Tom Shannon's gravity-defying sculpture

翻译人员: Xu Jiang 校对人员: Amy Zerotus

This is a sculpture I made,

这是我做的一个雕塑，

which is a way of, kind of, freeing a form

算是将一个具有不同程度自由的物体

into an object that has different degrees of freedom.

从一种形态解放的一种方式吧。

So, it can balance on a point.

这样在某种程度上就达成一种平衡。

This is a bronze ball,

这个铜球，

an aluminum arm here,

铝制手臂，

and then this wooden disk.

还有这个木制盘子。

And the wooden disk was really thought about

这个木盘子是为了

as something that you'd want to hold on to,

你可以抓住什么而设计的，

and that would glide easily through your hands.

这样你可以容易地转动它。

The aluminum is because it's very light.

用铝是因为它很轻。

The bronze is nice hard, durable material

铜是因为它轻重适宜，

that could roll on the ground.

而且可以在地上持续滚动。

Inside of the bronze ball

铜球的内部

there's a lead weight

有个铅块，

that is free-swinging on an axle

绕着一个轴心作自由摆动，

that's on two bearings

轴心就在两个轴承

that pass in between, across it,

之间移动，

like this, that counterbalance this weight.

像这个样子，就抵消了这个重量。

So it allows it to roll.

这样球就可以滚动。

And the sphere has that balance property

这样球就保持平衡，

that it always sort of stays still

从各种角度看都一样都好像，

and looks the same from every direction.

总是保持不动。

But if you put something on top of it,

但当你在顶部放个东西，

it disbalances it. And so it would tip over.

就打破了这种平衡。它就会翻过来。

But in this case because

这时，因为

the interior is free-swinging

它的内部是

in relation to the sphere,

可以自由摆动的，

it can stand up on one point.

它也可以站稳。

And then there was a second level to this object,

这个模型的第二个层面

which is that it --

是-

I wanted it to convey some proportions that I was interested in,

我改了个比例，

which is the diameter of the Moon

我把月亮的直径

and the diameter of the Earth

和地球的直径的比例

in proportion to each other.

运用到了其中。

I was exploring, really early on,

早期我探究的是，

wanting to make things float in the air.

让物体浮在空中。

And I thought up a lot of ideas.

我想出了很多点子。

This is sculpture that I made that --

这是我做的一个模型-

it's magnetically levitated.

磁悬浮的。

The thing is, is that it's slightly dangerous.

这个东西，有点点危险。

Normally it's sort of cordoned off when it's in a museum.

一般情况下，在博物馆里都是放在封闭的展柜中。

But it's uh -- let's see if I can manipulate it a little bit

但是，唔-我们来看看我能否来操纵它，

without, um -- oops.

就一点点-哦-

So this is just floating,

只是悬浮着，

floating on a permanent magnetic field,

悬浮在永久磁场中，

which stabilizes it in all directions.

在任何方向都是稳定的。

Except there is a slight tether here,

除了这里的一小点约束，

which keeps it from going over the top of its field.

保证它不会偏离磁场。

It's sort of surfing on a magnetic field

这就好像在

at the crest of a wave.

磁场上冲浪。

And that's what supports the object and keeps it stable.

支持着物体保持稳定。

I think we could roll the tape, admin.

管理人员，我想我们可以播放录像了。

I have a sort of a collection of videos

我这里有几个不同的模型的录像，

that I took of different installations, which I could narrate.

我可以给大家讲解。

This is a sculpture of the Sun

这个是太阳

and the Earth, in proportion.

和地球的模型，按照真实比例做的。

Representing that eight and a half minutes

光和重力把他们连接起来

that it takes light and gravity to connect the two.

要八分半钟的时间。

So here is the Earth. It's a little less than a millimeter

这个是地球。比一毫米少一点点，

that was turned of solid bronze.

是铜制的。

And here is a similar sculpture.

这是个类似的 雕塑。

That's the Sun at that end.

末端是太阳。

And then in a series of 55 balls,

然后是一系列的55个球，

it reduces, proportionately -- each ball

每个球都按一定比例缩小，

and the spaces between them

每个球和其之间的距离也

reduce proportionately,

按比例缩小，

until they get down to this little Earth.

直到最后这个最小的球。

This is in a sculpture park in Taejon.

这在韩国大田的一座雕塑公园中展出。

This one is about the Moon

这个是月亮的模型。

and then the distance to the Earth, in proportion also.

也是按比例，是到地球的距离。

This is a little stone ball, floating.

这是个小石球，悬浮着。

As you can see the little tether,

你可以看见这个小锁链，

that it's also magnetically levitated.

也是磁悬浮的。

And then this is the first part of --

这个是第一部分-

this is 109 spheres,

109个圆球，

since the Sun is 109 times the diameter of the Earth.

因为太阳比地球大109倍。

And so this is the size of the Sun.

