TED2008
Chris Jordan: Turning powerful stats into art
Chris Jordan以圖像展示令人震驚的統計數據
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藝術家Chris Jordan向我們表明了他所捕捉的於西方文化是什麼的樣子。他的超大尺寸圖片將一些難以想像的統計數字形象化--例如我們每天所消耗的驚人紙杯數量。
Chris Jordan - Artist
Chris Jordan runs the numbers on modern American life -- making large-format, long-zoom artwork from the most mindblowing data about our stuff. Full bio
Chris Jordan runs the numbers on modern American life -- making large-format, long-zoom artwork from the most mindblowing data about our stuff. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:12
My work is about the behaviors that we all engage in unconsciously,
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我的作品主要是以宏觀的角度，關注人們在不知不覺中
00:17
on a collective level.
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所作出的行為，
00:19
And what I mean by that, it's the behaviors
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我所指的是那些我們
00:21
that we're in denial about,
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不願承認的行為，
00:22
and the ones that operate below the surface of our daily awareness.
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和那些我們每天無意當中所做的行為。
00:29
And as individuals, we all do these things, all the time, everyday.
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作為獨立的個人，我們大家每天都在做這些事，隨時都在做。
00:32
It's like when you're mean to your wife
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就像你對你的妻子發脾氣，
00:35
because you're mad at somebody else.
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其實是因為你在對其他人生氣。
00:37
Or when you drink a little too much at a party, just out of anxiety.
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或當你在派對中喝多了，原因是你在焦慮。
00:40
Or when you overeat because your feelings are hurt, or whatever.
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或是你因為感情受到傷害而暴飲暴食，諸如此類。
00:46
And when we do these kind of things,
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當我們做這樣的事情時，
00:48
when 300 million people do unconscious behaviors,
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而且有3億人都這樣在無意當中進行這般行為時，
00:52
then it can add up to a catastrophic consequence
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很有可能加乘為災難性的後果，
00:55
that nobody wants, and no one intended.
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沒有人願意接受，也沒有人故意造成這些後果。
00:57
And that's what I look at with my photographic work.
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而這正是我的攝影作品所關注的。
01:00
This is an image I just recently completed, that is --
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這是一幅我最近剛剛完成的圖像，
01:04
when you stand back at a distance,
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當你站遠些，
01:05
it looks like some kind of neo-Gothic, cartoon image
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看起來像一種新歌德式的漫畫圖像，
01:08
of a factory spewing out pollution.
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像一座排放污染物的工廠。
01:11
And as you get a little bit closer,
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當你靠近一點看，
01:14
it starts looking like lots of pipes, like maybe a chemical plant,
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開始看起來像許多管路，好像是一所化學工廠，
01:18
or a refinery, or maybe a hellish freeway interchange.
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或是煉油廠，也可能是讓人頭疼的高速公路交流道。
01:22
And as you get all the way up close,
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而當你貼近作品來看，
01:23
you realize that it's actually made of lots and lots of plastic cups.
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你會發現它實際上是由很多很多的塑膠杯所構成。
01:28
And in fact, this is one million plastic cups,
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而事實上，這裡有一百萬個塑膠杯，
01:30
which is the number of plastic cups that are used on airline flights
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這個數字是美國境內飛行的航班上，每六個小時
01:35
in the United States every six hours.
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所消耗的塑膠杯數量。
01:36
We use four million cups a day on airline flights,
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我們在飛機上，每天就使用了四百萬個塑膠杯，
01:41
and virtually none of them are reused or recycled.
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完全沒有回收或再利用；
01:43
They just don't do that in that industry.
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這個行業就是不做這樣的事。
01:46
Now, that number is dwarfed
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但是這還只是個小數目，
01:48
by the number of paper cups we use every day,
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看看我們每天所使用的紙杯數量，
01:51
and that is 40 million cups a day for hot beverages,
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我們每天使用四千萬個紙杯來盛裝熱飲，
01:54
most of which is coffee.
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大多是咖啡。
01:55
I couldn't fit 40 million cups on a canvas,
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我沒辦法將四千萬個紙杯放進一幅畫框裡，
01:58
but I was able to put 410,000. That's what 410,000 cups looks like.
