Bricolage
Weaving AI-generated poetry and bricks to celebrate the interface between Google and its surrounding neighborhood
Bricolage is a digital artwork that celebrates the local interface between Google's Cambridge offices and the surrounding Kendall Square neighborhood, through the merging of brick, LED technology, and AI-generated poetry.
The artwork uses generative AI to weave the words of New England poets and Google technical research papers into an evolving choreography of language. Text is illuminated and animated to form evocative poetic phrases and stanzas that span a brick wall of LED displays.
Bricolage was trained on a collection of public domain poetry from New England poets and Google papers. Using machine learning and natural language processing, the artwork combines technical language with the lyricism and expression of poetry; bringing together the technical pursuits that seek to improve humanity with the experience of being human.
The bricks in the wall, designed by Merge Architects, progressively rotate across its surface, changing the porosity of the interface between the lobby interior and the sidewalk. The artwork has a quiet kinetic presence in the neighborhood, revealing surprising new intersections between the vocabularies of technology and humanity.
Client
Collaborators
Utile Architecture & Planning
Merge Architects
Turner Construction
Services
Concept Development
Creative Direction
Installations & Placemaking
Software Development
Fabrication & Install