VOA – CONNECT
EPISODE # 292
AIR DATE: 08 18 2023
TRANSCRIPT
OPEN
((VO/NAT/SOT))
((Topic Banner))
Art in the Desert
((Rana Begum
Desert X Artist))
It’s amazing. I mean, I love the space. I love the light. I love the landscape. It’s really interesting to have a work that’s going to be open to the public,
((Animation Transition))
((Topic Banner))
Slab City
((Rodney "Spider"
Slab City Resident))
I got tired of putting money in everybody else’s pocket. And it seemed like every time I put money in their pocket, they never put money in my pocket, you know. You get a paycheck and that’s about it, you know. No pat on the back, no nothing, you know, and I got sick of that.
((Animation Transition))
((Topic Banner))
Cropland Artist
((John Douglas Powers
Artist))
The overlay in a lot of cases comes out of more historical narratives. A lot of the philosophical questions that are embedded in the work for me are ancient questions.
((Open Animation))
BLOCK A
((PKG)) ARTWORKS BORN OF THE DESERT
((TRT: 05:08))
((Topic Banner: Artworks in the Desert))
((Reporter/Camera: Genia Dulot))
((Editor: Genia Dulot))
((Producer: Genia Dulot))
((Map: Palm Springs, California))
((Main characters: 1 male; 0 female))
((Sub characters: 2 male; 1 female))
((Blurb: Creating Art within the Desert Landscape of the Coachella Valley))
((MUSIC/NATS))
((Neville Wakefield
Artistic Director, Desert X))
Desert X is a project that’s really about creating art in the desert. We invite artists here. They look at the landscape, and the landscape in the larger sense. Not just what you see but the ecological, the political, the historical landscape. And out of that, they create works that have really been born of the desert.
((NATS))
((Matt Johnson
Artist, Desert X))
So, the piece sort of started with experimenting with blocks and units to construct figurative sculptures. Well, the containers are sourced from around the world. It’s more about our global dependence or our…the movement of goods and services, perching it between the railroad tracks and the freeway, which are the main arteries and the movements of really the lifeblood of consumption. And the human body is also an analogous to a vessel of consumption. And the sleeping figure directly references figurative sculpture across art history, reclining figures, but also more directly, the sleeping Buddha sculptures from Southeast Asia that are like sometimes 350 feet [107 meters] long.
Certainly the idea of a sleeping giant as something that wake up and wreak havoc, you know, whether that’s our inability to deal with climate change or whether it’s climate change actually becoming something that is intolerable.
((NATS))
((Rana Begum
Artist, Desert X))
Number 1225 Chainlink is a work that is very much inspired by the time I spent in Palm Springs. I was seeing a lot of fencing and barriers. I saw it kind of throughout the day where it was changing in the light, and sometime it would be quite prominent, sometime it would disappear, sometime it would be really kind of ephemeral and quite beautiful.
I also really like the idea that it’s material that has a lot of negative connotation, but at the same time, it also has some positive. It is about barriers. It’s about creating walls, separation. But on the other hand, you know, as you walk through the work, you feel that intensity. You feel slightly claustrophobic, but then it kind of opens up and it becomes quite transparent.
And so you think about barriers. You think about how, you know, I have two children, you know. I think about how I can protect them. I don’t particularly like gated communities. But I did have to live one time in a gated community, where my children were able to kind of play and I was able to leave the front door open.
It’s amazing. I mean, I love the space. I love the light. I love the landscape. It’s really interesting to have a work that’s going to be open to the public. It’s going be open to the environment, and it’s going to be changing throughout the day and throughout the next few months.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Mario García Torres
Artist, Desert X))
When I first came like, maybe, like a year ago to first visit, I realized that the Coachella Valley was so close to home in a way, because I grew up in a desert. So, I was thinking a lot about what it means the desert? What is the cultural history of the desert? And all of it is kind of brought down to the idea of the cowboy, and cowboy is a metaphorical figure, or how do we relate to nature? You know, the cowboy is a character that have tried to control nature, but in the case of mechanic bulls, like this sculpture, which that’s what they are. In fact, they’re sculptures that look like they’re searching for something from the sky. But in fact, they are mechanic bulls. The movement of these plates are coming from the movements of mechanic bulls. The mechanic bull, the way we relate to it is very interesting, because it's a game where a person, who tryies to control nature, goes on it, but they already know that they will fail. And I’m really interested in that. I’m really interested in us as a society thinking about that.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Neville Wakefield
Artistic Director, Desert X))
I think more and more people are looking to experience art outside of the bounds of the walls like this, like museums. I think that’s partly to do with this idea that it’s experiences that are really the most valuable thing and experiences are intangible. Having a moment in front of a piece in the middle of nowhere Is something that only you can have. And it’s different for everyone.