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我只能放進41萬個紙杯。41萬個紙杯看起來就是這個樣子。
02:03
That's 15 minutes of our cup consumption.
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我們每15分鐘消耗這麼多的紙杯。
02:04
And if you could actually stack up that many cups in real life,
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假若在現實生活中可以疊起那麼多的紙杯子，
02:08
that's the size it would be.
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它的規模會是這個樣子。
02:09
And there's an hour's worth of our cups.
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這是我們每小時所消耗的紙杯數量。
02:12
And there's a day's worth of our cups.
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這是一天的量。
02:13
You can still see the little people way down there.
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你仍然可以看到小小的人在底下那裡。
02:15
That's as high as a 42-story building,
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這相當於42層樓高，
02:17
and I put the Statue of Liberty in there as a scale reference.
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我把自由女神像放進來作為參考比例。
02:23
Speaking of justice, there's another phenomenon going on in our culture
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談到正義，在我們的文化中存在著另一種現象，
02:26
that I find deeply troubling, and that is that America, right now,
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令人深感不安，那就是美國目前
02:29
has the largest percentage of its population in prison
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囚犯的比例
02:32
of any country on Earth.
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比世界上其他國家都高。
02:35
One out of four people, one out of four humans in prison
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全球每四個監獄囚犯，就有一個
02:38
are Americans, imprisoned in our country.
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是美國人，被監禁在美國本土的監獄裡。
02:43
And I wanted to show the number.
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我想表現這個數目。
02:44
The number is 2.3 million Americans were incarcerated in 2005.
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2005年，美國有230萬名囚犯被監禁。
02:48
And that's gone up since then, but we don't have the numbers yet.
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從此至今這數字仍在增加，但我們現在還沒有實際的數字。
02:50
So, I wanted to show 2.3 million prison uniforms,
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所以我想向大家展示230萬件囚服，
02:54
and in the actual print of this piece,
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這幅作品印出來時，
02:57
each uniform is the size of a nickel on its edge.
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每件囚服只有一個五分美元硬幣的厚度。
03:00
They're tiny. They're barely visible as a piece of material,
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非常的小，只能勉強看出它是一件物品，
03:03
and to show 2.3 million of them required a canvas
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倘若要將230萬件囚服全放進同一張圖片，
03:07
that was larger than any printer in the world would print.
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世界上找不到這麼大的印表機可以將它印出來。
03:09
And so I had to divide it up into multiple panels
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因此，我不得不把它分割成幾個版面，
03:11
that are 10 feet tall by 25 feet wide.
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每件長度為10英尺(3公尺)高、25英尺(7.5公尺)寬。
03:13
This is that piece installed in a gallery in New York --
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這件作品在紐約一家畫廊展出，
03:18
those are my parents looking at the piece.
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正在看著這一幅作品的是我的父母。
03:20
(Laughter)
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（笑聲）
03:23
Every time I look at this piece,
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每當我看見這張照片，
03:24
I always wonder if my mom's whispering to my dad,
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我總懷疑我媽媽在悄悄地對爸爸說：
03:26
"He finally folded his laundry."
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「他總算會摺衣服了。」
03:28
(Laughter)
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（笑聲）
03:31
I want to show you some pieces now that are about addiction.
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現在我想給各位看一些有關成癮症的作品。
03:33
And this particular one is about cigarette addiction.
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這一幅是針對菸癮的作品。
03:37
I wanted to make a piece that shows the actual number of Americans
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我想製作一幅作品可以代表美國人
03:40
who die from cigarette smoking.
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因為吸菸而死亡的實際數字。
03:42
More than 400,000 people die in the United States every year
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美國每年有超過40萬人死亡,
03:45
from smoking cigarettes.
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因為吸菸而死亡。
03:47
And so, this piece is made up of lots and lots of boxes of cigarettes.
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所以這件作品是由很多的香菸盒所構成.
03:51
And, as you slowly step back,
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而且,當你慢慢地向後退,
03:52
you see that it's a painting by Van Gogh, called "Skull with Cigarette."
