Gabriel Barcia-Colombo: Capturing memories in video art

Translator: Thu-Huong Ha Reviewer: Morton Bast

Prevodilac: Biljana Zlatanovic Lektor: Ivana Korom

I love to collect things.

Volim da skupljam stvari.

Ever since I was a kid, I've had massive collections

Još kao dete imao sam ogromne kolekcije

of random stuff, everything from bizarre hot sauces

nasumičnih stvari, sve od čudnih ljutih sosova

from all around the world to insects

iz celog sveta sve do insekata

that I've captured and put in jars.

koje sam hvatao i stavljao u tegle.

Now, it's no secret, because I like collecting things,

Zapravo i nije neka tajna da, pošto volim da skupljam stvari,

that I love the Natural History Museum

volim i Nacionalni istorijski muzej

and the collections of animals

i kolekcije životinja

at the Natural History Museum in dioramas.

u Nacionalnom istorijskom muzeju u obliku diorama.

These, to me, are like living sculptures, right,

One su meni kao žive skulpture, je l',

that you can go and look at,

koje možeš da odeš i pogledaš

and they memorialize a specific point of time

i one ovekovečuju određeni trenutak u vremenu

in this animal's life.

života ove životinje.

So I was thinking about my own life,

Pa sam razmišljao o sopstvenom životu,

and how I'd like to memorialize my life, you know,

i kako bih voleo da ovekovečim svoj život, znate,

for the ages, and also — (Laughter) —

za sva vremena, ali isto tako - (Smeh) -

the lives of my friends, but

živote mojih prijatelja, ali

the problem with this is that my friends aren't quite keen

problem je u tome što moji prijatelji i nisu baš oduševljeni

on the idea of me taxidermy-ing them. (Laughter)

idejom da ih prepariram. (Smeh)

So instead, I turned to video,

Tako da sam se umesto toga okrenuo videu,

and video is the next best way to preserve and memorialize

koji je sledeći najbolji način da se sačuva i očuva

someone and to capture a specific moment in time.

neko i da se uhvati određeni trenutak u vremenu.

So what I did was, I filmed six of my friends

Tako da sam snimio mojih šest prijatelja

and then, using video mapping and video projection,

a onda, koristeći video mapu i video projekciju,

I created a video sculpture, which was these six friends

stvorio sam video skulpturu, koja je zapravo ovih šest prijatelja

projected into jars. (Laughter)

projektovanih u tegle. (Smeh)

So now I have this collection of my friends

Tako da sada imam ovu kolekciju svojih prijatelja

I can take around with me whenever I go,

koju mogu da ponesem sa sobom kad god krenem negde,

and this is called Animalia Chordata,

i ona se zove Animalia Chordata,

from the Latin nomenclature for

iz latinske nomenklature za

human being, classification system.

živo biće, u sistemu klasifikacije.

So this piece memorializes my friends in these jars,

Dakle ovo delo ovekovečuje moje prijatelje u ovim teglama

and they actually move around. (Laughter)

i oni se zapravo pokreću. (Smeh)

So, this is interesting to me,

Dakle, meni je ovo zanimljivo,

but it lacked a certain human element. (Laughter)

ali nedostajao mu je izvesni ljudski elemenat. (Smeh)

It's a digital sculpture, so I wanted to add

Radi se o digitalnoj skulpturi, pa sam želeo da dodam

an interaction system. So what I did was,

interakcijski sistem. Tako da sam

I added a proximity sensor, so that when you get close

dodao senzor za blizinu, tako da kad se približite

to the people in jars, they react to you in different ways.

ljudima u tegli, oni reaguju na vas na različite načine.

You know, just like people on the street

Znate, baš kao i ljudi na ulici

when you get too close to them.

kada im se previše približite.

Some people reacted in terror. (Laughter)

Neki ljudi su odreagovali užasom. (Smeh)

Others reacted in asking you for help,

Drugi su odreagovali tako što su vas molili za pomoć,

and some people hide from you.

a neki ljudi se kriju od vas.

So this was really interesting to me, this idea of

Dakle ovo mi je bilo veoma zanimljivo, ideja

taking video off the screen and putting it in real life,

da uzmem video sa ekrana i da ga stavim u stvaran život,

and also adding interactivity to sculpture.

ali i da dodam interaktivnost skulpturi.

So over the next year, I documented 40 of my other friends

Tako da sam u narednih godinu dana dokumentovao još 40 mojih prijatelja

and trapped them in jars as well

i zarobio i njih u tegle

and created a piece known as Garden,

i stvorio delo poznato pod imenom Bašta,

which is literally a garden of humanity.

koja je bukvalno bašta čovečanstva.

