Delete ? | Thierry Bisch | TEDxLimoges
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0:20 - 0:23What is the role of an artist?
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0:23 - 0:26You may think,
like the vast majority of people, -
0:26 - 0:30that an artist's role
is to deliver a message. -
0:30 - 0:33When Picasso was asked,
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0:33 - 0:35"Master, what is your message?"
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0:35 - 0:39he would answser, "What message?
I am not a mailman!" -
0:40 - 0:44An artist is there to ask questions,
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0:44 - 0:46to himself first,
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0:46 - 0:47and then to the public
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0:47 - 0:51so that they seize upon them
and ask themselves in turn. -
0:51 - 0:56From the question is born
the thought that will lead to action. -
0:57 - 1:00The Anthropocene -
as Gilles told you earlier - -
1:00 - 1:05is the nice name that many
meteorologists and geologists -
1:05 - 1:10give to the current period
in our planet's history. -
1:11 - 1:16Anthropocene is a neologism
built from two Greek words: -
1:16 - 1:21"anthropos," human being,
and "kainos," new, -
1:21 - 1:24in reference to that new period
-
1:24 - 1:29in which human activity has become
the major geologic constraint. -
1:30 - 1:35Today, it is men who alter
the environment and alter the planet, -
1:35 - 1:38in a very dangerous way.
-
1:39 - 1:41I am just completing...
-
1:44 - 1:49But "Where danger lies
also grows that which saves." -
1:50 - 1:53This famous sentence
of the poet Friedrich Hölderlin -
1:53 - 1:56has never been more relevant.
-
1:56 - 1:59The extraordinary technological advances
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1:59 - 2:04which have enabled the overexploitation
of our natural resources, -
2:05 - 2:08this human genius can be put,
-
2:08 - 2:10in my opinion, as a counterpart,
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2:10 - 2:14to the service of redemption and repair.
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2:16 - 2:18All of us can act,
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2:18 - 2:22not just engineers,
scientists and technicians ... -
2:22 - 2:25No, all of us, you ladies
and you gentlemen, and me ... -
2:26 - 2:29But to do so, we must resist.
-
2:29 - 2:35We must resist the depressive atmosphere
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2:35 - 2:38and resist fatalism.
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2:38 - 2:43To resist is to fight the gregarious
instinct that is in each of us. -
2:43 - 2:45By which, I mean "consumption."
-
2:46 - 2:48Don't worry,
I am not going to tell you, -
2:48 - 2:52"We must all ride bicycles, use candles,
or live under teepees!" -
2:52 - 2:54No.
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2:54 - 2:58Seriously, I think that we can,
as often as possible, -
2:58 - 3:02ponder and weigh up
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3:02 - 3:07the real consequences
of each purchase we make, -
3:07 - 3:11such as for example,
buying a bigger flat-screen TV, -
3:11 - 3:13a more powerful computer,
-
3:13 - 3:15a more comfortable car
-
3:15 - 3:18or even just a new clothe.
-
3:18 - 3:22I act as a citizen,
but I also act as an artist. -
3:22 - 3:29Today, I want to use my expertise
to raise awareness. -
3:31 - 3:37The overexploitation of natural resources
has resulted, among other things, -
3:37 - 3:40in the extinction of a large number
of animal species. -
3:41 - 3:46In just 42 years, we have lost
58% of the planetary wildlife. -
3:47 - 3:5038% of which are terrestrial vertebrates,
-
3:50 - 3:52because there are also fish, birds, etc.
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3:53 - 3:56It just so happens
that animals are my business. -
3:56 - 4:01My animal paintings are sold
in numerous galleries around the world - -
4:01 - 4:03they sell very well -
-
4:03 - 4:06and I could go on making
a very comfortable living of this work -
4:06 - 4:08without questioning myself.
-
4:08 - 4:11But I've decided
to get involved and to act. -
4:11 - 4:15If an artist cannot act directly
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4:15 - 4:19on the causes of this extinction,
on the causes of this decline, -
4:19 - 4:23he can nevertheless try
through the power of his art, -
4:23 - 4:26and as far as possible,
-
4:26 - 4:30to convince and rally
as many people as possible -
4:30 - 4:36to support those who fight
for the preservation of biodiversity, -
4:36 - 4:39through donations aimed to fund
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4:39 - 4:44programs that protect wildlife
and which are very costly. -
4:44 - 4:49Let me remind you
that Barack Obama's first campaign -
4:49 - 4:52for the 2008 presidential elections,
-
4:52 - 4:57was widely funded by $5 to $30 donations.
