Memo to the Self Important

Written By Kathleen Kelly

Ancient Wisdom for a Future Ecology:

Trees, Time and Technology

Shlain & Goldberg


di Rosa “Incorrect Museum”

(San Francisco)

Ongoing – April 11

 

     Ancient Wisdom for a Future Ecology: Trees, Time and Technology reviews our past and imagines our potential futures using large-scale wood sculptures, video and artificial intelligence. The San Francisco debut of this exhibition is a homecoming for artist and filmmaker, Tiffany Shlain and her 30-year partner – her husband, artist and UC Berkeley robotics professor, Ken Goldberg.

Shlain is delighted that the exhibition has finally arrived in their hometown. “The Bay Area has some of the oldest trees in the world, and many of the ideas [in the installation] are based in AI, which is vital in an area with so much new technology. I’d love to see the show go to every part of the country and every part of the world to face new questions in different communities.”

Down the Rabbit Hole

     The exhibition offers a through-the-looking-glass approach:

  • A human-centric viewpoint, which pays homage to the ongoing human quest for knowledge by documenting our evolution through a series of timelines inscribed over the rings of fallen tree fragments.

    • Don’t fret, the trees for this exhibition were culled from salvage yards.

    • Using the age-old technique of pyrography (wood burning), these timelines address history through such topics as mathematics, science and unique features of California trees.

  • Alternatively, if you step back, you will see a different story being told.

    • The trees started out long before humans arrived. They will (hopefully) survive any stresses and challenges that we place upon this planet.

    • It’s possible that humans are just an evolutionary offshoot. A bad plan. Doomed like the dinosaurs. Meanwhile, trees will continue to evolve at their pace. Ask the Druids, Dryads, Kodama or Ents. Ancients with wisdom interlinked with trees.

 

Questions For Treebeard

     At the core of the installation stands Tree of Knowledge, a sculpture crafted from a tree that is rugged on one side a la Ursula von Rydingsvard. On the other side, a smoother surface is etched with 160 questions organized into six categories (mind, humanities, society, sciences, beliefs and philosophy). The inquires at the center are short, profound or crucial queries faced by our early ancestors, such as:  “Why do I exist?” and “Can we create fire?” As they spread outward, the questions become relevant to our present state, e.g., “How will we live in a changing climate?”

     The wall sculpture If We Lose Ourselves recounts the various ways knowledge has been presented and stored through the ages, to serve as guides and warnings. Using tree-ring dating, this anthropomorphic chronology starts with the invention of writing and culminates with the introduction of ChatGPT. Fascinating tidbits along the way include the dates of the first algebra book, the founding of the Library of Congress and Nazi book burnings. Continuing the theme, another impressive sculpture is Abstract Expression, which documents the evolution of equations beginning with Pythagoras.

Entwives

     Expanding on the original exhibition (first seen in 2024, at the Getty in LA), di Rosa will present several new and related works including Shlain’s Dendrofemonology: A Feminist History Tree Ring. This installation is on view for the first time in San Francisco after prior evanescences on the National Mall in DC and Madison Square Park, NY. Also on view is a new version of Goldberg’s video art installation Bloom, which uses live seismic data from the San Andreas fault.

AI-generated, based on information about a neighborhood tree, provided by a visitor.

Interactive

     As part of the exhibition, visitors are invited to honor a tree from their own neighborhood by submitting photos, measurements, and personal reflections through a dedicated website: ancientwisdom.art/sf-tree-tribute-gallery

     These online submissions are processed using AI tools to create custom images and short tributes, which then become part of a living archive and are featured within the gallery space.

Additionally, by using the latest technology, the artists cleverly extend the Jewish custom of honoring loved ones by planting trees to celebrating trees themselves within the virtual landscape of the World Wide Web. 

PUBLIC PROGRAMS

An Afternoon of Feminist Art + Action
Saturday, March 7, 2-5 p.m.
RSVP

Art, Artifice, and AI:

A Conversation with Whitney Curator Christiane Paul and Ken Goldberg
Thursday, March 12, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Tickets

Ecology Now: 
Krista Tippett in Conversation with Tiffany Shlain & Ken Goldberg
Thursday, March 26, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Tickets

Closing Night Celebration
Saturday, April 11, 6-9 p.m.
Tickets

 

For more information about this exhibition, click here.

 

My thanks to David S. Rubin, Hyperallergic.

Kathleen Kelly
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