Mick Ebeling: The invention that unlocked a locked-in artist

Translator: Lenka Tušar Reviewer: Tilen Pigac - EFZG

I have had the distinct blessing in my life

V življenju sem imel izjemno srečo

to have worked on a bunch of amazing projects.

sodelovati pri vrsti izjemnih projektov.

But the coolest I ever worked on

A meni najljubši

was around this guy.

je bil namenjen temu fantu.

This guy's name is TEMPT.

Ime mu je TEMPT.

TEMPT was one of the foremost graffiti artists in the 80s.

Bil je en najpomembnejših grafitarjev v osemdesetih letih.

And he came up home from a run one day

Nekega dne je po teku prišel domov

and said, "Dad, my legs are tingling."

in rekel, "Oče, v nogah me ščemi."

And that was the onset of ALS.

To je bil začetek bolezni živčevja ALS.

So TEMPT is now completely paralyzed.

Danes je TEMPT v celoti paraliziran.

He only has use of his eyes.

Uporablja lahko le oči.

I was exposed to him.

Name je naredil velik vtis.

I have a company that does design and animation,

Moje podjetje se ukvarja z oblikovanjem in animacijo,

so obviously graffiti is definitely an intricate part

zato so grafiti gotovo zapleten del tega,

of what we admire and respect in the art world.

kar v umetnosti občudujemo in cenimo.

And so we decided that we were going to sponsor

Zato smo se odločili finančno podpreti

Tony, TEMPT, and his cause.

Tonyja oz. TEMPTa in njegov položaj.

So I went and met with his brother and father

Srečal sem se z njegovim bratom in očetom

and said, "We're going to give you this money.

in rekel, "Dali vam bomo denar.

What are you going to do with it?"

Kaj boste naredili z njim?"

And his brother said, "I just want to be able to talk to Tony again.

Njegov brat je rekel, "Želim si le pogovora s Tonyjem.

I just want to be able to communicate with him

Želim si, da bi se lahko sporazumeval z njim

and him to be able to communicate with me."

in on z mano."

And I said, "Wait a second, isn't that -- I've seen Stephen Hawking --

Rekel sem, "Saj obstajajo naprave za paralizirane ljudi

don't all paralyzed people have the ability to communicate

-- kot Stephen Hawking --

via these devices?"

ki jim omogočajo sporazumevanje."

And he said, "No, unless you're in the upper echelon and

Rekel je, "Ne, če niste med privilegiranimi,

you've got really amazing insurance,

če nimate izjemnega zavarovanja,

you can't actually do that.

te možnosti ni.

These devices aren't accessible to people."

Take naprave niso dostopne vsem."

And I said, "Well, how do you actually communicate?"

Vprašal sem, "Kako se torej sporazumevate?"

Has everyone seen the movie "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly?"

Poznate film "Skafander in Metulj"?

That's how they communicate --

Tako se sporazumevajo --

so run their finger along.

s prstom sledijo črkam.

I said, "That's archaic. How can that be?"

Rekel sem, "Kako je možno, da ni boljšega načina?"

So I showed up with the desire to just write a check,

Najprej sem želel zgolj napisati ček,

and instead, I wrote a check

na koncu pa se mi ni niti sanjalo,

that I had no freaking idea how I was going to cash.

kako ga bom poplačal.

I committed to his brother and his father right then and there --

Takrat sem se zavezal njegovemu bratu in očetu

I'm like, "All right, here's the deal:

in rekel, "Dobro, stvar je taka:

Tony's going to speak, we're going to get him a machine,

Tony bo spregovoril, dobil bo napravo

and we're going to figure out a way for him to do his art again.

in našli bomo način, da bo lahko zopet ustvarjal.

Because it's a travesty that someone who still has all of that in him

Ker je absurd, da nekdo, ki je še vedno tako nadarjen,

isn't able to communicate it."

tega ne more izraziti."

So I spoke at a conference a couple months after that.

Čez nekaj mesecev sem sodeloval na konferenci.

I met these guys called GRL,

Spoznal sem fante iz GRL,

Graffiti Research Lab,

Laboratorija za raziskovanje grafitov.

and they have a technology

Njihova tehnologija jim omogoča

that allows them to project a light onto any surface

projiciranje svetlobe na kakršnokoli površino

and then, with a laser pointer, draw on it,

in risanje po njej z laserskim kazalcem

and it just registers the negative space.

kar izstopa kot negativ.

So they go around and do art installations like this.

Tako ustvarjajo take umetniške projekcije.

All the things that go up there, they said there's a life cycle.

Za vse stvari, ki se narišejo, pravijo, da prikazujejo življenjski krog.

First it starts with the sexual organs,

Začelo se je s spolnimi organi,

then it starts with cuss words,

nadaljevalo s kletvicami,

then it was Bush slanders

nato z žalitvami Busha

and then people actually got to art.

in končno je nastala umetnost.

But there was always a life cycle to their presentations.

A vedno je bil prisoten življenjski krog.