((NATS/MUSIC))
TEASE
((VO/NAT/SOT))
Coming up…
((Topic Banner))
Slab City
((Shannon,
Slab City Resident))
The most bill you pay - gas and propane. Gasoline and propane.
((Reporter: How much is propane now?))
((Shannon,
Slab City Resident))
Propane? We can go 40 dollars for the month, and we can cook on that all month, and run the hot water heater.
BREAK ONE
USAGM SHARE
((LogOn Voice Diagnosis Tech (TV/R)
HEADLINE: LogOn: Could Your Voice Help Diagnose Your Next Illness?
TEASER: Technology analyzing thousands of voices may play a role in the future of medicine
BYLINE: Julie Taboh
DATELINE: Washington
PRODUCER: Julie Taboh, Adam Greenbaum
SCRIPT EDITORS: Michelle Quinn, Amy R
TRT: 1:54 & 2:00
[[Voice experts have long known that a person's voice can provide important information about their emotional, physical and mental health. Now a U.S. government-funded project is collecting and analyzing thousands of voices and using artificial intelligence to diagnose illnesses. VOA’s Julie Taboh has more.]]
((Courtesy: Allison Long/USF Health))
((NATS – patient’s voice being tested))
((NARRATOR))
Dr. Yael Bensoussan examines the vocal cords of a patient.
At the University of South Florida Health Voice Center, she treats patients with a range of voice disorders, such as upper airway, voice and swallowing disorders.
And lately, she’s been helping to lead a new project to build a database of 30,000 human voice recordings and train computers to detect diseases through changes in the human voice.
((Radio track: She spoke with VOA via Skype.))
((Dr. Yael Bensoussan, Voice Specialist)) ((SKYPE))
Not only to build that data, but also to develop the guidelines on how to share that data, how to collect that data, and also how to use that data for future AI [artificial intelligence] research. ((Courtesy: Weill Cornell Medicine))
((NARRATOR))
She works with a team of 45 investigators across 12 different universities in North America as well as a startup in Europe. ((NATS - Parkinson’s voice demo, Text on graphic: "Parkinson's disease"))
They study voice samples to help them detect illnesses like Parkinson’s disease…
((NATS - Glottic cancer voice demo, Text on graphic: "Glottic cancer"))
((NARRATOR))
cancer…
((NATS - Vocal fold paralysis demo, Text on graphic: "Vocal Fold Paralysis"))
((NARRATOR))
And voice disorders such as vocal fold paralysis…
The team also studies mood disorders such as depression and anxiety.
((Dr. Yael Bensoussan, Voice Specialist)) ((SKYPE))
So when somebody is depressed, sad, has anxiety, of course their speech changes.
((NARRATOR))
((Courtesy: NIH))
The study is one of four data-generation projects funded by the National Institutes of Health's Bridge to Artificial Intelligence program, designed to use AI to tackle complex biomedical challenges.
((Dr. Yael Bensoussan, Voice Specialist)) ((SKYPE))
They realized that there was such a big gap between the technology that we had available, and the clinical knowledge, and what we use in clinical care in our hospitals.
((NARRATOR))
And doing it while maintaining participants’ privacy.
[[Radio track: Grace Peng is one of the coordinators of the National Institutes of Health’s Bridge2AI program. She spoke with VOA via Zoom.]]
((Grace Peng, National Institutes of Health)) ((Zoom))
We want to think about the ethics associated with collecting people's voices. And how do we keep it private? ((NARRATOR))
((Courtesy: NIH))
The study will start enrolling participants in the coming year. ((Julie Taboh, VOA News, Washington))
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK B
((PKG)) SLAB CITY
((Russian Service))
((TRT: 05:00))
((Previously Aired: December, 2019))
((Topic Banner: An Alternative Home))
((Reporter/Camera: Genia Dulot))
((Adapted by: Martin Secrest))
((Map: Slab City, California))
((Main characters: 2 male; 1 female))
((Sub characters: 1 female))
((NATS))
((Text on screen:
Called “the last free place in America,” anyone can live here free of charge.
