Vik Muniz: Art with wire, sugar, chocolate and string

Prevodilac: Jelena Nedjic Lektor: Ivana Korom

I was asked to come here and speak about creation.

Pozvali su me da pričam o stvaranju.

And I only have 15 minutes, and I see they're counting already.

Imam samo 15 minuta, a vidim da sat već otkucava.

And I can -- in 15 minutes, I think I can touch only a very rather janitorial branch of creation,

Mislim da u 15 minuta mogu samo da zagrebem priču o čuvaru stvaranja,

which I call "creativity."

a to je "kreativnost".

Creativity is how we cope with creation.

Kreativnost je način na koji se nosimo sa stvaranjem.

While creation sometimes seems a bit un-graspable, or even pointless,

Stvaranje može ponekad biti neshvatljivo, besmisleno,

creativity is always meaningful.

kreativnost uvek nosi smisao u sebi.

See, for instance, in this picture.

Na primer, pogledajte ovu sliku.

You know, creation is what put that dog in that picture,

Znate, stvaralaštvo je ono što je postavilo psa u kadar,

and creativity is what makes us see a chicken on his hindquarters.

ali kreativnost vam pruža sliku kokoške na zadnjim nogama.

When you think about -- you know, creativity has a lot to do with causality too.

Kada razmislite malo, uvidite da kreativnost ima puno veze sa uzročnim vezama.

You know, when I was a teenager, I was a creator.

Kada sam bio tinejdžer, bio sam stvaralac.

I just did things.

Samo sam radio razne stvari.

Then I became an adult and started knowing who I was,

Potom sam odrastao i počeo da uviđam ko sam

and tried to maintain that persona -- I became creative.

i pokušao sam da održim tu ličnost - postao sam kreativan.

It wasn't until I actually did a book and a retrospective exhibition, that I could track exactly --

Nisam to shvatio dok nisam napisao knjigu i napravio retrospektivnu izložbu, tada sam uočio da

looks like all the craziest things that I had done, all my drinking, all my parties --

sve te naizgled lude stvari koje sam činio u životu, opijanja, zabave,

they followed a straight line that brings me to the point

sve me je to vodilo pravo ka ovome,

that actually I'm talking to you at this moment.

da sada održim predavanje.

Though it's actually true, you know,

U principu, razlog što ovde

the reason I'm talking to you right now is because I was born in Brazil.

govorim pred vama je što sam rođen u Brazilu.

If I was born in Monterey, probably would be in Brazil.

Da sam rođen u Montereju, verovatno bih sada bio u Brazilu.

You know, I was born in Brazil and grew up in the '70s

Rođen sam u Brazilu i odrastao sam u '70-im

under a climate of political distress,

u toku nemirnog političkog perioda

and I was forced to learn to communicate in a very specific way --

i morao sam da naučim da se izražavam na veoma poseban način --

in a sort of a semiotic black market.

koristeći metafore crnog tržišta.

You couldn't really say what you wanted to say;

Niste baš mogli da kažete ono što želite,

you had to invent ways of doing it.

trebalo je da izumete načine da to uradite.

You didn't trust information very much.

Niste puno verovali informacijama.

That led me to another step of why I'm here today,

To me je dovelo korak bliže ka onome zbog čega sam danas ovde,

is because I really liked media of all kinds.

a to je moja pasija prema svim vrstama medija.

I was a media junkie, and eventually got involved with advertising.

Bio sam zavisan od medija i na kraju sam se obreo u reklamama.

My first job in Brazil

Na svom prvom poslu u Brazilu

was actually to develop a way to improve the readability of billboards,

sam imao zadatak da poboljšam čitljivost bilborda

and based on speed, angle of approach and actually blocks of text.

na osnovu brzine kretanja, ugla posmatranja i osobina ispisanog teksta.

It was very -- actually, it was a very good study,

To je ustvari bila veoma dobra studija na osnovu koje

and got me a job in an ad agency.

sam dobio posao u agenciji za reklame.

And they also decided that I had to --

Takođe su odlučili da

to give me a very ugly Plexiglas trophy for it.

treba da mi dodele ružnjikav pehar od pleksiglasa.