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您將看到一幅由梵谷所畫的“骷髏與香菸”。
03:56
It's a strange thing to think about, that on 9/11,
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我有一個奇怪的想法,在9月11日,
04:00
when that tragedy happened, 3,000 Americans died.
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當悲劇發生時,有3千名美國人死亡,
04:02
And do you remember the response?
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你還記得的當時的反應嗎？
04:05
It reverberated around the world,
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它在世界各地引起迴響，
04:07
and will continue to reverberate through time.
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隨著時間過去，仍將繼續產生迴響，
04:10
It will be something that we talk about in 100 years.
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這將是值得我們談論100年的話題。
04:13
And yet on that same day, 1,100 Americans died from smoking.
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然而,就在同一天,有1千1百名美國人因吸菸而死亡，
04:18
And the day after that, another 1,100 Americans died from smoking.
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而一天之後,另外1千1百名美國人也因吸菸而死亡，
04:21
And every single day since then, 1,100 Americans have died.
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自那時起,每天都有1千1百名美國人因吸菸而死亡，
04:25
And today, 1,100 Americans are dying from cigarette smoking.
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而今天,仍有1千1百名美國人因吸菸而死亡，
04:27
And we aren't talking about it -- we dismiss it.
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而我們竟然不談論它,不屑一提。
04:32
The tobacco lobby, it's too strong.
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菸草集團，實在太強大。
04:34
We just dismiss it out of our consciousness.
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我們只是不自覺地忽略這件事，
04:38
And knowing what we know about the destructive power of cigarettes,
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我們明知香菸的破壞性，
04:44
we continue to allow our children, our sons and daughters,
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但是我們繼續讓孩子們,我們的兒子和女兒,
04:48
to be in the presence of the influences that start them smoking.
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在這影響存在的情況下開始吸菸，
04:51
And this is what the next piece is about.
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而這就是下一幅圖所要表現的。
04:54
This is just lots and lots of cigarettes: 65,000 cigarettes,
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這只是很多很多的香菸:6萬5千支香菸,
04:57
which is equal to the number of teenagers
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這數字相當於每個月
05:00
who will start smoking this month, and every month in the U.S.
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美國青少年開始吸菸的人數。
05:03
More than 700,000 children in the United States aged 18 and under
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在美國，每年都有超過70萬名未滿18歲的兒童
05:07
begin smoking every year.
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開始吸菸。
05:09
One more strange epidemic in the United States
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美國還有更奇怪的流行病，
05:15
that I want to acquaint you with
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我希望你們更了解這種現象,
05:17
is this phenomenon of abuse and misuse of prescription drugs.
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也就是濫用和誤用藥物。
05:23
This is an image I've made out of lots and lots of Vicodin.
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這是用許多Vicodin藥丸(止痛藥)構成的圖片-
05:27
Well, actually, I only had one Vicodin
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其實我只有一夥Vicodin藥丸，
05:29
that I scanned lots and lots of times.
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我掃描了很多很多次。
05:31
(Laughter)
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（笑聲）
05:32
And so, as you stand back, you see 213,000 Vicodin pills,
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往後退你就會看到21萬3千顆Vicodin藥丸,
05:35
which is the number of hospital emergency room visits
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這相當於美國每年所有醫院急診室裡，
05:39
yearly in the United States,
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因為濫用、
05:40
attributable to abuse and misuse of prescription painkillers
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誤用處方止痛藥和抗焦慮藥物，
05:45
and anti-anxiety medications.
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所收治的病人總數。
05:46
One-third of all drug overdoses in the U.S. --
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而在美國,用藥過量的人裡--
05:50
and that includes cocaine, heroin, alcohol, everything --
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包括古柯鹼、海洛因、酒精、各式各樣的藥--
05:53
one-third of drug overdoses are prescription medications.
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有三分之一是服用過量的醫院處方藥。
05:58
A strange phenomenon.
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這是很奇怪的現象。
05:59
This is a piece that I just recently completed
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這一幅是我最近完成的作品，
06:03
about another tragic phenomenon. And that is the phenomenon,
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這是關於另一個悲慘的現象，而這種現象，
06:06
this growing obsession we have with breast augmentation surgery.
