If I asked you to picture the air, what do you imagine? Most people think about either empty space or clear blue sky or sometimes trees dancing in the wind. And then I remember my high school chemistry teacher with really long socks at the blackboard, drawing diagrams of bubbles connected to other bubbles, and describing how they vibrate and collide in a kind of frantic soup.
如果我讓你想像一下「空氣」, 你腦海裡會浮現出什麼? 大多數人們會想到空閒的空間, 或者澄淨的藍天, 或者在風中起舞的樹。 我想到我穿著長襪的高中化學老師, 在黑板上 畫著一個圓圈 連著另一個圓圈的分析圖, 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. We notice it mostly when there's some kind of unpleasant sensory intrusion upon it, like a terrible smell or something visible like smoke or mist. But it's always there. It's touching all of us right now. It's even inside us. Our air is immediate, vital and intimate. And yet, it's so easily forgotten.
事實上,我們並不會太常想到空氣。 大部分情況我們會注意到它, 是當它產生了某種 令人不悅的感官衝擊時。 比如難聞的氣味, 或者一些可見的東西比如煙霧。 事實上它無處不在。 它現在正在和我們所有人接觸著。 甚至存在於我們體內。 空氣對我們而言是直接的、 不可缺少而又親密的。 然而卻這麼容易被遺忘。
So what is the air? It's the combination of the invisible gases that envelop the Earth, attracted by the Earth's gravitational pull. And even though I'm a visual artist, I'm interested in the invisibility of the air. I'm interested in how we imagine it, how we experience it and how we all have an innate understanding of its materiality through breathing. All life on Earth changes the air through gas exchange, and we're all doing it right now. Actually, why don't we all right now together take one big, collective, deep breath in.
那麼空氣到底是什麼? 它是壟罩地球 表面不可見氣體的集合, 被地心引力制約著。 儘管我是一位視覺藝術家, 卻對空氣的不可見性很有興趣。 我感興趣於人們是怎麼想像它, 怎樣體驗它, 以及我們如何通過呼吸, 對於空氣的實體性做出自然的理解。 地球上的所有生命 都通過氣體交換改變著空氣, 我們現在就是。 那不如,我們現在所有人一起 深吸一口氣,
Ready? In. (Inhales) And out. (Exhales)
準備好了麼?吸氣。(吸氣) 然後吐氣。(吐氣)
That air that you just exhaled, you enriched a hundred times in carbon dioxide. So roughly five liters of air per breath, 17 breaths per minute of the 525,600 minutes per year, comes to approximately 45 million liters of air, enriched 100 times in carbon dioxide, just for you. Now, that's equivalent to about 18 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
就是那些你剛剛呼出的空氣, 你增加了 100 倍的二氧化碳。 粗略算來每次呼吸包含 5 升空氣, 每分鐘呼吸 17 次, 在一年的 52 萬 5 千 6 百分鐘裡, 呼吸了近 4 千 5 百萬升空氣, 增加了 100 倍的二氧化碳, 僅僅因為你。 這相當於 18 個 奧林匹克游泳池大小。
For me, air is plural. It's simultaneously as small as our breathing and as big as the planet. And it's kind of hard to picture. Maybe it's impossible, and maybe it doesn't matter.
對我而言,空氣不是一個單一概念。 它同時可以小到我們的呼吸, 又大到整個星球。 有點難去描述。 也許根本無法形容, 也許本來就無須形容。
Through my visual arts practice, I try to make air, not so much picture it, but to make it visceral and tactile and haptic. I try to expand this notion of the aesthetic, how things look, so that it can include things like how it feels on your skin and in your lungs, and how your voice sounds as it passes through it. I explore the weight, density and smell, but most importantly, I think a lot about the stories we attach to different kinds of air.
在我的視覺藝術實踐中, 我嘗試著,不是去描述它, 而是去讓它變得可以感知。 我試著去拓寬 侷限於外觀的審美觀念, 審美也可以包括, 比如你皮膚所感受到的, 你的肺部所感受到的, 當空氣流動時你聲音的變化。 我探索空氣的重量、密度、 味道,更重要的是, 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. It's called "Different Kinds of Air: A Plant's Diary," where I was recreating the air from different eras in Earth's evolution, and inviting the audience to come in and breathe them with me. And it's really surprising, so drastically different.