There is no available electric grid, running water or sewage system.))
((NATS))
((Ira
Slab City Resident))
We are all in Slab City, in part, because we don’t like Babylon for some reason or another.
((Text on screen:
“Babylon” is slang for the state, or the system.))
((Ira
Slab City Resident))
We’re also all here, to an extent, because Babylon doesn’t like us.
((NATS))
((Ira
Slab City Resident))
This opens up, so that way we can keep puppies out of the living room. That’s what we call this area. Normally, there is these blankets up here to provide shade, and it makes a really comfy spot. It’s just, it’s been a little windy, and so it knocked them all over the place, and I’m a bit short, by myself, to put it back up.
((Rodney “Spider”
Slab City Resident))
I came here from Rhode Island. I was working, just like everybody else. I had a job, full time job. I fixed houses. I plowed the streets of Rhode Island. I worked on diesel trucks, you know. And I got tired of putting money in everybody else’s pocket. And it seemed like every time I put money in their pocket, they never put money in my pocket, you know. You get a paycheck and that’s about it, you know. No pat on the back, no nothing, you know, and I got sick of that.
((NATS))
((Rodney “Spider”
Slab City Resident))
Don’t mind the mess. The wind last night was crazy, but this is only part of the solar power here. Those panels up there on the roof go inside that box, and then down to the batteries, and allows us to use the juice. I’m making this whole, this whole area here’s going to be enclosed, and there’s going to be a solar roof on the top of it.
((NATS))
((Shannon
Slab City Resident))
In the city, you have to pay electricity. You'll pay hundreds of dollars a month for electricity.
((Reporter: One hundred?))
((Shannon
Slab City Resident))
Yeah, you know, hundreds. You never know how much you're going to pay. Here, you pay 100 dollars for a solar panel and it’ll last you years, and some batteries and that’ll last you years, and there's your power. And a generator, that will last you, just pay for gas, and it would last you for a long time.
((Reporter: How much normally you spend for gas in a month?))
((Shannon
Slab City Resident))
For a month, maybe, 200 dollars.
((NATS))
((Shannon
Slab City Resident))
The most bill you pay - gas and propane. Gasoline and propane.
((Reporter: How much is propane now?))
((Shannon
Slab City Resident))
Propane? We can go 40 dollars for the month, and we can cook on that all month, and run the hot water heater.
((NATS))
((Ira
Slab City Residnt))
Different people have different means of getting food and money. There are lots of businesses throughout the slabs. There are solar panel (and) water delivery businesses. A lot of the things that you don’t necessarily need money to get access to resources here. There are lots of things that are considered currency. You can trade a lot. Beer, weed, shiny rocks, building materials, paint, crafting materials. Anything that someone can use is tradable. There are few things that are sacred in Slab City, but one of them is boundaries, whether it’s literal, or figurative, right, or metaphorical, right? We have literal boundaries, as in walls, as in borders people build around camps. In the filming that you’ve done, or maybe at East Jesus, maybe you may have seen like the tire borders around a camp or things like that. So, those are all ways that people say, ‘Do not cross without asking.’ Right? That is also true on an interpersonal level. Slabbers don’t like being filmed without being asked. Consent is the rule here.
((NATS))
((Slab City Resident))
Now you asked, and that was beautiful. That’s the way to handle it. You know, it just shows that you respect us and respect our community, when you have the consideration to sit there and ask, ‘Hey, is this cool?’ You know, and it is simple things like that.
((Rodney “Spider”
Slab City Resident))
Here, you come here, you get pampered. You get babied. Give you a place to stay. You're going to need, you’re hungry? I'll feed you. You don't need money. You know, not everybody has money, and I know that. But if I see something like that, I'll help if I can. But this here is a little getaway, for like people like you, who are tired of the whole same thing, every single day. You know, come out, whoa, these people are living weird, you know, but they’re making it. They’re making it work. We’ll let everybody know that you don’t have to live in the society that you do. You can do things on your own. It’s a little harder, but it makes you feel, it makes me feel better. I smile every day. I’ve got a smile on my face every single day.
((Reporter: So what would prevent Slab City (from) turning into the Babylon?))
