The Mind-Bending Art of Deep Time | Katie Paterson | TED

翻译人员: Yip Yan Yeung 校对人员: Helen Chang

Have you ever bathed under a light that creates the glow of a full moon,

你有没有沐浴过满月之光，

sculpted beaches into miniature mountains

把沙滩雕成小山，

or breathed in the aroma of Earth’s first trees?

或者享受地球古木的芬芳？

These are some of the artworks I’ve made to come to an understanding of deep time.

这些是我试着理解“深时”时 创造的一些艺术作品。

But what is deep time,

但是“深时”是什么，

and why does it matter to us all?

和我们又有什么关系？

The term describes the history of the Earth

这个词语描述了地球

over a time span of millions of years.

历经几百万年以来的历史。

My first encounter with deep time came after I’d finished my studies,

我第一次听说深时是在毕业后，

had no job

待业，

and didn’t know what to do.

也不知道做些什么。

So I took off to work as a chambermaid in the remote north of Iceland.

我就出发去遥远的 北冰岛做服务员。

I was tilted on my axis

我偏离了我人生的轨道，

and began a series of explorations

开始了一系列探索，

to try to figure out how to tell the story of deep time.

试图搞明白如何讲述“深时”。

This has been the quest of my work,

这是我作品的追求，

and it’s taken me through the cosmos,

它带我穿越宇宙，

the geological strata of the Earth,

穿越底层，

to encounters with the earliest forms of life.

去寻找生命的初始形态。

In Iceland I realized that we live on a planet.

在冰岛，我意识到我们 生活在一个星球上。

By opening my eyes to the primordial landscape,

我睁开双眼看到原始景观时，

I started to understand we’re not born out of nothing.

我开始理解 我们不是“无中生有”。

The sea, the sky, the Earth, the air:

大海、天空、土壤、空气——

we’re made of the same stuff,

我们由同样的物质组成，

we coexist.

我们共存。

In just my lifetime,

就在我的人生这短短几年中，

we humans have become a geological force.

我们人类成为了一种 改变地质的力量。

We’ve caused glaciers around the world to melt entirely.

我们让全球的冰川完全融化。

I wanted to bring these distant landscapes closer to our lives in a visceral way.

我发自肺腑地想让这些遥远的 自然地形靠近我们的生活。

So of course, I set up a phone line.

所以当然了， 我开通了一个热线电话。

People everywhere could dial a number

世界各地的人们 可以拨打这个电话，

and listen live to the sound of a glacier melting.

直播聆听冰川融化的声音。

(Ice cracks)

（冰碎裂的声音）

It was an elegy to disappearing landscape.

这是景观消逝的挽歌。

(Glacier melts)

（冰川融化的声音）

Can we connect to deep time via sensory experience?

我们可以把感官体验 和深时联结起来吗？

This artwork, called “Totality,”

这件艺术品叫做 《全食》（Totality），

brings together nearly every solar eclipse documented by humankind

通过镜球记录了 人类记载的几乎所有日食。

in a mirror ball.

Over 10,000 images reflect the progression of a solar eclipse.

用超过一万张图片 反映了日食的进程。

Their light surrounds us,

它们的光芒包围着我们，

and we can feel mesmerized.

我们会感到被催眠。

This led me to wonder:

这让我思考：

What is the color of deep time?

深时是什么颜色的？

I mapped the colors of the entire universe,

我为整个宇宙匹配了颜色，

from its very beginnings to its potential ends,

从它的初始到可能的终结，

discovering the pale blue hues of the first stars

从第一颗恒星的淡蓝色

to the dark maroons of the last light.

到最后一束光的黑月灰色。

Every single atom in our bodies was formed in a star billions of years ago.

我们体内的每一个原子 都来自于几十亿年前的恒星。

The remnants of stars make up all of us.

恒星的残余组成了我们所有人。

My vision was to gather every dying star across the universe

我的梦想是收集宇宙中 每一个濒临死亡的恒星，

and make a map.

制成一张地图。

The result:

结果是：

over 27,000 supernova,

超过 27000 个超新星、

stellar black holes

恒星级黑洞、

and gamma-ray bursts shimmer as pinpoints of aluminum.

伽玛射线暴，以铝制针尖 标注，发出微弱的光芒。

What you see is a graveyard of stars,

你看到的是恒星墓地，

yet it alludes to life.

但是它映射了生命。

The journey we humans have been on to arrive right here

我们人类踏上的旅途

is nothing short of a miracle.

可以被称为“奇迹”。

“Fossil Necklace” is a string of worlds made of the material of life itself.

《化石项链》由一串不同世界 生命的材料组成。

Each bead is carved from ancient fossils

每一粒珠子都 由远古化石刻制而来，

and strung geological epoch by epoch.

