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

Prevodilac: Marija Stepanovic Lektor: Elizabeta Petrovic

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

Zdravo. Danas ću vam ukratko predstaviti

of about eight of my projects,

oko osam mojih projekata,

done in collaboration with Danish artist Soren Pors.

rađenih u saradnji sa danskim umetnikom Sorenom Porsom.

We call ourselves Pors and Rao,

Zovemo se Pors i Rao

and we live and work in India.

i živimo i radimo u Indiji.

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

Počela bih sa svojim prvim radom,

which I call "The Uncle Phone."

koji zovem "Ujakov telefon".

And it was inspired by my uncle's peculiar habit

Inspirisan je čudnom navikom mog ujaka,

of constantly asking me to do things for him,

koji me je stalno terao da radim nešto umesto njega,

almost like I were an extension of his body --

maltene kao da sam produžni deo njegovog tela --

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

da mu upalim svetlo ili donesem čašu vode,

a pack of cigarettes.

ili paklu cigareta.

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

Kako sam rasla postajalo je sve gore i gore,

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

počela sam da to doživljavam kao neku vrstu kontrole.

But of course, I could never say anything,

Ali naravno, nikad ništa nisam rekla,

because the uncle is a respected figure

jer je ujak poštovana ličnost

in the Indian family.

u indijskoj porodici.

And the situation that irked me and mystified me the most

A najviše mi je smetala i čudila me

was his use of a landline telephone.

njegova upotreba fiksnog telefona.

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

Podigao bi slušalicu i očekivao da ja okrenem broj umesto njega.

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

Zato sam, kao odgovor na to i poklon mom ujaku,

I made him "The Uncle Phone."

napravila "Telefon za ujake".

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

Toliko je dug da korišćenje zahteva dve osobe.

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

Baš tako moj ujak koristi telefon namenjen jednoj osobi.

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

Problem je nastao kada sam napustila kuću i otišla na koledž,

I started missing his commands.

počela su da mi nedostaju njegova naređenja.

And so I made him a golden typewriter

Stoga sam mu napravila zlatnu pisaću mašinu

through which he could dispense his commands

preko koje može da izdaje komande

to nephews and nieces around the world as an email.

svojim nećacima i nećakama po svetu putem imejla.

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

Trebalo je samo da uzme jedan papir, stavi ga u mašinu,

type his email or command and pull the paper out.

ukuca svoju imejl adresu i naredbu i izvuče ga van.

This device would automatically send the intended person

I ova sprava bi toj osobi automatski poslala

the letter as an email.

pismo u obliku imejla.

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

Kao možete videti, ovde smo ugradili dosta elektronike

that understands all of the mechanical actions

koja razume sve mehaničke pokrete

and converts it to digital.

i pretvara ih u digitalne.

So my uncle is only dealing with a mechanical interface.

Tako moj ujak koristi samo mehanički interfejs.

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

Naravno, naprava mora biti izuzetno velika i da ima smisao za ritualizam,

the way my uncle likes it.

baš kako moj ujak voli.

The next work is a sound-sensitive installation

Sledeći rad je instalacija osetljiva na zvuk

that we affectionately call "The Pygmies."

koju od milja zovemo "Pigmeji".

And we wanted to work with a notion of being

Želeli smo da radimo sa osećanjem okruženosti

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

od strane plemena veoma stidljivih, emotivnih i ljupkih stvorenja.

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

To funkcioniše tako što imamo ove ploče, koje su na zidu,

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

a iza njih se kriju ova mala stvorenja.

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

Čim nastane tišina, oni izvire.

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

A ako nastane još veća tišina, oni ispruže svoje vratove.

And at the slightest sound, they hide back again.

I čak i na najslabiji zvuk, oni se ponovo sakriju.

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

Stavili smo ove ploče na tri zida u sobi.

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

I stavili smo preko 500 ovih malih pigmeja iza njih.

So this is how it works.

Ovako to funkcioniše.

This is a video prototype.

Ovo je video prototip.

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

Kad je tiho, oni izađu iza ovih ploča.

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

Oni mogu da čuju kao ljudi, ili kao prava živa bića.

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

Tako, posle izvesnog vremena, mogu da se naviknu na neke zvukove koji ih plaše.

And they don't react to background sounds.

I ne reaguju na zvukove iz pozadine.

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

Čućete zvuk voza ubrzo na koji nisu reagovali.

(Noise)

(Buka)

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

Ali zato reaguju na zvukove iz prvog plana. Čućete i to ubrzo.

