Art made of the air we breathe | Emily Parsons-Lord

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Camille Martínez

譯者: ZHENG Shu 審譯者: Wilde Luo

If I asked you to picture the air,

如果我讓你想像一下「空氣」，

what do you imagine?

你腦海裡會浮現出什麼？

Most people think about either empty space

大多數人們會想到空閒的空間，

or clear blue sky

或者澄淨的藍天，

or sometimes trees dancing in the wind.

或者在風中起舞的樹。

And then I remember my high school chemistry teacher with really long socks

我想到我穿著長襪的高中化學老師，

at the blackboard,

在黑板上

drawing diagrams of bubbles connected to other bubbles,

畫著一個圓圈 連著另一個圓圈的分析圖，

and describing how they vibrate and collide in a kind of frantic soup.

描述著它們在某種瘋狂混合物中， 是如何振動與碰撞的。

But really, we tend not to think about the air that much at all.

事實上，我們並不會太常想到空氣。

We notice it mostly

大部分情況我們會注意到它，

when there's some kind of unpleasant sensory intrusion upon it,

是當它產生了某種 令人不悅的感官衝擊時。

like a terrible smell or something visible like smoke or mist.

比如難聞的氣味， 或者一些可見的東西比如煙霧。

But it's always there.

事實上它無處不在。

It's touching all of us right now.

它現在正在和我們所有人接觸著。

It's even inside us.

甚至存在於我們體內。

Our air is immediate, vital and intimate.

空氣對我們而言是直接的、 不可缺少而又親密的。

And yet, it's so easily forgotten.

然而卻這麼容易被遺忘。

So what is the air?

那麼空氣到底是什麼？

It's the combination of the invisible gases that envelop the Earth,

它是壟罩地球 表面不可見氣體的集合，

attracted by the Earth's gravitational pull.

被地心引力制約著。

And even though I'm a visual artist,

儘管我是一位視覺藝術家，

I'm interested in the invisibility of the air.

卻對空氣的不可見性很有興趣。

I'm interested in how we imagine it,

我感興趣於人們是怎麼想像它，

how we experience it

怎樣體驗它，

and how we all have an innate understanding of its materiality

以及我們如何通過呼吸，

through breathing.

對於空氣的實體性做出自然的理解。

All life on Earth changes the air through gas exchange,

地球上的所有生命 都通過氣體交換改變著空氣，

and we're all doing it right now.

我們現在就是。

Actually, why don't we all right now together take

那不如，我們現在所有人一起

one big, collective, deep breath in.

深吸一口氣，

Ready? In. (Inhales)

準備好了麼？吸氣。（吸氣）

And out. (Exhales)

然後吐氣。（吐氣）

That air that you just exhaled,

就是那些你剛剛呼出的空氣，

you enriched a hundred times in carbon dioxide.

你增加了 100 倍的二氧化碳。

So roughly five liters of air per breath, 17 breaths per minute

粗略算來每次呼吸包含 5 升空氣， 每分鐘呼吸 17 次，

of the 525,600 minutes per year,

在一年的 52 萬 5 千 6 百分鐘裡，

comes to approximately 45 million liters of air,

呼吸了近 4 千 5 百萬升空氣，

enriched 100 times in carbon dioxide,

增加了 100 倍的二氧化碳，

just for you.

僅僅因為你。

Now, that's equivalent to about 18 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

這相當於 18 個 奧林匹克游泳池大小。

For me, air is plural.

對我而言，空氣不是一個單一概念。

It's simultaneously as small as our breathing

它同時可以小到我們的呼吸，

and as big as the planet.

又大到整個星球。

And it's kind of hard to picture.

有點難去描述。

Maybe it's impossible, and maybe it doesn't matter.

也許根本無法形容， 也許本來就無須形容。

Through my visual arts practice,

在我的視覺藝術實踐中，

I try to make air, not so much picture it,

我嘗試著，不是去描述它，

but to make it visceral and tactile and haptic.

而是去讓它變得可以感知。

I try to expand this notion of the aesthetic, how things look,

我試著去拓寬 侷限於外觀的審美觀念，

so that it can include things like how it feels on your skin

審美也可以包括， 比如你皮膚所感受到的，

and in your lungs,

你的肺部所感受到的，

and how your voice sounds as it passes through it.

當空氣流動時你聲音的變化。

I explore the weight, density and smell, but most importantly,

我探索空氣的重量、密度、 味道，更重要的是，

I think a lot about the stories we attach to different kinds of air.

我想了許多 與不同類型空氣相關的故事。

This is a work I made in 2014.

