WEBVTT 00:00:07.505 --> 00:00:12.382 [MAYA LIN: DISAPPEARING BODIES OF WATER] 00:00:14.283 --> 00:00:16.980 I was going to become a field zoologist 00:00:16.980 --> 00:00:20.811 and I took a sidetrack into art and architecture. 00:00:25.414 --> 00:00:29.060 I was brought up in the 60s--child of the 60s-- 00:00:29.060 --> 00:00:34.950 so, whether I was petitioning to boycott Japan for the whaling industry, 00:00:34.950 --> 00:00:38.149 or petitioning to ban steel traps, 00:00:38.149 --> 00:00:41.077 I was out in the parking lot in Athens, Ohio, 00:00:41.077 --> 00:00:43.202 sort of being a bit of an activist. 00:00:45.536 --> 00:00:48.837 The discussion was out of how much damage 00:00:48.837 --> 00:00:52.198 we were doing as a species to the rest of the planet. 00:00:52.549 --> 00:00:55.105 It's really personal, and I love the environment. 00:00:55.435 --> 00:00:57.122 I love the world around us. 00:00:57.220 --> 00:00:58.645 "Red Sea" (2006) 00:01:02.907 --> 00:01:06.708 In a previous show, I had done these bodies of water-- 00:01:06.708 --> 00:01:09.939 like the Caspian, the Red Sea, and the Black Sea. 00:01:09.939 --> 00:01:14.095 So, I'm going to be cutting into stone, this time, 00:01:14.465 --> 00:01:17.445 these disappearing bodies of water. 00:01:19.915 --> 00:01:23.877 What we've got today of the Arctic Ice Shelf 00:01:23.877 --> 00:01:26.646 versus what it was like in 1980. 00:01:28.633 --> 00:01:31.540 This is Lake Chad which, again, 00:01:31.540 --> 00:01:34.276 all that's left of Lake Chad is this, 00:01:34.276 --> 00:01:37.400 and so at this point, we start with drawings, 00:01:37.400 --> 00:01:39.937 we end up putting it into the computer, 00:01:39.937 --> 00:01:42.387 and it will all be cut in stone. 00:01:45.600 --> 00:01:50.106 It's sort of in between mechanized and then hand worn-- 00:01:50.106 --> 00:01:54.032 or worn out--so it gets to be a little bit softer on the edges. 00:01:55.475 --> 00:01:57.170 I love the smaller-scale works because 00:01:57.170 --> 00:01:59.888 I can make them here with my team. 00:02:00.557 --> 00:02:03.602 They're both artists and architects working for me, 00:02:03.602 --> 00:02:06.908 but the architectural assistants, they're the only ones 00:02:06.908 --> 00:02:09.742 that can take this data from the map makers, 00:02:09.742 --> 00:02:13.859 convert it, and then send it to the printers. 00:02:14.789 --> 00:02:17.037 This is Nick Croft, by the way. 00:02:18.187 --> 00:02:21.587 Can you just walk them through some of the analysis 00:02:21.587 --> 00:02:23.166 and studies that have to go on? 00:02:23.166 --> 00:02:24.033 [Nick Croft, Studio Assistant] 00:02:24.033 --> 00:02:27.280 [CROFT] Well, a lot of it is finding data of geographical places 00:02:27.280 --> 00:02:28.618 or locations in the world. 00:02:28.618 --> 00:02:31.224 So, a lot of the time, we'll look to the Internet. 00:02:31.264 --> 00:02:34.789 We'll take it all and we'll try to make a three-dimensional surface 00:02:34.789 --> 00:02:36.353 in the computer program 00:02:36.353 --> 00:02:39.837 and then make mock ups at various scales, 00:02:39.837 --> 00:02:44.984 or do different studies of the terrain and its surface quality. 00:02:45.853 --> 00:02:49.453 [LIN] Because so much of what I do ends up being 00:02:49.453 --> 00:02:53.034 through the computer to analyze the data and information. 00:02:53.034 --> 00:02:54.898 The thing I'm always wary of is, 00:02:54.898 --> 00:02:57.740 "Oh, what's the difference between whether it's in an art museum 00:02:57.740 --> 00:03:00.373 versus a science museum?" 00:03:00.373 --> 00:03:02.333 And that's where it's tricky. 00:03:03.802 --> 00:03:06.971 It's not really a representation--it is its own thing. 00:03:07.496 --> 00:03:11.527 I'm as much interested in the form making that I'm doing, 00:03:11.527 --> 00:03:14.328 as well as getting you to think about 00:03:14.328 --> 00:03:17.033 what we're doing to the world around us.