London's talking statues

《中英對照讀新聞》Ring, ring: London statues want to talk to you 鈴～鈴～：倫敦雕像想與你通話

2014-08-24

◎顧佳欣

Calling all London tourists: Peter Pan, Sherlock Holmes and Queen Victoria want to have a word with you.

呼叫所有倫敦的遊客：彼得潘、福爾摩斯以及維多利亞女王有話要跟你說。

A new interactive arts project is giving a voice to dozens of statues of historical and fictional characters in London, allowing them to tell their stories and entertain curious visitors and weary commuters as they pass by.

一項新型的互動藝術計畫，將倫敦幾十個歷史人物與虛擬角色賦予了聲音，讓他們可以訴說自己的故事，娛樂一下行經的好奇遊客和疲憊旅人。

To get an instant "call" from one of the statues - say from one depicting Isaac Newton at the British Library - people can swipe their smartphones on a plaque to scan a digital code, or type in a web address. They can then listen to a monologue from the character, played by actors including Patrick Stewart and Hugh Bonneville, famous from the British TV series "Downton Abbey."

要接到雕像之一的即時「電話」—比如說在大英圖書館的牛頓—人們可以向解說牌揮一下智慧型手機掃描數位條碼，或輸入網址。之後，他們可以聽到人物的獨白，由英國電視劇「唐頓莊園」著名演員派屈克‧史都華或休‧伯納威飾演。

In total, 35 statues in London and Manchester are featured. The choices are eclectic: Along with Holmes, who laments the absence of Dr. Watson by his side at Baker Street station, there’s author Samuel Johnson’s cat Hodge and an unnamed couple on a bench. Some educate with a bit of history, but most come with a healthy dose of humor.

倫敦及曼徹斯特共計有35個雕像加入表演。選材不拘一格：在貝克街車站哀嘆華生缺席的福爾摩斯，身旁是作家山繆‧強生的貓霍奇，以及一對坐在長凳上不知名的情侶。有些能教人一些歷史，但大多數都是給人一劑健康幽默。

Queen Victoria’s starts: "Thank you for calling me on this strange machine. I have become very bored sitting here all day holding an extremely heavy scepter and orb."

維多利亞女王的開場白是：「謝謝你用這台奇怪的機器打給我。我握著超級重的權杖與寶珠，在這坐一整天，已感到有夠無聊。」

新聞辭典

weary：形容詞，疲勞的。例句：She needs to rest her weary eyes.（她必須放鬆一下疲憊的雙眼。）

lament：動詞，哀悼、悲嘆。例句：John lamented over the loss of his best friend.（約翰哀悼好友的逝去。）

eclectic：形容詞，折衷的、不拘一格。例句：My taste in music is eclectic as I love Pop, classical, blues and rock’n’ roll.（我的音樂品味不拘一格，喜愛流行樂、古典樂、藍調與搖滾。）

How London's statues are finding their voice

Statues of the great and good across the capital and Manchester will be able to chat to passers-by thanks to smartphone technology

• Download a map of London's talking statues as a PDF here
• Download a map of Manchester's talking statues as a PDF here

• Kit Buchan
• The Observer, Sunday 17 August 2014

The Sherlock Holmes statue is given a voice by Anthony Horowitz and Ed Stoppard. Photograph: Lee Ryda

Public statues across London and Manchester will clear their throats and begin speaking for themselves on Tuesday, thanks to a scheme from"public interventions" company Sing London, with funding from the Digital R&D Fund for the Arts. A group of heavyweight writers was signed up to put words into the statues' mouths while familiar figures of stage and screen recorded the monologues that give voice to 35 majestic men and women (plus two cats and a goat), transforming them from stony strangers into garrulous fountains of living history for a year.

A marble child in Manchester Central Library, for instance, will produce a monologue written by Jacqueline Wilson and spoken by Dr Who's Jenna Coleman, while the first world war Tommy in London's Paddington Station has been brought to life by Tony Harrison and actor Patrick Stewart. "I hadn't planned to have all these stars," says the company's artistic director, Colette Hiller. "I just wanted to get the technology right."

It's technology that aims to bring you physically as well as emotionally closer to the subjects. Once in front of a statue, a "heritage plaque" on its plinth offers you three ways to hear its story: a link to type into your web browser, a QR barcode or a near field communication (NFC) chip that can be tapped with any supporting phone to trigger a speech. "You don't need to download anything," explains Hiller. "It's all about having a spontaneous moment. Your phone will just ring and it will say, 'Sherlock Holmes is on the phone for you' and the monologue begins."

An extract from Tony Harrison's monologue for the statue of an unnamed British first world war soldier in Paddington station, voiced by Patrick Stewart. Photograph: Dom Agius

The NFC technology is also used for instant, short-range radio communication for contactless payments or Oyster cards, but Hiller believes this will be the first time it has been used in a cultural context. The manner in which the data is transferred to the phone is another technical coup for the project, whose digital particulars have been designed by a specialist museum-guide developer called Antenna Lab. "The big secret is that it isn't really a phone call. It's an audio file disguised as a phone call," explains Hiller, conspiratorially, "but the experience is seamless."

Organising the project, however, was not quite so smooth. Access to Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela and the other inhabitants of Parliament Square was denied, according to Hiller, on the grounds that the plaques would have been disrespectful. "Jeremy Paxman was furious on my behalf!" says Hiller; Paxman has written and voiced a monologue for the statue of radical politician John Wilkes. "It worked out, though, because we had to look further afield and ended up with a better mixture of old and modern statues."

Aside from breathing new life into weary landmarks, the project is also designed to encourage listeners to visit nearby museums. A statue of Queen Victoria, for example, whose monologue is written by theObserver's Elizabeth Day, encourages listeners to visit the Victoria exhibition at Kensington Palace. Data from the project will be collected and analysed by researchers at the University of Leicester's School of Museum Studies, to gauge its success.

With monologues ranging from the comic (Samuel Johnson's cat, Hodge, voiced by Nicholas Parsons) to the tragic (Alan Turing, voiced by Russell Tovey), the project offers passers-by a new way to explore the legacies of the great and the good. "Look up!" says Isaac Newton outside the British Library, in the commanding tones of Simon Russell Beale. "Most of the things you're doing now, like listening to me on your mobile phone, can only be done because of my discoveries."