But something about the first piece,

Ali nešto u vezi sa prvim delom,

the Animali Chordata piece, kept coming back to me,

Animali Chordata, mi se stalno vraćalo,

this idea of interaction with art,

ideja o interakciji sa umetnošću,

and I really liked the idea of people being able to interact,

i zaista mi se svidela ideja da ljudi mogu da vrše interakciju,

and also being challenged by interacting with art.

ali i da ih interakcija sa umetnošću izaziva.

So I wanted to create a new piece that actually

Tako da sam želeo da stvorim novo delo koje bi zapravo

forced people to come and interact with something,

nateralo ljude da priđu i komuniciraju sa nečim,

and the way I did this was actually by projecting

i to sam uradio projektovanjem

a 1950s housewife into a blender. (Laughter)

domaćice iz 1950. u mikseru. (Smeh)

This is a piece called Blend, and what it does is

Ovo delo se zove Mešanje i ono što radi je da

it actually makes you implicit in the work of art.

te čini implicitnim u umetničkom delu.

You may never experience the entire thing yourself.

Možda nikada nećete sami iskusiti sve ovo.

You can walk away, you can just watch as this character

Možete otići, možete samo da gledate dok ovaj lik

stands there in the blender and looks at you,

stoji tamo, u mikseru i gleda vas,

or you can actually choose to interact with it.

ili možete odabrati da vršite interakciju sa njim.

So if you do choose to interact with the piece,

Dakle, ako odlučite da vršite interakciju sa delom

and you press the blender button, it actually sends

i pritisnete dugme na mikseru, on zapravo šalje

this character into this dizzying disarray of dishevelment.

ovog lika u vrtoglavu zbrku raščupanosti.

By doing that, you are now part of my piece.

Uradivši to, postajete deo mog dela.

You, like the people that are trapped in my work

Vi ste takođe, kao i ljudi koji su zarobljeni u mom radu

— (Blender noises, laughter) —

- (Zvuk miksera, smeh) -

have become part of my work as well. (Laughter)

postali deo mog rada. (Smeh)

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

(Applause)

(Aplauz)

But, but this seems a bit unfair, right?

Ali ovo deluje pomalo nepravedno, zar ne?

I put my friends in jars, I put this character,

Stavio sam svoje prijatelje u tegle, stavio sam ovaj lik,

this sort of endangered species character in a blender.

ovu, na neki način, ugroženu vrstu lika u mikser.

But I'd never done anything about myself.

Ali nikada nisam ništa uradio sebi.

I'd never really memorialized myself.

NIkada nisam zapravo sebe ovekovečio.

So I decided to create a piece which is a self-portrait piece.

Pa sam rešio da napravim delo koje bi bilo autoportret.

This is sort of a self-portrait taxidermy time capsule piece

Ovo je neka vrsta autoportreta, preparirana vremenska kapsula,

called A Point Just Passed,

nazvana Trenutak je upravo prošao,

in which I project myself on top of a time card punch clock,

u kome ja projektujem sebe na vrhu sata za evidenciju radnog vremena

and it's up to you.

i sve je na vama.

If you want to choose to punch that punch card clock,

Ako želite da ukucate vreme na karticu tog sata,

you actually age me.

dodajete mi godine.

So I start as a baby, and then if you punch the clock,

Tako da, otpočinjem kao beba, a onda ako ukucate vreme,

you'll actually transform the baby into a toddler,

pretvorićete bebu u dete,

and then from a toddler I'm transformed into a teenager.

a onda sam iz deteta pretvoren u tinejdžera

From a teenager, I'm transformed into my current self.

Iz tinejdžera sam pretvoren u današnjeg sebe.

From my current self, I'm turned into a middle-aged man,

Iz mog današnjeg sebe, pretvoren sam u sredovečnog čoveka,

and then, from there, into an elderly man.

i onda, iz toga, u starijeg čoveka.

And if you punch the punch card clock a hundred times

I ako ukucate sat sto puta

in one day, the piece goes black

u jednom danu, delo pocrni

and is not to be reset until the next day.

i ne može se resetovati do sledećeg dana.

So, in doing so, you're erasing time.

Tako da, radeći to, brišete vreme.

You're actually implicit in this work

Zapravo ste implicitni u ovom radu

and you're erasing my life.

i brišete mi život.

So I like this about interactive video sculpture,

Dakle volim ovo kod interaktivne video skulpture,

that you can actually interact with it,

činjenicu da možete da komunicirate sa njom,

that all of you can actually touch an artwork

da svi vi zapravo možete da dodirnete umetničko delo

and be part of the artwork yourselves,

i da i vi sami budete deo tog umetničkog dela,

and hopefully, one day, I'll have each and every one of you

i nadam se da ću jednog dana imati svakog od vas

trapped in one of my jars. (Laughter)

zarobljenog u jednoj od mojih tegli. (Smeh)

Thank you. (Applause)

Hvala. (Aplauz)