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

譯者: 穎君 紀 審譯者: Claire Hsu

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

你曾在燈泡下， 沐浴過如月光般的燈光嗎？

sculpted beaches into miniature mountains

你曾將沙子雕成一座小山過嗎？

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

你曾聞過地球上第一棵樹的香氣嗎？

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

這些是我為了體會 「深時間」所做的作品。

But what is deep time,

「深時間」是什麼？

and why does it matter to us all?

它為什麼重要？

The term describes the history of the Earth

「深時間」描述著 幾百萬年以來的地球歷史。

over a time span of millions of years.

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

初次體悟到「深時間」的瞬間， 我已經大學畢業，

had no job

沒有工作和目標，

and didn’t know what to do.

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

所以我到冰島北部的秘境 當飯店清潔人員。

I was tilted on my axis

偏離了原本的人生道路，

and began a series of explorations

我踏上一系列的探索旅程，

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

思考如何敘說「深時間」的故事。

This has been the quest of my work,

這就是我創作的使命，

and it’s taken me through the cosmos,

帶領我漫遊星際，

the geological strata of the Earth,

穿過重重地層，

to encounters with the earliest forms of life.

邂逅初始型態的生命。

In Iceland I realized that we live on a planet.

在冰島，我深切體會到我們 活在一個星球上。

By opening my eyes to the primordial landscape,

讓原始的景色開拓我的視野後，

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

我逐漸發現人並非 從虛無中突然蹦出來的。

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

海洋、天空、土壤、空氣......

we’re made of the same stuff,

我們是以同種東西構成 且互相共存。

we coexist.

In just my lifetime,

光是在我有生之年， 人類就已成為一大地質作用力，

we humans have become a geological force.

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

我們的活動已經導致 全球許多條冰河消融。

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

我希望人們能深切感受到 這場正在遠方上演的悲劇。

So of course, I set up a phone line.

所以我設立了專線，

People everywhere could dial a number

世界各地的人播了這支號碼後， 會聽到冰河融化的聲音。

and listen live to the sound of a glacier melting.

(Ice cracks)

（浮冰碎裂之聲）

It was an elegy to disappearing landscape.

這是首獻給瀕危地景的輓歌。

(Glacier melts)

（冰河融化之聲）

Can we connect to deep time via sensory experience?

我們能夠以五感體會深時間嗎？

This artwork, called “Totality,”

這項作品《日食全集》， 將幾乎所有人類紀錄過的日食影像

brings together nearly every solar eclipse documented by humankind

in a mirror ball.

貼在迪斯可球表面，

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

以超過一萬張的圖像映出日蝕的過程。

Their light surrounds us,

光亮包圍住我們，使我們沈醉其中。

and we can feel mesmerized.

This led me to wonder:

這讓我開始思考，深時間是什麼顏色？

What is the color of deep time?

I mapped the colors of the entire universe,

我列出整個宇宙的顏色，

from its very beginnings to its potential ends,

從誕生時到終結時所呈現的顏色，

discovering the pale blue hues of the first stars

發現第一批恆星散發淡藍色，

to the dark maroons of the last light.

最後一道光則散發暗紅色。

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

構成我們的每個原子，

都是在幾十億年前， 於某顆星星形成的。

The remnants of stars make up all of us.

我們是由星星的遺骸做成的。

My vision was to gather every dying star across the universe

我企圖將宇宙所有瀕臨死亡的恆星 彙整在一張分佈圖上。

and make a map.

The result:

成果是，超過兩萬七千個

over 27,000 supernova,

超新星、恆星黑洞、伽馬射線暴

stellar black holes

and gamma-ray bursts shimmer as pinpoints of aluminum.

化為點點鋁金繼續閃爍。

What you see is a graveyard of stars,

這是座恆星的墳場， 卻也是暗示它們存在過的證據。

yet it alludes to life.

The journey we humans have been on to arrive right here

人類誕生至這世上的漫長歷程，

is nothing short of a miracle.

說是奇蹟也不為過。

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

《化石項鍊》串連不同時空的世界，

取材自生命本身，

Each bead is carved from ancient fossils

每顆珠子都是以古老化石雕刻而成，

and strung geological epoch by epoch.

依照地質年代順序串起，

The beads chart major moments in Earth’s history.

