Проводя исследования с ранних лет, я желал, чтобы предметы плавали в воздухе. И я придумал много идей. Эта скульптура, которую я сделал, парит при помощи магнита. Дело в том, что это немного опасно. Как правило, в музее это оцепляют. Ну, давайте посмотрим, смогу ли я немного его подвигать … ой. Оно всего лишь плавает в постоянном магнитном поле, которое стабилизирует его во всех направлениях. Кроме этого, здесь есть небольшая привязь, которая держит его внутри поля. Это нечто вроде серфинга по магнитному полю на гребне волны. И именно это поддерживает объект и сохраняет его стабильность.

Я думаю, мы можем запустить ролик. У меня есть коллекция видео роликов, показывающих различные инсталляции, о которых я мог бы рассказать. Это скульптура Солнца и Земли, в пропорции. Изображает те восемь с половиной минут, которые нужны свету и гравитации, чтобы связать их. Итак, вот Земля. Она чуть меньше миллиметра, сделанная из цельной бронзы.

А вот аналогичная скульптура. Солнце в другом конце. А здесь ряд из 55 шаров, которые уменьшаются пропорционально и расстояние между ними уменьшается пропорционально, пока они не достигнут этой маленькой Земли. Это в скульптурном парке в Тэджоне.

Вот эта — о Луне и расстоянии до Земли, тоже в пропорции. Этот маленький каменный шарик – плавающий. Как можно видеть по небольшой привязи, это также парит на магнитах.

Это первая часть — 109 сфер, поскольку Солнце в 109 раз больше диаметра Земли. Так что это размер Солнца. И поэтому каждая из этих маленьких сфер это размер Земли пропорционально Солнцу. Она состоит из 16 концентрических оболочек. В каждой из них 92 сферы. Это во внутреннем дворике алхимика двенадцатого века. Я думаю, Солнце является пределом алхимика. (Смех)

Так вот, снова на эту тему: часть экватора Земли. А вот Луна в центре, плавающая. Это во Франции.

Это в Саппоро. Она балансирует на оси и шаре, прямо в центре тяжести, или чуть выше центра тяжести, что означает, что нижняя часть объекта чуть более тяжелая. Здесь можно видеть её вращающейся. Она весит около тонны или больше чем тонна. Сделана из довольно толстой нержавеющей стали. Но балансирует вот так, в равновесии. Подвержена движению воздушных потоков.

Это еще один вид работы, которым я занимаюсь. Это массивы. Эти сферы подвешены, но у них внутри магниты, в горизонтальной плоскости, что делает их похожими на компасы. К примеру, все красные стороны смотрят в одном направлении: на юг. А синие стороны смотрят в другом направлении. Поэтому, когда вы поворачиваетесь, вы видите различные цвета.

Это основано на структуре алмаза. Кристаллическая решётка алмаза была отправной точкой. Но между атомами оставалось много пустоты. И поэтому я установил еще один элемент для каждого из них. Вот эти белые сферы. Я применил видеопроекторы, которые периодически проецировали на сферы. Они захватывали части изображений, и воспроизводили трехмерные цветные структуры, прямо когда вы проходили сквозь объект.

Это то, что я сделал в области тактильных систем связи. Идея в том, чтобы выделить тактильные компоненты скульптуры, а затем положить их в систему связи. Это идея движущейся скульптуры, мяч, который был бы направлен по комнате с помощью компьютера.

Я разработал эти часы. На них нанесена карта Земли в проекции Бакминстера Фуллера. Один раз в сутки она поворачивается синхронно с Землей.

Это похоже на проект, который потруднее построить. (Смех) Это озеро с алмазным дном. Итак, это плавучий остров с водой, пресной водой, который может летать с места на место. Я полагаю, он будет выращен, при помощи нанотехнологий когда-нибудь в будущем.

В ходе выполнения работы у меня проявляется широкий круг интересов. И часть из них, это идея создать средство массовой информации, СМИ, как скульптуру: что-то, чтобы сохраняло её свежей и постоянно меняющейся, путём создания СМИ, из которого сделана скульптура. Меня всегда очень интересовала идея магического кристалла. И мысль, что можно увидеть что-то внутри магического кристалла и предсказать будущее, или телевизор, который как волшебный ящик, в котором может появиться всё, что угодно. Я думал с давних пор, в конце 60-х, когда я только начинал, я был под влиянием размышлений Бакминстера Фуллера о его грандиозном проекте электрического глобуса напротив Организации Объединённых Наций и других вещей, которые происходили в то время: космическая программа, «Каталог всей Земли» и им подобные. Я думал о массовых сферических телевизорах, которые могут быть связаны с орбитальными камерами спутников.

Можно запустить следующий фильм. Это развивалось на протяжении многих лет во множестве различных итераций. Но это текущая версия, это летающий дирижабль, диаметр которого около 35 метров, это около 110 футов. Вся его поверхность покрыта 60 миллионами диодов, красными, синими и зелеными, дающими изображение высокого разрешения, видимое при дневном свете.

Я придумал план. И отнёс его в компанию Пола Маккриди «AeroVironment», чтобы сделать технико-экономическое обоснование, они его проанализировали и придумали множество инновационных идей о том, как его передвигать. Итак, у нас есть реальный план, как это сделать на самом деле. Это в диспетчерской судна. Идея этого воздушного джинна в том, что его легко преобразовать и сделать чем угодно. Это похоже на передвижную выставку. У него есть динамики. На поверхности есть камеры. Таким образом, он может видеть своё окружение, и затем, может имитировать его и исчезнуть. Здесь опоры втягиваются. Кабина открыта или закрыта, как вам нравится. Весит более 20 тонн. На борту есть генераторы. Можно генерировать около миллиона киловатт, чтобы быть достаточно ярким, и быть видимым при дневном свете. Идея в том, чтобы сделать нечто вроде передвижной выставки. Это будет посвящено искусству и взаимодействию. На борту может быть экипаж из художников, музыкантов, которые позволили бы ему стать мыслящим объектом, который бы реагировал на ситуацию, и взаимодействовал как единое целое, осознающее и умеющее общаться. Абсолютно тихий и экологически чистый. Обладает электродвигателями и новой двигательной установкой. Может по-разному взаимодействовать с большими толпами.

В первую очередь, меня интересует, как с ним будут взаимодействовать, например, по прибытию в студенческий городок, а затем, как он может быть использован для разговора о науках о Земле, о мире, о ситуации на земном шаре. По умолчанию, изображением объекта будет изображение Земли высокого разрешения. Но идею можно развивать и показать, например, тектонику плит или проблемы глобального потепления или миграции: все те вещи, которыми мы обеспокоены сегодня.

Ещё одна идея в том, что ночью оно будет использоваться как дискотека, где люди могли бы «оторваться», с музыкой, огнями и всем остальным. Например, оно могло бы приземлиться в парке. Или это может быть лужайка колледжа. И тогда у него будет соответствующий веб-сайт, чтобы показать путь к нему. И так взаимодействует с той же группой изображений. Можно было бы сделать это с открытым кодом, чтобы люди могли взаимодействовать с ним. Можно было бы сделать форум для желающих поделиться идеями о том, что они хотели бы видеть на гигантском экране этого типа. Вот, это практически всё. Хорошо. Спасибо.

