Tom Shannon's gravity-defying sculpture

譯者: Shelley Krishna Tsang 審譯者: Joyce Chou

This is a sculpture I made,

這是我做的一個雕塑，

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

算是將一個具有不同程度自由的物體

into an object that has different degrees of freedom.

從一種形態解放的一種方式吧。

So, it can balance on a point.

因此，它能在一點上達到平衡。

This is a bronze ball,

這是個銅球，

an aluminum arm here,

這個是鋁製手臂，

and then this wooden disk.

還有這個木制盤子。

And the wooden disk was really thought about

這個木盤子是為了讓你

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

可以抓住什麼而設計的，

and that would glide easily through your hands.

這樣你可以容易地徒手轉動它。

The aluminum is because it's very light.

用鋁是因為它很輕。

The bronze is nice hard, durable material

銅是因為它夠硬、耐用，

that could roll on the ground.

它可以在地上滾動。

Inside of the bronze ball

銅球的內部

there's a lead weight

有個鉛塊，

that is free-swinging on an axle

繞著一個軸心作自由擺動，

that's on two bearings

軸心就在兩個軸承

that pass in between, across it,

之間移動， 像這個樣子，

like this, that counterbalance this weight.

就抵消了這個重量。

So it allows it to roll.

這樣球就可以滾動。

And the sphere has that balance property

這樣球就可以保持平衡，

that it always sort of stays still

這個它可以總是保持不動，

and looks the same from every direction.

從各種角度看都一樣。

But if you put something on top of it,

但當你在頂部放個東西，

it disbalances it. And so it would tip over.

就打破了這種平衡。它就會翻過來。

But in this case because

這時，因為

the interior is free-swinging

它的內部是

in relation to the sphere,

可以自由擺動的，

it can stand up on one point.

它也可以站穩。

And then there was a second level to this object,

這個模型的第二個層面

which is that it --

就是 --

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

我想加入一些我有興趣的比例，

which is the diameter of the Moon

我把月亮直徑

and the diameter of the Earth

和地球直徑

in proportion to each other.

按比例運用到其中。

I was exploring, really early on,

早期我探究的是，

wanting to make things float in the air.

讓物體浮在空中。

And I thought up a lot of ideas.

我想出了很多點子。

This is sculpture that I made that --

這是我做的一個模型 --

it's magnetically levitated.

這是磁浮的。

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

這個東西，有點點危險。

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

一般情況下，在博物館裏都是放在封閉的展櫃中。

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

但是，唔 -- 我們來看看我能否來操縱它，

without, um -- oops.

就一點點 -- 哦 --

So this is just floating,

只是懸浮著，

floating on a permanent magnetic field,

懸浮在永久磁場中，

which stabilizes it in all directions.

在任何方向都是穩定的。

Except there is a slight tether here,

除了這裏有一小條繩繫在這裡，

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

確保它不會偏離磁場。

It's sort of surfing on a magnetic field

這就好像在

at the crest of a wave.

磁場上衝浪。

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

支援著物體保持穩定。

I think we could roll the tape, admin.

管理人員，我想我們可以播放影片了。

I have a sort of a collection of videos

我這裏有幾個不同的模型的錄影，

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

我可以給大家講解。

This is a sculpture of the Sun

這個是太陽

and the Earth, in proportion.

和地球的模型，按照真實比例做的。

Representing that eight and a half minutes

光和重力把他們連接起來

that it takes light and gravity to connect the two.

要八分半鐘的時間。

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

這個是地球。比一毫米少一點點，

that was turned of solid bronze.

是銅制的。

And here is a similar sculpture.

這是個類似的雕塑。

That's the Sun at that end.

末端是太陽。

And then in a series of 55 balls,

然後是一系列的55個球，

it reduces, proportionately -- each ball

每個球都按一定比例縮小，

and the spaces between them

每個球和其之間的距離

reduce proportionately,

也按比例縮小，

until they get down to this little Earth.

直到最後這個小小的地球。

This is in a sculpture park in Taejon.

這在韓國大田的一座雕塑公園中展出。

This one is about the Moon

這個關於月亮的。

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

然後這是到地球的距離，也是按比例的。

This is a little stone ball, floating.

這是個小石球，懸浮著。

As you can see the little tether,

你可以看見這個小鎖鏈，

that it's also magnetically levitated.

也是磁浮的。

And then this is the first part of --

這個是第一部分 --

this is 109 spheres,

這是109個圓球，

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

因為太陽比地球的直徑大109倍。

And so this is the size of the Sun.