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正是日益增長而困擾我們的隆乳手術。
06:12
384,000 women, American women, last year
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美國去年有38萬4千名婦女，
06:16
went in for elective breast augmentation surgery.
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選擇進行隆乳手術，
06:21
It's rapidly becoming the most popular high school graduation gift,
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它迅速成為最流行的高中畢業禮物,
06:25
given to young girls who are about to go off to college.
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送給即將上大學的年輕女孩。
06:31
So, I made this image out of Barbie dolls,
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因此,我以芭比娃娃作出了這個作品,
06:34
and so, as you stand back you see this kind of floral pattern,
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當你站遠一點，就會看到一種花紋,
06:39
and as you get all the way back, you see 32,000 Barbie dolls,
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而當你一路走遠,你會看到3萬2千個芭比娃娃,
06:43
which represents the number of breast augmentation surgeries
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這個數字是美國每個月
06:46
that are performed in the U.S. each month.
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所進行的隆乳手術的數字。
06:48
The vast majority of those are on women under the age of 21.
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絕大多數婦女在未滿21歲時動手術，
06:54
And strangely enough, the only plastic surgery
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而且最奇怪的是,在整形外科裡，
06:56
that is more popular than breast augmentation is liposuction,
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唯一比隆乳手術還要流行的，竟是抽脂手術，
07:00
and most of that is being done by men.
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而且大多數的醫生都是男性。
07:02
Now, I want to emphasize that these are just examples.
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現在,我想強調一點,這些都只是例子。
07:06
I'm not holding these out as being the biggest issues.
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我不認為這些是最大的問題，
07:09
They're just examples.
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他們僅僅是幾個例子而已。
07:12
And the reason that I do this, it's because I have this fear
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而我之所以這樣做,是因為我擔心
07:16
that we aren't feeling enough as a culture right now.
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大家還沒有體認到這一股風氣，
07:20
There's this kind of anesthesia in America at the moment.
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因為美國現正處於麻木的時刻，
07:23
We've lost our sense of outrage, our anger and our grief
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現在文化上所產生的轉變、國家裡發生的事情，
07:31
about what's going on in our culture right now,
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都無法激起我們的憤慨、
07:33
what's going on in our country,
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憤怒和悲痛，
07:34
the atrocities that are being committed in our names around the world.
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儘管這些暴行已經使我們的聲譽受損，
07:36
They've gone missing; these feelings have gone missing.
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但情緒都不見了，感情也都消失了。
07:40
Our cultural joy, our national joy is nowhere to be seen.
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我們對於文化的喜悅、國家的喜悅,消失得無影無踪。
07:43
And one of the causes of this, I think,
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我認為其中一個原因,
07:47
is that as each of us attempts to build this new kind of worldview,
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是因為我們每個人都試圖在自己的內心裡，
07:51
this holoptical worldview, this holographic image
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為各種事物間所存在的關聯性，
07:55
that we're all trying to create in our mind
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建立起新型的、涵蓋全球的世界觀、
07:57
of the interconnection of things: the environmental footprints
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或完整的圖像。像是我們關心我們所買的東西，
08:00
1,000 miles away of the things that we buy;
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對1千英哩以外的環境產生了什麼影響；
08:03
the social consequences 10,000 miles away
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像是我們身為消費者，每天所做的消費決定，
08:06
of the daily decisions that we make as consumers.
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又對1千英里以外的社會造成了什麼影響。
08:09
As we try to build this view,
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當我們嘗試建立這種觀點,
08:11
and try to educate ourselves about the enormity of our culture,
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並嘗試教育自己去了解我們的文化有多腐化,
08:14
the information that we have to work with is these gigantic numbers:
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我們必須消化的資訊是天文數字:
08:20
numbers in the millions, in the hundreds of millions,
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動輒上百萬、上億、
08:23
in the billions and now in the trillions.
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數十億，現在則以兆來計算。
08:26
Bush's new budget is in the trillions, and these are numbers
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布希的新預算是以兆來計算，而這些數字
08:28
that our brain just doesn't have the ability to comprehend.
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是我們的大腦無力去理解的，
08:32
We can't make meaning out of these enormous statistics.