©2012 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Tom Sharnnon

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لقد أستكشف، فى وقت مبكر حقاً، أريد جعل الأشياء تطفو فى الهواء. وفكرت فى العديد من الأفكار. هذا هو التمثال الذي قمت بعمله — إنه مرفوع بالقوى المغناطيسية الشئ هو، أنه خطر قليلاً. عادة هو نوع مطوق عندما يكون فى متحف. لكنه اه — لنرى إن كنت سأتمكن من تحريكه قليلاً دون ، أم — عفوا — لذلك هو يطفوا فقط، يطفو على مجال مغناطيسى دائم، والذى يجعله مستقر فى جميع الإتجاهات. إلا أن هناك حبل صغير هنا، والذى يمنعه من تخطي مجاله المغناطيسي إنه نوع من التزلج على الماء في المجال المغناطيسي على قمة موجة. وذلك هو ما يدعم الكائن و يجعله مستقر.

أعتقد أنه يمكننا أن نلف الشريط، أيها المشرف، لدي مجموعة من أشرطة الفيديو التى أخذتها من منشأت مختلفة، والتى يمكنني روايتها. هذا هو تمثال الشمس والأرض، بالتناسب. يمثل ذلك ثمانية دقائق ونصف الذي يستغرقه الضوء الجاذبية لربط الاثنين لذا هنا الأرض. إنها أقل من ملليمتر التي تحولت من البرونز الصلب.

وهنا تمثال مشابه. هذه هي الشمس فى النهاية. ومن ثم فى سلسلة من 55 كرة، انه يقل، نسبيا،ً فى كل كرة و المسافة بينها تقل نسبياً، حتى تصل إلى هذة الكرة الصغيرة التى تمثل الأرض. هذا فى منتزه النحت فى تاجون.

هذه منحوتة عن القمر. ومن ثم المسافة للأرض ، بالتناسب أيضاً. هذه كرة حجر صغيره، تطفو. كما ترون الحبل الصغير، هذه المنحوتة مرفوعة مغناطيسىا أيضا.

ومن ثم هذا هو الجزء الأول من — هذه عبارة عن 109 كرة، بما أن الشمس 109 ضعف قطر الأرض. لذا فإن هذا هو حجم الشمس. ومن ثم كل من هذه الكرات الصغيرة هي حجم الأرض بالتناسب مع الشمس. وهي تتكون من 16 صدفة متحدة المركز. كل واحدة منها تتكون من 92 كرة. هذا هو فى الحقل الكيميائي خلال القرن الثانى عشر. أعتقدت بأن الشمس عبارة عن نوع من الكيمياء المطلقة.

لذلك هذا ، مرة أخرى ، حول هذا الموضوع — شريحة من خط الاستواء للأرض. ومن ثم القمر فى المركز. وهى تطفو. وهذا هو فى فرنسا.

هذا هو في سابورو. انها متوازنة على رمح وكرة ، تماماً في مركز الجاذبىة، أو أعلى مركز الجاذبية قليلا، وهو ما يعني أن النصف الأسفل للجسم أكثر وزنا بقليل. يمكن أن تراها تدور هنا. إنها تزن حوالى طن أو ما يزيد عن الطن. انها مصنوعة من الفولاذ المقاوم للصدأ ، سميكة جدا. ولكنها متوازنة هكذا فى حالة توازن. انها عرضة للحركة من قبل التيارات الهوائية.

هذا نوع أخر من العمل الذى أقوم به. هذه المصفوفات. لقد تم تعليق جميع هذه الكرات. ولكن لديها مغناطيسا أفقيا فيها. الذى يجعلها جميعا مثل البوصلات. لذا فإن جميع الجوانب الحمراء ، على سبيل المثال ، تواجه اتجاها واحدا : الجنوب. والجانب الأزرق، المكمل، يواجه الإتجاه الآخر لذا عندما تقوم بالدوران حولها ترى ألوان مختلفة.

يستند هذا على هيكل المعين. كانت عبارة عن هيكل خلية معين وكانت نقطة الانطلاق. ومن ثم هناك نوع من المسافات الكبيرة في التجويفات بين الذرات. وهكذا، قمت بوضع عنصر إضافى داخل كل منها. هذه كانت كرات بيضاء. كان لدي كشافات فيديو ضوئية التي تم تسليطها بشكل متقطع على الكرات. حتى تتمكن من إلتقاط جزء من الصور، وتشكل نوع من كميات الألوان ثلاثية الأبعاد، حين تمر من خلالها، عبر الجسم.

هذا هو شئ فعلته نظام الإتصال عن طريق اللمس. وكانت الفكرة هى عزل عنصر اللمس عن المنحوتة، ومن ثم وضعها فى نظام إتصال. هذه هي فكرة المنحوتة المتحركة، كرة، والتى يتم توجيهها حول الغرفة بواسطة حاسب آلى

هذه هي ساعة قمت بتصميمها. تحتوى على خريطة دايمكسون لفولير بكمنستر تُحرر هنا. إنها تدور مرة فى اليوم بالتزامن مع الأرض.

ومن ثم، أنها مثل المشاريع التى يصعب بنائها. (ضحكة) لديها شكل قاع بحيرة. لذا هي جزيرة طافيه تحتوى على مياه، مياه عذبه والتي يمكن أن تطير من مكان إلى آخر يمكن أن تنمو ، على ما أعتقد، مع التكنلوجيا الدقيقة فى المستقبل، فى وقتٍ ما.

في أثناء القيام بعملي كان لدي العديد من الإهتمامات. وبعضا منها كان مجرد فكرة إنشاء وسائل إعلامية — وسائل إعلامية كمنحوتة، شئ من شأنه أن يحفظ المنحوتة جديدة ومتغيرة باستمرار، فقط عن طريق ابتداع وسائل الإعلام التى صنعت منها المنحوتة. وكان لدي العديد من — كنت مهتماً دائماً بمفهوم الكرة البلورية. وفكرة أنه يمكنك أن ترى أشياء داخل كرة بلورية والتنبوء بالمستقبل — أو جهاز تلفزيون ،حيث أنه نوع مثل الصندوق السحرى حيث يمكن أن يظهر أي شيء. كنت قد فكرت فيه ، منذ زمن طويل، فى أواخر الستينيات عندما كنت قد بدأت، كنت تحت تأثير التفكير في مشروع بكمنستر فولر الكبير للحصول على مشروع الكهرباء في جميع أنحاء من الأمم المتحدة — وغيرها من الامور التي كانت تحدث، برنامج الفضاء فى ذالك الوقت، ودليل الأرض الكامل ، وأشياء من هذا القبيل. كنت أفكر فى إنتاج شامل لمجموعة تلفزيونات كروية والتي يمكن أن ترتبط بمدار كاميرا أقمار صناعية.