((Rodney “Spider”
Slab City Resident))
Me. Read my lips. I'll take every board down, every screen down, everything down, if Babylon moves here. And I'll move away. I'll find another place, and do the same thing, all over again.
((NATS))
TEASE
((VO/NAT/SOT))
Coming up…
((Topic Banner))
Forging from Scratch
((Sara Dahmen
Founder, House of Copper and Cookware))
It all comes down to using the right tools for the meal that you're preparing in order to offer nourishment that is correctly and beautifully and well prepared.
BREAK TWO
USAGM
((LogOn Underwater Drones (TV, R)
HEADLINE: LogOn: Underwater Drones Take Off Like Those in the Air
TEASER: The discovery of the Endurance shipwreck in Antarctic waters this year has encouraged hobbyists to take up underwater drones
BYLINE: Genia Dulot
VIDEOGRAPHER: Genia Dulot
PRODUCER: Genia Dulot
SCRIPT EDITORS: Michelle Quinn
TRT: 2:01
[[As they overcome the challenges of operating in water, underwater drones are becoming more available for hobbyists, researchers and public agencies. Genia Dulot reports.)) ((NARRATION))
Jesuit Robotics, a high school robotics team from Sacramento, California, has been designing remotely operated vehicles, or ROVs, for more than a decade.
[[For Radio: Charlie Diaz, a member of the Jesuit Robotics team]]
((Charlie Diaz, Jesuit Robotics))
We developed the grippers ourselves, the cameras, our modularly adjustable buoyancy systems.
((BROLL: Shots of Jesuit Robotics team))
((NARRATION))
Jesuit Robotics recently exhibited its underwater drone at a competition in Long Beach, California. Called the Manatee, this underwater drone can map shipwrecks or work on environmental projects.
((Charlie Diaz, Jesuit Robotics))
We have our custom AI detection software. … Our bottom gripper helps us to restore seagrass beds.
((NARRATION))
((Courtesy: FALKLANDS MARITIME HERITAGE TRUST, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC / AFP))
Entrancing many, the recent discovery by ROV of the Endurance, which sank in Antarctic waters in 1915. That effort cost an estimated $10 million.
ROVs have been slow to take off among hobbyists, however. Several startup companies are making design changes and adding technology to make drones work better underwater and reduce costs.
Blue Robotics, a Los Angeles firm, works on waterproofing underwater drone parts such as the thruster, which propels the ROV in the right direction, and has added various sensors measuring temperature, pressure and depth.
[[For Radio: Rustom Jehangir is founder and CEO of Blue Robotics]]
((Rustom Jehangir, CEO Blue Robotics))
Instead of trying to protect the motor from the water, why don’t we make a waterproof motor? That’s really the innovation here.
((Courtesy: Blue Robotics))
((NARRATION))
These new underwater drones cannot go to the deep sea, but they are being used in conditions unsafe for human divers, and by hobbyists, says Fritz Stahr, an ocean technology expert.
[[For Radio: Fritz Stahr, a judge at the competition, and chief technology officer at Open Ocean Robotics, a marine technology firm.]]
((Fritz Stahr, Ocean Tech Expert))
The ability for everybody or more people to be that explorer, to be that person who understands what’s going on in their local environment, is really important.
((NARRATION))
Unlike aerial drones, technology has yet to solve the problem of underwater communications. For now, these drones are controlled by a tether.
((Genia Dulot for VOA News, Los Angeles))
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK C
((PKG)) FEMALE COPPERSMITH
((Previously Aired: October, 2020))
((TRT: 04:37))
((Topic Banner: Female Coppersmith))
((Reporter: Faiza Elmasry))
((Camera: Sara Dahman))
((Video Editor: Lisa Vohra))
((Map: Grafton, Wisconsin))
((Main characters: 1 female))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Courtesy: Sara Dahmen))
((Sara Dahmen
Founder, House of Copper and Cookware))
As far as I can tell and find, I am the only woman building copper cookware from scratch, both the vintage ways and more modern rendition of copper cookware.
((NATS))
((Sara Dahmen
Founder, House of Copper and Cookware))
I had never taken a shop class. I didn't know how to operate power tools. I didn't know any of the terminology.
((NATS))
((Sara Dahmen
Founder, House of Copper and Cookware))
As a historical fiction writer, it's important to get your facts right and to really dive into the past in order to bring it to the future.
