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

Translator: Tracy Hui Reviewer: Thomas Tam

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

你有冇試過沉醉喺創造嘅滿月燈光下

sculpted beaches into miniature mountains

喺沙灘度整啲微型嘅山丘

又或者呼吸住地球上 第一棵樹嘅香氣？

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

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

呢啲係我為咗理解深時 而創作出嚟嘅藝術作品

But what is deep time,

咩嘢係深時

and why does it matter to us all?

同埋點解對我哋咁重要？

The term describes the history of the Earth

呢個術語講緊嘅係

over a time span of millions of years.

地球跨越幾百萬年嘅歷史

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

我第一次遇到深時嗰陣 就喺讀完書之後

had no job

冇工返

and didn’t know what to do.

亦唔知道要做啲咩

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

所以我喺冰島偏遠北部酒店 做打掃客房嘅服務員

I was tilted on my axis

我向自己嘅軸心傾鈄

and began a series of explorations

跟住開始連串嘅探索

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

嘗試搞清楚點樣 講述深時嘅故事

This has been the quest of my work,

我一直喺工作 係咁追求

and it’s taken me through the cosmos,

帶我穿越咗宇宙

the geological strata of the Earth,

地球嘅地質層

to encounters with the earliest forms of life.

邂逅初期嘅生命

In Iceland I realized that we live on a planet.

我喺冰島意識到 我哋生活喺一個星球上面

By opening my eyes to the primordial landscape,

透過認清原始嘅風貌

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

開始明白，我哋唔係無中生有

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

大海、天空、地球、空氣：

we’re made of the same stuff,

我哋係嚟自同一樣嘢

we coexist.

我哋係要共存

In just my lifetime,

喺我嘅一生中

we humans have become a geological force.

我哋人類已成為咗一股地質力量

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

令到全世界冰川融化

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

我藉著將遙遠景物拉近生活 打動我哋嘅心

So of course, I set up a phone line.

當然，我設立咗條電話熱線

People everywhere could dial a number

任何人都可以打電話

and listen live to the sound of a glacier melting.

即時聽到冰川融化嘅聲音

(Ice cracks)

（冰塊裂開）

It was an elegy to disappearing landscape.

呢啲聲音係景物消失緊嘅哀號

(Glacier melts)

（冰川融化）

Can we connect to deep time via sensory experience?

我哋可以通過觸感體驗連繫深時呢？

This artwork, called “Totality,”

呢件藝術品係「日全蝕」

brings together nearly every solar eclipse documented by humankind

以鏡球將人類記錄過嘅 所有日蝕擺埋一齊

in a mirror ball.

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

超過 10,000 幅影像 反映出日蝕整個進程

Their light surrounds us,

我哋被佢哋嘅光包圍着

and we can feel mesmerized.

可能被迷倒

This led me to wonder:

令我喺度諗：

What is the color of deep time?

深時嘅顏色係咩呢？

I mapped the colors of the entire universe,

我繪製咗整個宇宙嘅顏色

from its very beginnings to its potential ends,

由一開始到潛在嘅終結

discovering the pale blue hues of the first stars

由第一顆星嘅淺藍色調

to the dark maroons of the last light.

到最後一盞燈嘅黑褐色

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

我哋身體入面嘅每粒原子 喺數十億年前嘅一顆恆星中形成

The remnants of stars make up all of us.

恆星嘅剩餘部份組成咗我哋所有人

My vision was to gather every dying star across the universe

我希望收集哂全宇宙 就快死嘅每顆恆星

and make a map.

用嚟整個地圖

The result:

結果：

over 27,000 supernova,

超過 27,000 顆超新星

stellar black holes

恒星黑洞

and gamma-ray bursts shimmer as pinpoints of aluminum.

同伽馬射線爆發出微弱閃光 如同鋁針尖一樣

What you see is a graveyard of stars,

你所睇到嘅係星辰墳場

yet it alludes to life.

然而呢樣嘢影射著生活

The journey we humans have been on to arrive right here

我哋人類走到嚟呢度

is nothing short of a miracle.

簡直就係奇蹟

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

「化石頸鏈」係從生命嘅原料串連嘅世界

Each bead is carved from ancient fossils

每粒珠都係由古老化石雕刻而成

and strung geological epoch by epoch.

逐粒逐粒將地質時期串起

The beads chart major moments in Earth’s history.

