ABOUT THE ARTIST | 关于艺术家
Niki Passath is an Austrian robotics artist engaged in his work with the sculptural conditions of robots and the idea of artificial intelligence. His artistic creations search for answers to the mystery of life, the people, their emotions, social behavior, their behavior compared to machines and to the surrounding nature.
Niki Passath是一位奥地利机器人艺术家，他用机器模型和人工智能的概念来实践自己的艺术创作。他在创作中试图找寻关于生命的奥秘，人类和他们的情感，社交行为，并将人类的行为与机器对周围环境的反应来做比较。
A few weeks ago Niki Passath opened his show, “Robotic Conditions” at the JITU Creative space in 798 Art District, Beijing. He demonstrated creative works through his mechanical inventions and also invoked curiosity among the audience. In an attempt to better understand how one enters this career path and the thinking behind his creations, Madness reached out for an interview. Let’s take a look below:
几周前，Niki Passath在北京798艺术区的吉图创意空间举办了他的个展“机械化状态”。他在个展中展示了他的机械创作艺术，同时也激发了在场观众的好奇。为了更好地理解艺术家是如何选择创作媒介，以及他的创作背后的思想，Madness邀请这位艺术家和我们进行了一次对话。
Live performance by Niki Passath at JITU Creative Space Beijing
1. How did you get started on these robotics art projects?
When I was 5 years old, I started to learn to play the violoncello and continued to study classical music at the university in Graz. After finishing school I studied architecture and finished my studies in media arts and digital arts. During these times I had already created machines, robots, and tools with which I created my art. My first art piece was the robotic tattoo performance “Kurt“.
当我5岁的时候，我开始学习大提琴，之后在格拉茨大学学习古典音乐。完成学业后，我又学了建筑，并且完成了在媒体艺术和数字艺术方面的研究。在这段时间里，我已经开始我的艺术创作，比如机器、机器人和其它工具。我的第一个艺术作品是机器纹身表演者“Kurt”.
Robotic Tattoo performance “Kurt” by Niki Passath
Later I realized that this might have to do with my musical background: Using the music instrument creates the music and a very strong and intimate interaction with a machine leads to the art.
后来我意识到，这可能与我的音乐背景有关：使用乐器来创作音乐，其实是一件与机器之间拥有强烈而亲密互动的一件事。这也通向了我后来艺术创作的道路。
I was always interested in many different things and having the possibility to study in an academic context was very important for me. Nevertheless, every method and skill I use in my art practice, I learned in an autodidactic way.
我总是对许多不同领域的事情感兴趣，并且在学术背景下的学习对我来说非常重要。尽管如此，我在艺术实践中使用的每一种方法和技巧，都是自学来的。
2. What is the purpose of these artistic robots?
“My projects always start with a question. “
I am mainly interested in humans, human behavior, social systems, communication and motion as language. By understanding a machine I created I start to understand a lot about myself and humanity in general. For example, if you create a machine which can walk around in nature, you will realize what amazing unconscious skills we have that we can navigate easily through almost every kind of surrounding.
我主要对人类、人类行为、社会系统、交流和运动这类主题感兴趣。通过理解我创建的一台机器，我对我自己和人性也有了很大的了解。举个例子，如果你创造了一台可以在大自然中行走的机器，你将会意识到我们拥有的惊人的无意识技能，因为我们可以很容易地在几乎所有的环境中进行活动。
“ZOE” by Niki Passath, an attempt to represent human and interpersonal relationships with machinery
I always create a new robot for new performance or exhibition. It is very important for me to make everything by myself and also to use a restricted set of materials. Cheap and easily available.
我总是为新的表演或展览创造一个新的机器人。对我来说，自己亲手做每件事是非常重要的，而且要使用一套受限制的材料。便宜而且容易买到。
I often traveled around the world and always wanted to be able to create my art pieces wherever I am. This was on one hand, a restriction but on the other, gave me the possibility to act as an artist ubiquitously.
我经常在世界各地旅行，总想在任何地方都能创作出我的艺术作品。一方面，这是一种限制，另一方面，也是一个让我可以在何时何地都能创作艺术的机会。
At the end of the day, machines have the purpose of supporting me to find answers. By using them, together, we become symbiotic elements which create together the art pieces.
最后的最后，用机器创作的目的是帮助我找到一些答案。通过使用它们，我们一起成为共生的元素，共同创造出艺术作品。
3. You mentioned that Volker (seen above) was made with the intention of playing with and stimulating emotion. Do you think that this emotion could be more of an illusion that the viewer experiences?
你提到了制作Volker（见上图）的目的是用来刺激情绪的产生。你认为这种情绪的产生会不会更像是观众幻觉？
In this context, I like to talk about interpreted emotions. For sure the machines don’t bear emotions but they can create emotions.
在这种情况下，我想聊聊对情绪的理解。毫无疑问，机器不会有情感，但它们可以创造情感。
There doesn’t seem to be an interest in the form of the machine, only in its function. Before the industrial revolution there were “artists” like Jaques Vauconson who created an animatronic duck or Jaquet Droz, who as a clockmaker created an android who was capable of writing any kind of text, actually some see this as one of the first computers, or Wolfgang von Kempelen who created a machine which could speak and created the famous chess player automaton.