((Courtesy: Sara Dahmen))
((Sara Dahmen
Founder, House of Copper and Cookware))
So, when I started to write Widow 1881, and eventually Tinsmith 1865, I was writing about Pioneer women and discovered so much of what they did. And where they spent their time was in the kitchen.
((Courtesy: Sara Dahmen))
((NATS))
((Sara Dahmen
Founder, House of Copper and Cookware))
So, over time, I started to do more and more research about Pioneer kitchens, American cookware, and how was it made and what was used? Eventually that became me saying to my husband, ‘I want to start a cookware line. I want it to be American made.’
((Courtesy: Sara Dahmen))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Sara Dahmen
Founder, House of Copper and Cookware))
Flash forward a few more months and I decided to do even more research and ended up discovering Bob Bartelme, who is a traditional tinsmith, who lived a few minutes from my home. He was generous enough to take me under his wing and I ended up going there, multiple times a week, and I still do even though it's been over four years now. I’m learning from him.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Sara Dahmen
Founder, House of Copper and Cookware))
In my new book, Copper, Iron and Clay, A Smith's Journey, I talk about the process of starting a cookware line. I had to ask a lot of questions and screw up and redo things over and over and over again. I will build traditional reproduction cookware that is built exactly the way it has been done since the 1700s. I will also create more modern heavy-duty pieces. I'll do custom designs based on people's specs that they give me.
((NATS))
((Sara Dahmen
Founder, House of Copper and Cookware))
All these machines are originally from the early 1800s, starting about 1810 to 1820s. So, they still work. I still use them and I’m still able to use them to build custom pieces from scratch, and everything still works the same as it did 200 years ago.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Sara Dahmen
Founder, House of Copper and Cookware))
There’s a lot of pieces that go into the elongation and the heat treatment and that's all poured and done and ground out on the West Coast and then shipped back here to Wisconsin.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Sara Dahmen
Founder, House of Copper and Cookware))
After that then, they're in my hands and they're raw. I have to prepare them. Once I get a piece of copper cookware over the tinning fire, then we can apply that very necessary interior lining of tin which will make the cookware food-safe. And when you're done with that, you still have a beautiful piece of cookware, but there's usually a little bit of clean up on the edge. There's definitely some polishing that needs to happen to this piece, both on the buffing wheel and hand polish. And once that is done, then, then this can go home and be used for the next several hundred years.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Sara Dahmen
Founder, House of Copper and Cookware))
The reason many chefs especially are gravitating towards it still after all this time, is because of the precision you get when you're cooking with it. Tin-lined copper cookware is 25 times more conductive than stainless steel. So, for a fraction of the heat, you're getting the same if not better results. So, it is not only energy efficient, but it allows for extreme precision when you're cooking.
((NATS))
((Sara Dahmen
Founder, House of Copper and Cookware))
It all comes down to using the right tools for the meal that you're preparing in order to offer nourishment that is correctly and beautifully and well prepared.
((NATS))
((Sara Dahmen
Founder, House of Copper and Cookware))
So there's investments, there's fearlessness and there's asking a lot of questions. And eventually over time, over mistakes, over trial-and-error, you can eventually start calling yourself a coppersmith.
((NATS))
((PKG)) APPALACHIAN ARTIST
((TRT: 06:51))
((Previously Aired: March, 2020))
((Topic Banner: Cropland Artist))
((Reporter/Camera: Arturo Martinez))
((Extra sound credits: Guitar songs by John Douglas Powers))
((Map: Knoxville, Tennessee))
((Main characters: 1 male))
((NATS))
((John Douglas Powers
Artist))
I went to high school in a really rural place and I didn't know that being an artist was still a thing. When I was in high school, it was sort of on a list with like blacksmiths and cobblers like people used to do that.
((NATS))
((John Douglas Powers
Artist))
I was born in a very rural part of the country. These agricultural landscapes and the machinery and the equipment that goes with that was an early influence in the work and I think still kind of permeates the work.
((NATS))
((John Douglas Powers
Artist))
So, this piece called Ialu is probably from about 10 years ago, from this body of work kind of looking at fields, the visual of the motion of tall grass and the wind. You never see the wind. You always see the effects of the wind. But also, for me, is sort of calling to mind of the front end of a harvest or a reaper and the way that this machine enters the field and sort of like cuts the grain down and processes the grain.