حتى لو تمكنا من عرض الفلم المقبل هنا. لقد تطور هذا على مر السنين فى العديد من التكرارات المختلفة. ولكن هذا هو الإصدار الحالى منه، إنه منطاد طائر الذى يبلغ قطره نحو 35 مترا، أي حوالى 110 قدما. وسطحه كله مغطاة ب 60 مليون صماما ثنائيا، أحمر، أزرق و أخضر والتي تتيح لك الحصول على صورة عالية الدقة ومرئية في ضوء النهار.

أتيت بخطة. وعرضتها على شركة بول ماككريدى، أيروفيرونمينت لعمل داراسة جدوى، وقاموا بتحليلها، وخرجوا بالكثير من الأفكار المبتكره حول كيفية حثها. لدينا الأن خطة مادية لكيفية تحقيق هذا فى الواقع. هذة غرفة التحكم فى داخل السفينة. إن فكرة هذا الهواء عبقرية، إنها شئ يمكن أن يتحول ويصبح أى شئ. إنها مثل برنامج سفر. وتحتوى على سماعات بداخلها. و على كاميرات على سطحها. فيمكنها أن ترى بيئتها الخاصة، ومن ثم يمكنها أن تقلد بيئتها الخاصة و تختفي. هنا تتراجع الساقين. المقصورة مفتوحة أو مغلقة، كما تريد. إنها تزن حوالى 20 طنا. وتحتوى على مولدات كهرباء على متنها يمكنها أن تنتج حوالى مليون كيلو وات، من أجل أن تكون مشرقة بما فيه الكفاية لتكون مرئية فى ضوء النهار. الفكرة الخاصة بها هى عمل نوع من عرض للسفر. إنها حقاً يمكن أن تكون مكرسة للفن و للتفاعل. وسيكون هناك على متنها طاقم من الفنانين والموسيقيين. وسيتيح هذا أن يصبح الشيء فى الواقع نوعا من الكائن الواعي والذى من شأنه أن يستجيب لهذه اللحظة، وأن يتفاعل ككيان الذى كان مدركا، والذى يمكنه الاتصال. إنها صامتة تماما ولا تسبب تلوث. إنها تحتوى على محركات كهربائية مع نظام دفع جديد. ويمكن أن تتفاعل مع حشود كبيرة بطرق مختلفة.

فى المقام الأول أود أن أكون مهتما بكيف يمكنها أن تتفاعل مع، فلنقل، الذهاب إلى حرم كلية جامعية، ومن ثم تستخدم كوسيلة للتحدث عن علوم الأرض ، العالم ، وحالة العالم. الصورة الافتراضية للكائن ستكون من المحتمل صورة للأرض عالية الدقة. ولكن يمكن للفرد التفاعل مع ذلك، وعرض فنون البناء أو مسائل ارتفاع درجة حرارة الكرة الأرضية، او الهجرات — جميع الأشياء التى تثير قلقنا اليوم.

وبعد ذلك فى اليل، الفكرة هى أنها تستخدم كنوع من حالة الهذيان، حيث يمكن للأشخاص التصرف بحرية مطلفة، والموسيقى والأضواء، و كل شئ. فيمكن أن تهبط فى متنزة، على سبيل المثال أو هذا يمكن أن يمثل كلية خضراء. ومن ثم فإنه يمكن أن يكون لها موقع إنترنت مماثل والذى يمكن أن يعرض برنامج رحلتها. ومن ثم يتفاعل مع نفس النوع من الصور ستكون ايضا قادرة على أن تكون رمزا مفتوحا ، حتى يتمكن الناس من التفاعل معها. ستكون منتدى لأفكار الناس حول ما يودون مشاهدته على شاشة عملاقة من هذا النوع. بحيث يكون ذلك إلى حد كبير. حسناً. شكراً

©2012 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Tom Shannon

早期我探究的是， 让物体浮在空中。 我想出了很多点子。 这是我做的一个模型- 磁悬浮的。 这个东西，有点点危险。 一般情况下，在博物馆里都是放在封闭的展柜中。 但是，唔-我们来看看我能否来操纵它， 就一点点-哦- 只是悬浮着， 悬浮在永久磁场中， 在任何方向都是稳定的。 除了这里的一小点约束， 保证它不会偏离磁场。 这就好像在 磁场上冲浪。 支持着物体保持稳定。

管理人员，我想我们可以播放录像了。 我这里有几个不同的模型的录像， 我可以给大家讲解。 这个是太阳 和地球的模型，按照真实比例做的。 光和重力把他们连接起来 要八分半钟的时间。 这个是地球。比一毫米少一点点， 是铜制的。

这是个类似的 雕塑。 末端是太阳。 然后是一系列的55个球， 每个球都按一定比例缩小， 每个球和其之间的距离也 按比例缩小， 直到最后这个最小的球。 这在韩国大田的一座雕塑公园中展出。

这个是月亮的模型。 也是按比例，是到地球的距离。 这是个小石球，悬浮着。 你可以看见这个小锁链， 也是磁悬浮的。

这个是第一部分- 109个圆球， 因为太阳比地球大109倍。 这是太阳的大小。 剩下的每一个球 都是同太阳的大小成比例的地球。 这由16个同心壳组成。 每个有92个球。 这是在一个12世纪的炼金术士的庭院。 我觉得太阳好似个终极炼金术士。

好，回到这个话题上来- 这个代表地球的赤道。 月亮在中心。 悬浮着。这是在法国。

这时在日本的札幌。 这在一根箭杆和一个圆球上保持着平衡， 就在重心处，或者说，重心上方一点点， 这意味着 物体下半部比上半部重一点点。 你看，就在这里旋转。 它大概重一吨，或者比一吨多点。 它是不锈钢做的，很沉。 但是它很平衡。 它会随着气流而运动。

这是我做的另一组件。 这些是箭头。这些箭头都是悬挂着的。 它们都具有水平的磁性， 这样它们就像指南针一样。 所有的红色端，比如，都指向一个方向：南极。 所有的蓝色方向，相反地，指向另一个方向。 你四周转转，会看到不同的颜色。

这个是建立在钻石结构的基础上。 钻石晶体结构的 出发点。 在原子之间的空隙， 存在很大的空间。 所以我在它们之间多放了一个元素。 这些白色的圆球。 然后我用视频投影机 间歇性地投影到圆球上。 这样就有了部分图像， 也就形成了看似立体的彩色圆柱， 就像你穿过这个物体的时候。

这是我 为触感通信系统所做的。 为的分离出模型的触感组分， 然后将其运用到通信系统中。 这是想通过计算机 指令移动房间内的 雕塑，球体。

这是我设计的时钟。 用巴克敏斯特•富勒的多面体图做背景。 每天转动一次，与地球同步。

这是个 很难制作的工程。 （笑声） 这是个有着钻石为底的湖。 上面悬浮着一个岛， 有水，流动的水， 可以从一个地方飞到另一个地方。 它还能长大，我猜想， 等将来什么时候有了纳米技术。