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4:58 - 5:03This year, in partnership with
Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, -
5:03 - 5:07we have presented
our first campaign "Delete ?" -
5:07 - 5:13"Delete ?" is a series of artworks
I created to alert urban populations -
5:13 - 5:17to the threat to a large
number of species. -
5:18 - 5:22So, what should I paint to rally,
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5:22 - 5:24to convince,
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5:24 - 5:25to seduce people?
-
5:26 - 5:32During our earliest meetings
with the Foundation, in 2015, -
5:32 - 5:34we discussed a lot about that.
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5:34 - 5:40Scientists think - and I assume
they're right about it - -
5:40 - 5:45that the loss of the amphibians
is far more harmful for humanity -
5:45 - 5:47than that of the elephants.
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5:47 - 5:49But I wanted to paint elephants.
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5:49 - 5:54Then I remembered a story
that had stuck with me. -
5:54 - 5:57Do you know who created this?
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5:58 - 6:00His name was Raymond Loewy.
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6:00 - 6:03He is the father of industrial design.
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6:03 - 6:07He is also credited for the logo
design of LU biscuits, -
6:07 - 6:11the Lucky Strike's packaging, Studbaker
and many Coca-Cola products, -
6:11 - 6:15in short, many world-famous visuals.
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6:17 - 6:21Raymond Loewy, as a young designer
in the 1940s and 1950s, -
6:21 - 6:26would go to industrial fairs
to seek out new customers, -
6:26 - 6:29and tell the manufacturers
at their stands, -
6:29 - 6:34" Your product is excellent. It works
really well. It's very effective ... -
6:34 - 6:37But, boy! It's so ugly!
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6:37 - 6:40If it were beautiful,
you would sell many more. -
6:40 - 6:42And I can make it beautiful! "
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6:42 - 6:47And this has been his life-long
motto: "Beauty sells!" -
6:47 - 6:50To sell an idea, it's not enough
that she be beautiful -
6:50 - 6:53philanthropically or philosophically,
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6:53 - 6:58it also has to be beautiful aesthetically,
artistically and in its modeling, -
6:59 - 7:03because the image is the first thing
that seizes you in the public space. -
7:04 - 7:08It's the image that will convince you
to want to know more about it. -
7:08 - 7:13Long before any sound
or anything else, the picture does it. -
7:14 - 7:19So, I managed to convince my partners
to go straight to the point -
7:19 - 7:24and show large and beautiful mammals,
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7:24 - 7:27such as the Panthera Tigris Altaïca.
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7:28 - 7:30Panthera Tigris Altaïca,
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7:30 - 7:33is the taxonomic name
of the Siberian tiger, -
7:33 - 7:35also known as the Amur Tiger.
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7:36 - 7:39It is the most powerful
of all the tiger subspecies. -
7:40 - 7:42It is also the third largest
predator on Earth -
7:42 - 7:45behind the Kodiak bear and the polar bear.
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7:46 - 7:50Males can weigh up to 350-400 kg
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7:50 - 7:54and measure up to 3.80 m
from head to tail. -
7:55 - 7:57The Siberian tiger
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7:57 - 8:01lives in the northeast of China
and in Eastern Siberia, -
8:01 - 8:04along the Amur River - hence its name -
-
8:04 - 8:08which is the natural boundary
between this two big countries. -
8:08 - 8:11It lives on a huge territory
-
8:11 - 8:16that is also a very geopolitically
strategic location. -
8:17 - 8:21Indeed, it is where the biggest
oil pipeline in the world runs, -
8:21 - 8:23the ESPO pipeline.
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8:24 - 8:27The ESPO pipeline goes from Eastern
Siberia to the Pacific Ocean -
8:27 - 8:29and runs for over 4,000 km.
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8:29 - 8:35In 2020, it will deliver more
than 80 million tons of crude oil -
8:35 - 8:39to China, Japan and Korea,
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8:39 - 8:42for an annual sum of $125 billion.
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8:42 - 8:45The stakes are colossal.
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8:45 - 8:51The construction of ESPO
required some deforestation, -
8:51 - 8:56which resulted in a partial reduction
of the tiger's habitat. -
8:57 - 9:01But it also opened new roads
that facilitate access for poachers. -
9:01 - 9:06A Siberian tiger's skin is worth
10,000 € on the black market. -
9:07 - 9:11Now, protection programs are costly.