這是我 2014 年的一個作品。

It's called "Different Kinds of Air: A Plant's Diary,"

叫作「多樣的空氣：植物的日記」。

where I was recreating the air from different eras in Earth's evolution,

我重現了地球進化中 不同紀元的空氣，

and inviting the audience to come in and breathe them with me.

並且邀請觀眾來與我一起呼吸。

And it's really surprising, so drastically different.

令人驚訝的是， 它們竟然有這麼大的差別。

Now, I'm not a scientist,

誠然，我不是科學家，

but atmospheric scientists will look for traces

但是大氣學家

會在地質學與空氣化學中找尋蹤跡，

in the air chemistry in geology,

a bit like how rocks can oxidize,

就像岩石如何氧化，

and they'll extrapolate that information and aggregate it,

他們會推算並求出總和，

such that they can pretty much form a recipe

這樣他們對於不同時代的空氣， 能夠推斷出其組成成分，

for the air at different times.

Then I come in as the artist and take that recipe

然後我以藝術家的身份 獲得空氣的「配方」，

and recreate it using the component gases.

用各種氣體成分重新製造它。

I was particularly interested in moments of time

我對於一些時間點特別有興趣，

that are examples of life changing the air,

這有幾個關於生命改變空氣的例子，

but also the air that can influence how life will evolve,

也有空氣影響生命演化的例子，

like Carboniferous air.

比如石炭紀空氣，

It's from about 300 to 350 million years ago.

它在 3 到 3.5 億年前。

It's an era known as the time of the giants.

那是以巨大生物而知名的時代。

So for the first time in the history of life,

生命歷史上第一次，

lignin evolves.

木質素開始進化。

That's the hard stuff that trees are made of.

木質素是組成樹木的硬質材料。

So trees effectively invent their own trunks at this time,

因此這時樹木高效地 形成了它們的軀幹，

and they get really big, bigger and bigger,

它們變得越來越大，

and pepper the Earth,

覆蓋了地球，

releasing oxygen, releasing oxygen, releasing oxygen,

釋放氧氣，釋放氧氣，釋放氧氣，

such that the oxygen levels are about twice as high

因此氧氣量

比我們現在的多約 2 倍。

as what they are today.

And this rich air supports massive insects --

這樣富足的空氣孕育了 大量的昆蟲——

huge spiders and dragonflies with a wingspan of about 65 centimeters.

大型的蜘蛛， 翼展有 65 公分的蜻蜓。

To breathe, this air is really clean and really fresh.

對於呼吸而言， 這種空氣非常乾淨和新鮮。

It doesn't so much have a flavor,

它沒有味道，

but it does give your body a really subtle kind of boost of energy.

但是它給了你身體真正的能量。

It's really good for hangovers.

它對於宿醉者再好不過。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Or there's the air of the Great Dying --

或者是大滅絕時期的空氣——

that's about 252.5 million years ago,

約 2.525 億年前，

just before the dinosaurs evolve.

就在恐龍演化之前。

It's a really short time period, geologically speaking,

地質學上講，它是相當短的時間，

from about 20- to 200,000 years.

在 20 到 20 萬年之間。

Really quick.

真的很短。

This is the greatest extinction event in Earth's history,

這是地球歷史上的大滅絕事件，

even bigger than when the dinosaurs died out.

甚至比恐龍滅絕更甚。

Eighty-five to 95 percent of species at this time die out,

85~95% 的物種滅絶，

and simultaneous to that is a huge, dramatic spike in carbon dioxide,

隨之而來的是， 二氧化碳量急劇增加，

that a lot of scientists agree

很多科學家都認為

comes from a simultaneous eruption of volcanoes

是由於許多火山噴發造成，

and a runaway greenhouse effect.

迅速導致了溫室效應。

Oxygen levels at this time go to below half of what they are today,

氧氣含量少於當今的一半，

so about 10 percent.

大約 10%。

So this air would definitely not support human life,

因此這種空氣不能滿足 人類的生理需求，

but it's OK to just have a breath.

但是勉強可供呼吸。

And to breathe, it's oddly comforting.

而且對呼吸而言， 有一種奇怪的舒適感。

It's really calming, it's quite warm

它很平靜，很溫熱，

and it has a flavor a little bit like soda water.

它有一點蘇打水的味道。

It has that kind of spritz, quite pleasant.

它有那種愉悅的氣泡。

So with all this thinking about air of the past,

帶著所有這些關於 過去時代的空氣的思考，

it's quite natural to start thinking about the air of the future.