這是我 2014 年的一個作品。 叫作「多樣的空氣:植物的日記」。 我重現了地球進化中 不同紀元的空氣, 並且邀請觀眾來與我一起呼吸。 令人驚訝的是, 它們竟然有這麼大的差別。
Now, I'm not a scientist, but atmospheric scientists will look for traces in the air chemistry in geology, a bit like how rocks can oxidize, and they'll extrapolate that information and aggregate it, such that they can pretty much form a recipe for the air at different times. Then I come in as the artist and take that recipe and recreate it using the component gases.
誠然,我不是科學家, 但是大氣學家 會在地質學與空氣化學中找尋蹤跡, 就像岩石如何氧化, 他們會推算並求出總和, 這樣他們對於不同時代的空氣, 能夠推斷出其組成成分, 然後我以藝術家的身份 獲得空氣的「配方」, 用各種氣體成分重新製造它。
I was particularly interested in moments of time that are examples of life changing the air, but also the air that can influence how life will evolve, like Carboniferous air. It's from about 300 to 350 million years ago. It's an era known as the time of the giants. So for the first time in the history of life, lignin evolves. That's the hard stuff that trees are made of. So trees effectively invent their own trunks at this time, and they get really big, bigger and bigger, and pepper the Earth, releasing oxygen, releasing oxygen, releasing oxygen, such that the oxygen levels are about twice as high as what they are today. And this rich air supports massive insects -- huge spiders and dragonflies with a wingspan of about 65 centimeters. To breathe, this air is really clean and really fresh. It doesn't so much have a flavor, but it does give your body a really subtle kind of boost of energy. It's really good for hangovers.
我對於一些時間點特別有興趣, 這有幾個關於生命改變空氣的例子, 也有空氣影響生命演化的例子, 比如石炭紀空氣, 它在 3 到 3.5 億年前。 那是以巨大生物而知名的時代。 生命歷史上第一次, 木質素開始進化。 木質素是組成樹木的硬質材料。 因此這時樹木高效地 形成了它們的軀幹, 它們變得越來越大, 覆蓋了地球, 釋放氧氣,釋放氧氣,釋放氧氣, 因此氧氣量 比我們現在的多約 2 倍。 這樣富足的空氣孕育了 大量的昆蟲—— 大型的蜘蛛, 翼展有 65 公分的蜻蜓。 對於呼吸而言, 這種空氣非常乾淨和新鮮。 它沒有味道, 但是它給了你身體真正的能量。 它對於宿醉者再好不過。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
Or there's the air of the Great Dying -- that's about 252.5 million years ago, just before the dinosaurs evolve. It's a really short time period, geologically speaking, from about 20- to 200,000 years. Really quick. This is the greatest extinction event in Earth's history, even bigger than when the dinosaurs died out. Eighty-five to 95 percent of species at this time die out, and simultaneous to that is a huge, dramatic spike in carbon dioxide, that a lot of scientists agree comes from a simultaneous eruption of volcanoes and a runaway greenhouse effect. Oxygen levels at this time go to below half of what they are today, so about 10 percent. So this air would definitely not support human life, but it's OK to just have a breath. And to breathe, it's oddly comforting. It's really calming, it's quite warm and it has a flavor a little bit like soda water. It has that kind of spritz, quite pleasant.
或者是大滅絕時期的空氣—— 約 2.525 億年前, 就在恐龍演化之前。 地質學上講,它是相當短的時間, 在 20 到 20 萬年之間。 真的很短。 這是地球歷史上的大滅絕事件, 甚至比恐龍滅絕更甚。 85~95% 的物種滅絶, 隨之而來的是, 二氧化碳量急劇增加, 很多科學家都認為 是由於許多火山噴發造成, 迅速導致了溫室效應。 氧氣含量少於當今的一半, 大約 10%。 因此這種空氣不能滿足 人類的生理需求, 但是勉強可供呼吸。 而且對呼吸而言, 有一種奇怪的舒適感。 它很平靜,很溫熱, 它有一點蘇打水的味道。 它有那種愉悅的氣泡。
So with all this thinking about air of the past, it's quite natural to start thinking about the air of the future. And instead of being speculative with air and just making up what I think might be the future air, I discovered this human-synthesized air. That means that it doesn't occur anywhere in nature, but it's made by humans in a laboratory for application in different industrial settings.
