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

Translator: Erika Vojtkova Reviewer: Matej Sykora

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

Ahoj. Dnes spolu nahliadneme

of about eight of my projects,

do mojich asi ôsmich projektov,

done in collaboration with Danish artist Soren Pors.

ktoré som urobila v spolupráci s dánskym umelcom Sorenom Porsom.

We call ourselves Pors and Rao,

Hovoríme si Pors & Rao

and we live and work in India.

a žijeme a pracujeme v Indii.

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

Začnem mojím prvým predmetom,

which I call "The Uncle Phone."

ktorý volám "Strýko-telefón."

And it was inspired by my uncle's peculiar habit

Bol inšpirovaný zvláštnym zvykom môjho strýka

of constantly asking me to do things for him,

neustále ma žiadať, aby som pre neho niečo urobila,

almost like I were an extension of his body --

takmer, ako keby som bola rozšírením jeho tela -

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

aby som vypla svetlá, priniesla pohár vody

a pack of cigarettes.

alebo krabičku cigariet.

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

A ako som rástla, bolo to stále horšie a horšie

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

a začala som to vnímať ako formu kontroly.

But of course, I could never say anything,

Ale pravdaže som nikdy nemohla nič povedať,

because the uncle is a respected figure

pretože strýko je rešpektovaná osoba

in the Indian family.

v Indickej rodine.

And the situation that irked me and mystified me the most

A čo ma najviac rozčuľovalo a čo som nechápala,

was his use of a landline telephone.

bol spôsob akým používal telefón.

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

Držal slúchadlo a odo mňa očakával, že mu budem vytáčať číslo.

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

Takže ako reakciu na to a ako dar pre môjho strýka,

I made him "The Uncle Phone."

som mu vyrobila "Strýko-telefón."

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

Je tak dlhý, že je potrebné, aby ho obsluhovali dvaja ľudia.

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

Je vhodný presne na to, ako môj strýko používa telefón navrhnutý pre jednu osobu.

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

Ale problém je, že keď som odišla z domu a šla na vysokú školu,

I started missing his commands.

začalo mi strýkove komandovanie chýbať.

And so I made him a golden typewriter

A tak som mu vyrobila jedinečný písací stroj,

through which he could dispense his commands

pomocou ktorého mohol vydávať svoje príkazy

to nephews and nieces around the world as an email.

synovcom a neteriam po celom svete vo forme e-mailu.

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

Takže musel vziať papier, navinúť ho na valec,

type his email or command and pull the paper out.

napísať e-mail alebo príkaz a vytiahnuť papier von.

This device would automatically send the intended person

Prístroj automaticky poslal list

the letter as an email.

požadovanej osobe ako e-mail.

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

Takže tu vidíte, že sme použili veľa elektroniky,

that understands all of the mechanical actions

ktorá rozumie všetkým mechanickým činnostiam

and converts it to digital.

a prevádza ich na digitálne.

So my uncle is only dealing with a mechanical interface.

Takže môj strýko pracuje len s mechanickým rozhraním.

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

A pravdaže, tento predmet musí byť veľkolepý a mať v sebe štipku ritualizmu,

the way my uncle likes it.

tak, ako to má môj strýko rád.

The next work is a sound-sensitive installation

Ďalšie dielo je inštalácia citlivá na zvuk,

that we affectionately call "The Pygmies."

ktorú láskavo voláme "Pygmejovia."

And we wanted to work with a notion of being

A chceli sme pracovať s predstavou,

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

že sme obklopení kmeňom veľmi plachých, citlivých a roztomilých tvorov.

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

A funguje to tak, že máme na stene tieto panely

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

a za nimi sa skrývajú takýto tvorovia.

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

Pokiaľ je ticho, tak takto vyliezajú.

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

Ak je ešte tichšie, tak naťahujú krky.

And at the slightest sound, they hide back again.

A pri najjemnejšom zvuku sa znova skryjú.

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

Tieto panely sme mali na troch stenách miestnosti.

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

Za nimi sa skrývalo viac ako 500 týchto malých pygmejov.

So this is how it works.

Funguje to takto.

This is a video prototype.

Toto je video prototyp.

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

Keď je ticho, tak pomaly vychádzajú spoza panelov.

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

A počujú ako ľudia alebo ako živí tvorovia.

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

Takže sa po chvíli stanú imúnnymi na zvuky, ktoré ich desia.

And they don't react to background sounds.

A nereagujú na zvuky na pozadí.

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

Budete počuť vlak, na ktorý oni nereagujú.

(Noise)

(Hluk)

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

Ale reagujú na zvuky v popredí. Za okamih to budete počuť.

(Whistling)

(Pískanie)

So we worked very hard

Takže sme tvrdo pracovali na tom,

to make them as lifelike as possible.

aby sme ich vytvorili čo najprirodzenejších.