这是太阳的大小。

And then each of these little spheres

剩下的每一个球

is the size of the Earth in proportion to the Sun.

都是同太阳的大小成比例的地球。

It's made up of 16 concentric shells. Each one has 92 spheres.

这由16个同心壳组成。 每个有92个球。

This is in the courtyard of a twelfth-century alchemist.

这是在一个12世纪的炼金术士的庭院。

I was thinking that the Sun is kind of the ultimate alchemist. (Laughter)

我觉得太阳好似个终极炼金术士。

So this, again, is on the subject --

好，回到这个话题上来-

a slice from the equator of the Earth.

这个代表地球的赤道。

And then the Moon in the center,

月亮在中心。

and it's floating. And this is in France.

悬浮着。这是在法国。

This is in Sapporo.

这时在日本的札幌。

It's balancing on a shaft and a ball,

这在一根箭杆和一个圆球上保持着平衡，

right at the center of gravity, or just slightly above the center of gravity,

就在重心处，或者说，重心上方一点点，

which means that the lower half of the object

这意味着

is just a little bit more weighty.

物体下半部比上半部重一点点。

So you can see it rotating here.

你看，就在这里旋转。

It weighs about a ton or over a ton.

它大概重一吨，或者比一吨多点。

It's made of stainless steel, quite thick.

它是不锈钢做的，很沉。

But it's being balanced like that in equilibrium.

但是它很平衡。

It's susceptible to motion by the air currents.

它会随着气流而运动。

This is another species of work that I do.

这是我做的另一组件。

These are these arrays. These spheres are all suspended,

这些是箭头。这些箭头都是悬挂着的。

but they have magnets horizontally in them

它们都具有水平的磁性，

that make them all like compasses.

这样它们就像指南针一样。

So all the red sides, for example, face one direction: south.

所有的红色端，比如，都指向一个方向：南极。

And the blue side, the compliment, faces the other way.

所有的蓝色方向，相反地，指向另一个方向。

So as you turn around you're seeing different colors.

你四周转转，会看到不同的颜色。

This is based on the structure of a diamond.

这个是建立在钻石结构的基础上。

It was a diamond cell structure

钻石晶体结构的

was the point of departure.

出发点。

And then there were kind of large spaces in the hollows

在原子之间的空隙，

between the atoms.

存在很大的空间。

And so I placed one more element of each one of them.

所以我在它们之间多放了一个元素。

These were white spheres.

这些白色的圆球。

Then I had video projectors

然后我用视频投影机

that were projecting intermittently onto the spheres.

间歇性地投影到圆球上。

So they would catch parts of the images,

这样就有了部分图像，

and make sort of three-dimensional color volumes,

也就形成了看似立体的彩色圆柱，

as you walk through it, through the object.

就像你穿过这个物体的时候。

This is something I did

这是我

of a tactile communication system.

为触感通信系统所做的。

It was the idea of isolating the tactile component of sculpture,

为的分离出模型的触感组分，

and then putting it into a communication system.

然后将其运用到通信系统中。

This is an idea of moving a sculpture, a ball,

这是想通过计算机

that would be directed around the room

指令移动房间内的

by a computer.

雕塑，球体。

This is a clock I designed.

这是我设计的时钟。

It has Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion Map edited here.

用巴克敏斯特•富勒的多面体图做背景。

It turns once per day in synchrony with the Earth.

每天转动一次，与地球同步。

And then, this is like

这是个

projects that are harder to build.

很难制作的工程。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

This has a diamond-bottomed lake.

这是个有着钻石为底的湖。

So it's a floating island

上面悬浮着一个岛，

with water, fresh water,

有水，流动的水，

that can fly from place to place.

可以从一个地方飞到另一个地方。

This would be grown, I suppose,

它还能长大，我猜想，

with nanotechnology in the future sometime.

等将来什么时候有了纳米技术。

In the course of doing my work

工作让我拥有

I sort of have a broad range of interests.

广泛的兴趣。

And some of it is just the idea of creating media --

其中一些仅仅是创造媒介的想法—

media as a sculpture,

作为雕塑的媒介，

something that would keep the sculpture

只需要改变组成雕塑的媒介，

fresh and ever-changing,

就可以改变雕塑本身

by just creating the media that the sculpture is made of.

使之鲜活，千变万化。

And I had a lot of --

我对于-

always interested in the concept of a crystal ball.

水晶球的想法特别感兴趣。

And the idea that you could see things

你能通过观察水晶球的内部

inside of a crystal ball and predict the future --

来预测未来-

or a television set, where it's sort of like a magic box

或者是电视机，电视机也算是一个魔盒，

where anything can appear.

