A Translation Experiment 一个翻译实验
Screen Print, 2023
This work is a visual experiment which from the article of
The Malevolence of Words. Read the full article please click the
The Malevolence of Words under the list of writing.
该作品是文章“书写之恶”中的一个实验性视觉实验，阅览完整文章请点击“观点写作”中的“书写之恶”一文。
A Translation Experiment, 2023
The story of the “Translations”
By Xiaoyu Xiong, 2024
Contemporary artists strive to abandon the legibility of text in their creations, and disassociation of the graphics of writing from the linguistic sign. Emphasising the showcasing of the formative impact of weapons in the shape of written words on the human body and mind. In Xu Bing's work A Case Study of Transference, (1994) elements such as the contrast between books and pigs, the collision of fake Latin symbols and fake square characters, the enthusiastic sexual behaviour of pigs, and the awkwardness of the audience are intricately woven together. Civilisation, language, knowledge, power, primitiveness, violence, and desire are unexpectedly and reasonably blended into one space. It serves as a reflection of human society. Simultaneously, it also proves the vast difference between the cultural construction of human discourse and nature. In contrast to Xu Bing's rational approach to art creation, another group of artists from the same era similarly separates the visual form of words from their informational content. If Xu Bing's words is a deconstruction of power structures and a silent resistance to existing social norms, then the abstract calligraphy works of Japanese calligrapher Nankoku Hidai and Gakyu Osawa are unconscious improvisations. They believe that even if you were to try to consciously draw/write a line, the line you write will not be the same as the one you intended. It comes out by itself when I am not conscious of it.(Holmberg, 2008) Coincidentally, in Europe half a century ago, the artist Henri Michaux（1899-1984) also attempted to record the current emotions as quickly as possible through unconscious writing. The work Alphabet, (1927) is an artist's recording of the unconscious state using "his own language" (René Bertelé). Interestingly, the initial lines of the work are very small and abstract geometric lines; as time progresses, the text becomes larger and more concrete, even evoking specific things highly connected to nature such as trees, fire, people, leaves, eyes, and so on. With the deepening of the artist's unconscious state, I can gradually read Michaux's thoughts and emotions at that time. Not only Michaux, but in an unconscious state, people seem to be able to write more direct, communicative, and figurative text, establishing an emotional connection with the reader through a kind of "superpower" understanding. For example, Nankoku Hidai's work 64-6, (no year) like a Turtle. Therefore, can we say that while text originates from nature, the symbolised text systems that exist today are tools created by power structures? Their main purpose is to construct discourse, categorise people, and enter different systems to maintain the operation of society, causing humanity to forget that emotional expression in an unconscious state is the core of communication between people, and between humans and nature.
In order to substantiate this hypothesis, a small-scale experiment was conducted. Primarily, it was assumed that translation software, devised by humans based on language systems, could reflect and represent the cognitive processes prevalent in human society. Subsequently, artworks from three artists were selected for the experiment: Xu Bing's Square Characters (a rational recombination of Chinese characters), Henri's Alphabet (emotion recording under unconsciousness), and my own created words (constructing rational characters based on emotional data). These were utilised as the experimental subjects. Finally, the translation software's photo translation function was employed to automatically recognise and translate these three experimental objects, and the resultant translations were documented. The following conclusions were derived:
1. Xu Bing's square characters were unequivocally identified as readable Chinese characters but could not be amalgamated into a coherent sentence. 2. Henri's "Alphabet" was recognised as a medley of readable characters from various regions, such as Chinese, English, Urdu, Hindi, Japanese, etc., and could not formulate complete semantics. 3. My new characters could not be recognised as any known language.