工作让我拥有 广泛的兴趣。 其中一些仅仅是创造媒介的想法— 作为雕塑的媒介， 只需要改变组成雕塑的媒介， 就可以改变雕塑本身 使之鲜活，千变万化。 我对于- 水晶球的想法特别感兴趣。 你能通过观察水晶球的内部 来预测未来- 或者是电视机，电视机也算是一个魔盒， 任何东西都能够出现。 我想过，很久以前， 在60年代后期，我刚刚起步的时候， 我受到一些影响，比如思考巴克敏斯特•富勒 的伟大工程， 一个联合国对面的电子球工程— 还有其它正在发生的事情， 那个时候的空间项目， 全球概览，那样的事情。 我也想到过批量生产的球形电视机 可以同相机卫星轨道相连。

下面看这里，我们的下一个片子 这经过数年的演变， 多次不同的叠加。 但是最近的模型是， 一个大概有35米的直径 的飞船， 也就是110英尺直径的飞船。 它的整个表面覆盖着6千万个二极管， 红色的，蓝色的，绿色的， 让你有高品质的画面，白天也看得见。

我有了个计划。 我把它带到了 Paul MacCready的公司 AeroVironment 做可行性的研究， 他们分析了这个飞船， 想出了很多如何推进它的创新性点子。 现在我们有了一个让它变为现实的计划。 这是飞船内部的控制室。 这个点子， 就是一些东西能够变形成为其它的东西。 就像是旅游节目。 它有麦克风。它的表面 有摄像头。 所以可以看见它所处的环境， 然后能够模仿它的环境从而变为消失。 它的腿可以回缩。 船舱可以随你喜好开或关。 它大概重20吨。 它有自己的发电机。 能够发出大约1百万千瓦的电力， 足够亮得让你 在白天也能看得见。 这个点子是 做个好象旅游的节目。 它真的可以用于艺术和互动。 船员可以是艺术家们，音乐家们。 这样飞船就 实际上成为了 能够回复的有思想的物体， 作为一个整体 互动，交流。 这几乎没有噪音也不污染环境。 它具有电驱动新型推进系统。 可以用不同的方式同大众交流。

我主要的感兴趣的是， 它如何交流，比如说， 大学校区， 或用于研究地球科学， 世界，全球的情况。 物体上的默认图片 大概是高品质的地球图片。 但是它可以通过互动， 显示板块构造或者温室效应，或者迁徙- 我们现在关心的所有问题。

晚上时， 它用来做锐舞派对， 人们可以放松下来， 听听音乐，欣赏灯光，很多事情。 比如说，它在一个公园着陆。 或者可以代表大学城。 它还有个相应的网站 说明它的行程。 还有同样类型的图片随之互动。 还能够有开放代码， 这样人们也可以与之交流。 还可以有个论坛， 讨论人们希望在这个巨大的屏幕上看到什么。 大概就是这么多吧。 好啦。谢谢大家。

©2012 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Tom Shannon

Estava a explorar, logo desde o início, ao querer fazer as coisas flutuar no ar. E pensei num monte de ideias. Esta é uma escultura que fiz que — é levitada magneticamente. A questão é que é ligeiramente perigosa. Normalmente é isolada quando está num museu. Mas é, mmm — deixem-me ver se consigo manipulá-la um pouco sem, mmm — ups — Então isto está simplesmente a flutuar, a flutuar num campo magnético permanente, que a estabiliza em todas as direcções. Só que há aqui uma ligeira corrente, que a impede de sair para fora do topo do seu campo. Está como que a surfar num campo magnético na crista de uma onda. E é isso que apoia o objecto e o mantém estável.

Penso que podemos carregar no play, admin. Tenho uma espécie de colecção de vídeos que fiz de diferentes instalações, que poderei narrar. Esta é uma escultura do Sol e da Terra, em proporção. Representando os oito minutos e meio que a luz e a gravidade levam a ligar os dois (Sol e Terra). Então aqui está a Terra. Tem um pouco menos que um milímetro que foi feito a partir de bronze sólido.

E aqui está uma escultura semelhante. É o Sol lá no fundo. E depois uma série de 55 bolas, vai reduzindo, proporcionalmente, cada bola e os espaços entre elas, reduzindo proporcionalmente, até chegarem a esta pequena Terra. Este é um parque de esculturas em Taejon.

Esta é sobre a Lua. E depois a distância até à Terra, também em proporção. Esta é uma pequena bola de pedra, flutuando. Como podem ver, a pequena corrente, também é levitada magneticamente.

E depois esta é a primeira parte de — isto são 109 esferas, já que o Sol tem 109 vezes o diâmetro da Terra. E isto é o tamanho do Sol. E cada uma destas pequenas esferas tem o tamanho da Terra em proporção ao do Sol. É feito de 16 camadas concêntricas. Cada uma tem 92 esferas. Este é o recreio de um alquimista do séc. XII. Andava a pensar que o Sol é, de certo modo, o maior do alquimistas.

Então, de novo, isto é sobre o tema — uma fatia do equador da Terra. E depois a Lua no centro. E flutua. E isto é em França.

Isto é em Sapporo. Está a a equilibrar-se numa vara e numa bola, mesmo no centro de gravidade, ou ligeiramente acima do centro de gravidade, o que significa que a metade inferior do objecto é apenas um pouco mais pesada. Podem vê-lo a rodar aqui. Pesa cerca de um tonelada. É feito de aço inoxidável, bastante espesso. Mas está a ser equilibrado desta forma. Está susceptível a mover-se devido a correntes de ar.

Este é um outro tipo de trabalho que faço. Estas são matrizes. Estas esferas estão todas suspensas. Mas têm dentro ímanes dispostos horizontalmente que as transformam a todas em compassos. Por isso, todos os lados vermelhos, por exemplo, apontam uma direcção: sul. E o lado azul, o complemento, apontam para o outro lado. Por isso, à medida que andam, vêm cores diferentes.

Isto é baseado na estrutura de um diamante. Foi a estrutura de uma célula de diamante o ponto de partida. Havia espaços grandes no vazio entre os átomos. E então coloquei mais um elemento dentro de cada um. Isto são esferas brancas. E eu tinha projectores vídeo que projectavam intermitentemente para as esferas. E dessa forma as esferas captavam partes das imagens e faziam uma espécie de volumes de cor tridimensionais, à medida que passam por ele, através do objecto.

Isto é algo que fiz com um sistema de comunicação táctil. Era a ideia de isolar o componente táctil da escultura, e depois colocá-lo num sistema de comunicação. Esta é a ideia de mover uma escultura, uma bola, que seria conduzida à volta da sala por um computador.

Isto é um relógio que eu desenhei. Tem o Mapa Dymaxion de Buckminster Fuller editado aqui. Dá a volta uma vez por dia em sincronia com a Terra.

E depois, isto são projectos que são mais difíceis de construir. (Risos) Isto é um lago com o fundo em forma de diamante. Trata-se de uma ilha flutuante com água, água doce, que pode voar de um lugar para o outro. Isto seria cultivado, suponho, com nanotecnologia no futuro, um dia.

