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

アパルナ・ラオ 「ハイテク・アート（ユーモアを込めて）」

翻訳: Naoki Funahashi 校正: SHIGERU MASUKAWA

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

今日はデンマークの芸術家

of about eight of my projects,

ソーレン・ポーズと共同で取り組んだ

done in collaboration with Danish artist Soren Pors.

８つのプロジェクトを簡単に紹介します

We call ourselves Pors and Rao,

私たちはポーズ＆ラオと自称し

and we live and work in India.

インドに拠点を置いています

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

最初の作品を紹介したいと思います

which I call "The Uncle Phone."

「叔父電話」です

And it was inspired by my uncle's peculiar habit

私の叔父の妙な習慣に触発されてこれを作りました

of constantly asking me to do things for him,

彼は常に頼みごとをしてきます

almost like I were an extension of his body --

私は彼の手足のように使われます

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

水やタバコを取らせられたり

a pack of cigarettes.

電気をつけさせられます

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

私の成長と共にそれは酷くなり

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

支配的だと思うようになりました

But of course, I could never say anything,

何も言えませんけどね

because the uncle is a respected figure

私の家庭で叔父というのは

in the Indian family.

尊敬されるべき存在だからです

And the situation that irked me and mystified me the most

最も腹立たしく理解に苦しんだことは

was his use of a landline telephone.

叔父の固定電話の使い方です

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

受話器は彼が握り 電話は私にかけさせるのです

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

お礼に叔父への贈り物として

I made him "The Uncle Phone."

この「叔父電話」を作りました

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

とても長いので使用するには二人必要となります

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

これは私の叔父が通常の固定電話を使う方法と全く同じです

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

しかし問題があり 私が家を離れて大学に通うと

I started missing his commands.

彼の指令が恋しくなりました

And so I made him a golden typewriter

だから金のタイプライターを作り

through which he could dispense his commands

これを使って彼はメールで

to nephews and nieces around the world as an email.

各国の甥や姪に指令を送れるようにしました

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

叔父は紙を取ってキャリッジに入れ メールに

type his email or command and pull the paper out.

指令をタイプして紙を引き出せばいいのです

This device would automatically send the intended person

このタイプライターは意図された人に自動で

the letter as an email.

メールとしての手紙を送ります

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

ご覧の通り たくさんの電子部品が埋め込まれており

that understands all of the mechanical actions

それが機械的作用を把握して

and converts it to digital.

デジタル情報に変換するのです

So my uncle is only dealing with a mechanical interface.

つまり叔父は機械インターフェースを使っているだけです

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

彼の好みに合わせて 作品は立派で儀式的感覚を

the way my uncle likes it.

もたせる必要がありました

The next work is a sound-sensitive installation

次の作品は音に反応するものです

that we affectionately call "The Pygmies."

愛情を込めて「ピグミー」と呼んでいます

And we wanted to work with a notion of being

この作品のイメージ作りで

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

「シャイで敏感で可愛らしいピグミー族に囲まれること」を大事にしました

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

作品の仕組みを紹介します　壁にパネルが付いていて

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

パネルの後ろに小人たちが隠れています

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

静かになると小人たちがこっそりと顔を出す感じです

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

さらに静かになると首が伸びます

And at the slightest sound, they hide back again.

少しの音でも出ると彼らはまた隠れてしまいます

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

私たちはパネルを部屋の３つの壁に設置しました

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

パネル裏には500人以上のピグミーが隠れています

So this is how it works.

こんな仕組みになっています

This is a video prototype.

これは試作品の映像です

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

静かになるとパネル裏から何か出てきます

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

人間が聞くように音を捉えるのです

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

時間が経てば音に対する免疫もできるので

And they don't react to background sounds.

BGMには反応しません

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

もうすぐ電車の音が聞こえますが反応しません

(Noise)

(電車の音)

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

しかし間もなく前方から聞こえる音には反応します

(Whistling)

(笛の音)

So we worked very hard

私たちはパネルを可能な限り

to make them as lifelike as possible.

生き物らしくしようと取り組みました

So each pygmy has its own behavior, psyche,

だからピグミーには習慣・精神・

mood swings, personalities and so on.

気分の変化・人格などがあります

So this is a very early prototype.

これは黎明期の試作品です

Of course, it got much better after that.

当然 この後にかなり改良しました

And we made them react to people,

人間に反応させるよう改良すると

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

人々はこれを目にして子供のように楽しむことが分かりました

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

次の作品は「透明人間」です

And we were quite intrigued

不可視の感覚で遊ぶことに

with playing with the notion of invisibility.

私たちは興味がありました

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

どうすれば透明人間の感覚を経験できるのか？

So we worked with a company

私たちは監視カメラの会社と

that specializes in camera surveillance,

共同でプロジェクトを進め

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

あるソフトウェアの共同制作をお願いしました

using a camera

カメラを使ったソフトで

that could look at people in the room, track them

部屋にいる人たちを追いかけ

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

その内の一人を背景に変えて「透明人間」にします

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

では黎明期の試作品をお見せします

On the right side you can see my colleague Soren,

右側には同僚・ソーレンが見えます

who's actually in the space.

実際 その場所にいたのです

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

左側は映像処理されたもので

where the camera has made him invisible.

ソーレンを「透明人間」にしています

Soren enters the room. Pop! He goes invisible.

ソーレンは部屋に入りますが ポンっと消えます

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

ご覧の通り カメラが彼を追跡して消しています

It's a very early video,

試作当時のものなので

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

重複部などはまだ未完成でしたが

but that got refined pretty soon, later.

