collaboration合作 with Danish丹麦 artist艺术家 Soren索伦 PorsPORS.
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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我们自己 PorsPORS and Rao,
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我们的组合叫普尔兹和饶
00:24
and we live生活 and work in India印度.
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我们在印度居住和工作
00:26
I'd like to begin开始 with my very first object目的,
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第一个作品
00:29
which哪一个 I call "The Uncle叔叔 Phone电话."
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叫做“叔叔电话”
00:31
And it was inspired启发 by my uncle's叔叔的 peculiar奇特 habit习惯
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这个作品是从我叔叔的一个
00:34
of constantly经常 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几乎 like I were an extension延期 of his body身体 --
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我就像他身体的延伸部分-
00:38
to turn on the lights灯火 or to bring带来 him a glass玻璃 of water,
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帮他开灯或者倒水
00:40
a pack of cigarettes香烟.
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买包烟
00:42
And as I grew成长 up, it became成为 worse更差 and worse更差,
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我长大后就被使唤得更厉害了
00:44
And I started开始 to think of it as a form形成 of control控制.
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我开始觉得这是种控制
00:46
But of course课程, I could never say anything,
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但是我不能怎么样
00:48
because the uncle叔叔 is a respected尊敬 figure数字
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因为在印度家庭里
00:50
in the Indian印度人 family家庭.
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叔叔是很受尊敬的
00:52
And the situation情况 that irked激怒 me and mystified迷惑 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座机 telephone电话.
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他用座机打电话的方式
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He would hold保持 on to the receiver接收器 and expect期望 me to dial拨号 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响应 and as a gift礼品 to my uncle叔叔,
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作为一个给他的回应和礼物
01:03
I made制作 him "The Uncle叔叔 Phone电话."
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我给他做了这个“叔叔电话”
01:05
It's so long that it requires要求 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究竟 the way my uncle叔叔 uses使用 a phone电话 that's designed设计 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问题 is that, when I left home and went to college学院,
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但问题是当我离家上大学后
01:15
I started开始 missing失踪 his commands命令.
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我开始怀念他的使唤
01:17
And so I made制作 him a golden金色 typewriter打字机
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于是我给他做了一个金色的打字机
01:19
through通过 which哪一个 he could dispense发放 his commands命令
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这样他能通过电子邮件
01:21
to nephews侄子 and nieces侄女 around the world世界 as an email电子邮件.
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使唤他四散在世界各地的侄子侄女们
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So what he had to do was take a piece of paper, roll it into the carriage运输,
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他只要拿张纸放进纸夹
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type类型 his email电子邮件 or command命令 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设备 would automatically自动 send发送 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电子邮件.
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寄送个收件人
01:35
So here you can see, we embedded嵌入式 a lot of electronics电子产品
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你看 我们把许多能检测机械动作
01:38
that understands理解 all of the mechanical机械 actions行动
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并将其转化为数字信号的
01:40
and converts转换 it to digital数字.
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很多电子配件组装起来
01:42
So my uncle叔叔 is only dealing交易 with a mechanical机械 interface接口.
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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课程, the object目的 had to be very grand盛大 and have a sense of ritualism形式主义,
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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叔叔 likes喜欢 it.
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就象我叔叔喜欢的那样
01:50
The next下一个 work is a sound-sensitive声音敏感 installation安装
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下面一个作品是感声的装置
01:53
that we affectionately深情 call "The Pygmies俾格米人."
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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概念 of being存在
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这个作品的概念是围绕着我们的
01:58
surrounded包围 by a tribe部落 of very shy害羞, sensitive敏感 and sweet creatures生物.
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一群很害羞,敏感而又可爱的部落
02:02
So how it works作品 is we have these panels面板, which哪一个 we have on the wall,
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这些挂在墙上的板的后面
02:05
and behind背后 them, we have these little creatures生物 which哪一个 hide隐藏.
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藏着这些小人
02:08
And as soon不久 as it's silent无声, they sort分类 of creep爬行 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无声, they stretch伸展 their necks脖子 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丝毫 sound声音, they hide隐藏 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面板 on three walls墙壁 of a room房间.
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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俾格米人 hiding behind背后 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作品.
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看看它是怎样的
02:24
This is a video视频 prototype原型.
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这是一段视频
02:26
So when it's quiet安静, it's sort分类 of coming未来 out from behind背后 the panels面板.
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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人类 do, or real真实 creatures生物 do.
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就象人或者活物一样
02:31
So they get immune免疫的 to sounds声音 that scare them after awhile一会儿.
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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应对 to background背景 sounds声音.
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就对背景声音不再反应
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You'll你会 hear a train培养 in moment时刻 that they don't react应对 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噪声)
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(噪声)
02:42
But they react应对 to foreground前景 sounds声音. You'll你会 hear that in a second第二.