No decurso do meu trabalho tenho uma grande variedade de interesses. E parte deles são a ideia de criar meios — meios como a escultura, algo que mantenha a escultura arejada e em constante mudança, ao simplesmente criar os meios de que a escultura é feita. E tive muito — sempre interessado pelo conceito de uma bola de cristal. E a ideia de que poderíamos ver coisas dentro de uma bola de cristal e prever o futuro — ou uma televisão, que é uma espécie de caixa mágica em que tudo pode aparecer. Tinha pensado, há muito tempo, em finais dos anos 1960, quando estava mesmo a começar, estava sob a influência de pensar sobre o grande projecto de Buckminster Fuller para um globo eléctrico em frente às Nações Unidas — e outras coisas estavam a acontecer, o programa espacial naquela altura, e o Whole Earth Catalog, coisas assim. Eu andava a pensar em televisões esféricas produzidas em massa que poderiam ser ligadas a câmaras de satélites em órbita.

Então, se pudermos passar o próximo filme. Isto evoluiu ao longo dos anos em muitas iterações diferentes. Mas esta é a versão actual de um nave voadora com cerca de 35 metros de diâmetro, cerca de 110 pés de diâmetro. Toda a superfície está coberta com 60 milhões de diodos, vermelhos, azuis e verdes, que nos permitem ter uma imagem de alta resolução, visível à luz do dia.

Concebi um plano. Levei-o à empresa do Paul MacCready, a AeroVironment para um estudo de viabilidade, e eles analisaram-no, e tiveram uma série de ideias inovadoras sobre a sua propulsão. Então, temos um plano físico de como fazer isto funcionar mesmo. Esta é a sala de controlo dentro da nave. A ideia de um génio do ar, de algo que se pode transformar em tudo o que se queira. É como um espectáculo itinerante. E tem altifalantes. E tem câmaras na sua superfície. Por isso pode ver o ambiente que o rodeia e depois mimetizá-lo e desaparecer. Aqui as pernas estão a ser retraídas. A cabine é aberta ou fechada, como se quiser. Pesa cerca de 20 toneladas. Tem geradores a bordo. Pode gerar cerca de um milhão de kilowatts, para ser suficientemente brilhante para ser visível à luz do dia. A ideia é fazer uma espécie de espectáculo itinerante. Seria realmente dedicado às artes e à interacção. Haveria a bordo um tripulação de artistas, músicos. Isso permitir-lhe-ia tornar-se uma espécie de objecto consciente que responderia ao momento, para interagir como um entidade que estivesse consciente, que comunicasse. É completamente silencioso e não poluente. Tem motores eléctricos com um novo sistema de propulsão. Poderia interagir com grandes multidões de maneiras diferentes.

Em primeiro lugar eu estaria interessado em como poderia ele interagir com, digamos, a ida um campus universitário, e depois sendo usado como uma forma de falar sobre as ciências da terra, o mundo, a situação do globo. A imagem por defeito no objecto seria provavelmente uma imagem da Terra em alta resolução. Mas uma imagem que pudesse interagir e mostrar as placas tectónicas ou o aquecimento global, ou migrações — todas as coisas com que nos preocupamos hoje em dia.

E depois, à noite a ideia seria usá-lo como uma espécie de contexto de rave, em que as pessoas se pudessem descontrair, com a música e as luzes e tudo. Poderia, então, aterrar num parque, por exemplo. Ou isto poderia representar o relvado de uma universidade. E então teria o website respectivo que mostraria o seu itinerário. E então, interagindo com o mesmo tipo de imagética, também poderia ser um código aberto, para que as pessoas interagissem com ele. Seria um fórum para as ideias das pessoas sobre o que elas quisessem ver num ecrã gigante deste tipo. Então, é mais ou menos isto. Ok. Obrigado.

Born on Long Island, Whitman worked as a journalist, a teacher, a government clerk, and – in addition to publishing his poetry – was a volunteer nurse during the American Civil War. Early in his career, he also produced a temperance novel, Franklin Evans (1842). Whitman’s major work, Leaves of Grass, was first published in 1855 with his own money. The work was an attempt at reaching out to the common person with an American epic. He continued expanding and revising it until his death in 1892. After a stroke towards the end of his life, he moved to Camden, New Jersey, where his health further declined. He died at age 72 and his funeral became a public spectacle.

Whitman’s sexuality is often discussed alongside his poetry. Though biographers continue to debate his sexuality, he is usually described as either homosexual or bisexual in his feelings and attractions. However, there is disagreement among biographers as to whether Whitman had actual sexual experiences with men. Whitman was concerned with politics throughout his life. He supported the Wilmot Proviso and opposed the extension of slavery generally. His poetry presented an egalitarian view of the races, and at one point he called for the abolition of slavery, but later he saw the abolitionist movement as a threat to democracy.

Life and work

Early life

Walter Whitman was born on May 31, 1819, in West Hills, Town of Huntington, Long Island, to parents with interests in Quaker thought, Walter and Louisa Van Velsor Whitman. The second of nine children, he was immediately nicknamed “Walt” to distinguish him from his father. Walter Whitman Sr. named three of his seven sons after American leaders: Andrew Jackson, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson. The oldest was named Jesse and another boy died unnamed at the age of six months. The couple’s sixth son, the youngest, was named Edward. At age four, Whitman moved with his family from West Hills to Brooklyn, living in a series of homes, in part due to bad investments. Whitman looked back on his childhood as generally restless and unhappy, given his family’s difficult economic status. One happy moment that he later recalled was when he was lifted in the air and kissed on the cheek by the Marquis de Lafayette during a celebration in Brooklyn on July 4, 1825.

At age eleven Whitman concluded formal schooling. He then sought employment for further income for his family; he was an office boy for two lawyers and later was an apprentice and printer’s devil for the weekly Long Island newspaper the Patriot, edited by Samuel E. Clements. There, Whitman learned about the printing press and typesetting. He may have written “sentimental bits” of filler material for occasional issues. Clements aroused controversy when he and two friends attempted to dig up the corpse of Elias Hicks to create a plaster mold of his head. Clements left the Patriot shortly after, possibly as a result of the controversy.

Early career

The following summer Whitman worked for another printer, Erastus Worthington, in Brooklyn. His family moved back to West Hills in the spring, but Whitman remained and took a job at the shop of Alden Spooner, editor of the leading Whig weekly newspaper the Long-Island Star. While at the Star, Whitman became a regular patron of the local library, joined a town debating society, began attending theater performances, and anonymously published some of his earliest poetry in the New York Mirror. At age 16 in May 1835, Whitman left the Star and Brooklyn. He moved to New York City to work as a compositor though, in later years, Whitman could not remember where. He attempted to find further work but had difficulty in part due to a severe fire in the printing and publishing district and in part due to a general collapse in the economy leading up to the Panic of 1837. In May 1836, he rejoined his family, now living in Hempstead, Long Island. Whitman taught intermittently at various schools until the spring of 1838, though he was not satisfied as a teacher.

