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

Translator: Arinta Puspitasari Reviewer: Dewi Barnas

Hi. Today, I'm going to take you through glimpses

Hai. Hari ini saya ingin mengajak Anda melihat sejenak

of about eight of my projects,

done in collaboration with Danish artist Soren Pors.

delapan proyek saya,

hasil kolaborasi dengan seniman Denmark, Soren Pors.

We call ourselves Pors and Rao,

Kami menyebut diri kami Pors dan Rao,

and we live and work in India.

dan kami tinggal dan bekerja di India.

I'd like to begin with my very first object,

Saya ingin memulai dengan obyek pertama

which I call "The Uncle Phone."

yang berjudul "Telepon Paman."

And it was inspired by my uncle's peculiar habit

Ini terinspirasi oleh kebiasaan aneh paman saya

of constantly asking me to do things for him,

yang selalu meminta saya melakukan sesuatu untuknya,

almost like I were an extension of his body --

seakan-akan saya adalah perpanjangan dari badannya --

to turn on the lights or to bring him a glass of water,

menyalakan lampu atau membawakan minum untuknya,

a pack of cigarettes.

sebungkus rokok.

And as I grew up, it became worse and worse,

Dan semakin besar saya, semakin buruk kelakuannya,

And I started to think of it as a form of control.

dan saya mulai melihatnya sebagai bentuk kontrol.

But of course, I could never say anything,

Tentu saja, saya tak bisa bilang apa-apa,

because the uncle is a respected figure

karena paman adalah figur terhormat

in the Indian family.

dalam keluarga India.

And the situation that irked me and mystified me the most

Dan situasi yang paling membuat saya kesal dan pusing

was his use of a landline telephone.

adalah caranya menggunakan telepon.

He would hold on to the receiver and expect me to dial a number for him.

Ia akan memegang gagang telepon dan berharap saya yang memutar nomornya.

And so as a response and as a gift to my uncle,

Jadi, sebagai jawaban dan hadiah untuk paman,

I made him "The Uncle Phone."

saya membuatkannya "Telepon Paman."

It's so long that it requires two people to use it.

Telepon ini sangat panjang dan butuh dua orang untuk menggunakannya.

It's exactly the way my uncle uses a phone that's designed for one person.

Ini cocok dengan cara paman saya memakai telepon yang bisa dioperasikan satu orang.

But the problem is that, when I left home and went to college,

Tapi masalahnya, ketika saya mulai kuliah dan keluar dari rumah,

I started missing his commands.

saya jadi merindukan perintahnya.

And so I made him a golden typewriter

Jadi saya membuatkannya mesin ketik keemasan,

through which he could dispense his commands

yang bisa dipakai untuk memberi perintah

to nephews and nieces around the world as an email.

ke keponakannya di seluruh dunia melalui email.

So what he had to do was take a piece of paper, roll it into the carriage,

Jadi ia tinggal mengambil kertas, memasukkannya ke mesin tik,

type his email or command and pull the paper out.

menuliskan email atau perintahnya dan menarik kertasnya keluar.

This device would automatically send the intended person

Alat ini akan mengirimkan surat secara otomatis ke penerimanya

the letter as an email.

dalam bentuk email.

So here you can see, we embedded a lot of electronics

Dapat dilihat di sini, kami memasang banyak alat elektronik

that understands all of the mechanical actions

yang dapat membaca aksi mekanik

and converts it to digital.

dan mengubahnya ke digital.

So my uncle is only dealing with a mechanical interface.

Jadi paman hanya perlu berhubungan dengan tampilan mekaniknya saja.

And of course, the object had to be very grand and have a sense of ritualism,

Dan tentu saja, obyeknya harus besar dan memiliki karakter ritual

the way my uncle likes it.

sesuai dengan selera paman saya.

The next work is a sound-sensitive installation

Karya berikutnya adalah instalasi yang sensitif terhadap suara

that we affectionately call "The Pygmies."

yang kami sebut "Si Kerdil."

And we wanted to work with a notion of being

Kami ingin bekerja dengan gagasan

surrounded by a tribe of very shy, sensitive and sweet creatures.

dikelilingi oleh suku yang pemalu, sensitif, dan lucu.