這是太陽的大小。

And then each of these little spheres

剩下的每一個球

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

都是同太陽的大小成比例的地球。

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

這由16個同心殼組成。每個有92個球。

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

這是在一個12世紀的煉金術士的庭院。

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

我覺得太陽好似個終極煉金術士。

So this, again, is on the subject --

好，回到這個話題上來 --

a slice from the equator of the Earth.

這個代表地球的赤道。

And then the Moon in the center,

月亮在中心。

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

懸浮著。這是在法國。

This is in Sapporo.

這時在日本札幌。

It's balancing on a shaft and a ball,

這在一根箭杆和一個圓球上保持著平衡，

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

就在重心處，或者說，重心上方一點點，

which means that the lower half of the object

這意味著物體下半部

is just a little bit more weighty.

比上半部重一點點。

So you can see it rotating here.

你可以看到它在這裏旋轉。

It weighs about a ton or over a ton.

它大概重一噸，或者比一噸多點。

It's made of stainless steel, quite thick.

它是不銹鋼做的，很厚。

But it's being balanced like that in equilibrium.

但是它在一點上很平衡。

It's susceptible to motion by the air currents.

它會隨著氣流而運動。

This is another species of work that I do.

這是我做的另一組作品。

These are these arrays. These spheres are all suspended,

這些是箭頭。這些箭頭都是懸掛著的。

but they have magnets horizontally in them

它們都具有水平的磁性，

that make them all like compasses.

這樣它們就像指南針一樣。

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

所有的紅色端，比如，都指向一個方向：南方。

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

所有的藍色方向，相反地，指向另一個方向。

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

你四周轉轉就會看到不同的顏色。

This is based on the structure of a diamond.

這個是建立在鑽石結構的基礎上。

It was a diamond cell structure

以鑽石晶體結構

was the point of departure.

作為出發點。

And then there were kind of large spaces in the hollows

在原子之間的空隙，

between the atoms.

存在很大的空間。

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

所以我在它們之間多放了一個元素。

These were white spheres.

這些白色的圓球。

Then I had video projectors

然後我用投影機

that were projecting intermittently onto the spheres.

間歇性地投影到圓球上。

So they would catch parts of the images,

這樣就有了部分影像，

and make sort of three-dimensional color volumes,

也就形成了看似立體的彩色圓柱，

as you walk through it, through the object.

就像你穿過這個物體的時候。

This is something I did

這是我

of a tactile communication system.

為觸感溝通系統所做的。

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

這個想法是分離出模型的觸感部分，

and then putting it into a communication system.

然後將其運用到通信系統中。

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

這個關於移動雕塑的想法，移動球體，

that would be directed around the room

是用電腦來發出指令，

by a computer.

移動房間內的雕塑。

This is a clock I designed.

這是我設計的時鐘。

It has Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion Map edited here.

用巴克敏斯特•富勒(Buckminster Fuller)的多面體圖做背景。

It turns once per day in synchrony with the Earth.

每天轉動一次，與地球同步。

And then, this is like

這是個

projects that are harder to build.

很難製作的工程。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

This has a diamond-bottomed lake.

這是個有著鑽石為底的湖。

So it's a floating island

上面懸浮著一個島，

with water, fresh water,

有水，淡水，

that can fly from place to place.

可以從一個地方飛到另一個地方。

This would be grown, I suppose,

等將來有了奈米技術，

with nanotechnology in the future sometime.

我想這個計畫還會再擴展。

In the course of doing my work

工作讓我擁有

I sort of have a broad range of interests.

廣泛的興趣。

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

其中一些僅僅是創造媒介的想法 --

media as a sculpture,

作為雕塑的媒介，

something that would keep the sculpture

只需要改變組成雕塑的媒介，

fresh and ever-changing,

就可以改變雕塑本身，

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

使之鮮活，千變萬化。

And I had a lot of --

我對於 --

always interested in the concept of a crystal ball.

水晶球的概念特別感興趣。

And the idea that you could see things

還有那個你能通過觀察水晶球的內部

inside of a crystal ball and predict the future --

來預測未來的意念 --

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

或者是電視機，電視機也算是一個魔術盒，

where anything can appear.