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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口哨)
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(口哨)
02:50
So we worked工作 very hard
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我们为了
02:52
to make them as lifelike逼真 as possible可能.
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令其栩栩如生费了很大劲
02:56
So each pygmy侏儒 has its own拥有 behavior行为, psyche精神,
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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心情 swings波动, personalities个性 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原型.
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这是个很早起的样板
03:03
Of course课程, 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制作 them react应对 to people,
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我们让其和人们互动
03:07
but we found发现 that people were being存在 quite相当 playful调皮 and childlike孩子似的 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视频 installation安装 called "The Missing失踪 Person."
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这是一个叫“失踪者”的摄影装置
03:14
And we were quite相当 intrigued好奇
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我们被隐身这个概念
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with playing播放 with the notion概念 of invisibility隐形.
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启发
03:18
How would it be possible可能 to experience经验 a sense of invisibility隐形?
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如果能体验隐身会是什么样的?
03:21
So we worked工作 with a company公司
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我们就一家
03:23
that specializes专业 in camera相机 surveillance监控,
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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发展 a piece of software软件 with us,
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请他们为我们设计了一个软件
03:28
using运用 a camera相机
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通过一台摄像机
03:30
that could look at people in the room房间, track跟踪 them
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能够监视屋子里的人,跟踪他们
03:32
and replace更换 one person with the background背景, rendering翻译 them invisible无形.
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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显示 you a very early prototype原型.
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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同事 Soren索伦,
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右边你能看到是我的同伴索伦
03:40
who's谁是 actually其实 in the space空间.
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他确实在那儿
03:42
And on the left side, you'll你会 see the processed处理 video视频
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左边你看到处理过的视频
03:44
where the camera相机 has made制作 him invisible无形.
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摄像机帮他隐身了
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Soren索伦 enters进入 the room房间. Pop流行的! He goes invisible无形.
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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相机 is tracking追踪 him and erasing擦除.
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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视频,
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这是个很好的视频
03:55
so we haven't没有 yet然而 dealt处理 with the overlap交叠 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精制 pretty漂亮 soon不久, later后来.
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但是这个很快改进了
04:00
So how we used it was in a room房间 where we had a camera相机 looking into the space空间,
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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监控, 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房间,
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当人们走进屋子
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they would see themselves他们自己 in the monitor监控, except with one difference区别:
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他们能在显示器上看到自己
04:11
one person was constantly经常 invisible无形
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但是总有一个人不论在屋子里怎么移动
04:13
wherever哪里 they moved移动 in the room房间.
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他都是隐身的
04:15
So this is a work called "The Sun太阳 Shadow阴影."
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这个作品叫做“太阳的影子”
04:17
And it was almost几乎 like a sheet of paper,
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它看上去就象张纸而已
04:20
like a cutout剪下 of a childlike孩子似的 drawing画画
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像是个孩子涂鸦出的
04:22
of an oil spill or a sun太阳.
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一个油渍或者太阳
04:24
And from the front面前, this object目的 appeared出现 to be very strong强大 and robust强大的,
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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几乎 seemed似乎 very weak.
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但是从侧面则看起来很虚弱
04:30
So people would walking步行 into the room房间 and they'd他们会 almost几乎 ignore忽视 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思维 it was some crap掷骰子 laying铺设 around.
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以为这只是地上垃圾之类
04:35
But as soon不久 as they passed通过 by,
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但是一旦他们经过旁边
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it would start开始 to climb up the wall in jerky生涩的 fashion时尚.
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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坍方 every一切 time.
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接着就精疲力尽 掉了下去
04:42
(Laughter笑声)
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(笑声)
04:44
So this work
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这个作品
04:46
is a caricature漫画 of an upside-down上下翻转 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充分 of heavy thoughts思念,
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他的头非常重,充满了沉重的想法
04:50
that it's sort分类 of fallen堕落 into his hat帽子,
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所以他是倒立的帽子着地
04:52
and his body's身体的 grown长大的 out of him almost几乎 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移动 around
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他会像醉酒的人一样
04:56
in a very drunken fashion时尚 on his head
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用一种混乱又极慢的动作
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in a very unpredictable不可预料的 and extremely非常 slow movement运动.
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移动着
05:01
And it's kind of constrained受限 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地板 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开始 to wander漫步 about in the space空间.
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他就会开始在整个房间乱转
05:09
And there's no wires电线.
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他身上没有一根电线
05:11
So I'll just show显示 you an instance --
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给你们展示一下-
05:13
so when people enter输入 the room房间, it activates激活 this object目的.