一个时代接一个时代地锤炼地质。

The beads chart major moments in Earth’s history.

珠子记录了地球历史的重大时刻。

The first single-celled life,

第一个单细胞生命，

the first flowers,

第一朵花，

the first creatures to see

第一个有视力的生物，

and to fly.

第一个能飞的生物。

“Fossil Necklace” speaks to our long continuum.

《化石项链》见证了 我们源远流长的历史。

Every day we walk past trees,

每当我们路过树的时候，

but do we stop to think that they are our cousins?

我们会停下来想一想 它们是我们的表亲吗？

We share so many of our genes with trees,

我们和树共享了那么多基因，

and forests give us our breath.

森林给予了我们呼吸的空气。

I wanted to honor them

我尊敬它们，

by creating a sculpture made of every tree type on Earth.

我想制作一个由地球上 每一种树制成的雕塑。

This is “Hollow.”

这就是 《空洞》（Hollow）。

Designed with architects Zeller & Moye,

我与建筑师泽勒和莫伊

（Zeller & Moye） 合作设计，

it brings together over 10,000 tree species

它包含了几百万年间的 超过一万种树种。

spanning millions of years.

We were donated wood samples from almost every country:

我们几乎从每个国家 都收到了捐赠的木材样本：

the Indian Banyan,

印度榕树、

the White Mulberry,

白桑、

the Dawn Redwood

水杉、

and twigs from sacred forests around us.

和来自我们身边神圣森林的细枝。

Looking upwards into the light,

抬头看着光，

we see the most threatened tree species of now.

我们可以看到 现在最受威胁的树种。

More recently in my practice,

我最近工作时，

I’ve come to believe that looking forward is just as important as looking back.

我发现向前看和向后看一样重要。

How do we speak to unborn people?

我们该如何与未出生的人交流？

How do we build a bridge across time?

我们如何建造跨越时间的桥梁？

I thought the world's literary voices may be the best at doing that job,

我认为世界上的文学作品 已经做得很棒，

so I proposed a library of the future:

所以我想提议 做一个“未来图书馆”：

a forest,

一座森林、

a room,

一间屋子、

100 authors and 100 years.

100 个作家， 100 年。

It started in 2014.

始于 2014 年。

On the outskirts of Oslo,

在奥斯陆郊区，

we planted a thousand baby Spruce trees.

我们种下了一千株云杉幼苗。

When they’re fully grown,

它们长成之时，

they’re going to be cut and made into paper.

会被砍倒、制成纸张。

Every year for 100 years

100 年间的每一年，

a different author is invited to write something new.

会邀请一个不同的作家 来写下一些新的东西。

Their words will become an anthology of books

他们的文字会成为书集，

printed on paper made from these trees,

印刷在这些树制成的纸张上，

only to be read in the year 2114.

只有在 2114 年 才能被阅读。

The core of Future Library is time and longevity,

未来图书馆的核心是时间和长寿，

but also hope and rituals.

还有希望和仪式。

Every spring, we take a pilgrimage to the forest.

每年春天，我们向这片森林朝圣。

Authors hand over their manuscript and announce its title.

作家交出他们的手稿，宣布标题。

Their text will be stored here in Oslo’s new library.

他们的文字会被储存在 这座奥斯陆的新图书馆内。

You take off your shoes,

你脱掉鞋子，

you step inside.

走进去。

Each glass drawer holds a manuscript.

每一个玻璃抽屉里 都放着一份手稿。

100 years is not vast in cosmic terms.

100 年对于整个宇宙 来说不算很长。

Yet if my young son lives to read the books,

但是如果我的小儿子 能活着看到这些书，

his world is likely to have changed beyond recognition.

他的世界很可能已经 发生了天翻地覆的变化。

Will human beings survive to read the books?

人类会活着看到这些书吗？

Future Library is a century-long prayer.

未来图书馆是长达一世纪的祈祷。

Future generations may be invisible to our eyes,

我们也许看不到未来的人们，

but we are connected through our actions.

但是我们通过行动联结在了一起。

I wanted to see to future readers,

我想对未来的读者说：

“I see you.”

“我看见你了。”

“We see you.”

“我们看见你了。”

Why does connecting to deep time matter to us all?

与深时联结和我们有什么关系？

Shortsightedness may be the greatest threat to humanity.

短视也许是人类的最大威胁。

To be human is to understand that we’re part of a long continuum.

作为人类，我们要明白 我们是历史长河中的一部分。

Let’s embrace our cosmic context,

让我们拥抱宇宙的古今，

respect our origins

尊重我们的起源，

and hold our future close.

紧握未来。

Thank you.

谢谢。