帶著所有這些關於 過去時代的空氣的思考, 開始思考未來時代的 空氣是很自然的。 我並不是對於空氣成分進行猜測, 然後製造自己所認為的 「未來空氣」, 而是發現了這些人類合成的空氣。 那意味著它在自然界不會出現, 僅僅是在人類的實驗室, 為了不同工業環境的應用而製造。
Why is it future air? Well, this air is a really stable molecule that will literally be part of the air once it's released, for the next 300 to 400 years, before it's broken down. So that's about 12 to 16 generations. And this future air has some very sensual qualities. It's very heavy. It's about eight times heavier than the air we're used to breathing. It's so heavy, in fact, that when you breathe it in, whatever words you speak are kind of literally heavy as well, so they dribble down your chin and drop to the floor and soak into the cracks. It's an air that operates quite a lot like a liquid.
為什麼它是未來的空氣? 好,這種空氣是穩定的分子, 它一經釋放,就會融入空氣中, 維持 300~400 年,直到它被降解。 所以大約是 12 到 16 代 那麼長的時間。 這種未來的空氣 有一些可感知的特性。 它很重。 大約是我們通常呼吸空氣的 8 倍重。 它如此重,事實上,當你呼吸時, 不管你說什麼,還是會感覺重, 所以它會沿著你的下巴 流下掉到地上, 流入地板上的縫隙。 它是像液體一般的空氣。
Now, this air comes with an ethical dimension as well. Humans made this air, but it's also the most potent greenhouse gas that has ever been tested. Its warming potential is 24,000 times that of carbon dioxide, and it has that longevity of 12 to 16 generations. So this ethical confrontation is really central to my work. (In a lowered voice) It has another quite surprising quality. It changes the sound of your voice quite dramatically.
現在,這種空氣產生了道德問題。 人類製作了這種空氣, 但是從測試看來, 它也是最具溫室效應潛質的空氣。 它的增溫效果 是二氧化碳的二萬四千倍, 它的壽命有 12 到 16 代。 所以這倫理上的對抗 是我工作的重點。 (降低聲調)它有另外一個 令人驚訝的特性。 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, we probably don't think about giant insects and erupting volcanoes or funny voices. The images that more readily come to mind are things like retreating glaciers and polar bears adrift on icebergs. We think about pie charts and column graphs and endless politicians talking to scientists wearing cardigans.
當我們思考氣候變化, 我們可能沒有想到 巨大的昆蟲,噴發的火山, 或者有趣的聲音。 那些更可能跳出的形象 是消融的冰川, 以及在冰塊上漂流的北極熊。 我們想到是餅狀圖和柱狀圖, 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 on the same visceral level that we experience the air. Like air, climate change is simultaneously at the scale of the molecule, the breath and the planet. It's immediate, vital and intimate, as well as being amorphous and cumbersome. And yet, it's so easily forgotten.
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, 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。 它直接、重要而又親密, 同時無形的、難於處理的。 儘管,它容易被忘卻。
Climate change is the collective self-portrait of humanity. It reflects our decisions as individuals, as governments and as industries. And if there's anything I've learned from looking at air, it's that even though it's changing, it persists. It may not support the kind of life that we'd recognize, but it will support something. And if we humans are such a vital part of that change, I think it's important that we can feel the discussion. Because even though it's invisible, humans are leaving a very vibrant trace in the air.
氣候變化是人類行為 集合的自我反映。 它反映了我們作為個人的決定、 政府的決定以及產業的決定。 如果我們反觀空氣能學到什麼的話, 那就是,即便它不斷變化, 它仍存在。 它也許不能維持 我們熟知的生活型態, 但是它能養活某些型態。 如果人類是那種變化中 重要的一員的話, 我想,我們能感受 關於它的討論,這是重要的。 因為儘管它不可見, 人類卻在空氣中留下了 十分鮮明的印記。
Thank you.
謝謝。
(Applause)
(掌聲)