(Whistling)

(Zvižduk)

So we worked very hard

Dosta smo se trudili

to make them as lifelike as possible.

da ih učinimo što više nalik živima.

So each pygmy has its own behavior, psyche,

Svaki pigmej ima svoj način ponašanja, psihu,

mood swings, personalities and so on.

promene raspoloženja, ličnosti, itd.

So this is a very early prototype.

Ovo je veoma rani prototip.

Of course, it got much better after that.

Naravno, dosta smo ga usavršili kasnije.

And we made them react to people,

Napravili smo ih da reaguju na ljude,

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

ali uvideli smo da se ljudi prema njima ponašaju vrlo razigrano i detinjasto.

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

Ovo je video instalacija "Nestala osoba".

And we were quite intrigued

Prilično nas je zaintrigiralo

with playing with the notion of invisibility.

poigravanje sa pojmom nevidljivosti.

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

Kako bi bilo moguće iskusiti osećaj nevidljivosti?

So we worked with a company

Udružili smo se sa kompanijom,

that specializes in camera surveillance,

čija su specijalnost kamere za nadzor,

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

i zamolili smo ih da nam pomognu oko izrade softvera

using a camera

za kameru,

that could look at people in the room, track them

koji bi mogao da locira ljude u sobi

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

i zameni jednu osobu pozadinom, što bi je učinilo nevidljivom.

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

Pokazaću vam jedan vrlo stari prototip.

On the right side you can see my colleague Soren,

Na desnoj strani, možete videti mog kolegu Sorena,

who's actually in the space.

koji se stvarno nalazi na tom mestu.

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

A s leve strane, možete videti obrađeni video

where the camera has made him invisible.

na kome ga je kamera učinila nevidljivim.

Soren enters the room. Pop! He goes invisible.

Soren ulazi u sobu. I cap! Postaje nevidljiv.

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

Vidite kako ga kamera prati i briše.

It's a very early video,

Ovo je dosta star video,

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

tako da se još uvek nismo bili pozabavili problemom preklapanja,

but that got refined pretty soon, later.

ali to smo brzo usavršili kasnije.

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

To smo uradili u sobi gde smo imali jednu kameru uperenu u prostor,

and we had one monitor, one on each wall.

i imali smo po jedan monitor na svakom zidu.

And as people walked into the room,

I kad bi ljudi ušli u tu sobu,

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

videli bi sebe na monitoru, ali sa jednom razlikom:

one person was constantly invisible

jedna od osoba je uvek bila nevidljiva

wherever they moved in the room.

gde god bi se kretala po sobi.

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

Ovaj rad se zove "Sunčeva senka".

And it was almost like a sheet of paper,

I izgledao je skoro kao list papira,

like a cutout of a childlike drawing

kao isečak dečijeg crteža

of an oil spill or a sun.

izlivanja nafte ili sunca.

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

Spreda, predmet je izgledao veoma jako i čvrsto,

and from the side, it almost seemed very weak.

a sa strane, je izgledao sasvim slabašno.

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

Ljudi bi ušli u sobu i potpuno bi ga ignorisali,

thinking it was some crap laying around.

misleći da nešto bezveze tu leži.

But as soon as they passed by,

Ali čim bi prošli pored njega,

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

on bi počeo da se penje uza zid na ćudljiv način .

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

I onda bi se umorio i srušio, i tako svaki put.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

So this work

Ovaj rad

is a caricature of an upside-down man.

je karikatura naopakog čoveka.

His head is so heavy, full of heavy thoughts,

Glava mu je preteška, puna teških misli,

that it's sort of fallen into his hat,

tako da je skoro propala u njegov šešir,

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

a njegovo telo je izraslo iz njega kao biljka.

Well what he does is he moves around

On se tako okreće u krug naglavačke

in a very drunken fashion on his head

kao u veoma pijanom stanju

in a very unpredictable and extremely slow movement.

veoma nepredvidljivo i sporo.

And it's kind of constrained by that circle.

Ograničen je tim krugom.

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

Jer da nema tog kruga, i kad bi pod bio izuzetno ravan,

it would start to wander about in the space.

počeo bi da se šeta svuda po prostoru.

And there's no wires.

Nema žica.

So I'll just show you an instance --

Pokazaću vam samo jedan trenutak --

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

kad ljudi uđu u sobu, ovaj objekat se aktivira.