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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慢慢地, over a few少数 minutes分钟,
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几分钟内他就很缓慢的
05:17
sort分类 of painfully痛苦 goes up,
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痛苦地倒立起来
05:19
and then it gains收益 momentum动量
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动量聚集到一定程度
05:21
and it looks容貌 like it's almost几乎 about to fall秋季.
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他就看上去快要倒下去的样子
05:23
And this is an important重要 moment时刻,
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这是个关键时刻
05:25
because we wanted to instill灌输 in the viewer观众
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因为我们希望激发起观看者的
05:27
an instinct直觉 to almost几乎 go and help, or save保存 the subject学科.
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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分类 of manages管理 to pull itself本身 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真实 technical技术 challenge挑战 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工作 very hard, like most of our works作品, over years年份
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我们努力的几年
05:40
to get the mechanics机械学 right and the equilibrium平衡 and the dynamics动力学.
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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重要 for us
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确定他倒下去的精确时间
05:45
to establish建立 the exact精确 moment时刻 that it would fall秋季,
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对我们来说是非常重要的
05:48
because if we made制作 it in a way that it would topple倾覆 over,
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因为如果我们让其倒下去
05:51
then it would damage损伤 itself本身,
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他可能就伤到自己
05:53
and if it didn't fall秋季 enough足够, it wouldn't不会 instill灌输 that fatalism宿命论,
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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希望 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显示 you a very quick video视频
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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测试 scenario脚本 -- it's much faster更快.
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我们正在测试-动作很快
06:02
That's my colleague同事. 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得到 nervous紧张, so he's going to go catch抓住 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管理 to lift电梯 itself本身 up on its own拥有.
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装置能自己站起来
06:10
So this is a work that we were very intrigued好奇 with,
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这个作品我们将
06:13
working加工 with the aesthetic审美 of fur毛皮
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具有审美感的皮毛上
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embedded嵌入式 with thousands数千 of tiny different不同 sizes大小
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嵌入上千个不同大小的
06:18
of fiber纤维 optics光学, which哪一个 twinkle眨眼 like the night sky天空.
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能在夜里发光的光纤
06:21
And it's at the scale规模 of the night sky天空.
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背景设置有如真正夜空般大小
06:23
So we wrapped包裹 this around a blob-like斑点状 form形成,
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我们把它裹在一个类似流体态物体上
06:25
which哪一个 is in the shape形状 of a teddy泰迪熊 bear,
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它是个泰迪熊的外形
06:27
which哪一个 was hanging from the ceiling天花板.
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挂在天花板上
06:29
And the idea理念 was to sort分类 of contrast对比
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这个作品的概念是要把
06:31
something very cold and distant遥远 and abstract抽象 like the universe宇宙
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象宇宙一样广漠抽象的东西
06:34
into the familiar form形成 of a teddy泰迪熊 bear,
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和一个泰迪熊一样熟悉的物体对比
06:36
which哪一个 is very comforting欣慰的 and intimate亲密.
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而泰迪熊的感觉是舒适亲密的
06:38
And the idea理念 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形成 of a teddy泰迪熊 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几乎 perceive感知 it to be a hole in the space空间,
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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闪烁 night sky天空.
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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进展,
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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空间 Filler填料."
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它叫做空间填充器
06:53
Well imagine想像 a small cube立方体 that's about this big
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试想一下屋子中间
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standing常设 in front面前 of you in the middle中间 of the room房间,
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有一个立方体
06:57
and as you approached接近 it, it tried试着 to intimidate威吓 you
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当你靠近它 它就会
07:00
by growing生长 into a cube立方体
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变成两倍高度四倍体积大小
07:02
that's twice两次 its height高度 and [eight] times its volume.
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来和你互动
07:05
And so this object目的 is constantly经常 expanding扩大 and contracting承包
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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创建 a dynamic动态 with people moving移动 around it --
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通过扩大和缩小来产生动态效果
07:10
almost几乎 like it were trying
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就好像它试着
07:12
to conceal隐藏 a secret秘密 within its seams接缝 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技术,
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我们得用上很多科技
07:17
but we don't really love technology技术,
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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疼痛 in our work over years年份 and years年份.
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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有兴趣
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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表现 the emotions情绪 and behavioral行为的 patterns模式
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通过这些作品表达
07:29
in these creatures生物 that we create创建.
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感情和行为特征
07:31
And once一旦 a creature生物 pops持久性有机污染物 into our minds头脑,
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一旦一个作品的想法出现
07:33
it's almost几乎 like the process处理 of creation创建
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这个创造的过程
07:35
is to discover发现 the way this creature生物 really wants to exist存在
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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形成 it wants to take and what way it wants to move移动.
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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掌声)
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(掌声)
Translated by Chunxiang Qian
Reviewed by Alison Xiaoqiao Xie

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
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.

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.

More profile about the speaker
Aparna Rao | Speaker | TED.com