Artificial intelligence may one day surpass human intellect, according to artist Sarah Meyohas.
The 26-year-old presented her art installation, “Cloud of Petals,” an intricate framework of digitized rose petals, pixels and paraphernalia of past technologies, balanced in an open space of the former Bell Laboratories in Holmdel.
Bell Labs – which is now known by its title, Bell Works – is a hub for innovation and idealization.
Meyohas said her installation was driven by the history engrained in the two million-square-foot office space, an area once dubbed “The Idea Factory.”
According to “metroburb” officials, the binary digital computer, cosmic radio waves and other technological breakthroughs oversaw its creation at Bell Labs in the early 1900s.
At the opening ceremony held on May 23, Meyohas said her project “had no basis without a location.”
In 2016, Meyohas said she hired 16 workers to pluck petals from 10,000 roses. With Bell Works serving as the host, Meyohas recorded the experience on 16mm film, strategically documenting the process of finding, sorting and photographing what she had referred to as “the most beautiful” flower petals.
Meyohas said she obtained 100,000 images, and then converted the images into artificially generated rose petals using a simple binary code created by scientists at Bell Labs more than a century ago.
The otherwise eclectic exhibit seeks to redefine the preconceived notion of individual perception, in regards to the ideas that are offered by progressions in science, she said. Meyohas said she sought to portray digitized beauty in the wake of a technological takeover.
“It is poetic, but it is also foreshadowing the fears of artificial intelligence,” Meyohas said.
Included in the artist’s exhibition are four, glass confinement quarters, strategically sheltering salvaged materials from the basement of the former Bell Labs. Infinity mirrors adorn the back of the structures to “eternalize” the essence of an otherwise unending spectrum of debri – or as Meyohas coins the material – art.
Meyohas also created a virtual reality experience to coincide with her research. Spectators who view the New Yorker’s exhibition are encouraged to physically engage themselves in her work, she said.
“Once I did the film and was reckoning with this data set of digital images, the truth is that nowadays computers see digital images as much as humans do. I didn’t want to take the petals outside of the digital sphere, so I worked on a virtual reality aspect,” she said.
Creative Director Paola Zamudio, who is responsible for maintaining the visual experience offered at Bell Works, said Meyoha’s installation is the first exhibit of its kind to touch down at the inventor’s hub.
“I’m here to create the culture and keep the vibe of the space,” Zamudio said.
Zamudio said Meyohas contacted her as Bell Labs found itself in the midst of reinventing its culture and workspace. She said the artist was interested in using the space to metaphorically drive her.
“It was very interesting because artists are very abstract. We thought, ‘How are we going to do this?’” Zamudio said.
Aside from the technologically sound, tangible components of the exhibition, Meyohas screened her film, which also goes by the title “Cloud of Petals,” on opening night. The 30-minute short outlines her research with big data.
“Every graphic, every shot, has a meaning,” Zamudio said.
Contact Kelly Giuliano at [email protected].