珠子記錄了地球歷史的重大事件：

The first single-celled life,

第一個單細胞生物、第一種花、

the first flowers,

the first creatures to see

第一種有視力、 第一種有飛行力動物之誕生。

and to fly.

“Fossil Necklace” speaks to our long continuum.

《化石項鍊》敘說著生命演化的長流。

Every day we walk past trees,

我們每天都會路過樹木，

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

但是否曾停下來想過， 樹木是我們的親屬嗎？

We share so many of our genes with trees,

樹木與我們有許多相同的基因，

and forests give us our breath.

還能製造氧氣供我們呼吸。

I wanted to honor them

我想用地球上所有樹種 打造一件雕塑品，

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

向它們獻上敬意。

This is “Hollow.”

這是由我和建築師澤勒與摩伊 所設計的《空洞》。

Designed with architects Zeller & Moye,

it brings together over 10,000 tree species

這作品以超過一萬種樹組成， 跨越整整百萬年的時空。

spanning millions of years.

We were donated wood samples from almost every country:

幾乎每國都捐出了木材樣本，如：

the Indian Banyan,

孟加拉榕、白桑樹、水杉樹，

the White Mulberry,

the Dawn Redwood

and twigs from sacred forests around us.

和身邊寶貴的森林採來的枝枒。

Looking upwards into the light,

抬頭仰望，就能看到 即將瀕臨絕種的樹種。

we see the most threatened tree species of now.

More recently in my practice,

最近，我開始覺得 展望未來與回首過去同等重要。

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

How do we speak to unborn people?

那該如何與未來的人溝通？

How do we build a bridge across time?

如何搭建跨越時間的橋樑？

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

我認為文學最能勝任這項任務，

so I proposed a library of the future:

故提議建造一座未來圖書館，

a forest,

用一座森林、一個空間、 一百位作家和一百年的時間。

a room,

100 authors and 100 years.

It started in 2014.

這個計畫於 2014 年啟動。

On the outskirts of Oslo,

在奧斯陸的郊區，

we planted a thousand baby Spruce trees.

我們種了一千棵杉樹苗，

When they’re fully grown,

樹苗長大以後，將被砍伐，作成紙張。

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

Every year for 100 years

從 2014 年至一百年後， 每年邀一位作家寫一部新作品，

a different author is invited to write something new.

Their words will become an anthology of books

他們的文字將成為一部合集，

printed on paper made from these trees,

印刷在這些樹所做的紙上， 一百年後才可閱讀。

only to be read in the year 2114.

The core of Future Library is time and longevity,

《未來圖書館》的核心理念是 時間、長遠、希望與儀式。

but also hope and rituals.

Every spring, we take a pilgrimage to the forest.

每年春天，我們都會到那座森林朝聖。

Authors hand over their manuscript and announce its title.

作者們交出作品，發表作品的題目。

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

文稿將被保存在 這座位於奧斯陸的新圖書館。

You take off your shoes,

脫下鞋子後，進入這個空間，

you step inside.

Each glass drawer holds a manuscript.

每個玻璃抽屜都存放著一份手稿。

100 years is not vast in cosmic terms.

一百年對這個宇宙來說並不長，

Yet if my young son lives to read the books,

但當我兒子活到能閱讀這些作品時，

his world is likely to have changed beyond recognition.

世界大概早已物換星移、面目全非。

Will human beings survive to read the books?

人類能活到這些作品問世那天嗎？

Future Library is a century-long prayer.

《未來圖書館》是跨越百年的祈禱，

Future generations may be invisible to our eyes,

雖然見不到活在未來的人們，

but we are connected through our actions.

但透過行動，我們緊緊相連。

I wanted to see to future readers,

我想告訴未來的讀者們。

“I see you.”

「我有看見你。」

“We see you.”

「我們看見你了。」

Why does connecting to deep time matter to us all?

為何體會深時間如此重要？

Shortsightedness may be the greatest threat to humanity.

因為目光短淺或許是 對人類最大的威脅。

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

作為人類，我們要知道自己是 生命長流中的一部份。

Let’s embrace our cosmic context,

讓我們銘記與宇宙之間的脈絡，

respect our origins

對我們的起源釋出敬意， 並心繫未來。

and hold our future close.

Thank you.

謝謝。