This story is about taking imagination seriously. Fourteen years ago, I first encountered this ordinary material, fishnet, used the same way for centuries. Today, I'm using it to create permanent, billowing, voluptuous forms the scale of hard-edged buildings in cities around the world. I was an unlikely person to be doing this. I never studied sculpture, engineering or architecture. In fact, after college I applied to seven art schools and was rejected by all seven.
Ova priča je o ozbiljnom pristupu mašti. Pre 14 godina ja sam prvi put pronašla jedan običan materijal, ribarsku mrežu, koji je korišćen na isti načim već stotinama godina. Danas, ja ga koristim da stvorim stalne, bujne, pohotljive oblike veličine grubih zgrada u gradovima po celom svetu. Ja nisam tipična osoba koja se bavi time. Nisam nikada studirala skulpturu, ni inženjerstvo ili arhitekturu. Zapravo, posle srednje škole prijavila sam se na sedam škola umetnosti i nisam prihvaćena ni u jednu.
I went off on my own to become an artist, and I painted for 10 years, when I was offered a Fulbright to India. Promising to give exhibitions of paintings, I shipped my paints and arrived in Mahabalipuram. The deadline for the show arrived -- my paints didn't. I had to do something. This fishing village was famous for sculpture. So I tried bronze casting. But to make large forms was too heavy and expensive. I went for a walk on the beach, watching the fishermen bundle their nets into mounds on the sand. I'd seen it every day, but this time I saw it differently -- a new approach to sculpture, a way to make volumetric form without heavy solid materials.
Rešila sam da sama postanem umetnik, i slikala sam narednih 10 godina, kad sam konačno dobila Fulbrajt stipendiju da idem za indiju. Kako sam obećala da ću izložiti svoje slike, poslala sam ih i stigla u Mahabalipuram. Dan izložbe je stigao -- ali moje slike nisu. Morala sam nešto da preuzmem. Ovo ribarsko selo je vrlo poznato po skulpturi. Pa sam probala livenje bronze. Ali praviti velike forme je bilo teško i skupo. Otišla sam da se prošetam na plaži, i tamo sam gledala ribare kako gomilaju svoje mreže na pesku. Isto kao što sam videla svaki dan to tada, ali ovaj put mi se učinilo drugačije -- novi pristup skulpturi, način da se napravi volumetrijska forma bez teških i čvrstih materijala.
My first satisfying sculpture was made in collaboration with these fishermen. It's a self-portrait titled "Wide Hips." (Laughter) We hoisted them on poles to photograph. I discovered their soft surfaces revealed every ripple of wind in constantly changing patterns. I was mesmerized. I continued studying craft traditions and collaborating with artisans, next in Lithuania with lace makers. I liked the fine detail it gave my work, but I wanted to make them larger -- to shift from being an object you look at to something you could get lost in.
Moja prva zadovoljavajuća skulptura je napravljena u saradnji sa ovim ribarima. To je autoportret nazvan "Široki kukovi". (smeh) Podigli smo ih na šipke da bi ih slikali. Primetila sam da su te mekane površine reagovale na svaki dah vetra u stalno promenljivim oblicima. Bila sam opčinjena. Nastavila sam da proučavam tradicije zanata i da sarađujem sa zanatlijama, onda sa krojačima čipke u Litvaniji. Volela sam fine detalje koje su davale mojim radovima, ali htela sam da budu veći -- da ne budu samo objekti koji se mogu gledati nego da budu objekti u kojima se može izgubiti.
Returning to India to work with those fishermen, we made a net of a million and a half hand-tied knots -- installed briefly in Madrid. Thousands of people saw it, and one of them was the urbanist Manual Sola-Morales who was redesigning the waterfront in Porto, Portugal. He asked if I could build this as a permanent piece for the city. I didn't know if I could do that and preserve my art. Durable, engineered, permanent -- those are in opposition to idiosyncratic, delicate and ephemeral.
Vratila sam se u Indiju da bi opet radila sa onim ribarima, napravili smo mrežu od milion i po ručno vezanih čvorova -- koja je bila neko kratko vreme izložena u Madridu. Hiljade ljudi su je videli i jedan od njih je bio urbanista Manuel Sola-Morales, koji je tad redizajnirao kej u Portu, u Portugaliji. Pitao me je da li bih mogla to da napravim ali kao stalnu skulpturu za grad. Nisam znala da li bih mogla to da uspem a i da sačuvam svoju umetnost. Izdržljivo, inženjersko, dugotrajno -- ti kvaliteti se teško uklapaju sa idiosinkratičnim, delikatnim i efemernim.