And another point -- why I'm here --

Drugi uzrok koji me dovodi ovde,

is that the day I went to pick up the Plexiglas trophy,

je skriven u danu kada sam otišao po trofej,

I rented a tuxedo for the first time in my life,

tada sam po prvi put iznajmio smoking,

picked the thing -- didn't have any friends.

pokupio sam trofej, nisam imao prijatelje.

On my way out, I had to break a fight apart.

Kada sam izlazio, morao sam da rastavim tuču.

Somebody was hitting somebody else with brass knuckles.

Jedan čovek je udarao drugog bokserom.

They were in tuxedos, and fighting. It was very ugly.

Bili su u smokinzima i tukli su se. Bilo je gadno.

And also -- advertising people do that all the time -- (Laughter) --

Ljudi u marketingu rade to sve vreme -- (smeh) --

and I -- well, what happened is when I went back, it was on the way back to my car,

sledeća scena se dešava na putu ka mojim kolima;

the guy who got hit decided to grab a gun --

čovek koga su tukli je potegao pištolj,

I don't know why he had a gun --

ne znam zašto je nosio pištolj --

and shoot the first person he decided to be his aggressor.

i upucao prvu osobu za koju je odlučio da ga je napala.

The first person was wearing a black tie, a tuxedo. It was me.

A ta prva osoba je nosila crnu kravatu i smoking. To sam bio ja.

Luckily, it wasn't fatal, as you can all see.

Na sreću, to nije bio fatalan hitac, kao što vidite.

And, even more luckily, the guy said that he was sorry

Na još veću sreću, tipu je bilo žao

and I bribed him for compensation money, otherwise I press charges.

a ja sam ga ucenio da mi da novac da ne bih pokrenuo optužbu.

And that's how -- with this money I paid for a ticket to come to the United States in 1983,

Tim parama sam platio kartu do Sjedinjenih Država 1983.

and that's very -- the basic reason I'm talking to you here today:

a to je suštinski razlog zašto sam ovde danas:

because I got shot. (Laughter) (Applause)

bio sam upucan. (smeh) (aplauz)

Well, when I started working with my own work, I decided that I shouldn't do images.

Kada sam počeo da se bavim svojim radom, odlučio sam da ne pravim slike.

You know, I became -- I took this very iconoclastic approach.

Znate, imao sam poprilično buntovnički pristup.

Because when I decided to go into advertising, I wanted to do --

Kada sam odlučio da se bavim reklamiranjem, želeo sam da --

I wanted to airbrush naked people on ice, for whiskey commercials,

želeo sam da slikam gole ljude na ledu, kako bih reklamirao viski,

that's what I really wanted to do. (Laughter)

to je zaista ono što sam želeo. (Smeh)

But I -- they didn't let me do it, so I just -- you know,

Ali mi nisu dozvolili da to radim, znate,

they would only let me do other things.

hteli su da radim druge stvari.

But I wasn't into selling whiskey; I was into selling ice.

Nije me zanimalo da prodajem viski, hteo sam da prodajem led.

The first works were actually objects.

Moja prva dela su predstavljala objekte.

It was kind of a mixture of found object, product design and advertising.

To je bila mešavina realnih objekata, dizajna i marketinga.

And I called them relics.

Nazivam ih relikvijama.

They were displayed first at Stux Gallery in 1983.

Prvi put su ta dela izložena 1983. u galeriji "Stux".

This is the clown skull.

Ovo je lobanja klovna.

Is a remnant of a race of -- a very evolved race of entertainers.

Ovo su fosili jedne rase -- veoma napredne rase zabavljača.

They lived in Brazil, long time ago. (Laughter)

Pre mnogo godina su živeli u Brazilu. (smeh)

This is the Ashanti joystick.

Ovo je Ašanti džojstik.

Unfortunately, it has become obsolete because it was designed for Atari platform.

Na nesreću, zastareo je jer je dizajniran za platformu Atari.

A Playstation II is in the works, maybe for the next TED I'll bring it.

Plejstejšn II je u fazi razvoja, možda će biti spreman za sledeći TED.