From these observations, it can be inferred that the translation software strives to identify text images resembling the known and limited text systems prevalent in society. This is instead of seeking to comprehend the emotions, spirits, and thoughts expressed within the text. Although Xu Bing and Henri's works constitute self-created characters, they adhere to the writing conventions of existing text systems, manifesting in rows of text and consequently being recognised as such by the software. Conversely, my characters eschew the compositional methods of any existing language and also discard conventional text layout, rendering them unrecognisable by the translation software. In summary, it is posited that the translation software endeavours to standardise and symbolise the fluctuating thoughts and rebellious expressions of human inner emotions into a form that aligns with expectations and avoids disrupting class stability. This facilitates seamless integration into the societal operational framework. Thus, the hypothesis is substantiated.
“翻译的故事”
Sherry，2024
当代艺术家努力在他们的创作中抛弃文字的可读性，并使书写的图形与语言符号脱离联系。强调展示书面文字形状对人体和心灵的形成性影响。在徐冰的作品《文字的研究案例》（1994）中，书籍与猪之间的对比、假拉丁符号与假方块字的碰撞、猪的热情性行为以及观众的尴尬被巧妙地编织在一起。文明、语言、知识、权力、原始、暴力和欲望意外且合理地融合在一个空间中。这反映了人类社会。同时，它也证明了人类话语的文化建构与自然之间的巨大差异。
与徐冰的理性艺术创作方法相对，同一时代的另一组艺术家也同样将文字的视觉形式与其信息内容分离。如果说徐冰的文字是一种对权力结构的解构，对现有社会规范的无声抗争，那么日本书法家日代南谷和小泽画久的抽象书法作品则是无意识的即兴创作。他们相信，即使你试图有意识地画/写一条线，写出的线也不会与你意图的一样。它在你无意识的状态下自己出来（Holmberg，2008）。巧合的是，半个世纪前的欧洲，艺术家亨利·米肖（1899-1984）也试图通过无意识书写尽快记录当前的情感。作品《字母》（1927）是艺术家用“他自己的语言”记录无意识状态的记录（René Bertelé）。有趣的是，作品的初始线条非常小且抽象的几何线条；随着时间的推移，文本变得越来越大和具体，甚至引发与自然高度相关的具体事物，如树、火、人、叶、眼睛等。随着艺术家无意识状态的加深，我逐渐读懂了米肖当时的思想和情感。不仅是米肖，在无意识状态下，人们似乎能够写出更直接、富有交流性和具象的文字，通过一种“超能力”理解与读者建立情感联系。例如，日代南谷的作品《64-6》（年份不详）像乌龟。因此，我们可以说，虽然文字起源于自然，但今天存在的符号化文字系统是权力结构创造的工具？它们的主要目的是构建话语、分类人群，并进入不同的系统以维持社会的运作，使人类忘记在无意识状态下的情感表达是人与人、人与自然之间交流的核心。
为了验证这一假设，进行了一个小规模的实验。首先假设基于语言系统的人类设计的翻译软件可以反映和代表人类社会的认知过程。随后选取了三位艺术家的作品作为实验对象：徐冰的《方块字》（一种理性重组的汉字）、亨利的《字母》（无意识状态下的情感记录）和我自己创造的文字（基于情感数据构建的理性字符）。最后，使用翻译软件的照片翻译功能自动识别和翻译这三个实验对象，并记录了翻译结果。得出以下结论：
1. 徐冰的方块字被明确识别为可读的汉字，但不能组合成一个连贯的句子。
2. 亨利的《字母》被识别为由各种区域的可读字符组成，如中文、英文、乌尔都文、印地文、日文等，不能形成完整的语义。
3. 我的新字符无法识别为任何已知语言。
从这些观察中，可以推断翻译软件试图识别与社会中已知和有限的文字系统相似的文本图像，而不是试图理解文本中表达的情感、精神和思想。虽然徐冰和亨利的作品构成了自创的字符，但它们遵循现有文字系统的书写习惯，以行文的形式呈现，因此被软件识别为文字。相比之下，我的字符避免了任何现有语言的构图方法，并且也放弃了传统的文本布局，使得它们无法被翻译软件识别。总之，可以认为翻译软件试图将人类内心情感波动和反叛表达标准化和符号化，使之符合期望，避免破坏阶级稳定，以便无缝融入社会运作框架。因此，这一假设得以证实。