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9:11 - 9:15You have to pay people to watch
over the tigers, fight against poachers. -
9:16 - 9:18It really requires funds.
-
9:18 - 9:20The sums invested are significant -
-
9:20 - 9:23Prince Albert II Foundation
is participating -
9:23 - 9:25as well as other organizations -
-
9:25 - 9:28but the results are rewarding.
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9:28 - 9:30It can be done.
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9:30 - 9:32In the middle of the 1990s,
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9:32 - 9:36there were only around
30 Siberian tigers left. -
9:36 - 9:39Today, they number around 500.
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9:39 - 9:43perhaps a bit more, as we suspect
there are some in North Korea, -
9:43 - 9:46but going there
to count them is difficult. -
9:46 - 9:48So, programs are rewarding.
-
9:48 - 9:52It allowed the IUCN -
-
9:52 - 9:55the International Union
for the Conservation of Nature, -
9:55 - 9:58to downgrade the Siberian tiger
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9:58 - 10:03from its famous Red List
of endangered species, -
10:03 - 10:09from "Critically endangered"
to simply "endangered." -
10:11 - 10:14Now, to return to my introduction,
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10:14 - 10:17an artist is there to ask questions.
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10:17 - 10:20My question is "Delete ?"
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10:21 - 10:24which is in French "Supprimer."
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10:24 - 10:28"Delete ?" is a universally
known IT pictogram. -
10:28 - 10:33It is the usual way to erase
a file from a computer. -
10:35 - 10:40I adapted this common pictogram
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10:40 - 10:44to a tangible and tragic reality,
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10:44 - 10:50that is the extinction and the threat
to a large number of species, -
10:50 - 10:54by showing on large tarps
hung in the streets, -
10:54 - 10:58or by nocturnal projections,
-
10:58 - 11:01mammals and animals
that are disappearing -
11:01 - 11:04in a very theatrical way.
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11:04 - 11:09During the creation of these
paintings in my workshop, -
11:09 - 11:15I photographed the work in progress
almost frame by frame. -
11:16 - 11:19This enabled us to obtain
high definition pictures -
11:19 - 11:22that could then be printed
on these large tarps, -
11:22 - 11:23and then
-
11:24 - 11:28when looking at these images
-
11:28 - 11:31from the last one
where the canvas is finished, -
11:31 - 11:35to the first one in reverse order
up to the empty background, -
11:35 - 11:39we can see the animal slowly disappearing.
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11:39 - 11:42So, we've created short videos
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11:43 - 11:48which were shown for the first time
during all the summer at night, -
11:48 - 11:50on the ramparts of the princely palace.
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11:50 - 11:56Passers-by could watch live
the disappearance of big mammals. -
11:58 - 12:02"Delete ?" engages our reptilian brain.
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12:02 - 12:06When we see the pictogram appear,
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12:06 - 12:09we sense our index finger ready to click
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12:09 - 12:15but, at the same time,
we feel a compelling need to resist ... -
12:19 - 12:22(Applause)
- Title:
- Delete ? | Thierry Bisch | TEDxLimoges
- Description:
-
"Delete" is an international undertaking from Thierry Birsch, animal painter, aiming to make society aware of the imminent threat of extinction of a large number of species. Showing an example of one of his animations, he shares with us his decision to act for the protection of endangered animal species. You will never see the "Delete" button again in the same way.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx
- Video Language:
- French
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 12:28
Hélène Vernet edited English subtitles for Delete ? | Thierry Bisch | TEDxLimoges | ||
Hélène Vernet edited English subtitles for Delete ? | Thierry Bisch | TEDxLimoges | ||
Hélène Vernet approved English subtitles for Delete ? | Thierry Bisch | TEDxLimoges | ||
Hélène Vernet edited English subtitles for Delete ? | Thierry Bisch | TEDxLimoges | ||
Elisabeth Buffard accepted English subtitles for Delete ? | Thierry Bisch | TEDxLimoges | ||
Elisabeth Buffard edited English subtitles for Delete ? | Thierry Bisch | TEDxLimoges | ||
Pierre Beretz edited English subtitles for Delete ? | Thierry Bisch | TEDxLimoges | ||
Pierre Beretz edited English subtitles for Delete ? | Thierry Bisch | TEDxLimoges |