The rocking podium. (Laughter)

Ljuljajuće pobedničko postolje. (smeh)

This is the pre-Columbian coffeemaker. (Laughter)

Ovo je mašina za kafu iz pre-kolumbijskog perioda. (smeh)

Actually, the idea came out of an argument that I had at Starbucks,

Ustvari, ideju sam dobio u toku rasprave u "Strabaksu",

that I insisted that I wasn't having Colombian coffee;

kada sam tvrdio da ne pijem kafu iz Kolumbije,

the coffee was actually pre-Columbian.

već iz pre-kolumbijskog perioda.

The Bonsai table.

Ovo je Bonsai sto.

The entire Encyclopedia Britannica bound in a single volume, for travel purposes.

Potpuno izdanje enciklopedije Britanika u jednoj knjizi, zgodno za putovanja.

And the half tombstone, for people who are not dead yet.

Polovina grobnice, za one ljude koji još nisu umrli.

I wanted to take that into the realm of images,

Želeo sam sve to da prenesem u carstvo slika,

and I decided to make things that had the same identity conflicts.

i želeo sam da stvaram stvari koje bi imale istu krizu identiteta.

So I decided to do work with clouds.

Tako sam odlučio da predstavljam oblake.

Because clouds can mean anything you want.

Oblaci mogu značiti šta god poželite.

But now I wanted to work in a very low-tech way,

Želeo sam da radim na tehnološki nesofisticiran način,

so something that would mean at the same time

želeo sam nešto što bi istovremeno predstavilo

a lump of cotton, a cloud and Durer's praying hands --

komad pamuka, oblak i Durerove ruke u molitvi --

although this looks a lot more like Mickey Mouse's praying hands.

iako ovo više liči na ruke Mikija Mausa u molitvi.

But I was still, you know -- this is a kitty cloud.

I dalje sam bio, znate... ovo je oblak-mače.

They're called "Equivalents," after Alfred Stieglitz's work.

Naziv im je "Ekvivalenti", po delu Alfreda Štiglica.

"The Snail."

Puž.

But I was still working with sculpture,

I dalje sam se bavio skulpturom,

and I was really trying to go flatter and flatter.

a želeo sam da radim u jednoj ravni.

"The Teapot."

Čajnik.

I had a chance to go to Florence, in -- I think it was '94,

Bio sam u prilici, misim '94., da odem u Firencu,

and I saw Ghiberti's "Door of Paradise."

i tada sam video Gibertijeva "Vrata raja".

And he did something that was very tricky.

On je uradio nešto vrlo komplikovano.

He put together two different media from different periods of time.

Iskombinovao je dva različita medijuma iz različitih vremenskih perioda.

First, he got an age-old way of making it, which was relief,

Pre svega, sa olakšanjem sam uvideo da je koristio staru tehniku praveći to delo,

and he worked this with three-point perspective, which was brand-new technology at the time.

ali je istovremeno koristio najnoviju tehnologiju tog vremena, perspektivu tri tačke nedogleda.

And it's totally overkill.

To je zaista preterano.

And your eye doesn't know which level to read.

Vaše oči se zbune, ne znaju koji sloj svega toga da posmatraju.

And you become trapped into this kind of representation.

Prosto budete zarobljeni u takvoj vrsti umetničkog predstavljanja.

So I decided to make these very simple renderings,

Odlučio sam da to predstavim jednostavnom tehnikom kreiranja,

that at first they are taken as a line drawing --

da ih na prvi pogled doživite kao crtež linija,

you know, something that's very -- and then I did it with wire.

znate, nešto što je veoma... ali sam to uradio sa žicom.

The idea was to -- because everybody overlooks white -- like pencil drawings, you know?

Vođen sam bio idejom - jer svi previdimo belo - kao na crtežima olovkom, znate?

And they would look at it -- "Ah, it's a pencil drawing."

Pogledali bi to i rekli: "Oh, crtež olovkom."

Then you have this double take and see that it's actually something that existed in time.

A onda biste na drugi pogled uočili da je to nešto što zapravo postoji u vremenu.

It had a physicality,

Poseduje entitet,

and you start going deeper and deeper into sort of narrative

onda zalazite dublje i dublje u jedan vid priče

that goes this way, towards the image. So this is "Monkey with Leica."

koja se razvija u ovom smeru, ka samoj slici. Ovo je "Majmun sa Leikom".