For two years, I searched for a fiber that could survive ultraviolet rays, salt, air, pollution, and at the same time remain soft enough to move fluidly in the wind. We needed something to hold the net up out there in the middle of the traffic circle. So we raised this 45,000-pound steel ring. We had to engineer it to move gracefully in an average breeze and survive in hurricane winds. But there was no engineering software to model something porous and moving. I found a brilliant aeronautical engineer who designs sails for America's Cup racing yachts named Peter Heppel. He helped me tackle the twin challenges of precise shape and gentle movement.
Dve godine sam tražila vlakno koje bi moglo da izdrži ultravioletno zračenje, so, vazduh, zagađenje, a itekako koje bi ostalo dovoljno mekano da bi se lagano kretalo uz vetar. Trebalo nam je nešto što bi moglo da drži tu mrežu tamo na sredini koloseka. Zatim smo podigli čelični prsten od 22,000 kg. Morali smo ga napraviti da se može lagano kretati na tihom vetru, a i da bi preživeo najžešću oluju. Ali tada nije postojao kompjuterski program koji bi mogao da modelira nešto toliko pokretno i porozno. Našla sam odličnog aeronautičkog inženjera koji pravi jedra za amerikke trkačke jahte, zove se Piter Hepel. On mi je pomogao da rešim oba problema: precizni oblik i lagano kretanje.
I couldn't build this the way I knew because hand-tied knots weren't going to withstand a hurricane. So I developed a relationship with an industrial fishnet factory, learned the variables of their machines, and figured out a way to make lace with them. There was no language to translate this ancient, idiosyncratic handcraft into something machine operators could produce. So we had to create one. Three years and two children later, we raised this 50,000-square-foot lace net. It was hard to believe that what I had imagined was now built, permanent and had lost nothing in translation.
Nisam ga mogla praviti tako kako sam znala, zato što ručno-vezani čvorovi ne bi mogli da izdrže oluju. Pa sam se zato udružila sa jednim industrijskim proizvođačem ribarskih mreža, i naučila kako rade njihove mašine, tako da bih konačno pronašla način kako da stvorim čipku s njima. Nije postojao sistem da bi se ova stara, idiosinkratična veština prevela u nešto što bi ovi mašinisti mogli da kreiraju. I to smo morali da stvorimo. Tri godine i dvoje dece kasnije, podigli smo ovu čipkanu mrezu od 18,000 kvadrata. Stvarno je bilo teško verovati da to što sam ja zamišljala je sada izgrađeno, stalno i da nije izgubilo ništa u tom prevodu.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)
This intersection had been bland and anonymous. Now it had a sense of place. I walked underneath it for the first time. As I watched the wind's choreography unfold, I felt sheltered and, at the same time, connected to limitless sky. My life was not going to be the same. I want to create these oases of sculpture in spaces of cities around the world. I'm going to share two directions that are new in my work.
Ova raskrsnica je ranije bila dosadna i anonimna. Sada ima smisao mesta. Prošla sam ispod skulpture po prvi put. Gledala sam kako se razvijala koreografija vetra, imala sam utisak zaštićenosti i u istom trenutku, povezanosti sa neograničenim nebom. Život mi je od tada skroz promenjen. Htela sam da stvaram ove oaze skulptura u praznim mestima raznih gradova po svetu. Htela bi sada da govorim o dva dodatna elementa u mom radu.
Historic Philadelphia City Hall: its plaza, I felt, needed a material for sculpture that was lighter than netting. So we experimented with tiny atomized water particles to create a dry mist that is shaped by the wind and in testing, discovered that it can be shaped by people who can interact and move through it without getting wet. I'm using this sculpture material to trace the paths of subway trains above ground in real time -- like an X-ray of the city's circulatory system unfolding.
Istorijska gradska kuća Filadelfije: imala sam utisak da je njenom trgu trebao materijal za skulpturu lakši od ribarske mreže. Zato smo eksperimentisali sa malim atomiziranim vodenim česticama da bismo stvorili suvu maglu koja bi reagovala na vetar. U testiranju smo shvatili da može reagovati i na ljudsku ruku i da ljudi mogli da se kreću kroz nju, a da ne budu mokri. Ja koristim ovaj skulpturni materijal da bih pratila putanje metroa iznad zemlje u realnom vremenu -- kao rendgen gradskog circularnog sistema.