((NATS))
((John Douglas Powers
Artist))
I don't think of it as a robot creating art. These are no more robots than just sort of like atoms that are moving through space right now. This is just a sort of device that helps visualize or record that phenomenon. So, it appears inorganic but it's actually quite organic. But the heart of it really is controlled chance, that you create a barrier and make some selections in terms of color.
((NATS))
((John Douglas Powers
Artist))
Some of my favorite moments are like in the corner. This is like highway roadmap business of LA.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((John Douglas Powers
Artist))
The overlay in a lot of cases comes out of more historical narratives. A lot of the philosophical questions that are embedded in the work for me are ancient questions. Where do you go when you die? Or, what is the wind? Or, where does the wind come from?
((NATS))
((John Douglas Powers
Artist))
I'm also very interested in getting out of my routine and seeing the world.
((NATS))
((John Douglas Powers
Artist))
Remarkable things can be found all over the place, sometimes just up the road from where you live. It's a question of deviating from your normal path.
((NATS))
((John Douglas Powers
Artist))
We are on our way to the museum of Appalachia which is a collection of historic artifacts from the region that go back really to early settlers in the area.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((John Douglas Powers
Artist))
What's really exciting to me is that a lot of these are utilitarian things, but they end up being these aesthetic qualities to objects that are not always intentional, but as an artist, it's very inspirational.
((NATS))
((John Douglas Powers
Artist))
As a sculptural object this is amazing, and it's so intriguing to be able to come and see the tool marks still on here, the way that this was shaped.
((NATS))
((John Douglas Powers
Artist))
Man, I would take this thing home and hang it on my wall. These millstones are amazing.
((NATS))
((John Douglas Powers
Artist))
There was a moment in time when you saw how things worked, and you saw how they were made, and even saw who made them, and that's not really a part of society anymore.
((NATS))
((John Douglas Powers
Artist))
It’s just amazing. There are all these gears and all these chains and weights to make two hands on a clock go around.
((NATS))
((John Douglas Powers
Artist))
The work is engineering without being an engineer. But a lot of it is very much kind of trial and error or discovery.
((NATS))
((John Douglas Powers
Artist))
So, this is a prototype for a section of a much larger piece with these gears driven by a large central gear.
((NATS))
((John Douglas Powers
Artist))
This is a piece called Grist, based off of the same lantern gears that were in the mechanism of the mill. So, it's a piece that eats itself over time, with an overlay of this more conceptual question for me about time or timeliness. Influences a lot of the works are 17th, 18th, 19th century implements, historical technology that fed contemporary technology.
((NATS))
((John Douglas Powers
Artist))
All the woodwork is done by hand here in the studio and, I guess, the obvious gap in that would be the found objects. This is the same model of typewriter that my grandparents had when I was young.
((NATS))
((John Douglas Powers
Artist))
It's already on. This was a commissioned piece. So, it's typing the sentence, "I will not talk in class". As I was looking at it, the "Coronet" is the model of typewriter, but a "coronet" is also a musical instrument. Turned it on for the first time and then it, there was also all this sound that was coming out of the very imperfect mechanism that I had built. That's not to be done away with and solved. It’s to be embraced and sort of grown as part of the content of the work.
((NATS))
((John Douglas Powers
Artist))
Sound is really essential for these pieces. You know, a lot of times the sound is not necessarily a really pleasant tone. The idea that the unpleasant thing and the pleasant thing are originating from the same mechanism kind of mirrors like the idea of life and death not being opposite things but sort of two sides of the same thing.
((NATS))
((John Douglas Powers
Artist))
So, I'm supported in part by my teaching appointment and supplemented significantly by the work that I'm able to sell out of the studio on my own.
((NATS))
((John Douglas Powers
Artist))
I think at the end of the day, it's too much work to do unless you love it and so, part of it, I think, this is something that connects all creative people but there's a certain compulsion like, I can't not make the things. And for the most part, I'm making the work that I want to see in the world and there's a hope that making that work leads to opportunities for conversation.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((PKG)) NATURE: CANADIAN GEESE
((TRT: 02:00))
((Topic Banner: Nature: Canadian Geese))
((Camera/Editor: Philip Alexiou))
((Text on screen:
Canadian Geese at a reservoir in McLean, Virginia.))
