Golan Levin makes art that looks back at you

翻译人员: Yu Miao 校对人员: Manlai YOU

Hello! My name is Golan Levin.

大家好，我是戈兰•莱文。

I'm an artist and an engineer,

我是个艺术家，也是工程师。

which is, increasingly, a more common kind of hybrid.

也是越来越常见的跨界混血儿。

But I still fall into this weird crack

尽管如此我还是会陷入尴尬的境地，

where people don't seem to understand me.

就是当人们看起来不明白我做的是什么的时候。

And I was looking around and I found this wonderful picture.

于是我就四处找找，并找到了这幅好图。

It's a letter from "Artforum" in 1967

这是《 艺术论坛》杂志 (Artforum) 1967年的一封信。

saying "We can't imagine ever doing a special issue

上面说 “我们无法想像，何时出版专刊

on electronics or computers in art." And they still haven't.

谈电子或电脑艺术。” 他们至今也还没有做到。

And lest you think that you all, as the digerati, are more enlightened,

你也许认为，作为数字精英，你们大家更先知先觉，

I went to the Apple iPhone app store the other day.

有一天我去了苹果 iPhone 的应用程序专营店，

Where's art? I got productivity. I got sports.

艺术在哪儿呢？它有各色产品，有体育方面的等等。

And somehow the idea that one would want to make art for the iPhone,

不知何故，为 iPhone 创做艺术的想法，

which my friends and I are doing now,

当然这也是我和我伙伴们在做的东西，

is still not reflected in our understanding

依然没有得到充分的理解和认知，

of what computers are for.

尤其是对于电脑的用处上。

So, from both directions, there is kind of, I think, a lack of understanding

所以从认知的双方向看，我以为还是存在一些缺失的，

about what it could mean to be an artist who uses the materials

那就是，作为一个使用他自己时代工具的艺术家

of his own day, or her own day,

到底意味着什么。

which I think artists are obliged to do,

我以为艺术家的一个使命就是，

is to really explore the expressive potential of the new tools that we have.

不断拓展我们时代新工具的表达潜能。

In my own case, I'm an artist,

以我自己为例呢，我是一个艺术家，

and I'm really interested in

我也对以下两件事很感兴趣

expanding the vocabulary of human action,

一是拓展人类行为的表达方式，

and basically empowering people through interactivity.

还有就是通过互动的形式来赋予人们更多的体验。

I want people to discover themselves as actors,

我希望人们用演员的方式来发现自己，

as creative actors, by having interactive experiences.

像富有创意的演员那样，通过互动的体验。

A lot of my work is about trying to get away from this.

我的很多工作都是为了避免以下这种情况，

This a photograph of the desktop of a student of mine.

这是我一个学生的桌面照片，

And when I say desktop, I don't just mean

我说的这个桌面呢，不仅仅是指

the actual desk where his mouse has worn away the surface of the desk.

这个被鼠标磨没了表面的实体桌面，

If you look carefully, you can even see

如果你仔细看，你会发现

a hint of the Apple menu, up here in the upper left,

一点苹果菜单的蛛丝马迹，就在这上边左边一点的地方，

where the virtual world has literally

虚拟世界就是这么实实在在的

punched through to the physical.

穿越了来到了现实世界啊。

So this is, as Joy Mountford once said,

所以就像 Joy Mountford (原雅虎用户体验设计副总裁) 说的，

"The mouse is probably the narrowest straw

“鼠标可能是世上最细的吸管，

you could try to suck all of human expression through."

用它你可以吮吸到所有人类世界的表达。"

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And the thing I'm really trying to do is enabling people to have more rich

我正在尝试去做的, 也正是使人们可以拥有更丰富

kinds of interactive experiences.

更多样的互动体验。

How can we get away from the mouse and use our full bodies

我们怎样才能摆脱鼠标并且使用我们的整个身体

as a way of exploring aesthetic experiences,

来做为探索美学体验的方式呢

not necessarily utilitarian ones.

这并不需要是实用主义的。

So I write software. And that's how I do it.

所以我写软件。这就是我实现它的方式。

And a lot of my experiences

我的很多试验

resemble mirrors in some way.

都是在不同程度的模拟镜子。

Because this is, in some sense, the first way,

因为从某种程度来说，镜子是人们

that people discover their own potential as actors,

以演员的方式发现自我的第一次经历，

and discover their own agency.