開始思考未來時代的 空氣是很自然的。

And instead of being speculative with air

我並不是對於空氣成分進行猜測，

and just making up what I think might be the future air,

然後製造自己所認為的 「未來空氣」，

I discovered this human-synthesized air.

而是發現了這些人類合成的空氣。

That means that it doesn't occur anywhere in nature,

那意味著它在自然界不會出現，

but it's made by humans in a laboratory

僅僅是在人類的實驗室，

for application in different industrial settings.

為了不同工業環境的應用而製造。

Why is it future air?

為什麼它是未來的空氣？

Well, this air is a really stable molecule

好，這種空氣是穩定的分子，

that will literally be part of the air once it's released,

它一經釋放，就會融入空氣中，

for the next 300 to 400 years, before it's broken down.

維持 300~400 年，直到它被降解。

So that's about 12 to 16 generations.

所以大約是 12 到 16 代 那麼長的時間。

And this future air has some very sensual qualities.

這種未來的空氣 有一些可感知的特性。

It's very heavy.

它很重。

It's about eight times heavier than the air we're used to breathing.

大約是我們通常呼吸空氣的 8 倍重。

It's so heavy, in fact, that when you breathe it in,

它如此重，事實上，當你呼吸時，

whatever words you speak are kind of literally heavy as well,

不管你說什麼，還是會感覺重，

so they dribble down your chin and drop to the floor

所以它會沿著你的下巴 流下掉到地上，

and soak into the cracks.

流入地板上的縫隙。

It's an air that operates quite a lot like a liquid.

它是像液體一般的空氣。

Now, this air comes with an ethical dimension as well.

現在，這種空氣產生了道德問題。

Humans made this air,

人類製作了這種空氣，

but it's also the most potent greenhouse gas

但是從測試看來， 它也是最具溫室效應潛質的空氣。

that has ever been tested.

Its warming potential is 24,000 times that of carbon dioxide,

它的增溫效果 是二氧化碳的二萬四千倍，

and it has that longevity of 12 to 16 generations.

它的壽命有 12 到 16 代。

So this ethical confrontation is really central to my work.

所以這倫理上的對抗 是我工作的重點。

(In a lowered voice) It has another quite surprising quality.

（降低聲調）它有另外一個 令人驚訝的特性。

It changes the sound of your voice quite dramatically.

它能戲劇性地改變你的聲音。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

So when we start to think -- ooh! It's still there a bit.

所以當你開始思考—— 哦，還有一點點。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

When we think about climate change,

當我們思考氣候變化，

we probably don't think about giant insects and erupting volcanoes

我們可能沒有想到 巨大的昆蟲，噴發的火山，

or funny voices.

或者有趣的聲音。

The images that more readily come to mind

那些更可能跳出的形象

are things like retreating glaciers and polar bears adrift on icebergs.

是消融的冰川， 以及在冰塊上漂流的北極熊。

We think about pie charts and column graphs

我們想到是餅狀圖和柱狀圖，

and endless politicians talking to scientists wearing cardigans.

以及政治家與穿開襟毛衣的科學家 無休止的談論。

But perhaps it's time we start thinking about climate change

但是也許是時候

該以我們身體體驗空氣的方式 來考慮氣候變化，

on the same visceral level that we experience the air.

Like air, climate change is simultaneously at the scale of the molecule,

像空氣一樣，氣候變化

在分子尺度、呼吸過程、 地球環境等方面同時體現。

the breath and the planet.

It's immediate, vital and intimate,

它直接、重要而又親密，

as well as being amorphous and cumbersome.

同時無形的、難於處理的。

And yet, it's so easily forgotten.

儘管，它容易被忘卻。

Climate change is the collective self-portrait of humanity.

氣候變化是人類行為 集合的自我反映。

It reflects our decisions as individuals,

它反映了我們作為個人的決定、

as governments and as industries.

政府的決定以及產業的決定。

And if there's anything I've learned from looking at air,

如果我們反觀空氣能學到什麼的話，

it's that even though it's changing, it persists.

那就是，即便它不斷變化，

它仍存在。

It may not support the kind of life that we'd recognize,

它也許不能維持 我們熟知的生活型態，

but it will support something.

但是它能養活某些型態。

And if we humans are such a vital part of that change,

如果人類是那種變化中 重要的一員的話，

I think it's important that we can feel the discussion.

我想，我們能感受 關於它的討論，這是重要的。

Because even though it's invisible,

因為儘管它不可見，

humans are leaving a very vibrant trace in the air.

人類卻在空氣中留下了 十分鮮明的印記。

Thank you.

謝謝。

(Applause)

（掌聲）