So each pygmy has its own behavior, psyche,

Každý pygmej má vlastné správanie, psychiku,

mood swings, personalities and so on.

výkyvy nálad, osobnosť a tak ďalej.

So this is a very early prototype.

Toto je veľmi ranný prototyp.

Of course, it got much better after that.

Pravdaže sa to potom o dosť zlepšilo.

And we made them react to people,

A urobili sme ich tak, aby reagovali na ľudí,

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

ale zistili sme, že ľudia sa s nimi radi hrali.

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

Toto je video inštalácia s názvom "Nezvestná osoba."

And we were quite intrigued

Dosť nás zaujalo

with playing with the notion of invisibility.

hranie sa s myšlienkou neviditeľnosti.

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

Aké by to bolo zažiť neviditeľnosť?

So we worked with a company

Takže sme pracovali so spoločnosťou,

that specializes in camera surveillance,

ktorá sa špecializuje na kamerové zabezpečenie

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

a požiadali sme ich, aby s nami vyvinuli softvér,

using a camera

s použitím kamery,

that could look at people in the room, track them

ktorá by sa pozerala na ľudí v miestnosti, sledovala ich

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

a jednu osobu nahradila pozadím, čím by zapríčinila jej neviditeľnosť.

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

Ukážem vám veľmi skorý prototyp.

On the right side you can see my colleague Soren,

Napravo vidíte môjho kolegu Sorena,

who's actually in the space.

ktorý je naozaj v priestore.

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

A naľavo uvidíte spracované video,

where the camera has made him invisible.

kde ho kamera zneviditeľnila.

Soren enters the room. Pop! He goes invisible.

Soren vchádza do miestnosti. Hop! A je neviditeľný.

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

Môžete si všimnúť, že kamera ho sleduje a maže.

It's a very early video,

Je to veľmi skoré video,

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

takže sme ešte nevyriešili prekrytie a všetko okolo toho,

but that got refined pretty soon, later.

ale to sa potom zdokonalilo celkom rýchlo.

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

Použili sme to v miestnosti, kde sa kamera pozerala do priestoru

and we had one monitor, one on each wall.

a na každej stene sme mali jeden monitor.

And as people walked into the room,

A keď ľudia vošli do miestnosti,

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

videli sa na monitore, s jedným rozdielom:

one person was constantly invisible

jedna osoba bola stále neviditeľná,

wherever they moved in the room.

nech sa pohybovala hocikde po miestnosti.

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

Toto je práca s názvom "Tieň Slnka."

And it was almost like a sheet of paper,

A to bolo skoro ako hárok papiera,

like a cutout of a childlike drawing

ako vystrihnutie detskej kresby

of an oil spill or a sun.

olejovej škvrny alebo slnka.

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

Spredu sa tento predmet zdal byť veľmi silný a robustný

and from the side, it almost seemed very weak.

a zboku sa zdal byť veľmi slabý.

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

Takže ľudia vošli do miestnosti a takmer ho ignorovali,

thinking it was some crap laying around.

mysliac si, že sú to nejaké odpadky, čo sa tam povaľujú.

But as soon as they passed by,

Ale akonáhle prešli okolo,

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

začalo sa to trhavým pohybom šplhať po stene.

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

A vždy sa to unavilo a zviezlo naspäť dolu.

(Laughter)

(Smiech)

So this work

Takže táto práca

is a caricature of an upside-down man.

je karikatúra prevráteného muža.

His head is so heavy, full of heavy thoughts,

Jeho hlava je tak ťažká, plná ťažkých myšlienok,

that it's sort of fallen into his hat,

že akosi prepadla do jeho klobúka

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

a jeho telo z neho vyrastá takmer ako rastlina.

Well what he does is he moves around

A robí to, že sa pohybuje okolo

in a very drunken fashion on his head

veľmi opito pôsobiacim spôsobom na svojej hlave

in a very unpredictable and extremely slow movement.

veľmi nepredvídateľným a extrémne pomalým pohybom.

And it's kind of constrained by that circle.

A je akoby obmedzený týmto kruhom.

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

Pretože, ak by tam tento kruh nebol, a podlaha by bola veľmi rovná,

it would start to wander about in the space.

začal by sa potulovať po celom priestore.

And there's no wires.

Tam nie sú žiadne drôtiky.

So I'll just show you an instance --

Ukážem vám príklad -

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

takže keď ľudia vkročia do miestnosti, aktivuje to tento predmet.

And it very slowly, over a few minutes,

A niekoľko minút, veľmi pomaly,

sort of painfully goes up,

to tak nejak s námahou lezie hore,

and then it gains momentum

a potom sa to začne rozbiehať

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

a vyzerá to, akoby to malo každú chvíľu spadnúť.