当然也发现了自己的媒介。

By saying "Who is that person in the mirror? Oh it's actually me."

也就是当时那一句 “镜子中的人是谁？哦那是我自己啊。”

And so, to give an example,

所以这里有一个例子，

this is a project from last year,

这是我去年的一个作品。

which is called the Interstitial Fragment Processor.

它叫做 “间隙碎片处理器”。

And it allows people to explore the negative shapes that they create

它使人们可以发现他们

when they're just going about their everyday business.

做日常动作时候被忽略的阴性图形。

So as people make shapes with their hands or their heads

这样人们可以用他们的手和头创作图形，

and so forth, or with each other,

也可以更进一步的，和别人一起完成。

these shapes literally produce sounds and drop out of thin air --

这些图形还会发声，并且从轻薄的空气中坠落。

basically taking what's often this, kind of, unseen space,

基本上就是把这些不被看到的

or this undetected space, and making it something real,

被忽视的空间，变成真实的存在，

that people then can appreciate and become creative with.

这样人们就可以欣赏，也可以发挥创意。

So again, people discover their creative agency in this way.

人们以这种方式, 发现了自己充满创意的媒介。

And their own personalities come out

与此同时他们自己的个性也呈现了出来

in totally unique ways.

以这种别致的方式。

So in addition to using full-body input,

除了以整个身体做为输入之外呢，

something that I've explored now, for a while,

我还创作了这个

has been the use of the voice,

以声音为媒介的作品。

which is an immensely expressive system for us, vocalizing.

它是一个强大的表达系统，即发声系统。

Song is one of our oldest ways

歌唱是我们最古老的

of making ourselves heard and understood.

让我们被听到被理解的方式。

And I came across this fantastic research by Wolfgang Köhler,

我有幸知道了苛勒 (Wolfgang Kohler) 做过的这个神奇研究，

the so-called father of gestalt psychology, from 1927,

就是被称为完形心理学之父的苛勒，1927年，

who submitted to an audience like yourselves

他向他的观众，就像在座各位这样的观众，

the following two shapes.

展示了以下两个图形。

And he said one of them is called Maluma.

然后他说其中的一个叫做吗魯吗，

And one of them is called Taketa. Which is which?

另一个叫做嗒咔嗒。哪个是哪个？

Anyone want to hazard a guess?

有没有人想猜一下的？

Maluma is on top. Yeah. So.

吗魯吗是上边的那个。是的，就像你猜的那样。

As he says here, most people answer without any hesitation.

据他所说，绝大多数人会毫不犹豫的回答出来。

So what we're really seeing here is a phenomenon

所以我们现在看到的就是一个现象，

called phonaesthesia,

叫做 “声觉” (声音的通感现象)。

which is a kind of synesthesia that all of you have.

它是我们每个人都有的一种通感。

And so, whereas Dr. Oliver Sacks has talked about

就像奥利弗•萨克斯 (Oliver Sacks, 英国脑神经学家) 曾说的，

how perhaps one person in a million

大概一百万人中的一个

actually has true synesthesia,

是真的拥有通感的，

where they hear colors or taste shapes, and things like this,

也就是他们可以听到颜色或者品尝到形状，诸如此类。

phonaesthesia is something we can all experience to some extent.

声觉是我们都可以一定程度上体验到的。

It's about mappings between different perceptual domains,

它是指联通不同感知领域的对应。

like hardness, sharpness, brightness and darkness,

就好像坚固，锋利，明亮和黑暗，

and the phonemes that we're able to speak with.

以及我们用以发声的音素。

So 70 years on, there's been some research where

于是70年来，通过一些研究，

cognitive psychologists have actually sussed out

认知心理学家们已经弄清楚了

the extent to which, you know,

这个现象，如你所知的，

L, M and B are more associated with shapes that look like this,

L, M, B 与这种形状的图形更贴近，

and P, T and K are perhaps more associated with shapes like this.

而 P, T, K 则更贴近这个形状。

And here we suddenly begin to have a mapping between curvature

所以如此，我们突然就开始描绘这个

that we can exploit numerically,

我們可以通过数学计算曲率，

a relative mapping between curvature and shape.

找出曲率和形状的对应关系。

So it occurred to me, what happens if we could run these backwards?

我就想，如果我们反过来操作又会怎样呢？

And thus was born the project called Remark,

于是就诞生了这个叫做 “重塑" (Remark) 的作品。

which is a collaboration with Zachary Lieberman

它是与札却立·里伯曼 (Zachary Lieberman)

and the Ars Electronica Futurelab.