任何東西都能夠出現。

I had thought about, a long time ago,

我想過，很久以前，

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

在60年代後期，我剛剛起步的時候，

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

我受到巴克敏斯特•富勒(Buckminster Fuller)的影響，

grand project for an electric globe

他那個橫跨聯合國的

across from the United Nations --

電子球大計劃 --

and other things that were happening,

還有其他當時正在發生的事情，

the space program at that time,

那個時候的太空計畫，

and Whole Earth Catalog, things like that.

和全球概覽(Whole Earth Catalog)，一類的事情。

I was thinking about mass produced spherical television sets

我也想到過大量生產的球形電視機

that could be linked to orbiting camera satellites.

可以和軌道衛星相機相連。

So if we could roll the next film here.

所以我們可以看下一個片子。

This has evolved over the years

這是經過數年的演變，

in a lot of different iterations.

多次不同的疊加。

But this the current version of it,

但這是最近的模型，

is a flying airship

一個直徑大概有35米的

that is about 35 meters in diameter,

的飛船，

about 110 feet in diameter.

也就是110英尺直徑的飛船。

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

它的整個表面覆蓋著六千萬個二極體，

red, blue, and green,

紅色的、藍色的和綠色的，

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

讓你有高解析度的畫面，白天也看得見。

I came with a plan.

我想出了一個計劃。

I brought it to Paul MacCready's company AeroVironment

我把它帶到了 Paul MacCready的公司 AeroVironment

to do a feasibility study,

做可行性的研究，

and they analyzed it,

他們分析了這個飛船，

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

想出了很多如何推進它的創新的點子。

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

現在我們有了一個讓它實現的計畫。

This is the control room inside of the ship.

這是飛船內部的控制室。

The idea of this air genie is,

這個在天空飛的天才的點子，

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

就是能夠轉變成其他任何東西。

It's like a traveling show.

就像是巡迴演出的節目。

It has speakers on it. And it has cameras

它有麥克風。它的表面

over the surface of it.

有鏡頭。

So it can see its environment,

所以它可以看見它所處的環境，

and then it can mimic its environment and disappear.

然後能夠模仿它的環境從而變為消失。

Here the legs are retracting.

它的支撐架可以收起來。

The cabin is open or closed, as you like.

船艙可以隨你喜好開或關。

It weighs about 20 tons.

它大概重20噸。

It has on-board generators.

它有自己的發電機。

It can generate about a million kilowatts,

能夠發出大約1百萬千瓦的電力，

in order to be bright enough

足夠亮得讓你

to be visible in daylight.

在白天也能看得見。

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

這個點子是做個好像旅遊的節目。

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

它真的可以用於藝術和互動。

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

船員可以是藝術家們、音樂家們。

that would allow the thing to become

這樣飛船就

actually kind of a conscious object

實際上成為了

that would respond to the moment,

能夠回應思想的物體，

and to interact as an entity

並作為一個團體

that was aware, that could communicate.

跟外界互動交流。

It's completely silent and nonpolluting.

這幾乎沒有噪音也不污染環境。

It has electric motors with a novel propulsion system.

它具有電動馬達和新型推進系統。

It could be interacted with large crowds in different ways.

可以用不同的方式同大眾交流。

Primarily I would be interested in

我主要的感興趣的是，

how it would interact with, say,

它如何交流，比如說，

going to a college campus,

進入大學校區，

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

或用於研究地球科學，

the world, the situation of the globe.

世界的局勢。

The default image on the object

物體上的默認圖片

would probably be a high-resolution Earth image.

大概是高品質的地球圖片。

But then one could interact with that

但是它可以通過互動，

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

顯示板塊構造或者溫室效應，或者遷徙 --

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

關於我們現在所關心的所有問題。

And then at night the idea is that

晚上的時候，

it would be used as kind of a rave situation,

它用來做銳舞派對，

where the people could cut loose,

人們可以放鬆下來，

and the music and the lights, and everything.

聽聽音樂，欣賞燈光，做任何事。

So it could land in a park, for example.

比如說，它在一個公園著陸。

Or this could represent a college green.

或者可以代表大學城。

And then it would have a corresponding website

它還有個聯絡的網站

that would show the itinerary of this.

說明它的行程。

And so interacting with the same kind of imagery.

還有同樣類型的圖片隨之互動。

It would also be able to be an open code,

它還能夠有開放代碼，

so people could interact with it.

這樣人們也可以與之交流。

It would be forum for people's ideas about

它會成為人們想法的論壇，

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

討論人們希望在這個巨大的螢幕上看到什麼。

So that's pretty much it.

大概就是這樣子吧。

Okay. Thank you.

好了。謝謝大家。

(Applause)

（鼓掌）