In Suchi Reddy's latest art project, a chance at forging our future, viewing AI as an extension of the senses

When we think of the future, the fear of having little control over our circumstances often colours our vision. But artist Suchi Reddy would like us all to take a moment and consider this prospect: of having the power and agency in creating a future for ourselves, and not just being mere observers as the workings of time carry us along.

Reddy has her work cut out for her. Founder of the New York-based design and architecture firm Reddymade, the award-winning artist will unveil me + you, a site-specific artificial intelligence (AI) and light sculpture in November 2021. Part of an exhibition marking the Smithsonian Institution ’s 175th year, the sculpture aims to meld individual human experiences with intelligent technology, and give visitors a chance to look into their ‘future’.

The installation will debut in the historic Arts and Industries Building (AIB) in Washington DC, the spot where Thomas Edison’s light bulb had its first public unveiling as well. It is then an apt coincidence that during the conceptualisation of the design, “all roads led to light” for Reddy.

In an interview with Firstpost, she reflects on the accessibility of her work, including me+you, her foremost brush with artificial intelligence, and what the future might have in store for the global community. Here are excerpts from the interview:

What is the purpose of me + you? It seems that our collective and individual fears, uncertainty, and hope have an important role in setting the tone of the project. Have your own shaped or affected the trajectory of me + you?

‘Visions of the future’ are so often portrayed in a linear and one-dimensional trajectory. However, the FUTURES exhibition comes with a diverse and pluralistic objective that inspired me to conceive of an artwork that takes as its material both the physical and the virtual. me + you is conceived as an interactive work that articulates both singular views on the future and an ever-changing totemic view of our collective vision of it.

The source of my inspiration for this work is a realisation and philosophical stance that I have held since I was a young girl; that self-awareness and mindful engagement with my world was the key to discovering its beauty and integrity. So, when I thought about the subject of how we engage with technology, and envision our future with it, it was very clear to me that I needed to make a work that expressed the idea that it is the wisdom of humans that will temper and inform the wisdom of technology. The human interaction piece is essential to all my artworks, so it took shape as an installation that engages us all in creating a collective vision.

I think it will make people think about what they fear and what they desire, and the distance between those two poles of being. My deepest hope is that it will bring home the beauty of all of us acting together to create a beautiful artifact together.

How do the material and objects in me + you colour the larger project and complement your intention behind it?

The sculpture takes the vibration of sound and turns it into the vibration of light, those are the conceptual materials that create the experience of human connection that the sculpture creates. To transform sound into light we used the Amazon Web Services Transcribe and SageMaker. Both use machine learning to generate evolving datasets. Transcribe is an automatic speech recognition service that allowed us to translate sound into data which then became light in the sculpture. SageMaker allowed us to explore, analyse and process inputs to train a machine learning model that could generate evolving patterns of light.

In addition to these programs I created with my team specific codes to define the physical manifestation of patterns and colour and light that make up the experience of the sculpture. Since the intention behind the sculpture was to reflect the ever evolving power of our individual agency and collective responsibility for our futures, digital materials were perfect tools to express the concept physically.

How important is it for your work, me + you in particular, to be accessible?

With me + you I hope to create an inclusive experience with an immediate and physical connection to the sculpture that allows every visitor to feel an equitable ability to influence our collective vision of the future. No matter who we are or where we come from, we all have the ability to influence our future, and it is our self-aware engagement with it that is crucial to our collective outcome. I see the central totemic collection of all our visions of the future as a symbol of our diversity that celebrates the beauty of different points of view coalescing into a singular objet d’art.

To ensure that me + you has as wide a reach as possible, and be available to as many people around the world as possible, not limited to those who could visit in person, we have also created a virtual companion to the physical sculpture. Creating a web application that accompanies the physical sculpture allowed me to invite everyone who has access to the internet to participate and contribute, so it is a very meaningful part of the artwork to me. Online visitors access the web app, enter into it a word that describes the future for them and will see it transform into a mandala that becomes part of a totemic virtual artifact.

Me+you is a voice for all of us, a voice for those who can’t be heard as well. I designed the sculpture so that the mandala speaking stations are at different heights, to accommodate those in wheelchairs, and children. For those who are speech impaired, there is a station where a future vision can be typed instead of spoken. Everyone has been given a seat at the table with this work, because everyone’s voice matters.

Could you discuss your first and foremost brush with artificial intelligence and the impact that it had on your creative practice?

Science and data are parallel fascinations to art and design for me and have always influenced my thinking and creative process. They are tools intrinsic to understanding our world, along with our senses, which are our natural tools. AI is simply an extension of that and has the potential to someday be construed as an extension of our senses — that is of course if we remain self-aware and responsible with our engagement and development of it, which is what me + you illustrates.

My first fascination with the idea of AI began, as for most people, with the image of Hal, the all-knowing computer in the movie 2001: Space Odyssey, the notion that all our data could be processed intelligently by our creation has since stayed with me. As an adult, that idea has evolved to examine the lenses through which we understand our world and I think AI can be a powerful tool to allow us to see our world through the lenses of equity and empathy, and that’s how it affects my creative process.

The essence of making art is processing the human experience and communicating that, it cannot be immune to the tools we use to do that.

Why is light so central to your vision for this piece? You’ve said it was very clear to you from the beginning that light would represent AI. Why didn’t the other methods to document AI make the cut?

Being trained as an architect, my primal instinct is to respond to physical space, and the rotunda of the AIB with its light pouring down on us made me feel that the work had to amplify the architecture for maximum effect. Light was the answer! It is a medium that draws people in, that acts as a beacon, and that was crucial to my concept. Using code as a material to manipulate light was also a natural fit, hence all roads led to light.

How do you feel about showcasing at the AIB building? How does the site, aside from its historical significance, speak to you?

I am honoured and grateful to have such a platform as the Smithsonian for my work and my thinking. It is no small challenge to follow in the footsteps of Thomas Edison who unveiled the light bulb for the first time in DC on this very spot, but it inspires me greatly to be able to contribute to the story of human evolution with technology, what we might call culture, in this storied building that has such a tradition of showcasing singular moments in our evolution as humans.

But the work was not conceived as site specific, as it will be relocated to AWS’s headquarters after it is on view in the AIB rotunda. In its design, me+you therefore had to relate to the particular and grand proportions of the spectacular rotunda, and also be a perfect fit in its future home. To solve this problem, I decided to make the artwork present itself as a light sculpture, thus allowing it to have a presence that always drew on its surroundings, but could be amplified by them to feel perfect in situ. Making it appear as a cloud of white points of light helped me see it fit naturally into the traditional architecture of the rotunda at the AIB with all its detail, and also into a neutral gallery space.

What is your ‘future vision’? Have you thought about how you might engage with me + you once it’s been unveiled and open to the public?

Me + you is an ongoing project that continues outside its location in the rotunda of the Arts & Industries Building at the Smithsonian. It is a work that continues to evolve; the sculpture is always learning and continuing to grow. So, it will continuously depend on us, what we give to it. me + you responds to and reflects changes that we see in the world. The web app may stay active long after the exhibition closes; it’s a document that will continue to accumulate. Ultimately, an important aspect of this sculpture is that it helps individuals and community voice themselves. It also speaks to how we as a global community strive to co-evolve with technology.