任何东西都能够出现。

I had thought about, a long time ago,

我想过，很久以前，

in the late '60s -- when I was just starting out,

在60年代后期，我刚刚起步的时候，

I was under the influence of thinking about Buckminster Fuller's

我受到一些影响，比如思考巴克敏斯特•富勒

grand project for an electric globe

的伟大工程，

across from the United Nations --

一个联合国对面的电子球工程—

and other things that were happening,

还有其它正在发生的事情，

the space program at that time,

那个时候的空间项目，

and Whole Earth Catalog, things like that.

全球概览，那样的事情。

I was thinking about mass produced spherical television sets

我也想到过批量生产的球形电视机

that could be linked to orbiting camera satellites.

可以同相机卫星轨道相连。

So if we could roll the next film here.

下面看这里，我们的下一个片子

This has evolved over the years

这经过数年的演变，

in a lot of different iterations.

多次不同的叠加。

But this the current version of it,

但是最近的模型是，

is a flying airship

一个大概有35米的直径

that is about 35 meters in diameter,

的飞船，

about 110 feet in diameter.

也就是110英尺直径的飞船。

The whole surface of it is covered with 60 million diodes,

它的整个表面覆盖着6千万个二极管，

red, blue, and green,

红色的，蓝色的，绿色的，

that allow you to have a high-resolution picture, visible in daylight.

让你有高品质的画面，白天也看得见。

I came with a plan.

我有了个计划。

I brought it to Paul MacCready's company AeroVironment

我把它带到了 Paul MacCready的公司 AeroVironment

to do a feasibility study,

做可行性的研究，

and they analyzed it,

他们分析了这个飞船，

and came up with a lot of innovative ideas about how to propel it.

想出了很多如何推进它的创新性点子。

So we have a physical plan of how to make this actually happen.

现在我们有了一个让它变为现实的计划。

This is the control room inside of the ship.

这是飞船内部的控制室。

The idea of this air genie is,

这个点子，

it's something that can just transform and become anything.

就是一些东西能够变形成为其它的东西。

It's like a traveling show.

就像是旅游节目。

It has speakers on it. And it has cameras

它有麦克风。它的表面

over the surface of it.

有摄像头。

So it can see its environment,

所以可以看见它所处的环境，

and then it can mimic its environment and disappear.

然后能够模仿它的环境从而变为消失。

Here the legs are retracting.

它的腿可以回缩。

The cabin is open or closed, as you like.

船舱可以随你喜好开或关。

It weighs about 20 tons.

它大概重20吨。

It has on-board generators.

它有自己的发电机。

It can generate about a million kilowatts,

能够发出大约1百万千瓦的电力，

in order to be bright enough

足够亮得让你

to be visible in daylight.

在白天也能看得见。

The idea of it is to make a kind of a traveling show.

这个点子是 做个好象旅游的节目。

It really would be dedicated to the arts and to interacting.

它真的可以用于艺术和互动。

There would be on board a crew of artists, musicians,

船员可以是艺术家们，音乐家们。

that would allow the thing to become

这样飞船就

actually kind of a conscious object

实际上成为了

that would respond to the moment,

能够回复的有思想的物体，

and to interact as an entity

作为一个整体

that was aware, that could communicate.

互动，交流。

It's completely silent and nonpolluting.

这几乎没有噪音也不污染环境。

It has electric motors with a novel propulsion system.

它具有电驱动新型推进系统。

It could be interacted with large crowds in different ways.

可以用不同的方式同大众交流。

Primarily I would be interested in

我主要的感兴趣的是，

how it would interact with, say,

它如何交流，比如说，

going to a college campus,

大学校区，

and then being used as a way of talking about the earth sciences,

或用于研究地球科学，

the world, the situation of the globe.

世界，全球的情况。

The default image on the object

物体上的默认图片

would probably be a high-resolution Earth image.

大概是高品质的地球图片。

But then one could interact with that

但是它可以通过互动，

and show plate tectonics or global warming issues, or migrations --

显示板块构造或者温室效应，或者迁徙-

all of the things that we're concerned with today.

我们现在关心的所有问题。

And then at night the idea is that

晚上时，

it would be used as kind of a rave situation,

它用来做锐舞派对，

where the people could cut loose,

人们可以放松下来，

and the music and the lights, and everything.

听听音乐，欣赏灯光，很多事情。

So it could land in a park, for example.

比如说，它在一个公园着陆。

Or this could represent a college green.

或者可以代表大学城。

And then it would have a corresponding website

它还有个相应的网站

that would show the itinerary of this.

说明它的行程。

And so interacting with the same kind of imagery.

还有同样类型的图片随之互动。

It would also be able to be an open code,

还能够有开放代码，

so people could interact with it.

这样人们也可以与之交流。

It would be forum for people's ideas about

还可以有个论坛，

what they would like to see on a giant screen of this type.

讨论人们希望在这个巨大的屏幕上看到什么。

So that's pretty much it.

大概就是这么多吧。

Okay. Thank you.

好啦。谢谢大家。

(Applause)

（鼓掌）