So how it works is we have these panels, which we have on the wall,

Jadi kami memasang panel ini di dinding

and behind them, we have these little creatures which hide.

dan makhluk-makhluk kecil ini bersembunyi di belakangnya.

And as soon as it's silent, they sort of creep out.

Dan setelah sunyi, mereka seperti merayap keluar.

And if it's even more silent, they stretch their necks out.

Dan bila sepi sekali, mereka memanjangkan leher mereka.

And at the slightest sound, they hide back again.

Dan saat ada suara, mereka langsung sembunyi lagi.

So we had these panels on three walls of a room.

Jadi kami memasang panel ini di tiga dinding di satu ruangan.

And we had over 500 of these little pygmies hiding behind them.

Dan ada lebih dari 500 orang-orangan kerdil di baliknya.

So this is how it works.

Jadi begini cara kerjanya.

This is a video prototype.

Ini prototipe video.

So when it's quiet, it's sort of coming out from behind the panels.

Ketika sunyi, mereka akan keluar dari belakang panel.

And they hear like humans do, or real creatures do.

Mereka mendengar seperti halnya manusia atau makhluk hidup.

So they get immune to sounds that scare them after awhile.

Jadi, setelah beberapa saat, suara yang akrab tidak lagi menakutkan.

And they don't react to background sounds.

Mereka tidak bereaksi terhadap suara di latar belakang.

You'll hear a train in moment that they don't react to.

Ini suara kereta api dan mereka tidak bereaksi.

(Noise)

(Suara bising)

But they react to foreground sounds. You'll hear that in a second.

Tapi mereka bereaksi terhadap suara langsung.

(Whistling)

(Siulan)

So we worked very hard

Kami bekerja keras

to make them as lifelike as possible.

untuk membuat mereka tampak hidup.

So each pygmy has its own behavior, psyche,

Setiap makhluk kerdil ini punya sifat sendiri, perasaan,

mood swings, personalities and so on.

perasaan yang berubah-ubah, karakter dan sebagainya.

So this is a very early prototype.

Ini prototipe awal.

Of course, it got much better after that.

Tentunya, setelahnya jadi makin baik.

And we made them react to people,

Kami membuat mereka bereaksi terhadap orang,

but we found that people were being quite playful and childlike with them.

tapi orang-orang justru senang bermain dan bersikap kekanakan dengan mereka.

This is a video installation called "The Missing Person."

Ini instalasi video yang berjudul "Orang Hilang."

And we were quite intrigued

Di sini kami tertarik

with playing with the notion of invisibility.

untuk bermain dengan konsep kasat mata.

How would it be possible to experience a sense of invisibility?

Bagaimana kita bisa mengalami perasaan tak terlihat?

So we worked with a company

Kami bekerja sama dengan satu perusahaan

that specializes in camera surveillance,

spesialis dalam kamera pengintaian,

and we asked them to develop a piece of software with us,

dan kami meminta mereka mengembangkan perangkat lunak bersama kami,

using a camera

menggunakan kamera

that could look at people in the room, track them

yang dapat mengambil gambar orang, melacaknya

and replace one person with the background, rendering them invisible.

dan menghilangkan gambar satu orang, membuat orang ini tak terlihat.

So I'm just going to show you a very early prototype.

Saya akan memperlihatkan Anda satu prototipe awal.

On the right side you can see my colleague Soren,

Di sisi kanan Anda dapat melihat rekan saya, Soren,

who's actually in the space.

yang ada di ruangan.

And on the left side, you'll see the processed video

Dan di sisi kiri, Anda melihat video yang diproses

where the camera has made him invisible.

di mana kamera membuatnya tak terlihat.

Soren enters the room. Pop! He goes invisible.

Soren masuk ke ruangan. Dan pop! Dia tak terlihat.

And you can see that the camera is tracking him and erasing.

Dan Anda dapat melihat kamera melacaknya dan menghapus gambarnya.

It's a very early video,

Ini masih video awal

so we haven't yet dealt with the overlap and all of that,

jadi kami belum menangani masalah tumpang tindih dan semacamnya,

but that got refined pretty soon, later.

tapi kami memperhalusnya belakangan.