以及 Ars Electronica 未来实验室共同完成的。

And this is an interactive installation which presents

这是一个互动的装置艺术，它呈现了

the fiction that speech casts visible shadows.

说话本身演出可视影子的虚幻场景。

So the idea is you step into a kind of a magic light.

大体上说, 就是你走进这种魔术一样的光晕中，

And as you do, you see the shadows of your own speech.

同时你便看到你自己说的话变成影子，

And they sort of fly away, out of your head.

这些影子似乎飞散了，从你脑袋中飞走了。

If a computer speech recognition system

如果电脑的语音识别系统

is able to recognize what you're saying, then it spells it out.

识别出了你说的话，它就把它拼写出来，

And if it isn't then it produces a shape which is very phonaesthetically

而相反的, 它将创造一个图形，一个声觉意义上

tightly coupled to the sounds you made.

极其贴近你发声的一个图形。

So let's bring up a video of that.

我们一起来看一下这个视频。

(Applause)

（掌声）

Thanks. So. And this project here,

谢谢。下面还有一个作品，

I was working with the great abstract vocalist, Jaap Blonk.

与我一起工作的是著名的声音实验诗人雅普·布朗克 (Jaap Blonk)

And he is a world expert in performing "The Ursonate,"

他是世界有名的 “声音诗歌" (Ursonate) 专家，

which is a half-an-hour nonsense poem

这是一首半小时的无意义诗歌

by Kurt Schwitters, written in the 1920s,

由柯特·舒维特 (Kurt Schwitters) 创作于1920年代。

which is half an hour of very highly patterned nonsense.

这首诗是长达半小时的高度程式化的无意义。

And it's almost impossible to perform.

同时也非常难于表演。

But Jaap is one of the world experts in performing it.

幸运的是雅普就是可以表演它的全球专家之一。

And in this project we've developed

在这个作品里我们创建了

a form of intelligent real-time subtitles.

一种智能的实时字幕形式。

So these are our live subtitles,

这些就是我们的实时现场字幕，

that are being produced by a computer that knows the text of "The Ursonate" --

它的制作是依靠一台电脑，电脑知道 “声音诗歌” 的文本，

fortunately Jaap does too, very well --

幸好雅普也知道，不容易啊。

and it is delivering that text at the same time as Jaap is.

电脑在雅普表演的同时传输文本。

So all the text you're going to see

所以所有你将要看到的文本字幕

is real-time generated by the computer,

都是由一台电脑实时产生的，

visualizing what he's doing with his voice.

它把雅普的声音转换为可视的了。

Here you can see the set-up where there is a screen with the subtitles behind him.

你可以看到这设置着一个背后有字幕的屏幕。

Okay. So ...

好了。那么…

(Applause)

（掌声）

The full videos are online if you are interested.

完整版视频在网上，如果你感兴趣的话。

I got a split reaction to that during the live performance,

在现场表演这个作品时我得到了不尽相同的反应。

because there is some people who understand

因为有些人明白

live subtitles are a kind of an oxymoron,

实时字幕在某种程度上是自相矛盾的。

because usually there is someone making them afterwards.

因为字幕通常是有专人事后制作的。

And then a bunch of people who were like, "What's the big deal?

可还是有一些人会说 “有什么大不了的？

I see subtitles all the time on television."

我在电视上总是看到字幕啊。”

You know? They don't imagine the person in the booth, typing it all.

你懂我意思么？他们根本不去想还会有个人躲在格子间里拼命打字。

So in addition to the full body, and in addition to the voice,

除了以上两种用身体和人声做艺术的形式之外，

another thing that I've been really interested in,

还有一件我非常感兴趣的事，

most recently, is the use of the eyes,

尤其是最近这段时间，我喜欢用眼睛，

or the gaze, in terms of how people relate to each other.

或者说注视，这种人们用以相互联系的奇妙形式。

It's a really profound amount of nonverbal information

事实是相当数量含义隽永的不可视信息

that's communicated with the eyes.

都是通过眼睛来交流的。

And it's one of the most interesting technical challenges

这是一项非常有趣的技术挑战，

that's very currently active in the computer sciences:

在当今的电脑科学领域也相当活跃。

being able to have a camera that can understand,

新的科技之下诞生了这样一种摄像头，它可以

from a fairly big distance away,

即使从很远的距离也可以，

how these little tiny balls are actually pointing in one way or another

辨明我们这两个小小的眼球是如何一会看向这边一会看向那边

to reveal what you're interested in,

就反映出了你的兴致所在，

and where your attention is directed.

