Marco Barotti

宋雨、杨欣芸

“植物”是一个动能的声音雕塑，通过模仿叶子植物，它具有跟踪空气污染程度能力。该雕塑是由意大利媒体艺术家马可巴罗蒂（Marco Barotti）i设计，旨在揭示微粒物质对我们的环境和生物的影响。雕塑的声音元素主要是由世界空气质量指数网站生成的实时数据形成的。该网站将实时数据流传输到将数据转换为高频和低频声音的计算机应用程序链。然后，频率被发送到植物雕塑，在产生不断变化的声景同时生成机械结构的动力运动。这里涉及的技术打破了学科之间的界限，将生态研究融入到多种媒体艺术中。该雕塑能够带动观众的多重感官如视觉和听觉，它模仿真正的植物的形态给客人制造了一种在未来它将取代真实植物的画面。雕塑以这种想象力唤起了人们对于人类生态环境因人为改变而带来的未知结果所产生的恐惧和警惕。

Barotti创造的”植物”发生在当世界人类活动为了遏制病毒的传播而减少到最小化的新冠肺炎时期。这位意大利的艺术家注意到，自这一流行病开始以来，在世界许多工业区大气层中氮氧化物的浓度已降至50%。通过这种史无前例的工业排放量的减少时期，雕塑反映了人类与生态环境之间的关系。其目标是通过艺术的情感体验提高人们对生态问题的认识。它激励人们在有限和最直接的经验视野之外去思考，在更大层面上去感受到其影响。

“我试图在我们的生态系统中，重现动物的虚构生物学和功能性。我试图去创造技术性的装置，灵感就来源于自然生态系统和生存其间的动物”

马可巴罗蒂（Marco Barotti）的艺术通过自然和城市环境中的动态声音干预来表达一个虚构的后未来主义时期的形成。“我试图在我们的生态系统中，重现动物的虚构生物学和功能性。我试图去创造技术性的装置，灵感就来源于自然生态系统和生存其间的动物。” Barotti 之前的作品的灵感大多来源于动物的形象，比如蛤蜊、天鹅、啄木鸟，等等，而这次的作品是第一个关于植物的。维维安·索布恰克（Vivian Sobchack）首次使用后未来主义这个词，用它来形容十九世纪七十年代末八十年代初的某些科幻电影。在艺术领域，这个术语被一小群艺术家和学者用来描述基于计算机技术进行创作的艺术、诗歌和写作。Barotti 就像是这样后一种描述的“后未来主义者”。

佛朗哥·贝拉迪（Franco Berardi ）在他的后未来主义宣言中说：“我们呼吁艺术成为改变生活的力量”。马可巴罗蒂 Marco Barotti 的艺术作品不再作为仅供观览的展品出现在博物馆或画廊中，而是被融入城市环境和生态系统：只要通过与观众互动的实时变化，他们就”活着”。他的媒介艺术把生态系统中其他组成部分之间无形的关系视觉性得呈现在我们面前。技术正在改变我们的生活，也同时产生大量的科技浪费; 它在塑造我们的未来，也带来关于机器的预言式恐慌。就像 Barotti 的作品一样，它们让人感觉很熟悉，但也让人毛骨悚然，因为它们可能是我们未来的一部分。

By Yang Xinyun and Song Yu

The Plant is a kinetic sound sculpture. Imitating the shape of a leafy plant, it possesses the capacity of tracking air pollution. It was designed by Italian media artist Marco Barotti to reveal the impact of particulate on our environment and its living organisms. The sounding element of the sculpture is primarily determined by real time data generated by the World Air Quality Index website. The website streams the real-time data to a chain of computer applications that convert the data into high and low frequency sounds. The frequencies are then sent to the plant where the sculpture produces the evolving soundscape while generating the kinetic movements of the mechanical structure. The technique involved here has broken the boundary between subjects by blending ecological studies with multimedia art. The sculpture aims to engage the audience in a cross-perceptual modality, by targeting primarily vision and hearing. The sculpture’s imitative shape creates in viewers the feeling that this object could replace real plants in the future. By creating such an imaginative landscape, the sculpture also evokes a sense of fear and vigilance with the respect to the unknown consequences of man-made changes in the ecological environment.

Barotti created The Plant during and in response to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, where human activities at a global level have been minimized to contain the spread of the virus. The Italian artist noticed that concentrations of nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere has been reduced up to 50% in many industrially developed parts of the world during that time. Starting from this unprecedented reduction of industrial emissions, the sculpture is a reflection on the relationship between humans and their environment. Its goal is to raise awareness about ecological issues through the emotional experience of art. It challenges people to think outside their limited and most immediate horizon of experience to feel the implications at a larger level.

“I tried to create tech machines which are inspired by our ecosystem and the animals that live within it”

In Marco Barotti’s art, a fictional post-futurist world takes shapes through kinetic sound interventions in natural and urban environments. “I tried to recreate the fictional biology and functionality of the animals within our ecosystem. I tried to create tech machines which are inspired by our ecosystem and the animals that live within it.” Barotti’s previous artworks took inspiration from animal such as clams, swans, and woodpeckers. This is the first one to draw on the flora. Vivian Sobchack coined the term post-futurism to describe certain science fiction films from the late 1970s and early 1980s. In art, the term is used by a small collective of artists and academics to describe projects of computer based art, poetry and writing. Barotti appears to be this latter variety of post-Futurist.

In his “Post-Futurist Manifesto,” Franco Berardi writes: “We demand that art turns into a life-changing force.” The works of Marco Barotti are no longer exhibited in museums or galleries only, but are integrated into the urban environment and ecosystem: They are “alive” insofar as they change in real time by interacting also with the audience. His media art makes visible the invisible relationships with the other parts of the ecosystem . Technology is changing our lives, while at the same time generating vast amounts of tech waste; it is shaping our future, but at the same time is creating prophecies of mechanical fears. Just like Barotti’s works, those fears are familiar and frightening, because they could be part of our future.