After his teaching attempts, Whitman went back to Huntington, New York to found his own newspaper, the Long Islander. Whitman served as publisher, editor, pressman, and distributor and even provided home delivery. After ten months, he sold the publication to E. O. Crowell, whose first issue appeared on July 12, 1839. No copies of the Long-Islander published under Whitman survive. By the summer of 1839, he found a job as a typesetter in Jamaica, Queens with the Long Island Democrat, edited by James J. Brenton. He left shortly thereafter, and made another attempt at teaching from the winter of 1840 to the spring of 1841. One story, possibly apocryphal, tells of Whitman being chased away from a teaching job in Southold, New York in 1840. After a local preacher called him a “Sodomite”, Whitman was allegedly tarred and feathered. Biographer Justin Kaplan notes that the story is likely untrue because Whitman regularly vacationed in the town thereafter. Biographer Jerome Loving calls the incident a “myth”. During this time, Whitman published a series of ten editorials called “Sun-Down Papers—From the Desk of a Schoolmaster” in three newspapers between the winter of 1840 and July 1841. In these essays, he adopted a constructed persona, a technique he would employ throughout his career.

Whitman moved to New York City in May, initially working a low-level job at the New World, working under Park Benjamin, Sr. and Rufus Wilmot Griswold. He continued working for short periods of time for various newspapers; in 1842 he was editor of the Aurora and from 1846 to 1848 he was editor of the Brooklyn Eagle. He also contributed freelance fiction and poetry throughout the 1840s. Whitman lost his position at the Brooklyn Eagle in 1848 after siding with the free-soil “Barnburner” wing of the Democratic party against the newspaper’s owner, Isaac Van Anden, who belonged to the conservative, or “Hunker”, wing of the party. Whitman was a delegate to the 1848 founding convention of the Free Soil Party.

Leaves of Grass

Whitman claimed that after years of competing for “the usual rewards”, he determined to become a poet. He first experimented with a variety of popular literary genres which appealed to the cultural tastes of the period. As early as 1850, he began writing what would become Leaves of Grass, a collection of poetry which he would continue editing and revising until his death. Whitman intended to write a distinctly American epic and used free verse with a cadence based on the Bible. At the end of June 1855, Whitman surprised his brothers with the already-printed first edition of Leaves of Grass. George “didn’t think it worth reading”.

Whitman paid for the publication of the first edition of Leaves of Grass himself and had it printed at a local print shop during their breaks from commercial jobs. A total of 795 copies were printed. No name is given as author; instead, facing the title page was an engraved portrait done by Samuel Hollyer, but 500 lines into the body of the text he calls himself “Walt Whitman, an American, one of the roughs, a kosmos, disorderly, fleshly, and sensual, no sentimentalist, no stander above men or women or apart from them, no more modest than immodest”. The inaugural volume of poetry was preceded by a prose preface of 827 lines. The succeeding untitled twelve poems totaled 2315 lines—1336 lines belonging to the first untitled poem, later called “Song of Myself”. The book received its strongest praise from Ralph Waldo Emerson, who wrote a flattering five page letter to Whitman and spoke highly of the book to friends. The first edition of Leaves of Grass was widely distributed and stirred up significant interest, in part due to Emerson’s approval, but was occasionally criticized for the seemingly “obscene” nature of the poetry. Geologist John Peter Lesley wrote to Emerson, calling the book “trashy, profane & obscene” and the author “a pretentious ass”. On July 11, 1855, a few days after Leaves of Grass was published, Whitman’s father died at the age of 65.

In the months following the first edition of Leaves of Grass, critical responses began focusing more on the potentially offensive sexual themes. Though the second edition was already printed and bound, the publisher almost did not release it. In the end, the edition went to retail, with 20 additional poems, in August 1856. Leaves of Grass was revised and re-released in 1860 again in 1867, and several more times throughout the remainder of Whitman’s life. Several well-known writers admired the work enough to visit Whitman, including Bronson Alcott and Henry David Thoreau.

During the first publications of Leaves of Grass, Whitman had financial difficulties and was forced to work as a journalist again, specifically with Brooklyn’s Daily Times starting in May 1857. As an editor, he oversaw the paper’s contents, contributed book reviews, and wrote editorials. He left the job in 1859, though it is unclear if he was fired or chose to leave. Whitman, who typically kept detailed notebooks and journals, left very little information about himself in the late 1850s.

Civil War years

As the American Civil War was beginning, Whitman published his poem “Beat! Beat! Drums!” as a patriotic rally call for the North. Whitman’s brother George had joined the Union army and began sending Whitman several vividly detailed letters of the battle front. On December 16, 1862, a listing of fallen and wounded soldiers in the New York Tribune included “First Lieutenant G. W. Whitmore”, which Whitman worried was a reference to his brother George. He made his way south immediately to find him, though his wallet was stolen on the way. “Walking all day and night, unable to ride, trying to get information, trying to get access to big people”, Whitman later wrote, he eventually found George alive, with only a superficial wound on his cheek. Whitman, profoundly affected by seeing the wounded soldiers and the heaps of their amputated limbs, left for Washington on December 28, 1862 with the intention of never returning to New York.

In Washington, D.C., Whitman’s friend Charley Eldridge helped him obtain part-time work in the army paymaster’s office, leaving time for Whitman to volunteer as a nurse in the army hospitals. He would write of this experience in “The Great Army of the Sick”, published in a New York newspaper in 1863 and, 12 years later, in a book called Memoranda During the War. He then contacted Emerson, this time to ask for help in obtaining a government post. Another friend, John Trowbridge, passed on a letter of recommendation from Emerson to Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury, hoping he would grant Whitman a position in that department. Chase, however, did not want to hire the author of such a disreputable book as Leaves of Grass.

The Whitman family had a difficult end to 1864. On September 30, 1864, Whitman’s brother George was captured by Confederates in Virginia, and another brother, Andrew Jackson, died of tuberculosis compounded by alcoholism on December 3. That month, Whitman committed his brother Jesse to the Kings County Lunatic Asylum. Whitman’s spirits were raised, however, when he finally got a better-paying government post as a low-grade clerk in the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the Department of the Interior, thanks to his friend William Douglas O’Connor. O’Connor, a poet, daguerreotypist and an editor at the Saturday Evening Post, had written to William Tod Otto, Assistant Secretary of the Interior, on Whitman’s behalf. Whitman began the new appointment on January 24, 1865, with a yearly salary of $1,200. A month later, on February 24, 1865, George was released from capture and granted a furlough because of his poor health. By May 1, Whitman received a promotion to a slightly higher clerkship and published Drum-Taps.