And it very slowly, over a few minutes,

I on se veoma sporo, u roku od par minuta,

sort of painfully goes up,

bolno uspravi,

and then it gains momentum

i tada dobije zamah

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

i izgleda kao da mu malo fali da padne.

And this is an important moment,

Ovo je važan trenutak,

because we wanted to instill in the viewer

jer smo želeli da u gledaocu probudimo

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

instinkt da priđe i pomogne, da ga spasi.

But it doesn't really need it,

Ali ne mora to da radi,

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

jer on, opet, nekako uspe da se uspravi sam.

So this work was a real technical challenge for us,

Ovaj rad je bio dosta tehnički zahtevan za nas,

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

radili smo ga dosta dugo, kao skoro sve naše radove tokom godina,

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

kako bi podesili svu mehaniku, ravnotežu i dinamiku.

And it was very important for us

I bilo nam je vrlo bitno

to establish the exact moment that it would fall,

da ustanovimo tačan trenutak pada,

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

jer ako bi se desilo da se prevrne,

then it would damage itself,

onda bi se oštetio,

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

a ako se ne bi dovoljno spustio, ne bi izazvao bi taj fatalizam,

or that sense of wanting to go and help it.

ili želju da mu se priđe i pomogne.

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

Pokazaću vam veoma kratak video

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

gde radimo probni scenario -- dosta je brži.

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

To je moj kolega. Pustio ga je.

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

Sad se unervozio, pa će da ga uhvati.

But he doesn't need to,

Ali ne mora to da radi,

because it manages to lift itself up on its own.

jer on može sam da se podigne.

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

Ovim delom smo bili veoma intrigirani,

working with the aesthetic of fur

radeći sa estetikom krzna

embedded with thousands of tiny different sizes

u koje je umetnuto na hiljade sitnih optičkih vlakana

of fiber optics, which twinkle like the night sky.

različitih veličina, koja svetlucaju kao noćno nebo.

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

A i veličine je noćnog neba.

So we wrapped this around a blob-like form,

Umotali smo ga oko jedne bezoblične gromulje,

which is in the shape of a teddy bear,

u obliku plišanog mede,

which was hanging from the ceiling.

koji je visio sa plafona.

And the idea was to sort of contrast

Cilj je bio da uporedimo

something very cold and distant and abstract like the universe

nešto veoma hladno, udaljeno i apstraktno kao što je univerzum

into the familiar form of a teddy bear,

sa nekim poznatim oblikom kao što je plišani meda,

which is very comforting and intimate.

što izgleda vrlo utešno i blisko.

And the idea was that at some point

Poenta je bila da biste u jednom trenutku

you would stop looking at the form of a teddy bear

prestali da gledate u oblik plišanog mede

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

i skoro ga doživeli kao neku rupu u prostoru,

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

kao da gledate u svetlucavo noćno nebo.

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

Ovo je poslednji rad, još uvek je u toku,

and it's called "Space Filler."

i zove se "Ispunjivač prostora".

Well imagine a small cube that's about this big

Zamislite kockicu ove veličine

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

kako stoji pred vama nasred sobe,

and as you approached it, it tried to intimidate you

i kako mu se približavate, pokušava da vas prepadne

by growing into a cube

pretvarajući se u kocku

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

dvostruko veće visine i četiri puta veće zapremine.

And so this object is constantly expanding and contracting

Ovaj objekat se stalno širi i skuplja

to create a dynamic with people moving around it --

kako bi stvorio dinamiku sa ljudima koji se kreću oko njega --

almost like it were trying

gotovo kao da pokašava

to conceal a secret within its seams or something.

da sakrije neku tajnu unutar svojih šavova ili tako nešto.

So we work with a lot of technology,

Radimo dosta sa tehnologijom,

but we don't really love technology,

ali je mi zapravo ne volimo,

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

jer nam zadaje puno problema u radu tokom godina.

But we use it because we're interested

Ali je ipak koristimo jer smo zainteresovani

in the way that it can help us

načinom na koji može da nam pomogne

to express the emotions and behavioral patterns

u ispoljavanju emocija i obrazaca ponašanja

in these creatures that we create.

kod ovih stvorenja koja stvaramo.

And once a creature pops into our minds,

Kad nam neko stvorenje padne na pamet,

it's almost like the process of creation

izgleda nam gotovo kao da je proces stvaranja

is to discover the way this creature really wants to exist

nalaženje načina na koji to stvorenje želi da postoji,

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

i koji oblik želi da ima i kako želi da se kreće.

Thank you.

Hvala.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)