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在這些巨大的統計數字中，我們找不到任何意義，
08:36
And so that's what I'm trying to do with my work,
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所以我想嘗試用我的作品,
08:40
is to take these numbers, these statistics
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把這些數字、這些統計數據，
08:41
from the raw language of data, and to translate them
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從原始的資料型態，
08:46
into a more universal visual language, that can be felt.
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轉化為一般人可以感受到的視覺語言。
08:49
Because my belief is, if we can feel these issues,
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因為我的信念是,如果我們能感受到這些問題,
08:53
if we can feel these things more deeply,
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如果我們可以更深刻地感受到這些東西,
08:55
then they'll matter to us more than they do now.
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我們就會比現在更重視這些問題。
09:00
And if we can find that,
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如果我們能夠瞭解這一點，
09:01
then we'll be able to find, within each one of us,
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那麼每一個人都會認真地
09:06
what it is that we need to find to face the big question,
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尋找這類嚴重問題的解決之道，
09:09
which is: how do we change?
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那就是:我們該如何改變?
09:12
That, to me, is the big question that we face as a people right now:
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對我來說，這是一個我們現在所面臨的大問題:
09:17
how do we change? How do we change as a culture,
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我們該如何去改變?我們該如何改變文化？
09:21
and how do we each individually take responsibility
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我們每一個人該怎麼負起自己範圍內的責任，
09:25
for the one piece of the solution that we are in charge of,
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找出解決之道？這得靠我們自己的
09:29
and that is our own behavior?
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行為來決定。
09:30
My belief is that you don't have to make yourself bad
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我的信念是,你不必讓自己不愉快地
09:40
to look at these issues.
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去看待這些問題，
09:42
I'm not pointing the finger at America in a blaming way.
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我也不是在指責美國政府，
09:46
I'm simply saying, this is who we are right now.
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我只是簡單地呈現出我們現在的樣貌。
09:48
And if there are things that we see
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如果我們不喜歡
09:50
that we don't like about our culture,
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我們文化裡的某些東西，
09:51
then we have a choice.
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那麼我們有一個選擇，
10:02
The degree of integrity that each of us can bring to the surface,
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當我們面對問題，質疑自己該如何改變時，
10:07
to bring to this question, the depth of character that we can summon,
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我們所展現出來的正直勇氣，
10:14
as we show up for the question of how do we change --
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就決定了我們所能改變的深度。
10:17
it's already defining us as individuals and as a nation,
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這是在我們成為人民、組成國家時就決定的了，
10:25
and it will continue to do that, on into the future.
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未來還會繼續延續下去。
10:28
And it will profoundly affect the well-being, the quality of life
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它將深刻地影響未來即將要繼承我們決策的
10:35
of the billions of people
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數十億人的
10:36
who are going to inherit the results of our decisions.
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社會福祉，以及生活品質。
10:45
I'm not speaking abstractly about this,
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我不是在說抽象的事情，
10:46
I'm speaking -- this is who we are in this room,
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我所說的是在座每一個人的現狀，
10:56
right now, in this moment.
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就是現在這一刻的樣貌。
10:58
Thank you and good afternoon.
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謝謝你，午安。
11:03
(Applause)
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（掌聲）
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Chris Jordan - ArtistChris Jordan runs the numbers on modern American life -- making large-format, long-zoom artwork from the most mindblowing data about our stuff.
Why you should listen
Photographer Chris Jordan trains his eye on American consumption. His 2003-05 series "Intolerable Beauty" examines the hypnotic allure of the sheer amount of stuff we make and consume every day: cliffs of baled scrap, small cities of shipping containers, endless grids of mass-produced goods.
His 2005 book In Katrina's Wake: Portraits of Loss from an Unnatural Disaster is a chilling, unflinching look at the toll of the storm. And his latest series of photographs, "Running the Numbers," gives dramatic life to statistics of US consumption. Often-heard factoids like "We use 2 million plastic bottles every 5 minutes" become a chilling sea of plastic that stretches beyond our horizon.
In April 2008, Jordan traveled around the world with National Geographic as an international eco-ambassador for Earth Day 2008.
Chris Jordan | Speaker | TED.com