"Relaxation."

Opuštanje.

"Fiat Lux."

Neka bude svetla.

And the same way the history of representation

Na isti način je to umetničko izražavanje

evolved from line drawings to shaded drawings.

evoluiralo od slikanja linijama do slikanja senčenjem.

And I wanted to deal with other subjects.

Želeo sam da se bavim i drugim pojmovima.

I started taking that into the realm of landscape,

Počeo sam to da prenosim u carstvo pejzaža,

which is something that's almost a picture of nothing.

a to je nešto što je skoro pa slika ničega.

I made these pictures called "Pictures of Thread,"

Napravio sam ove slike koje zovem "Slike od konca",

and I named them after the amount of yards that I used to represent each picture.

nazvao sam ih prema količini iskorišćenog materijala za svaku od slika.

These always end up being a photograph at the end,

Na kraju od toga uvek ispadne fotografija

or more like an etching in this case.

ili nešto više nalik na gravuru u ovom slučaju.

So this is a lighthouse.

Ovo je svetionik.

This is "6,500 Yards," after Corot. "9,000 Yards," after Gerhard Richter.

Ove je "5943,6 metara " po Korou. "8229,6 metara" po Gerhardu Rihteru.

And I don't know how many yards, after John Constable.

I ne znam koliko metara materijala, po Džonu Konstablu.

Departing from the lines, I decided to tackle the idea of points,

Udaljavajući se od linija, odlučio sam da se pozabavim tačkama,

like which is more similar to the type of representation that we find in photographs themselves.

to je više nalik na vid predstavjanja slika na samim fotografijama.

I had met a group of children in the Caribbean island of Saint Kitts,

Na ostrvu Sveti Kits na Karibima sam upoznao grupu dece

and I did work and play with them.

i igrao sam se i radio sa njima.

I got some photographs from them.

Fotografisao sam neke od njih.

Upon my arrival in New York, I decided --

Kada sam došao u Njujork shvatio sam

they were children of sugar plantation workers.

da su to deca koja rade na plantažama šećera.

And by manipulating sugar over a black paper, I made portraits of them.

Igrajući se šećerom na crnom papiru kao pozadini, pravio sam njihove portrete.

These are -- (Applause) --

Ovo su -- (aplauz).

Thank you. This is "Valentina, the Fastest."

Hvala vam. Ovo je "Valentina, najbrža."

It was just the name of the child,

To je samo ime deteta,

with the little thing you get to know of somebody that you meet very briefly.

povezano sa ono malo znanja koje imate o nekom koga površno upoznate.

"Valicia."

Valisija.

"Jacynthe."

Džakinte.

But another layer of representation was still introduced.

Još jedan sloj predstavljanja je uveden.

Because I was doing this while I was making these pictures,

S obzirom da sam pravio ove pokrete dok sam radio na slikama,

I realized that I could add still another thing

shvatio sam da mogu da dodam još jednu stvar

I was trying to make a subject --

pokušavao sam da subjekt učinim --

something that would interfere with the themes,

trebalo mi je nešto što bi se mešalo sa temama,

so chocolate is very good, because it has --

za to je čokolada veoma dobra, jer poseduje --

it brings to mind ideas that go from scatology to romance.

evocira razne ideje u glavi od skatologije do romanse.

And so I decided to make these pictures,

Odlučio sam da uradim ove slike

and they were very large, so you had to walk away from it to be able to see them.

i bile su prevelike, morate da se udaljite od njih kako biste ih videli.

So they're called "Pictures of Chocolate."

Njih sam nazvao "Slike od čokolade."

Freud probably could explain chocolate better than I. He was the first subject.

Frojd bi verovatno fenomen čokolade objasnio bolje od mene. On je bio prvi subjekat.

And Jackson Pollock also.

Kao i Džekson Polok.

Pictures of crowds are particularly interesting,

Slike gužve su naročito zanimljive,

because, you know, you go to that --

jer, znate, kada pokušate to da uradite,

you try to figure out the threshold with something you can define very easily,

pokušate da odredite granicu nečega što možete veoma lako definisati,

like a face, goes into becoming just a texture.

kao što je lice i ono prosto postane deo teksture slike.