And this is an important moment,

Toto je dôležitá chvíľa,

because we wanted to instill in the viewer

pretože sme chceli u diváka vyvolať

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

inštinkt takmer ísť a pomôcť alebo zachrániť tento predmet.

But it doesn't really need it,

Ale ten to v skutočnosti nepotrebuje,

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

pretože sa mu znova nejako podarí vytiahnuť sa hore.

So this work was a real technical challenge for us,

Takže táto práca bola pre nás ozajstnou technickou výzvou

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

a pracovali sme na nej veľmi tvrdo, ako pri väčšine našich prác, celé roky,

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

aby mechanika, rovnováha a dynamika fungovali správne.

And it was very important for us

Bolo pre nás veľmi dôležité

to establish the exact moment that it would fall,

vytvoriť ten moment, kedy to už takmer padá,

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

pretože keby sme to urobili tak, že by sa to bolo prevrhlo,

then it would damage itself,

poškodilo by sa to

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

a ak by to nepadalo dostatočne, nevyvolalo by to ten fatalizmus

or that sense of wanting to go and help it.

alebo ten pocit chcieť ísť a pomôcť tomu.

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

Ukážem vám veľmi krátke video,

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

kde robíme test - je to omnoho rýchlejšie.

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

To je môj kolega. Pustil to.

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

Teraz začína byť nervózny, takže sa to chystá chytiť.

But he doesn't need to,

Ale nebolo treba,

because it manages to lift itself up on its own.

pretože sa tomu podarí zdvihnúť samému.

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

Toto je práca, pri ktorej sme boli veľmi zaujatí

working with the aesthetic of fur

pracovaním s estetikou kožušiny,

embedded with thousands of tiny different sizes

do ktorej sme vložili tisícky drobných optických vlákien

of fiber optics, which twinkle like the night sky.

rôznych veľkostí, ktoré žiaria ako nočná obloha.

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

A má to také rozmery, aby to vyzeralo ako nočná obloha.

So we wrapped this around a blob-like form,

Obalili sme to okolo takej kvapkovitej formy,

which is in the shape of a teddy bear,

ktorá je v tvare plyšového medvedíka,

which was hanging from the ceiling.

ktorý visel zo stropu.

And the idea was to sort of contrast

Myšlienkou bol akýsi kontrast

something very cold and distant and abstract like the universe

niečoho veľmi chladného a vzdialeného a abstraktného, ako je vesmír

into the familiar form of a teddy bear,

s niečím veľmi známym, ako je plyšový medvedík,

which is very comforting and intimate.

ktorý je veľmi upokojujúci a blízky.

And the idea was that at some point

A išlo nám o to, že v určitom bode

you would stop looking at the form of a teddy bear

sa prestanete pozerať na tvar medvedíka

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

a začnete to vnímať ako dieru v priestore

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

a akoby ste sa pozerali na žiariacu nočnú oblohu.

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

Toto je posledná práca, na ktorej sa stále robí,

and it's called "Space Filler."

a volá sa "Priestorová výplň."

Well imagine a small cube that's about this big

Predstavte si malú kocku, ktorá je asi takto veľká,

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

stojí pred vami uprostred miestnosti

and as you approached it, it tried to intimidate you

a keď sa k nej priblížite, snaží sa vás zastrašiť tým,

by growing into a cube

že narastie do kocky,

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

ktorá je dvakrát tak vysoká a má štyrikrát taký objem.

And so this object is constantly expanding and contracting

Tento predmet sa neustále rozširuje a zmršťuje,

to create a dynamic with people moving around it --

aby vytvoril dynamiku s ľuďmi pohybujúcimi sa naokolo -

almost like it were trying

takmer akoby sa v sebe snažil

to conceal a secret within its seams or something.

skryť tajomstvo alebo niečo také.

So we work with a lot of technology,

Takže pracujeme s množstvom technológie,

but we don't really love technology,

aj keď my technológiu veľmi nemáme radi,

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

pretože sa s ňou pri našich prácach roky trápime.

But we use it because we're interested

Ale používame ju, pretože sa zaujímame

in the way that it can help us

o spôsob, akým nám dokáže pomôcť

to express the emotions and behavioral patterns

vyjadriť emócie a správanie

in these creatures that we create.

v týchto tvoroch, ktoré vytvárame.

And once a creature pops into our minds,

A v momente, ako nás nejaký výtvor napadne,

it's almost like the process of creation

je to takmer akoby proces stvorenia,

is to discover the way this creature really wants to exist

objaviť spôsob, akým chce tento tvor existovať

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

a akú formu chce mať a akým spôsobom sa chce pohybovať.

Thank you.

Ďakujem!

(Applause)

(Potlesk)