以及你注意力又在哪里。

So there is a lot of emotional communication that happens there.

这中间很多感情层面的交流也随之发生了。

And so I've been beginning, with a variety of different projects,

于是我便着手于一系列的作品，

to understand how people can relate to machines with their eyes.

它们都是探讨人类是如何通过自己的眼睛与机器交流的。

And basically to ask the questions:

作品的概念基本上是提出这样的问题，

What if art was aware that we were looking at it?

如果艺术品本身可以意识到我们在看它，又会怎样？

How could it respond, in a way,

它会如何回应，或者说，

to acknowledge or subvert the fact that we're looking at it?

它会怎样认知或者颠覆我们观赏者的注视这一事实？

And what could it do if it could look back at us?

如果它可以也朝我们看回来，与我们对视，又会怎样？

And so those are the questions that are happening in the next projects.

这些问题基本上就是以下几个作品所要探讨的。

In the first one which I'm going to show you, called Eyecode,

第一个我将要展示给大家的，叫做 “眼睛密码" (Eyecode)，

it's a piece of interactive software

它是一个人机互动的软件，

in which, if we read this little circle,

它所能做的，就像这圈话说的，

"the trace left by the looking of the previous observer

前一个观察者注视留下的印记

looks at the trace left by the looking of previous observer."

正在注视前一个观察者注视留下的印记。

The idea is that it's an image wholly constructed

简单来说它是一个完全由

from its own history of being viewed

它被装置中的不同观众观看

by different people in an installation.

的自身历史所建构的影像。

So let me just switch over so we can do the live demo.

下面让我切换过去，现场的做一个小样测试。

So let's run this and see if it works.

我们一起来试试看。

Okay. Ah, there is lots of nice bright video.

好了。嗯，这有很多不错的视频。

There is just a little test screen that shows that it's working.

这只是一个测试页，试看看它工作的怎么样。

And what I'm just going to do is -- I'm going to hide that.

我接下来要把它收起来，

And you can see here that what it's doing

这样你们就可以看到它的工作了

is it's recording my eyes every time I blink.

它在我每次眨眼的时候都会收录我的眼睛。

Hello? And I can ... hello ... okay.

你好？我想我 … 你好 … 好了。

And no matter where I am, what's really going on here

不管我在哪儿，它真正在做的

is that it's an eye-tracking system that tries to locate my eyes.

就是通过一个眼球跟踪系统来定位我的眼睛。

And if I get really far away I'm blurry.

如果我很远呢, 我就变得很模糊。

You know, you're going to have these kind of blurry spots like this

你知道, 你将得到的就是这种模糊的小点点，

that maybe only resemble eyes in a very very abstract way.

超级抽象的来看, 还是类似眼睛的。

But if I come up really close and stare directly at the camera

但是当我凑近电脑上的摄像头并且直视它时

on this laptop then you'll see these nice crisp eyes.

你将看到这样又好看又清晰的眼睛。

You can think of it as a way of, sort of, typing, with your eyes.

你可以这么认为，就好像你在用你的眼睛打字输入一样。

And what you're typing are recordings of your eyes

只是你输入的是你看别人眼睛时

as you're looking at other peoples' eyes.

你自己眼睛留下的记录。

So each person is looking at the looking

所以每个人看到的就是

of everyone else before them.

在他之前的所有人的观看。

And this exists in larger installations

事实上, 这个作品设置在更大型的装置中，

where there are thousands and thousands of eyes

那里有成千上万的眼睛

that people could be staring at,

可供人们观看

as you see who's looking at the people looking

这样你就可以看到之前在看的人在看

at the people looking before them.

之前在看的人在看。

So I'll just add a couple more. Blink. Blink.

我要在增加一些眼睛。眨眼。眨眼。

And you can see, just once again, how it's sort of finding my eyes

你可以看到，它又一次的找到了我的眼睛

and doing its best to estimate when it's blinking.

并且尽可能的通过眨眼来评估。

Alright. Let's leave that.

好了。就这样吧。

So that's this kind of recursive observation system.

总之, 这就是一个无穷递进的观察系统。

(Applause)

（掌声）

Thank you.