"Paparazzi."

Paparaci.

I used the dust at the Whitney Museum to render some pieces of their collection.

Koristio sam prašinu Muzeja Vitni kako bih predstavio neka od dela iz njihove kolekcije.

And I picked minimalist pieces because they're about specificity.

Odabrao sam ovde minimalistička dela jer poseduju specifičnost.

And you render this with the most non-specific material,

A onda to predstavite uz pomoć najnespecifičnijeg materijala,

which is dust itself.

uz pomoć prašine.

Like, you know, you have the skin particles of every single museum visitor.

Znate, to je kao da imate deliće kože od svakog posetioca muzeja.

They do a DNA scan of this, they will come up with a great mailing list.

Ukoliko urade DNK analizu ovoga, imaće ogroman adresar.

This is Richard Serra.

Ovo je Ričard Sera.

I bought a computer, and [they] told me it had millions of colors in it.

Kupio sam računar i rečeno mi je da ima milione boja.

You know an artist's first response to this is, who counted it? You know?

Znate li šta je prvi odgovor umetnika na to - ko ih je brojao? Znate?

And I realized that I never worked with color,

Shvatio sam da nikada nisam radio sa bojama

because I had a hard time controlling the idea of single colors.

jer mi je teško da kontrolišem ideju pojedinačnih boja.

But once they're applied to numeric structure,

Kada to primenite na brojčane strukture,

then you can feel more comfortable.

osećate se bolje, udobnije.

So the first time I worked with colors was by making these mosaics of Pantone swatches.

Prvi put sam radio sa bojama kada sam pravio mozaik od Panton skale boja.

They end up being very large pictures,

Na kraju su to bile ogromne slike,

and I photographed with a very large camera --

fotografisao sam ih velikim foto-aparatom,

an 8x10 camera.

veličine 8x10.

So you can see the surface of every single swatch --

Možete uočiti površinu svakog materijala,

like in this picture of Chuck Close.

kao na ovoj slici Čaka Klouza.

And you have to walk very far to be able to see it.

Morate se mnogo udaljiti od nje kako biste mogli da je vidite.

Also, the reference to Gerhard Richter's use of color charts --

Takođe, spomen na upotrebu skala boja, Gerharda Rihtera --

and the idea also entering another realm of representation that's very common to us today,

a ideja je prešla u novo carstvo predstavljanja umetnosti, koje je danas uobičajeno,

which is the bit map.

a to je bit-mapa.

I ended up narrowing the subject to Monet's "Haystacks."

Na kraju sam izabrao Moneove "Plastove sena."

This is something I used to do as a joke --

Ovo sam radio kroz šalu,

you know, make -- the same like -- Robert Smithson's "Spiral Jetty" --

znate, napravio bih... ovo je "Spiralni Jeti" Roberta Smitsona,

and then leaving traces, as if it was done on a tabletop.

a onda bih ostavio tragove, kao da je to urađeno na stolu.

I tried to prove that he didn't do that thing in the Salt Lake.

Pokušao sam da dokažem da on ustvari nije uradio to u Solt Lejku.

But then, just doing the models, I was trying to explore the relationship

Ali baveći se modelom, trudio sam se da istražim vezu

between the model and the original.

između modela i originala.

And I felt that I would have to actually go there and make some earthworks myself.

Osetio sam da treba ustvari da odem tamo i sam napravim slike od same zemlje.

I opt for very simple line drawings -- kind of stupid looking.

Težio sam veoma jednostavnim crtežima linija -- malo luckasto to deluje.

And at the same time, I was doing these very large constructions,

A istovremeno sam pravio ove velike skalamerije,

being 150 meters away.

na udaljenosti od 150 metara.

Now I would do very small ones, which would be like --

Ali sam pod istim osvetljenjem stvarao

but under the same light, and I would show them together,

i veoma male delove, a prezentovao bih ih zajedno,

so the viewer would have to really figure it out what one he was looking.

tako da posmatrač zaista mora da shvati koje delo posmatra.

I wasn't interested in the very large things, or in the small things.

Nisam bio zainteresovan za veoma velike ili za male stvari.