すぐ後にこの問題は解決されました

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

仕組みを紹介します　部屋内に監視カメラ

and we had one monitor, one on each wall.

両側の壁にモニターが設置してあります

And as people walked into the room,

そして人々が部屋に入ると

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

モニターで自身の姿を見れますが １つ違うのは

one person was constantly invisible

特定の一人は部屋中を動き回ろうと

wherever they moved in the room.

常に「透明人間」なのです

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

次の作品は「日影」です

And it was almost like a sheet of paper,

これはまるで子供が描いた太陽や油絵を

like a cutout of a childlike drawing

切り抜いただけの

of an oil spill or a sun.

１枚の紙切れのようなものです

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

正面から見ると非常に強く・たくましく見えます

and from the side, it almost seemed very weak.

しかし横から見るととても弱そうです

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

だから部屋に入ってくる人は全然気にかけません

thinking it was some crap laying around.

壁の汚れだと思っているのです

But as soon as they passed by,

しかし人が横切ると

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

これは壁を奇妙によじ登ります

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

疲れたら落ちる仕組みになっています

(Laughter)

(笑)

So this work

次の作品は

is a caricature of an upside-down man.

逆さま人間のパロディです

His head is so heavy, full of heavy thoughts,

考え事でいっぱいの頭が重いので

that it's sort of fallen into his hat,

まるで帽子に飲み込まれてしまい

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

体が植物みたいに生えています

Well what he does is he moves around

これは酔っ払いのように

in a very drunken fashion on his head

動き回ります

in a very unpredictable and extremely slow movement.

その動きは予測できず 速度もとても遅いです

And it's kind of constrained by that circle.

今は外円によって制御されている感じです

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

もし外円がなく 床も平坦ならば

it would start to wander about in the space.

それは部屋中を動き回ります

And there's no wires.

ワイヤーは着いていません

So I'll just show you an instance --

これの一例をお見せします

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

人が部屋に入ると作動します

And it very slowly, over a few minutes,

数分間とても遅い速度で

sort of painfully goes up,

下半身が痛々しく上がってきます

and then it gains momentum

そして勢いづき

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

まるで倒れる寸前のようです

And this is an important moment,

これは重要な瞬間です

because we wanted to instill in the viewer

なぜなら見物人に助けようと

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

思わせたかったからです

But it doesn't really need it,

しかし実際 助けは要りません

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

先ほど述べたように 自身で立ち上がれるのです

So this work was a real technical challenge for us,

さて この作品は技術的に困難なものでした

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

正しい構造・均衡・力学を得るために

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

私たちは何年も熱心に取り組みました

And it was very important for us

倒れる寸前の状態を作るのは

to establish the exact moment that it would fall,

私たちにとって非常に重要でした

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

なぜならそれが転落してしまうと

then it would damage itself,

自身を傷つけてしまい　また

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

十分に傾かないと人々に「運命論」あるいは

or that sense of wanting to go and help it.

助けに行く気を与えられないからです

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

では短い映像をお見せします

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

シナリオテストをしています

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

同僚が逆さま人間を放します

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

彼は心配になって助けにいきます

But he doesn't need to,

しかしその必要はありません

because it manages to lift itself up on its own.

自身で起き上がれるからです

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

次の作品は私たちがとても興味をそそられたものです

working with the aesthetic of fur

毛皮の美学を扱ったもので

embedded with thousands of tiny different sizes

そこには何千もの極小の光ファイバーが

of fiber optics, which twinkle like the night sky.

埋め込まれていて夜空の星みたいに光ります

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

これは夜空の景色なのです

So we wrapped this around a blob-like form,

おぼろけなものを包んで

which is in the shape of a teddy bear,

テディベアの形をしており

which was hanging from the ceiling.

天井から吊るされています

And the idea was to sort of contrast

このアイデアでは宇宙のように

something very cold and distant and abstract like the universe

とても冷たく距離もあり抽象的なものと

into the familiar form of a teddy bear,

明るく親しいテディベアとを

which is very comforting and intimate.

対比させようとしています

And the idea was that at some point

これをしばらく眺めていると

you would stop looking at the form of a teddy bear

テディベアの形を意識しなくなり

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

まるで空間に開いた穴のように見えてきます

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

まるで夜空に輝く星を眺めている感じです

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

これは最後の作品で現在進行中です

and it's called "Space Filler."

名前は「スペースフィラー」です

Well imagine a small cube that's about this big

これくらい小さなキューブが

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

部屋の中心にあると思って下さい

and as you approached it, it tried to intimidate you

そしてあなたが近づくと脅かしてきます

by growing into a cube

というのも

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

高さ２倍・体積４倍に成長するのです

And so this object is constantly expanding and contracting

それは伸縮を繰り返し 周りを動き回る人との

to create a dynamic with people moving around it --

関係を生み出します

almost like it were trying

まるで継ぎ目の中の秘密を

to conceal a secret within its seams or something.

隠そうとしているみたいです

So we work with a lot of technology,

さて私たちは多くの技術を使っていますが

but we don't really love technology,

技術が好きなわけではありません

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

なぜなら何年も何年も掛かって面倒だからです

But we use it because we're interested

それでも使う理由は

in the way that it can help us

それによって私たちの作る「生き物」に

to express the emotions and behavioral patterns

感情や習慣的パターンを表現させることが

in these creatures that we create.

できるからです

And once a creature pops into our minds,

ひとたび「生き物」が頭に浮かぶと

it's almost like the process of creation

まるで創造プロセスのようで

is to discover the way this creature really wants to exist

それの存在意義や姿・形 そして相応しい動きを

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

発掘することになります

Thank you.

ありがとうございました

(Applause)

(拍手)