谢谢。

The last couple pieces I'm going to show

最后我将要展示的这一系列作品

are basically in the new realm of robotics -- for me, new for me.

在机器人技术领域基本上也都是新的，至少对我来说是新的。

It's called Opto-Isolator.

它叫做 “光绝缘体" (Opto-lsolator)。

And I'm going to show a video of the older version of it,

我将展示的是这个作品之前一个老版本的视频。

which is just a minute long. Okay.

视频只有一分钟。

In this case, the Opto-Isolator is blinking

在这个作品中，光绝缘体的形式是

in response to one's own blinks.

在有人眨眼的时候也给一个眨眼的动作。

So it blinks one second after you do.

它是在你眨眼一秒钟之后眨眼的。

This is a device which is intended to reduce

这个装置的用意是

the phenomenon of gaze down to the simplest possible materials.

用最简单的材料呈現注视的现象。

Just one eye,

仅仅是一个眼睛，

looking at you, and eliminating everything else about a face,

这么看着你，去掉脸上其他的东西。

but just to consider gaze in an isolated way

让我们以一种独立的方式来思考注视，

as a kind of, as an element.

好像它是，一个元素。

And at the same time, it attempts to engage in what you might call

与此同时，它在试图探讨也许你更习惯称作

familiar psycho-social gaze behaviors.

社会心理学的注视行为。

Like looking away if you look at it too long

例如当你注视良久便忍不住看向别处

because it gets shy,

因为会变得害羞。

or things like that.

或诸如此类。

Okay. So the last project I'm going to show

那么，最后一个我将展示的

is this new one called Snout.

是一个叫做 “长鼻子" (Snout) 的新作品。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

It's an eight-foot snout,

它是一个八呎长的长鼻子，

with a googly eye.

上面还有一只惊愕的大眼睛。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And inside it's got an 800-pound robot arm

其实它里边有一个800磅重的机器人手臂，

that I borrowed,

我借来的，

(Laughter)

（笑声）

from a friend.

从一个朋友那儿借的。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

It helps to have good friends.

有几个好朋友多幸福。

I'm at Carnegie Mellon; we've got a great Robotics Institute there.

这是在卡内基梅隆大学。我们在那有一个很棒的机器人研究中心。

I'd like to show you thing called Snout, which is --

我将为大家展示这个叫做长鼻子的作品。

The idea behind this project is to

这个作品的意思是

make a robot that appears as if it's continually surprised to see you.

制造一个一看到你就持续表现惊奇的机器人。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

The idea is that basically --

这个基本上是说

if it's constantly like "Huh? ... Huh?"

它持续表现的像在说“啊？… 啊？”

That's why its other name is Doubletaker, Taker of Doubles.

所以它还有一个名字叫做万事成双，做什么都要两次。

It's always kind of doing a double take: "What?"

它总是好像在连续惊愕两次的说 “怎么会?”

And the idea is basically, can it look at you

大意就是说，它能不能就是看着你

and make you feel as if like,

然后让你觉得

"What? Is it my shoes?"

“怎么了? 是我鞋子出了问题么?”

"Got something on my hair?" Here we go. Alright.

“还是我头发沾上什么东西了?” 嗯，就是这个。

Checking him out ...

我们一起来看一下。

For you nerds, here's a little behind-the-scenes.

对科技狂热者，这有一些幕后揭秘。

It's got a computer vision system,

它有一个电脑的视觉系统。

and it tries to look at the people who are moving around the most.

并且它在尽可能的朝那个活动最多的人盯着看。

Those are its targets.

那几个就是它的目标。

Up there is the skeleton,

那上边就是骨骼。

which is actually what it's trying to do.

这就是它在试图去做的。

It's really about trying to create a novel body language for a new creature.

这个作品是在试图为一个新生物来创造一种戏剧化的身体语言。

Hollywood does this all the time, of course.

当然，好莱坞经常这么干。

But also have the body language communicate something

更主要的是这种身体语言可以真正的

to the person who is looking at it.

与那个看它的人沟通交流。

This language is communicating that it is surprised to see you,

这种身体语言传递的信息就是，它看到你很惊奇，

and it's interested in looking at you.

同时它对观察你也很有兴趣。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

(Applause)

（掌声）

Thank you very much. That's all I've got for today.

非常感谢大家。这些就是我今天展示的全部内容。

And I'm really happy to be here. Thank you so much.

很高兴今天可以来到这里。谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）