Effective June 30, 1865, however, Whitman was fired from his job. His dismissal came from the new Secretary of the Interior, former Iowa Senator James Harlan. Though Harlan dismissed several clerks who “were seldom at their respective desks”, he may have fired Whitman on moral grounds after finding an 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass. O’Connor protested until J. Hubley Ashton had Whitman transferred to the Attorney General’s office on July 1. O’Connor, though, was still upset and vindicated Whitman by publishing a biased and exaggerated biographical study, The Good Gray Poet, in January 1866. The fifty-cent pamphlet defended Whitman as a wholesome patriot, established the poet’s nickname and increased his popularity. Also aiding in his popularity was the publication of “O Captain! My Captain!”, a relatively conventional poem on the death of Abraham Lincoln, the only poem to appear in anthologies during Whitman’s lifetime.

Part of Whitman’s role at the Attorney General’s office was interviewing former Confederate soldiers for Presidential pardons. “There are real characters among them”, he later wrote, “and you know I have a fancy for anything out of the ordinary.” In August 1866, he took a month off in order to prepare a new edition of Leaves of Grass which would not be published until 1867 after difficulty in finding a publisher. He hoped it would be its last edition. In February 1868 Poems of Walt Whitman was published in England thanks to the influence of William Michael Rossetti, with minor changes that Whitman reluctantly approved. The edition became popular in England, especially with endorsements from the highly respected writer Anne Gilchrist. Another edition of Leaves of Grass was issued in 1871, the same year it was mistakenly reported that its author died in a railroad accident. As Whitman’s international fame increased, he remained at the attorney general’s office until January 1872. He spent much of 1872 caring for his mother who was now nearly eighty and struggling with arthritis. He also traveled and was invited to Dartmouth College to give the commencement address on June 26, 1872.

Health decline and death

After suffering a paralytic stroke in early 1873, Whitman was induced to move from Washington to the home of his brother – George Washington Whitman, an Engineer — at 431 Stevens Street in Camden, New Jersey. His mother, having fallen ill, was also there and died that same year in May. Both events were difficult for Whitman and left him depressed and he would remain at his brothers home until buying his own in 1884. However, before purchasing his own home, he spent the greatest period of his residence in Camden at his brother’s home in Stevens Street. While in residence he was very productive publishing three version of Leaves of Grass among other works. He was also last fully physically active in this house, receiving both Oscar Wilde and Thomas Eakins. His other brother, Edward, an “invalid” since birth, also lived in the house.

When his brother and sister-in-law were forced to move for business reasons, he bought his own house at 328 Mickle Street (now 330 Mickle Street). First taken care of by tenants, he was completely bed ridden for most of his time in Mickle Street. During this time, he began socializing with Mary Oakes Davis – the widow of a sea captain. She was a neighbor to him boarding with a family in Bridge Avenue just a few blocks from Mickle Street. She moved in with Whitman on February 24, 1885, to serve as his housekeeper in exchange for free rent. She brought with her a cat, a dog, two turtledoves, a canary, and other assorted animals. During this time, Whitman produced further editions of Leaves of Grass in 1876, 1881, and 1889.

As the end of 1891 approached, he prepared a final edition of Leaves of Grass, an edition which has been nicknamed the “Deathbed Edition”. He wrote, “L. of G. at last complete—after 33 y’rs of hackling at it, all times & moods of my life, fair weather & foul, all parts of the land, and peace & war, young & old”. Preparing for death, Whitman commissioned a granite mausoleum shaped like a house for $4,000 and visited it often during construction. In the last week of his life, he was too weak to lift a knife or fork and wrote: “I suffer all the time: I have no relief, no escape: it is monotony — monotony — monotony — in pain.”

Whitman died on March 26, 1892. An autopsy revealed his lungs had diminished to one-eighth their normal breathing capacity, a result of bronchial pneumonia, and that an egg-sized abscess on his chest had eroded one of his ribs. The cause of death was officially listed as “pleurisy of the left side, consumption of the right lung, general miliary tuberculosis and parenchymatous nephritis.” A public viewing of his body was held at his Camden home; over one thousand people visited in three hours and Whitman’s oak coffin was barely visible because of all the flowers and wreaths left for him. Four days after his death, he was buried in his tomb at Harleigh Cemetery in Camden . Another public ceremony was held at the cemetery, with friends giving speeches, live music, and refreshments. Whitman’s friend, the orator Robert Ingersoll, delivered the eulogy. Later, the remains of Whitman’s parents and two of his brothers and their families were moved to the mausoleum.

Writing

Whitman’s work breaks the boundaries of poetic form and is generally prose-like. He also used unusual images and symbols in his poetry, including rotting leaves, tufts of straw, and debris. He also openly wrote about death and sexuality, including prostitution. He is often labeled as the father of free verse, though he did not invent it.

Poetic theory

Whitman wrote in the preface to the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass, “The proof of a poet is that his country absorbs him as affectionately as he has absorbed it.” He believed there was a vital, symbiotic relationship between the poet and society. This connection was emphasized especially in “Song of Myself” by using an all-powerful first-person narration. As an American epic, it deviated from the historic use of an elevated hero and instead assumed the identity of the common people. Leaves of Grass also responded to the impact that recent urbanization in the United States had on the masses.

Lifestyle and beliefs

Alcohol

Whitman was a vocal proponent of temperance and in his youth rarely drank alcohol. He once claimed he did not taste “strong liquor” until he was thirty and occasionally argued for prohibition. One of his earliest long fiction works, the novel Franklin Evans; or, The Inebriate, first published November 23, 1842, is a temperance novel. Whitman wrote the novel at the height of popularity of the Washingtonian movement though the movement itself was plagued with contradictions, as was Franklin Evans. Years later Whitman claimed he was embarrassed by the book and called it a “damned rot”. He dismissed it by saying he wrote the novel in three days solely for money while he was under the influence of alcohol himself. Even so, he wrote other pieces recommending temperance, including The Madman and a short story “Reuben’s Last Wish”. Later in life he was more liberal with alcohol, enjoying local wines and champagne.

Religion

Whitman was deeply influenced by deism. He denied any one faith was more important than another, and embraced all religions equally. In “Song of Myself”, he gave an inventory of major religions and indicated he respected and accepted all of them – a sentiment he further emphasized in his poem “With Antecedents”, affirming: “I adopt each theory, myth, god, and demi-god, / I see that the old accounts, bibles, genealogies, are true, without exception”. In 1874, he was invited to write a poem about the Spiritualism movement, to which he responded, “It seems to me nearly altogether a poor, cheap, crude humbug.” Whitman was a religious skeptic: though he accepted all churches, he believed in none. God, to Whitman, was both immanent and transcendent and the human soul was immortal and in a state of progressive development.

Sexuality

Whitman’s sexuality is generally assumed to be homosexual or bisexual based on his poetry, though that has been at times disputed. His poetry depicts love and sexuality in a more earthy, individualistic way common in American culture before the medicalization of sexuality in the late 19th century. Though Leaves of Grass was often labeled pornographic or obscene, only one critic remarked on its author’s presumed sexual activity: in a November 1855 review, Rufus Wilmot Griswold suggested Whitman was guilty of “that horrible sin not to be mentioned among Christians”. Whitman had intense friendships with many men and boys throughout his life. Some biographers have claimed that he may not have actually engaged in sexual relationships with males, while others cite letters, journal entries and other sources which they claim as proof of the sexual nature of some of his relationships.