人们普遍对机器的形式没有兴趣，只是在它的功能上。在工业革命之前，有像Jaques Vauconson 这样的艺术家，他创造了一个电动鸭子和钟表匠Jaquet Droz，以及一个能够书写任何文本的机器人，实际上有些人把它看成是最早的计算机之一。又或者是Wolfgang von Kempelen发明的可以说话并创造出著名象棋玩家的自动机。
The backside of a Jaquet Droz automaton
Some of these inventors went into industrial developments creating machines to produce products for masses, others, went into illusionism, like Von Kempelen’s famous chess player which in fact was not an automaton, but more like a person hidden within the machine.
这些发明家中的一些人进入了工业发展阶段，创造机器来为大众生产产品，而另一些则进入了幻觉主义，就像冯肯普伦著名的象棋手，事实上它并不是一个机器，而更像一个隐藏在机器内部的象棋手。
Generally, the creators of the automatons seem to have had more interest in philosophical questions… what does writing mean? does the ability to write a letter with your own hand, mastering languages in a way, make us human? Isn’t it the possibility to speak or the ability to think in such a complex way which makes us humans?
一般来说，机器人的创造者似乎对哲学问题更感兴趣……写作是什么意思？用你自己的手写一封信，掌握语言的能力，就意味着我们成为人类吗？难道不是有说话的能力，以及可以用如此复杂的方式思考的能力更使我们成为人类吗？
In a way my robots create illusions, but the intention is to start with these illusions a thinking process which stimulates subjective insights about oneself.
在某种程度上，我的机器人创造了幻想，但最终的目的是它们如何激发对我们对自己的主观认识，让人更了解自己。
Painting Traces by Niki Passath
4. Why do you find painting with hands different from painting with electronic traces?
My robots always act in a partially unpredictable way. So they are programmed to act autonomously. I have programmed the algorithms so I understand the principle. Same as if I look at a pianoforte, I can understand how this instrument works, but I still am not able to play it. This requires practice.
我的机器人总是以一种不可预知的方式行动。所以它们当初被设定的时候就是自主行动。我已经编写了算法，所以我理解了这个原理。就像我看钢琴一样，我能理解这个乐器是如何工作的，但我还是不能演奏它，这需要练习。
Rip In The Multiverse, 2015 240 × 120 cm Acrylic and watercolor on paper, Niki Passath
By using my robots I always want to archive something. With each performance, I learn more about my own instrument so we become a more combined body and create together. Sometimes I have to react to its behavior, but as I can predict what the machine will do, I can learn to use it in my personal way. Somebody else using one of my machines would create a different output.
通过使用我的机器人，我总是想要存档一些东西。每一次表演，我都能更多地了解我自己的机器，这样我们就能成为一个更综合的一体，一起创造。有时我不得不对它的行为做出反应，但是因为我可以预测这台机器会做什么，我可以用我个人的方式来使用它。其他人使用同样的机器产生不同的输出。
For me, the learning aspect is very interesting. During performances, I learn to use the robotic painting instrument and during this learning process, the relationship between me and the machine evolves.
对我来说，这样的学习总是很有趣。在表演过程中，我学会了使用机器人绘画工具，同样在这个过程中，我和机器之间的关系会不断发展。
“I like to have emotional relationships with my robots.”
5. As an artist, did you have any projects you wanted to do but could not?
作为一个艺术家，你有什么项目是你想做但还没做的吗？
I have a lot of ideas and also a lot of projects in my mind of which some are quite utopian. As my projects grow evolutionary and are not planned in advance (only the question is defined), I generally don’t have “projects I want to realize“.
我有很多想法，在我的脑海中也有很多项目，其中有些是很乌托邦的。随着我的项目不断发展，并且没有提前计划（只有问题被定下来），基本上我没有“想要实现的项目”。
Sometimes there is the need for much learning before being able to start the artistic process. It took ten years for me to act intuitively with the materiality of electronics, sensors, and motors. After learning these skills new ideas come up, like how now very interested in artificial intelligence.
有时候，在开始艺术创作之前需要大量的学习。我用了10年的时间来更直觉地使用电子设备、传感器和马达的材料。在学习了这些技能之后，新的想法就会出现，比如现在对人工智能非常感兴趣。
6. Lastly, do you have any future projects coming up?
Actually, I am learning the first steps into artificial intelligence. I know this will take a long time. During this time, I will think more about the human body as a machine.
实际上，我正在学习人工智能的第一步。我知道这需要很长时间。在这段时间里，我将更多地把人的身体想象成一台机器。
If I can program little machines to have a certain behavior, why should it not be possible to program myself to act after a certain pre-defined algorithm? Going back to the comparison with classical music: Not all musicians need a technical instrument like a piano or a violin or a flute, there still are vocalists which use their own body as an instrument, the voice.
如果我能编程机器让其拥有特定的行为，那为什么不可能在设定一个特定的算法之后，让自己在特定的环境下行动呢？回到与古典音乐的比较：不是所有的音乐家都需要像钢琴、小提琴或笛子这样的技术乐器，仍然有歌手用他们自己的身体作为乐器，也就是他们的声音。
Edited by Stephanie & Poppy
Photos provided by Niki Passath and JITU Creative Space
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