Next challenge, the Biennial of the Americas in Denver asked, could I represent the 35 nations of the Western hemisphere and their interconnectedness in a sculpture? (Laughter) I didn't know where to begin, but I said yes. I read about the recent earthquake in Chile and the tsunami that rippled across the entire Pacific Ocean. It shifted the Earth's tectonic plates, sped up the planet's rotation and literally shortened the length of the day. So I contacted NOAA, and I asked if they'd share their data on the tsunami, and translated it into this. Its title: "1.26" refers to the number of microseconds that the Earth's day was shortened.
Sledeći izazov je bio kada je Bijenale Amerika u Denveru tražilo da prikažem svih 35 nacija zapadne hemisfere i njihove povezanosti u jednoj skulpturi. (smeh) Nisam znala gde da počnem, ali sam pristala. Čitala sam o zemljotresu u Čileu i o cunamiju koji je prešao preko celog Pacifika. Pomerio je tektonske ploče Zemlje, i ubrzao rotaciju planete i bukvalno skratio dužinu dana. Nazvala sam Nacionalnu administraciju za okeane i atmosferu, i zamolila ih da mi proslede svoje podatke o cunamiju, i prevela sam sve to u ovo. Zove se: "1.26", a odnosi se na broj milisekundi za koliko je skraćen dan.
I couldn't build this with a steel ring, the way I knew. Its shape was too complex now. So I replaced the metal armature with a soft, fine mesh of a fiber 15 times stronger than steel. The sculpture could now be entirely soft, which made it so light it could tie in to existing buildings -- literally becoming part of the fabric of the city. There was no software that could extrude these complex net forms and model them with gravity. So we had to create it.
Ovo nisam mogla zidati sa čeličnim prstenom kao što sam ranije radila. Oblik je postao previše komplikovan. Pa sam zamenila metalnu armaturu sa mekanom, finom mrežom, napravljenom od vlakana koja su 15 puta jača od čelika. Ova skulptura je sada mogla da bude skroz mekana, i zato lagana da bi mogla da se ubaci u postojeće zgrade -- da bukvalno postane deo tkanine grada. Opet nije postojao kompjuterski program koji bi mogao da modelira ove komplikovane forme sa gravitacijom. Pa smo i to morali kreirati.
Then I got a call from New York City asking if I could adapt these concepts to Times Square or the High Line. This new soft structural method enables me to model these and build these sculptures at the scale of skyscrapers. They don't have funding yet, but I dream now of bringing these to cities around the world where they're most needed.
Onda sam primila poziv iz Njujorka, pitali su me da li bih mogla da prilagodim ove ideje na Tajms Skveru ili na Hajlajnu. Ovaj novi mekani strukturalni metod mi omogućava da modeliram ovo i da napravim ovakve skultpture, veličine oblakodera. Trenutno nemaju finansiranje, ali sada sanjam o tome da ovo predstavim u raznim svetskim gradovima gde su najviše potrebne.
Fourteen years ago, I searched for beauty in the traditional things, in craft forms. Now I combine them with hi-tech materials and engineering to create voluptuous, billowing forms the scale of buildings. My artistic horizons continue to grow.
Pre 14 godina, tražila sam lepotu u vrlo tradicionalnim stvarima, u zanatskim objektima. Sada ih spajam sa modernim materijalima i inženjeringom da bih stvorila ogromne, vetrovite forme veličine celih zgrada. Moji umetnički horizonti se i dalje proširuju.
I'll leave you with this story. I got a call from a friend in Phoenix. An attorney in the office who'd never been interested in art, never visited the local art museum, dragged everyone she could from the building and got them outside to lie down underneath the sculpture. There they were in their business suits, laying in the grass, noticing the changing patterns of wind beside people they didn't know, sharing the rediscovery of wonder.
Završiću uz jednu anegdotu. Primila sam poziv od prijatelja iz Feniksa. Ona je advokat u kancelariji, nikada ranije nije bila zainteresovana za umetnost, nije nikad išla u lokalni muzej, ali je sada izvukla sve koje je mogla iz zgrade da odu napolje i da legnu ispod skulpture. Bili su tu u poslovnim odelima, ležali su na travi, gledali kako se kretao i pomerao vetar pored nepoznatih lica, i zajedno su ponovo otkrivali čudo.
Thank you.
Hvala.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Hvala. Hvala. Hvala. Hvala. Hvala.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)