Peter Doyle may be the most likely candidate for the love of Whitman’s life, according to biographer David S. Reynolds. Doyle was a bus conductor whom Whitman met around 1866 and the two were inseparable for several years. Interviewed in 1895, Doyle said: “We were familiar at once — I put my hand on his knee — we understood. He did not get out at the end of the trip — in fact went all the way back with me.” In his notebooks, Whitman disguised Doyle’s initials using the code “16.4″. A more direct second-hand account comes from Oscar Wilde. Wilde met Whitman in America in 1882 and wrote to the homosexual rights activist George Cecil Ives that there was “no doubt” about the great American poet’s sexual orientation — “I have the kiss of Walt Whitman still on my lips,” he boasted. The only explicit description of Whitman’s sexual activities is second hand. In 1924 Edward Carpenter, then an old man, described an erotic encounter he had had in his youth with Whitman to Gavin Arthur, who recorded it in detail in his journal. Late in his life, when Whitman was asked outright if his series of “Calamus” poems were homosexual, he chose not to respond.

Another possible lover was Bill Duckett. As a young teenage boy he lived in on the same street in Camden and moved in with Whitman, living with him a number of years and serving him in various roles. Duckett was fifteen when Whitman bought his house at 328 Mickle Street. Since, at least 1880, Duckett and his grandmother, Lydia Watson, were boarders subletting space from another family at 334 Mickle Street. Due to this close proximity it is obvious that Duckett and Whitman met as neighbors. Their relationship was close, with the youth sharing Whitman’s money when he had it. Whitman described their friendship as “thick.” Though some biographers describe him as a boarder, others identify him as a lover. Their photograph is described as “modeled on the conventions of a marriage portrait,” part of a series of portraits of the poet with his young male friends, and encrypting male-male desire. Yet another intense relationship with a young man was the one with Harry Stafford, with whose family he stayed when at Timber Creek, and whom he first met when the young man was 18, in 1876. Whitman gave young Stafford a ring, which was returned and given back over the course of a stormy relationship lasting a number of years. Of that ring Stafford wrote to Whitman, “You know when you put it on there was but one thing to part it from me, and that was death.”

There is also some evidence that Whitman may have had sexual relationships with women. He had a romantic friendship with a New York actress named Ellen Grey in the spring of 1862, but it is not known if it was also sexual. He still had a photo of her decades later when he moved to Camden and referred to her as “an old sweetheart of mine”. In a letter dated August 21, 1890 he claimed, “I have had six children — two are dead”. This claim has never been corroborated. Toward the end of his life, he often told stories of previous girlfriends and sweethearts and denied an allegation from the New York Herald that he had “never had a love affair”. As Whitman biographer Jerome Loving wrote, “the discussion of Whitman’s sexual orientation will probably continue in spite of whatever evidence emerges.”

Shakespeare authorship

Whitman was an adherent of the Shakespeare authorship question, refusing to believe in the historic attribution of the works to William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon. Whitman comments in his November Boughs (1888) regarding Shakespeare’s historical plays:

Conceiv’d out of the fullest heat and pulse of European feudalism—personifying in unparalleled ways the medieval aristocracy, its towering spirit of ruthless and gigantic caste, with its own peculiar air and arrogance (no mere imitation)—only one of the “wolfish earls” so plenteous in the plays themselves, or some born descendant and knower, might seem to be the true author of those amazing works—works in some respects greater than anything else in recorded literature.

Slavery

Whitman opposed the extension of slavery in the United States and supported the Wilmot Proviso. At first he was opposed to abolitionism, believing the movement did more harm than good. In 1846, he wrote that the abolitionists had, in fact, slowed the advancement of their cause by their “ultraism and officiousness”. His main concern was that their methods disrupted the democratic process, as did the refusal of the Southern states to put the interests of the nation as a whole above their own. In 1856, in his unpublished The Eighteenth Presidency, addressing the men of the South, he wrote “you are either to abolish slavery or it will abolish you”. Whitman also subscribed to the widespread opinion that even free African-Americans should not vote and was concerned at the increasing number of African-Americans in the legislature.

Legacy and influence

Walt Whitman has been claimed as America’s first “poet of democracy”, a title meant to reflect his ability to write in a singularly American character. A British friend of Walt Whitman, Mary Smith Whitall Costelloe, wrote: “You cannot really understand America without Walt Whitman, without Leaves of Grass… He has expressed that civilization, ‘up to date,’ as he would say, and no student of the philosophy of history can do without him.” Modernist poet Ezra Pound called Whitman “America’s poet… He is America.”Andrew Carnegie called him “the great poet of America so far”. Whitman considered himself a messiah-like figure in poetry. Others agreed: one of his admirers, William Sloane Kennedy, speculated that “people will be celebrating the birth of Walt Whitman as they are now the birth of Christ”.

The literary critic, Harold Bloom wrote, as the introduction for the 150th anniversary of Leaves of Grass:

If you are American, then Walt Whitman is your imaginative father and mother, even if, like myself, you have never composed a line of verse. You can nominate a fair number of literary works as candidates for the secular Scripture of the United States. They might include Melville’s Moby-Dick, Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Emerson’s two series of Essays and The Conduct of Life. None of those, not even Emerson’s, are as central as the first edition of Leaves of Grass.

Whitman’s vagabond lifestyle was adopted by the Beat movement and its leaders such as Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac in the 1950s and 1960s as well as anti-war poets like Adrienne Rich and Gary Snyder. Lawrence Ferlinghetti numbered himself among Whitman’s “wild children”, and the title of his 1961 collection Starting from San Francisco is a deliberate reference to Whitman’s Starting from Paumanok. Whitman also influenced Bram Stoker, author of Dracula, and was the model for the character of Dracula. Stoker said in his notes that Dracula represented the quintessential male which, to Stoker, was Whitman, with whom he corresponded until Whitman’s death. Other admirers included the Eagle Street College, an informal group established in 1885 at the home of James William Wallace in Eagle Street, Bolton, to read and discuss the poetry of Whitman. The group subsequently became known as the Bolton Whitman Fellowship or Whitmanites. Its members held an annual ‘Whitman Day’ celebration around the poet’s birthday.

Whitman’s poetry has been set to music by a large number of composers; indeed it has been suggested his poetry has been set to music more than any other American poet except for Emily Dickinson and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Those who have set his poems to music have included Kurt Weill, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Frederick Delius, Paul Hindemith, Karl Amadeus Hartmann, Benjamin Britten, Leonard Bernstein, Ned Rorem, Ronald Corp, George Crumb, Roger Sessions and John Adams.

Whitman is a 2009 inductee of the New Jersey Hall of Fame. The Walt Whitman Bridge crosses the Delaware River near his home in Camden.

Walt Whitman’s Published Books:

Franklin Evans (1842)
Leaves of Grass (1855)
Drum-Taps (1865)
Memoranda During the War
Specimen Days
Democratic Vistas (1871)

Miracles