So how we used it was in a room where we had a camera looking into the space,

Jadi kami menggunakannya di ruangan yang dipasangi kamera,

and we had one monitor, one on each wall.

dan kami punya monitor, satu di setiap dinding.

And as people walked into the room,

Ketika orang masuk ke ruangan,

they would see themselves in the monitor, except with one difference:

mereka melihat dirinya di monitor, kecuali dengan satu perbedaan:

one person was constantly invisible

ada satu orang yang tak terlihat

wherever they moved in the room.

kemana pun dia bergerak di ruangan itu.

So this is a work called "The Sun Shadow."

Karya yang ini kami namakan "Bayangan Matahari."

And it was almost like a sheet of paper,

Dan ini hampir seperti selembar kertas,

like a cutout of a childlike drawing

seperti potongan gambar anak-anak

of an oil spill or a sun.

menyerupai tumpahan minyak atau matahari.

And from the front, this object appeared to be very strong and robust,

Dari depan, obyek ini terlihat amat kuat dan gagah,

and from the side, it almost seemed very weak.

dan dari samping, ia kelihatan amat lemah.

So people would walking into the room and they'd almost ignore it,

Jadi orang masuk ke ruangan dan mengacuhkannya,

thinking it was some crap laying around.

berpikir itu cuma tumpahan sesuatu saja.

But as soon as they passed by,

Namun segera setelah mereka lewat,

it would start to climb up the wall in jerky fashion.

obyek ini mulai memanjat dinding dengan gaya yang khas.

And it would get exhausted, and it would collapse every time.

Dan ia akan capek dan melorot kembali.

(Laughter)

(Tertawa)

So this work

Karya yang ini

is a caricature of an upside-down man.

adalah karikatur orang yang berdiri terbalik.

His head is so heavy, full of heavy thoughts,

Kepalanya sangat berat, penuh pikiran,

that it's sort of fallen into his hat,

yang sepertinya jatuh ke dalam topinya

and his body's grown out of him almost like a plant.

dan tubuhnya tampak seperti tanaman.

Well what he does is he moves around

Ia akan terus berputar seperti mabuk,

in a very drunken fashion on his head

menggunakan kepalanya

in a very unpredictable and extremely slow movement.

dalam gerakan yang tak dapat ditebak dan sangat pelan.

And it's kind of constrained by that circle.

Dan ia tertahan di dalam lingkaran itu.

Because if that circle weren't there, and the floor was very even,

Karena kalau tak ada lingkaran itu, lantainya sangat datar

it would start to wander about in the space.

dan ia bisa berguling di ruangan.

And there's no wires.

Dan tak ada kawat.

So I'll just show you an instance --

Jadi, saya akan tunjukkan --

so when people enter the room, it activates this object.

saat orang memasuki ruangan, obyek ini akan bergerak.

And it very slowly, over a few minutes,

Sangat pelan,mungkin dalam beberapa menit,

sort of painfully goes up,

ia naik perlahan,

and then it gains momentum

dan lalu mendapatkan momentum

and it looks like it's almost about to fall.

dan kelihatan seperti akan jatuh.

And this is an important moment,

Dan momen ini penting

because we wanted to instill in the viewer

karena kami mau mendorong naluri penonton

an instinct to almost go and help, or save the subject.

untuk bergerak menolong, menyelamatkan obyek ini.

But it doesn't really need it,

Tapi ia tak perlu ditolong

because it, again, sort of manages to pull itself up.

karena benda ini bisa bangkit dengan sendirinya.

So this work was a real technical challenge for us,

Karya ini cukup menantang secara teknik bagi kami

and we worked very hard, like most of our works, over years

dan kami bekerja keras bertahun-tahun, sama halnya seperti karya lainnya,

to get the mechanics right and the equilibrium and the dynamics.

untuk mendapatkan mekanika dan ekuilibrium dan dinamik yang tepat.

And it was very important for us

Dan sangat penting bagi kami untuk

to establish the exact moment that it would fall,

menetapkan momen di saat dia mau jatuh,

because if we made it in a way that it would topple over,

karena kami membuatnya seperti dia mau jatuh

then it would damage itself,

dan akan merusakkan dirinya

and if it didn't fall enough, it wouldn't instill that fatalism,

dan bila tidak cukup miring, tidak akan terasa fatal

or that sense of wanting to go and help it.

sehingga keinginan orang untuk menolong tidak muncul.

