Technology has brought us immeasurable knowledge, but it is our human imprint on this knowledge that shapes its being in the world around us. Weaving the wisdom of humans and the intelligence of technology together, me + you is created through combined strengths, as an emblem for a positive future of coevolution.
Viewers are invited to speak a word describing their future into the cloud base of the sculpture at designated points. Acting as an emotional translator, me + you reflects back to each visitor a unique kinetic mandala. As individuals interact with the sculpture, the collective vision of all users is also displayed as an artifact at its center. The interaction between humans and artificial intelligence is visualized as a visceral experience of the balance between individual responsibility and collective agency.
me + you is powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS) and utilizes AWS Transcribe and AWS Sagemaker. Both of these services use machine learning to generate evolving datasets. Amazon Transcribe is the automatic speech recognition service that translates sound into data which then becomes light in the sculpture. Using Amazon SageMaker, allowed Suchi Reddy to explore, analyze, and process inputs to train a machine learning model that generates evolving patterns of light, according to visuals that she designed.
me + you is the first major public art commission from AWS and is curated by Isolde Brielmaier.
The sculpture is on view in the rotunda of the Smithsonian’s Arts + Industries Building (AIB) in Washington, D.C., as the centerpiece of the FUTURES exhibition from November 20, 2021-July 2022. After the exhibit closes in July 2022, me + you will be transported to its permanent home—a public site at Amazon’s second headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, where it will be available to the general public for free.
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