I was more interested in the things in between,

Bio sam zainteresovan za nešto između toga,

you know, because you can leave an enormous range for ambiguity there.

jer na taj način oslobađate prostor za neodređenost u tome.

This is like you see -- the size of a person over there.

Ovo je kao što vidite, veličina jedne osobe tamo.

This is a pipe.

Ovo je lula.

A hanger.

Vešalica.

And this is another thing that I did -- you know working

I ovo sam radio dok sam stvarao --

-- everybody loves to watch somebody draw,

svako voli da posmatra nekoga ko crta,

but not many people have a chance to watch somebody draw in --

ali nema mnogo ljudi priliku da posmatra nekoga kako oslikava

a lot of people at the same time, to evidence a single drawing.

grupu ljudi istovremeno i tako doživi osećaj jednog crteža.

And I love this work,

Volim ovaj rad

because I did these cartoonish clouds over Manhattan for a period of two months.

jer sam se bavio ovim oblacima iz crtaća nad Menhentnom skoro dva meseca.

And it was quite wonderful, because I had an interest -- an early interest -- in theater,

To je bilo veličanstveno, jer me je zanimalo pozorište, zanimalo me je od ranije,

that's justified on this thing.

a to je opravdano na ovim radovima.

In theater, you have the character and the actor in the same place,

U pozorištu gledate tu osobu i glumca istovremeno,

trying to negotiate each other in front of an audience.

koji međusobno pregovaraju pred publikom.

And in this, you'd have like a --

A ovde imate nešto što

something that looks like a cloud, and it is a cloud at the same time.

liči na oblak, a istovremeno jeste oblak.

So they're like perfect actors.

To su savršeni glumci.

My interest in acting, especially bad acting, goes a long way.

Ja sam već veoma dugo zainterosovan za glumu, a naročito za lošu glumu.

Actually, I once paid like 60 dollars

Ustvari, jednom sam platio oko 60 dolara

to see a very great actor to do a version of "King Lear,"

da bih video odličnog glumca u jednoj verziji "Kralja Lira",

and I felt really robbed, because by the time the actor started being King Lear,

osećao sam se opljačkanim, jer u momentu kada je glumac postao kralj Lir,

he stopped being the great actor that I had paid money to see.

on više nije bio taj veliki glumac zbog kojeg sam platio kartu.

On the other hand, you know, I paid like three dollars, I think --

Sa druge strane, platio sam, čini mi se, oko tri dolara

and I went to a warehouse in Queens

za predstavu u skladištu u Kvinsu

to see a version of "Othello" by an amateur group.

da bih video izvođenje drame "Otelo" od strane amaterske grupe.

And it was quite fascinating, because you know the guy --

Bilo je fascinantno, jer taj tip,

his name was Joey Grimaldi --

njegovo ime je Džoi Grimaldi,

he impersonated the Moorish general

on se pretvara u generala naroda Berbera,

-- you know, for the first three minutes he was really that general,

znate, tokom prva tri minuta zaista je bio general,

and then he went back into plumber, he worked as a plumber, so --

a onda je ponovo bio vodoinstalater, radio je kao vodoinstalater, tako da...

plumber, general, plumber, general --

vodoinstalater, general, vodoinstalater, general -

so for three dollars, I saw two tragedies for the price of one.

tako da sam za tri dolara video dve tragedije po ceni jedne.

See, I think it's not really about impression,

Vidite, mislim da nije stvar u utisku,

making people fall for a really perfect illusion,

u navođenju ljudi da ih osvoji savršena iluzija,

as much as it is to make -- I usually work at the lowest threshold of visual illusion.

već treba da učinite... Ja uglavnom radim na donjoj granici vizuelnih iluzija.

Because it's not about fooling somebody,

Ne radi se o nekim prevarama,

it's actually giving somebody a measure of their own belief:

pre treba dati merilo ljudima o njihovom verovanju

how much you want to be fooled.

koliko želite da budete prevareni.

That's why we pay to go to magic shows and things like that.

Zato odlazimo na mađioničarske nastupe i slične stvari.

Well, I think that's it.

Pa mislim da bi to bilo to.

My time is nearly up.

Moje vreme je skoro isteklo.

Thank you very much.

Mnogo vam hvala.