So I went home and was having dinner with my wife

Doma sem med večerjo

and was telling her about this,

ženi pripovedoval o tem

and we were like, "Well wait a second. If we know that this technology exists

in mislila sva si, "Če torej vemo, da obstaja taka tehnologija,

where you can use your eyes to control things,

da lahko preko oči upravljaš s stvarmi,

why don't we figure out a way for TEMPT to control a laser

bi torej tudi TEMPT lahko upravljal z laserjem

and he could do graf again? Well that would be awesome."

in ponovno ustvarjal grafite - to bi bilo super."

So that started the journey.

S tem se je torej začela pot.

And about two years later, about a year later,

Po letu ali dveh,

after a bunch of organization

po neprestanem sestavljanju

and a bunch of moving things around,

in upravljanju s stvarmi

we'd accomplished a couple things.

smo dosegli par ciljev.

One, we battered down the doors of the insurance companies,

Prvič, vdrli smo v zavarovalnice

and we actually got TEMPT a machine

in TEMPTu priskrbeli napravo

that let him communicate -- a Stephen Hawking machine.

za sporazumevanje -- tako, kot jo uporablja Stephen Hawking.

(Applause)

(Aplavz)

Which was awesome.

Bilo je krasno.

And he's seriously one of the funniest -- I call him Yoda,

Res je izjemno zabaven -- pravim mu Yoda,

because you talk to the guy, you get an email from him,

saj si v sporočilih ali pogovorih z njim mislim,

and you're like, "I'm not worthy. This guy's so amazing."

"Tega nisem vreden. Ta fant je res izjemen."

The other thing we did

Drugič,

is we flew seven programmers from all over the world --

v naši hiši smo zbrali sedem programerjev

literally every corner of the world --

z vseh koncev sveta --

into our house.

dobesedno.

My wife and kids and I moved to our back garage,

Z ženo in otroki smo se preselili v garažo,

and these hackers and programmers

ti hekerji, programerji,

and conspiracy theorists and anarchists took over our house.

teoretiki zarote in anarhisti pa so zavzeli našo hišo.

A lot of our friends thought we were absolutely stupid to do that

Naši prijatelji so mislili, da se nam je zmešalo

and that we were going to come back

in da bodo ob naši vrnitvi v hišo

and all the pictures on the wall would be removed and graf on the walls.

namesto slik stene krasili grafiti.

But for over two weeks,

A programirali smo

we programmed,

več kot dva tedna,

we went to the Venice boardwalk,

šli smo se sprehajat po plaži Venice,

my kids got involved,

sodelovali so moji otroci

my dog got involved,

in moj pes

and we created this.

in nastalo je to.

This is called the EyeWriter,

Imenuje se EyeWriter,

and you can see the description.

zraven je tudi opis.

This is a cheap pair of sunglasses

Uporabili smo poceni sončna očala,

that we bought at the Venice Beach boardwalk,

ki smo jih kupili ob sprehajališču plaže Venice,

some copper wire

bakreno žico

and some stuff from Home Depot and Radio Shack.

in nekaj stvari iz trgovin za dom, delavnico in elektroniko.

We took a PS3 camera, hacked it open,

Kamero za Play Station 3 smo razdrli,

mounted it to an LED light,

nanjo pritrdili LED luč,

and now there's a device that is free --

nastala pa je brezplačna naprava --

you build this yourself, we publish the code for free,

lahko jo sami sestavite, program je brezplačen,

you download the software for free.

programsko opremo si naložite brezplačno.

And now we've created a device

Ta naprava torej

that has absolutely no limitations.

nima omejitev.

There's no insurance company that can say "No."

Nobena zavarovalnica vas ne more zavrniti.

There's no hospital that can say "No."

Nobena bolnišnica vas ne more zavrniti.

Anybody who's paralyzed now has access

Kdorkoli je paraliziran, lahko zdaj

to actually draw or communicate using only their eyes.

dobesedno riše in se sporazumeva le preko oči.

(Applause)

(Aplavz)

Thank you.

Hvala lepa.

Thank you guys very much. That was awesome.

Najlepša hvala. To je super.

So at the end of the two weeks,

Po dveh tednih

we went back to TEMPT's room.

smo se vrnili k TEMPTu.

I love this picture, because this is someone else's room

Ta slika mi je všeč, ker prikazuje njegovo sobo

and that's his room.

iz neke druge.

So there's all this hustle and bustle going on for the big unveiling.

Vidimo ves ta vrvež pred velikim razkritjem.

And after over a year of planning,

In po dobrem letu načrtovanja,

two weeks of programming,

dveh tednih programiranja,

carb-fest and all-night sessions,

ogromno ogljikovih hidratih in neskončnih urah bedenja,

Tony drew again for the first time in seven years.

je Tony risal prvič po sedmih letih.

And this is an amazing picture,

To je čudovita slika,

because this is his life support system,

ki prikazuje napravo, ki ga ohranja pri življenju

and he's looking over his life support system.

in njega, kako gleda preko nje.