So I'm going to show you a very quick video

Saya akan tunjukkan video singkat

where we are doing a test scenario -- it's much faster.

saat kami melakukan uji skenario -- ini dipercepat.

That's my colleague. He's let it go.

Ini rekan saya. Ia melepaskannya.

Now he's getting nervous, so he's going to go catch it.

Sekarang dia gugup dan ingin menangkapnya.

But he doesn't need to,

Tapi itu tak perlu dilakukan

because it manages to lift itself up on its own.

karena benda ini bisa mengangkat dirinya sendiri.

So this is a work that we were very intrigued with,

Ini karya yang sangat menantang,

working with the aesthetic of fur

kami bekerja dengan estetika kulit

embedded with thousands of tiny different sizes

yang di atasnya melekat ribuan fiber optik kecil

of fiber optics, which twinkle like the night sky.

dalam berbagai ukuran, berkelap-kelip seperti langit malam.

And it's at the scale of the night sky.

Dan ini skala langit malamnya.

So we wrapped this around a blob-like form,

Jadi kami membentuknya seperti gumpalan,

which is in the shape of a teddy bear,

membentuk boneka beruang

which was hanging from the ceiling.

yang digantungkan di langit-langit.

And the idea was to sort of contrast

Idenya adalah mengkontraskan

something very cold and distant and abstract like the universe

sesuatu yang dingin dan jauh dan abstrak seperti alam semesta

into the familiar form of a teddy bear,

ke dalam bentuk yang akrab yaitu boneka beruang,

which is very comforting and intimate.

yang nyaman dan hangat.

And the idea was that at some point

Pada suatu waktu kami berharap

you would stop looking at the form of a teddy bear

Anda tak lagi melihat bentuk boneka beruang

and you would almost perceive it to be a hole in the space,

dan melihatnya seperti lubang di langit-langit

and as if you were looking out into the twinkling night sky.

seakan-akan Anda melihat langsung ke langit malam yang penuh bintang.

So this is the last work, and a work in progress,

Ini karya yang terakhir dan masih dalam proses

and it's called "Space Filler."

yang kami sebut "Pengisi Ruang."

Well imagine a small cube that's about this big

Bayangkan sebuah kubus kecil sebesar ini

standing in front of you in the middle of the room,

berada di hadapan Anda di tengah ruangan,

and as you approached it, it tried to intimidate you

dan saat Anda mendekatinya, kubus ini berusaha mengintimidasi

by growing into a cube

dengan tumbuh menjadi kubus

that's twice its height and [eight] times its volume.

yang dua kali lebih tinggi dan [delapan] kali lebih besar.

And so this object is constantly expanding and contracting

Jadi obyek ini terus membesar dan mengecil

to create a dynamic with people moving around it --

menciptakan dinamika dengan orang yang bergerak di sekelilingnya --

almost like it were trying

seakan-akan dia

to conceal a secret within its seams or something.

ingin membuka rahasia yang disembunyikan di dalamnya.

So we work with a lot of technology,

Jadi kami banyak menggunakan teknologi

but we don't really love technology,

tapi kami tidak terlalu suka teknologi

because it gives us a lot of pain in our work over years and years.

karena teknologi menyulitkan kami dalam berkarya selama bertahun-tahun

But we use it because we're interested

Tapi kami menggunakannya karena kami tertarik

in the way that it can help us

dengan caranya menolong kami

to express the emotions and behavioral patterns

mengekspresikan emosi dan pola tingkah laku

in these creatures that we create.

benda-benda yang kami ciptakan.

And once a creature pops into our minds,

Dan ketika satu gagasan muncul di benak kami,

it's almost like the process of creation

rasanya proses penciptaan jadi seperti

is to discover the way this creature really wants to exist

mencari cara untuk menemukan bagaimana benda ini ingin diciptakan,

and what form it wants to take and what way it wants to move.

seperti apa bentuknya dan bagaimana ia bergerak.

Thank you.

Terima kasih.

(Applause)

(Tepuk tangan)