Beijing's Water Cube is perhaps best known as the place where Michael Phelps won eight gold medals. This week, it became the site for something altogether different: a real-time 'painting' of China's mood, as revealed by Sina Weibo emoticons.
北京的水立方或许因迈克尔•菲尔普斯(Michael Phelps)在此揽获八枚金牌而为世人所知。前不久，它又摇身变为展现另一种截然不同事物的地方：以新浪微博的表情符号，实时“描绘”透露出中国人的情绪。
'Nature and Man in Rhapsody of Light at the Water Cube,' a collaboration between the artist Jennifer Wen Ma and lighting designer Zheng Jianwei, opened last Sunday. Using the former Olympics venue's distinctive exterior, it broadcasts the sentiments of the Chinese social-media service's millions of users through an interactive lighting display that runs from dusk to 10 p.m. daily.
6月23日，“天人合一水立方”灯光新媒体艺术项目在水立方启动，该项目由艺术家马文和灯光设计师郑见伟共同打造。此项目以这个前奥运场馆独特的外部结构为载体，每天日落时分至晚上10点，通过互动灯光系统将新浪微博数百万用户的情感传达出来。
'I have conceived this as a piece that can breathe,' says Ms. Ma, who turns 40 this week, 'as an organic being that changes as nature and society around it changes. I want people to feel like they have some authorship because their emotions are being registered.'
上月刚满40岁的马文说：“我把它看作一件可以呼吸的东西，一个会随着周围的自然环境和社会的变化而变化的有机体。我想让人们觉得他们自己也参与了部分创作，因为他们的情绪就被记录在其中。”
A custom software application sifts through millions of smiley faces and other emoticons that appear in updates posted to Sina Weibo, China's version of Twitter, then assigns them to one of roughly 70 'emotional categories.' Those affect the shade and movement of the light, while hexagram symbols from the ancient Chinese text 'I Ching' determine the color. For example, at the Sunday launch, the hexagram signifying 'water on water' and upbeat emoticons resulted in a light-blue lighting effect, replete with rising peaks and waves corresponding to a majority 'happy' population.
一款定制软件会筛选新浪微博新消息中出现的数百万个笑脸符号及其他表情符号，然后把它们归到约70种“情绪类型”中的一种。它们影响的是灯光的明暗度和动态，而色彩则由中国古籍《易经》中的卦象决定。例如，在6月23日项目启动当天，《易经》卦象显示的是“水在水上”，表情符号传达的是愉快情绪，因此当天的灯光效果为淡蓝色，此外它还以耸立的山峰和涌起的波浪图案对应表示当天多数人觉得“高兴”。
'Rhapsody of Light' is not Ms. Ma's first project on the Olympic Green. In 2008, she served as one of the seven core creative team members behind the Beijing opening ceremony, an event she now criticizes as 'all about happiness and power.'
“天人合一水立方”并不是马文在奥林匹克公园实施的第一个项目，她早在2008年就曾担任北京奥运会开幕式七人核心创意小组的成员，如今她批评这一盛事“呈现的全都是欢乐和权力”。
She and Mr. Zheng, who worked on lighting design for the Bird's Nest stadium and other Olympic projects, were commissioned by the government-backed organization that manages the Water Cube, but despite their prior work, they had to convince officials to let them create something that depicts both positive and negative feelings expressed by Chinese people.
她的合作伙伴郑见伟也曾参与鸟巢及其他奥运工程的灯光设计，他们二人受到的是由政府支持的水立方管理方的委托。尽管他们二人此前拥有如此的工作经历，他们还是得说服官员允许他们创作某种既体现中国人表达出的积极情绪，也呈现他们的负面情绪的东西。
'I really had to fight for the right to feel what we feel,' Ms. Ma says.
马文说：“我确实不得不去努力争取感觉我们所感觉到的东西的权利。”
Mr. Zheng believes that the work taps into an important argument about the use of landmark buildings in China, many of which are designed as bastions of state power. 'This is maybe the first landmark building [which] communicates with society,' he says. 'Every day it will change its face [according] to the people.'
郑见伟认为，该项目涉及了有关如何运用中国地标建筑的重要争论，其中许多建筑都是作为国家权力的堡垒而被设计出来的。他说：“水立方或许是第一个与社会交流的地标建筑，它每天都会根据大家的情绪变脸。”
Still, the results are bound to be skewed, since Weibo posts are routinely censored and deleted. Ms. Ma kept the work's overall look and tone abstract, anticipating such activity, and she emphasizes to government officials the 'I Ching' aspect over its social-media-influenced one.
然而，水立方反映出的情绪注定会有所偏颇，这是因为微博会定期遭到审查和删除。马文预料到会发生此类事情，所以她将整体的灯光效果和色调做了抽象处理，而且她向政府官员强调的更多的是对《易经》的应用，而非受社交媒体影响的那一方面。
She hopes to one day take 'Rhapsody of Light' to what she sees as its natural conclusion: a Water Cube display directly controlled by citizens, perhaps via online voting. 'If we cannot implement democracy through political means, then art can, in some way,' she says.
她希望有一天能推动“天人合一水立方”项目发展到她认为自然的结局：水立方的灯光展示由市民来掌控，也许是通过网络投票的方式。她说：“如果我们不能通过政治途径实施民主，那么艺术在某种方式上能做到。”
'If one day you come here and you don't find it beautiful, then ask why it is,' she adds. 'I trust that not every day is going to be pleasant and beautiful, but that doesn't mean it's not meaningful. These are the things which propel us forward for a better future, a better tomorrow.'
她还说：“假如有一天你来到这里，发现它并不美丽，那么你要问问为什么会这样。我相信不是每一天都令人愉快、都是美好的，但这并不表示它就是无意义的。正是这些事情推动我们前进，争取更美好的未来、更美好的明天。”