What we now know as Muir Woods became a national monument in 1908.
But scientists believe the oldest coast redwood in Muir Woods is at least 1,200 years old. It has stood through the times of the First People, Sir Francis Drake’s Golden Hind sailing by in 1579, Mexican settlers establishing Marin footholds in the 1830s and loggers threatening its existence in the late 19th century.
Tiffany Shlain grew up in Marin, feeling a close kinship to the redwoods, bay laurel, bigleaf maple and tanoak that are native to Muir Woods. The artist created her moveable monument, Dendrofemonology: A Feminist History Tree Ring, in 2022. Now, with husband and fellow artist Ken Goldberg, she has expanded that vision in the major show, “Ancient Wisdom for a Future Ecology: Trees, Time, and Technology,” on view at San Francisco’s di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art through April 11.
“It’s so fitting that it’s here now, in Northern California,” Shlain said.
Shlain, a multidisciplinary artist, Emmy-nominated filmmaker and founder of the Webby Awards, and Goldberg, an artist, writer, inventor and professor of robotics at UC Berkeley, have collaborated before. But this show, an expanded version of the exhibition that premiered in Los Angeles as the Getty’s “PST ART: Art & Science Collide” art initiative, is their most comprehensive cooperative effort to date, Shlain noted.
Not only have the artists been able to reimagine and add to their works, but the use of the connected Minnesota Street Project houses Shlain and Goldberg’s large-scale work, Tree of Knowledge, in its atrium. This piece is made from a 10,000-pound salvaged eucalyptus and includes nearly 200 historical and contemporary questions that have spurred humanity’s ongoing quest to understand the world, burned into the wood with pyrography.
Said exhibition curator Twyla Ruby, “When we agreed to travel the show from the Skirball, I knew I wanted to extend the story by telling the story of both artists’ independent practices and careers. The show evolved into a dual, mid-career survey with the addition of key early works dating back all the way to 1996 and showing their deep roots in the epistemological context of Northern California.”
Shlain created an entirely new piece for the show, a set of three swings titled Participatory Pendulum, which allows visitors to “swing into the past, present and future,” according to the artist.
She writes in her newsletter: “Like trees, pendulums represent time in a poetic way. Pendulums let scientists understand gravity, study movement and measure time.” The swing representing the past reads “the world before you were here” and “you were here.” The present swing says “you are here.” The future swing goes from “you will be here” to “the world when you are no longer here,” she said.
Goldberg reimagined his work, Bloom, as ReBloom.
“It’s a tribute to Bay Area landscapes,” he said. The AI-powered piece draws on landscape paintings by Northern California artists drawn from the di Rosa collection, such as Wayne Thiebaud and Richard Diebenkorn, to immerse viewers in a colorful representation of real-time seismic data drawn from the Hayward Fault. “It’s a living landscape. A change in motion triggers the ‘bloom,’” Goldberg added.
Another piece, Acknowledge, invites viewers to provide information about any San Francisco tree in a 100-word text, which is uploaded and analyzed using generative AI to produce a unique textual and visual “tree tribute.” The tributes allow people to explain their own experiences with individual trees.
“Public response to the interactive work, Acknowledge, has blown me away,” Ruby said. “The work encourages viewers to collect and submit data on favorite trees. It has been gratifying to hear hundreds of deeply personal stories and recollections of trees across the Bay Area and the roles they have played in public and private lives.”
Yet another groundbreaking work is Speculation, Like Nature, Abhors a Vacuum, a video piece that contrasts disparity in tree canopies along four San Francisco streets—Jackson, Eddy, Mission and Minnesota—in a style inspired by Ed Ruscha’s urban landscapes. San Francisco conducts a “tree census,” Goldberg said, and, as with all cities, some areas of San Francisco have many more trees as part of the urban canopy than others.
By identifying these areas and contrasting their differences, the work also helps advocate for planting new trees as part of combating climate change, Goldberg said.
“The process by which [Shlain and Goldberg] create works—beginning with years of intimate conversation between them, extending to deep research and consultation with area experts, and culminating in a tactile act of historical witnessing by writing with fire—is beautiful to witness,” Ruby said.
Asked about ongoing concerns that AI could begin to replace the human creative process, both artists pushed back on that idea. After 30 years teaching robotics, Goldberg described his view as “a mixture of optimism and skepticism.” He said, “Nuance and interaction are so important. AI could help you transcribe this interview,” but it would not replace the interpretation.
Shlain referenced Marshall McLuhan, saying AI can be used to “lift up information to see things in a different way.”
Ruby offered suggestions on how to visit “Ancient Wisdom.” “The exhibition requires slow looking and close reading, so be prepared to stay for a while,” she said. “When your attention span needs a break, swing it out on the Participatory Pendulum.”
Last chance to experience ‘Ancient Wisdom’ and to hear artists Tiffany Shlain and Ken Goldberg discuss how the exhibition has built on previous work, what they are working on now and where the artwork is heading next. Live music and dancing with the Hot Einsteins—6 to 9pm, Saturday, April 11, at di Rosa SF, 1150 25th St., San Francisco. Tue–Sat, 11am to 5pm. dirosaart.org. General admission: $25.
