Golan Levin: The truly soft side of software

譯者: Chen Sheng-fu 審譯者: Wang Qian

Imagine spending seven years at MIT and research laboratories,

想像花了7年的時間待在MIT (麻省理工學院) 的研究室裡，

only to find out that you're a performance artist.

到後來發現你只是一個表演藝術家......

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

I'm also a software engineer,

同時我也是一位軟體工程師，

and I make lots of different kinds of art with the computer.

我利用電腦創造了各種形式的藝術作品。

And I think the main thing that I'm interested in

我認為我最主要感興趣的是

is trying to find a way of

試著找出一種方法

making the computer into a personal mode of expression.

讓電腦進入一種自體表達的模式

And many of you out there are the heads of Macromedia and Microsoft,

而且在場大部份都是Macromedia和Microsoft的領導者，

and in a way those are my bane:

在某種程度上，你們是我的剋星，

I think there's a great homogenizing force

不過我認為這是一個很棒的均質力

that software imposes on people and limits the way they think

軟體對人造成的影響、界定他們思考的方式

about what's possible on the computer.

透過各種電腦軟體發展的可能性

Of course, it's also a great liberating force that makes possible,

當然，這也是一種可以實現的自由

you know, publishing and so forth, and standards, and so on.

你知道的，透過發表、出版、規格標準諸如此類...等。

But, in a way, the computer makes possible much more

但在某種程度上，電腦更能夠實現

than what most people think, and my art has just been about

比我們想的還要做的更多，而我的藝術作品

trying to find a personal way of using the computer,

是找出一種能透過個體使用模式的電腦

and so I end up writing software to do that.

所以，我最後寫出這個軟體程式。

Chris has asked me to do a short performance,

Chris 已經要求我做簡短的表演，

and so I'm going to take just this time -- maybe 10 minutes --

所以我大概會利用10分鐘的時間

to do that, and hopefully at the end have just a moment

向各位展出，希望到播完後，會有一些時間

to show you a couple of my other projects in video form.

能讓你們看看我其他作品計畫的影片。

Thank you.

謝謝。

(Applause)

（觀眾掌聲）

We've got about a minute left.

我們大概還有一分多鐘。

I'd just like to show a clip from a most recent project.

我想向各位播放一些最近作品計畫的片段。

I did a performance with two singers

我之前和兩位歌手做了一項表演，

who specialize in making strange noises with their mouths.

他們專長是用嘴巴發出特殊古怪的聲音。

And this just came off last September at ARS Electronica;

這是去年九月在奧地利電子藝術節的表演。

we repeated it in England.

我們在英國重複那次表演。

And the idea is to visualize their speech and song behind them

這個想法是把口說演講的表現視覺化，並且

with a large screen.

用音樂節奏當作背景，呈現在大型的螢幕上。

We used a computer vision tracking system

我們用了電腦視覺追蹤系統，

in order to know where they were.

定位他們的位置。

And since we know where their heads are,

我們知道他們頭部的位置之後，

and we have a wireless mic on them

同時也在他們身上放了無線麥克風，

that we're processing the sound from,

以取得聲音的來源。

we're able to create visualizations

我們創造了多種的視覺影像，

which are linked very tightly to what they're doing with their speech.

可以跟他們表演做緊密地結合。

This will take about 30 seconds or so.

大概會花30秒的時間。

He's making a, kind of, cheek-flapping sound.

像是在弄出拍擊臉頰時的聲音。

Well, suffice it to say it's not all like that, but that's part of it.

雖然播放的不夠完整，但是以足夠表達出來。

Thanks very much. There's always lots more.

謝謝。總是有更多的東西。

I'm overtime, so I just wanted to say you can, if you're in New York,

我超過時間了，所以我想說，如果你在紐約的話

you can check out my work at the Whitney Biennial next week,

可以去看看我下禮拜在 Whitney Biennial 展出的作品，

and also at Bitforms Gallery in Chelsea.

同時也可以在切爾西（Chelsea）的Bitforms Gallery 看到。

And with that, I think I should give up the stage,

我想我得離開這個舞台了，

so, thank you so much.

謝謝大家聆聽。