CLOSING BUMPER
((ANIM))
voanews.com/connect
BREAK THREE
USAGM SHARE
((LogOn: Space Camera (TV, R)
HEADLINE: LogOn: Giant Camera Focuses on the Invisible
TEASER: Camera will document the universe for 10 years, gathering data for dark energy and dark matter research
BYLINE: Matt Dibble
VIDEOGRAPHER: Matt Dibble
PRODUCER: Matt Dibble
SCRIPT EDITORS: Michelle Quinn, Reifenrath
TRT: 1:55
[[In California, a camera the size of a car is being prepared for its mission: documenting unseen phenomena in the universe. Matt Dibble has the story.]]
((Courtesy: SLAC))
((NARRATOR))
At the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Menlo Park, California
((Courtesy: SLAC))
((NARRATOR))
engineers are building the world’s largest digital camera. The LSST camera, as it’s called,
((Courtesy: Rubin Observatory/NSF/AURA))
((NARRATOR))
will be installed at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in southern Chile to record images of the night sky over a ten-year period.
((Courtesy: Rubin Observatory/NSF/AURA))
((NARRATOR))
By observing a wide swath of the universe over time, researchers expect to gain insight into some of science’s biggest questions.
[[For Radio: PhD student Theo Schutt is running final tests on the camera.]]
((Theo Schutt, Stanford University Ph.D Student))
How old is the universe, how fast is it expanding, why is it expanding?
So we're really like going for the 95% of the universe that we basically don't understand at all.
((Courtesy: NASA))
((NARRATOR))
Scientists theorize that 95% of the universe is made up of dark energy and dark matter, which can’t be seen directly.
((Courtesy: SLAC))
((NARRATOR))
However, the effect that dark energy has on its surroundings can potentially be detected if observed over time.
[[For Radio: ...says astrophysicist Aaron Roodman, who leads the camera project.]]
((Aaron Roodman, Rubin Observatory Deputy Director))
We can study it by looking at galaxies, ((Courtesy: NASA)) studying how the light from distant galaxies has been bent by all the matter between us and the distant galaxy.
((Courtesy: Rubin Observatory/NSF/AURA/ Todd Mason Productions))
((NARRATOR))
The camera will record on most nights, essentially compiling a time-lapse movie.
((NARRATOR))
Each image will be made up of about 3 billion pixels, ((Courtesy: Rubin Observatory/NSF/AURA)) about 300 times the size of a smartphone image. ((end courtesy))
((NARRATOR)) ((Mandatory CG: SLAC))
Funded by the US government, the project will share images ((Courtesy: Rubin Observatory/NSF/AURA))
with international researchers, directing attention to short-lived phenomena as they happen.
((Aaron Roodman, Rubin Observatory Deputy Director))
Within two minutes, we will compare ((Courtesy: NASA))
the objects we see in it — the stars, galaxies, asteroids ((end courtesy)) — with how they previously appeared in prior images. And we will flag any differences.
((NARRATOR))
Researchers are eagerly expecting the unexpected.
((Matt Dibble for VOA News, Menlo Park, California))
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
SHOW ENDS
VOA – CONNECT
EPISODE # 292
AIR DATE: 08 18 2023
TRANSCRIPT
1st Draft transcript for editing 08 01 2023
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OPEN
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BLOCK A
1st proofing 04 13 2023
((PKG)) ARTWORKS BORN OF THE DESERT
((TRT: 05:08))
((Topic Banner: ????))
((Producer/Camera/Editor: Genia Dulot))
((Editor: ????))
((Producer: ????))
((Map: Palm Springs, California))
((Main characters: 1 male; 0 female))
((Sub characters: 2 male; 1 female))
((Blurb: Creating Art within the Desert Landscape of the Coachella Valley))
((NATS))
((Neville Wakefield
Desert X Artistic Director))
Desert X is a project that’s really about creating art in the desert. We invite artists here. They look at the landscape, and the landscape in the larger sense. Not just what you see but the ecological, the political, the historical landscape. And out of that, they create works that have really been born of the desert.
((NATS))
((Matt Johnson
Desert X Artist))
So, the piece sort of started with experimenting with blocks and units to construct figurative sculptures. Well, the containers are sourced from around the world. It’s more about our global dependence or our…the movement of goods and services, perching it between the railroad tracks and the freeway, which are the main arteries and the movements of really the lifeblood of consumption. And the human body is also an analogous to a vessel of consumption. And the sleeping figure directly references figurative sculpture across art history, reclining figures, but also more directly, the sleeping Buddha sculptures from Southeast Asia that are like sometimes 350 feet [107 meters] long.