We kicked his bed so that he could see out.

Njegovo posteljo smo prestavili, da je lahko gledal ven.

And we set up a projector

Projektor smo usmerili

on a wall out in the parking lot outside of his hospital.

na steno zgradbe na parkirišču pred bolnišnico.

And he drew again for the first time,

Prvič je spet risal

in front of his family and friends --

pred njegovo družino in prijatelji,

and you can only imagine

in le zamišljate si lahko,

what the feeling in the parking lot was.

kakšno je bilo vzdušje na parkirišču.

The funny thing was, we had to break into the parking lot too,

Morali smo pravzaprav vdreti na parkirišče,

so we totally felt like we were legit in the whole graf scene too.

tako smo čutili, da smo del celotne grafične scene.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

So at the end of this, he sent us an email,

Po tem nam je poslal sporočilo

and this is what the email said:

in napisal:

"That was the first time I've drawn anything for seven years.

"Tokrat sem risal prvič po sedmih letih.

I feel like I had been held underwater,

Bilo je, kot da sem bil ujet pod vodo,

and someone finally reached down

nato pa je končno nekdo segel vanjo

and pulled my head up so I could breathe."

in me potegnil ven, da sem zadihal."

Isn't that awesome?

Ali ni to krasno?

(Applause)

(Aplavz)

So that's kind of our battle cry.

To je nekako postal naš slogan.

That's what keeps us going and keeps us developing.

To nas motivira, da nadaljujemo in se razvijamo.

And we've got such a long way to go with this.

Dolga pot je še pred nami.

This is an amazing device,

To je izjemen pripomoček,

but it's the equivalent of an Etch A Sketch.

a je podoben napravi Etch A Sketch.

And someone who has that kind of artistic potential deserves so much more.

In nekdo s takim umetniškim darom si zasluži še veliko več.

So we're in the process of trying to figure out

Trenutno se torej ukvarjamo s tem, kako naj ustvarimo

how to make it better, faster, stronger.

boljšo, hitrejšo, zmogljivejšo različico.

Since that time, we've had all kinds of acknowledgment.

Od tedaj smo prejeli veliko priznanj.

We've won a bunch of awards.

Osvojili smo veliko nagrad.

Remember, it's free; none of us are making any money on this thing.

In stvar je brezplačna, nihče od nas ni z njo zaslužil nič.

It's all coming out of our own pockets.

Vse smo financirali sami.

So the awards were like, "Oh, this is fantastic."

Zato smo prepričljivo osvojili nagrade.

Armstrong Twittered about us,

Armstrong je o nas pisal na Twitterju,

and then in December, Time magazine honored us

decembra pa nas je časnik Time uvrstil

as one of the top 50 inventions of 2010, which was really cool.

med najboljših 50 izumov leta 2010, kar je res super.

(Applause)

(Aplavz)

The coolest thing about this --

Najboljše pri tem pa je --

and this is what's completing the whole circle --

kar pravzaprav sklene celoten krog --

is that in April of this year,

da bo aprila letos

at the Geffen MOCA in downtown Los Angeles,

v losangeleškem Muzeju sodobne umetnosti

there's going to be an exhibition called "Art of the Streets."

na ogled razstava "Ulična umetnost".

And "Art of the Streets" is going to have

Razstava bo gostila

pretty much the bad-asses of the street art scene --

najboljše umetnike uličnega ustvarjanja --

Banksy, Shepard Fairey, KAWS --

Banksy, Shepard Fairey, CAWs --

all of these guys will be there.

vsi ti fantje bodo tam.

TEMPT's going to be in the show,

Sodeloval pa bo tudi TEMPT,

which is pretty awesome.

kar je res izjemno.

(Applause)

(Aplavz)

So basically this is my point:

Bistvo tega je torej:

If you see something that's not possible,

ko vidite, da je nekaj nemogoče,

make it possible.

naredite, da bo.

Everything in this room wasn't possible --

Vse v tej sobi --

this stage, this computer, this mic, the EyeWriter --

ta oder, računalnik, mikrofon, EyeWriter --

wasn't possible at one point.

nekoč v preteklosti ni bilo mogoče.

Make it possible, everyone in this room.

Naredite stvari mogoče -- vsi.

I'm not a programmer,

Nisem programer,

never done anything with ocular recognition technology,

nikoli se nisem ukvarjal s tehnologijo očesnega prepoznavanja,

but I just recognized something and associated myself with amazing people

a nečesa sem se domislil in povezal z izjemnimi ljudmi,

so that we could make something happen.

da smo to lahko omogočili.

And this is the question I want everyone to ask yourself

Želim, da se vsi vprašate

every single day

vsak dan posebej,

when you come up with something you feel that needs to be done:

ko naletite na nekaj, za kar menite, da je potrebno narediti.

if not now, then when? And if not me, then who?

Kdaj, če ne zdaj? In kdo, če ne jaz?

Thank you guys.

Hvala vam.

(Applause)

(Aplavz)