見證地球嘅重要歷史時刻

The first single-celled life,

第一個單細胞生命

the first flowers,

第一朵花

the first creatures to see

第一隻可以睇到同飛嘅生物

and to fly.

“Fossil Necklace” speaks to our long continuum.

「化石頸鏈」代表我哋一直演變緊

我哋每日都會行過啲樹

Every day we walk past trees,

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

但係有冇諗過佢哋係我哋嘅親戚呢？

We share so many of our genes with trees,

我哋同樹有咁多一樣嘅基因

and forests give us our breath.

而樹木為我哋提供氧氣

I wanted to honor them

我想創造一個

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

由地球上每種樹製成嘅雕塑 嚟表揚佢哋

This is “Hollow.”

呢個係「空洞」

Designed with architects Zeller & Moye,

喺由建築師 Zeller 同 Moye 整嘅

it brings together over 10,000 tree species

集合咗 10,000 種 有幾百萬年壽命嘅樹

spanning millions of years.

We were donated wood samples from almost every country:

差唔多每個國家都有 向我哋捐贈木材樣板

the Indian Banyan,

有印度榕樹

the White Mulberry,

白桑葚

the Dawn Redwood

黎明紅木

and twigs from sacred forests around us.

同嚟自周圍神聖森林嘅樹枝

Looking upwards into the light,

望上去睇下啲燈光

we see the most threatened tree species of now.

睇到依家最受威脅嘅樹木品種

More recently in my practice,

喺我最近嘅工作

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

我逐漸認為回顧過去 同期待未來一樣咁重要

How do we speak to unborn people?

我哋點樣同未來嘅世代溝通呢？

How do we build a bridge across time?

又點樣建構穿越時空嘅橋呢？

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

我認為世界文學之聲 可能係最擅長做呢項工作

so I proposed a library of the future:

所以我提出咗未來圖書館：

a forest,

森林

a room,

房間

100 authors and 100 years.

100 位作者喺 100 年

It started in 2014.

由 2014 年開始

On the outskirts of Oslo,

喺奧斯陸嘅郊區

we planted a thousand baby Spruce trees.

我哋種咗一千棵小雲杉樹

When they’re fully grown,

當佢哋完全長大

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

就會被斬整成紙張

Every year for 100 years

為期 100 年，每年都有 唔同作者寫新嘅作品

a different author is invited to write something new.

Their words will become an anthology of books

佢哋嘅文字會成為書嘅選集內容

printed on paper made from these trees,

印喺用呢啲樹整嘅紙度

only to be read in the year 2114.

只係喺 2114 年先至可以睇

The core of Future Library is time and longevity,

「未來圖書館」嘅重心係時間同長久性

but also hope and rituals.

亦都係種希望同儀式

Every spring, we take a pilgrimage to the forest.

每年春天，我哋都會去森林朝聖

Authors hand over their manuscript and announce its title.

作者交出手稿同宣佈標題

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

佢哋嘅手稿會擺喺奧斯陸新嘅圖書館

You take off your shoes,

你除咗對鞋

you step inside.

入去裏面

Each glass drawer holds a manuscript.

每個玻璃櫃桶 都裝有一份手稿

100 years is not vast in cosmic terms.

從宇宙嘅角度睇 100 年唔係好長

Yet if my young son lives to read the books,

不過如果我嗰細仔 有命睇到呢啲書

his world is likely to have changed beyond recognition.

佢嘅世界就好可能 變成係面目全非㗎喇

Will human beings survive to read the books?

人類可否生存到睇到呢啲書呢？

Future Library is a century-long prayer.

未來圖書館係長達一世紀嘅禱告

Future generations may be invisible to our eyes,

我哋可能睇唔到將來嘅世代

but we are connected through our actions.

但係我哋嘅行動將大家連結埋一齊

I wanted to see to future readers,

我想睇到將來嘅讀者

“I see you.”

「我見到你。」

“We see you.”

「我哋見到你。」

Why does connecting to deep time matter to us all?

點解同深時連結 對我哋咁重要呢？

Shortsightedness may be the greatest threat to humanity.

狹隘視野可能係人類最大嘅威脅

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

做人就要理解 我哋係漫長連續體嘅部分

Let’s embrace our cosmic context,

讓我哋擁抱宇宙背景

respect our origins

尊重原本嘅我哋

and hold our future close.

同埋緊緊捉住未來

Thank you.

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