Certainly the idea of a sleeping giant as something that wake up and wreak havoc, you know, whether that’s our inability to deal with climate change or whether it’s climate change actually becoming something that’s intolerable.
((NATS))
((Rana Begum
Desert X Artist))
Number 1225 Chainlink is a work that is very much inspired by the time I spent in Palm Springs. I was seeing a lot of fencing and barriers. I saw it kind of throughout the day where it was changing in the light, and sometime it would be quite prominent, sometime it would disappear, sometime it would be really kind of ephemeral and quite beautiful.
I also really liked the idea that it’s material that has a lot of negative connotation, but at the same time, it also has some positive. It is about barriers. It’s about creating walls, separation. But on the other hand, you know, as you walk through the work, you feel that intensity. You feel slightly claustrophobic, but then it kind of opens up and it becomes quite transparent.
As so, you think about barriers. You think about how, you know, I have two children, you know. I think about how I can protect them. I don’t particularly like gated communities. But I did have to live one time in a gated community, where my children were able to kind of play, and I was able to leave the front door open.
It’s amazing. I mean, I love the space. I love the light. I love the landscape. It’s really interesting to have a work that’s going to be open to the public, It’s going be open to the environment, and it’s going to be changing throughout the day, throughout the next few months.
((NATS))
((Mario García Torres
Desert X Artist))
When I first came like, maybe, like a year ago to first visit, I realized that the Coachella Valley was so close to home in a way, because I grew up in a desert. So, I was thinking a lot about what it means the desert? What is the cultural history of the desert? And all of it is kind of brought down to the idea of the cowboy, and cowboy is a metaphorical figure, or how do we relate to nature? You know, the cowboys is a character that have tried to control nature, but in the case of mechanic bulls, like this sculpture, which that’s what they are. In fact, they’re sculptures that look like they’re searching for something from the sky. But in fact, they are mechanic bulls. The movement of these plates are coming from the movements of mechanic bulls. The mechanic bull, the way we relate to it is very interesting, because it's a game where a person, who’s trying to control nature, goes on it, but they already know that they will fail. And I’m really interested in that. I’m really interested in us as a society thinking about that.
((NATS))
((Neville Wakefield
Desert X Artistic Director))
I think more and more people are looking to experience art outside of the bounds of the walls like this, like museums. I think that’s partly to do with this idea that it’s experiences that are really the most valuable thing and experiences are intangible. Having a moment in front of a piece in the middle of nowhere Is something that only you can have. And it’s different for everyone.
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BLOCK B
((PKG)) SLAB CITY
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((Previously aired March 13, 2020/Repeat EP 113))
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((Producer/Camera/Editor: Genia Dulot))
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((PKG)) APPALACHIAN ARTIST
((TRT: 06:54))
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((Topic Banner: Cropland Artist))
((Reporter/Camera: Arturo Martinez))
((Extra sound credits: Guitar songs by John Douglas Powers))
((Map: Knoxville, Tennessee))
((Main characters: 1 male))
((Blurb: ????))
((PKG)) Nature Kicker
((Title: Geese))
((TRT: 2:00))
((Camera/Editor:Phil Alexiou))
((Location: McLean, Virginia))
CLOSING BUMPER
((ANIM))
voanews.com/connect
NEXT WEEK
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In coming weeks…
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((PKG)) FREE PRESS MATTERS
((NATS/VIDEO/GFX))
((NATS))
((Popup captions over B Roll))
Near the Turkish Embassy
Washington, D.C.
May 16, 2017
President Erdogan’s bodyguard attacks peaceful protesters
“Those terrorists deserved to be beaten”
“They should not be protesting our president”
“They got what they asked for”
While some people may turn away from the news
We cover it
reliably
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wherever the news matters
VOA
A Free Press Matters
((PKG)) FREE PRESS MATTERS ((NATS/VIDEO/GFX))
((NATS))
((Popup captions over B Roll))
We make a difference
When we unmask terror
When we explain the impossible
When we confront an uncertain future
When we give voice to the voiceless
The difference is Freedom of the Press
We are the Voice of America where
A Free Press Matters
SHOW ENDS
