We’ve all been there, scrolling on your phone, checking messages and liking posts on social media, when you look at the clock and realize it’s not just been minutes but hours.
An exhibit at the Michigan State University Broad Art Museum puts a spotlight on this kind of doomscrolling and what we lose when give ourselves over to the algorithm.
The artwork “Synthetic Sirens” takes up a large gallery room at the Broad. The only physical object in the room is a selfie camera and ring light anchored in the center.
On the walls are images projected of visitors captured by that camera.
The people on the walls are washed away with the sounds of waves crashing. When they return, dozens of videos that you’d see on social media feeds pop up.
Animals playing, skin care tutorials and recipe breakdowns show up behind them, and the people become lost among the feed.
Cecilie Waagner Falkenstrøm is the artist behind this installation. She’s from Denmark and is part of the MSUFCU Arts Power Up Artist-in-Residency program at MSU.
"All of us live, in a way, in our own echo chamber on these social media platforms where we are the center of the attention, and where we are also surrounded by a lot of content."
Much of Falkenstrøm's work utilizes technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning to get people to think about how they use them in their daily life.
"There is a huge need to kind of like understand the deeper power dynamics of these technologies," she said.
Falkenstrøm says that could mean giving a second thought before sharing personal information with an AI chatbot.
"A technology that can simulate human qualities has quite a way to make us maybe forget that we are interacting with a technology," she said.
"We might likely give away more information about ourselves or more personal data than we would normally share with a company."
There is always a human being behind the machine, and that human being needs to be accountable.
She chose the name "Synthetic Sirens" after the mythological Greek creatures, half-women, half-birds who were said to lure sailors to their death with their songs.
"The algorithms or the AI models behind social media platforms seduce us or lure us into staying longer in the feed than we would maybe normally, instinctively do, and as such, we end up in this kind of like drowning," she explained.
Falkenstrøm says there’s a reason she decided to incorporate the artwork’s visitors into the piece.
"It becomes evident that in reality, we, the human beings in the installation, but also in reality, are kind of like the data, the product that makes the AI or the tech industry spin around."
She’s careful though not to assign whether AI and online algorithms are ultimately good or bad for society. She says it’s more important to think about who built the technology and why.
"At the end of the day, there is always a human being behind the machine, and that human being needs to be accountable."
When I visited the museum and saw my own image projected on the walls, I even got lost in it, taking selfies before realizing I would become a part of the installation for the next few months.
I had also asked Falkenstrøm about this point of no return after hearing these sirens and jumping in the metaphorical water.
"I think that's a good question. So, in a way, we are in the water, right?’" she responded.
But then she brought up Odysseus, who was able to listen to the sirens sing while tied up against the mast of his ship as his sailors plugged their ears.
"In a way, I think there's also hope, right? There's hope that we can kind of like try to find a way where we can maybe still have social media, but maybe have it in a little different way than we have now," Falkenstrøm said.
Cecilie Waagner Falkenstrøm’s “Synthetic Sirens” is on display at the MSU Board Art Museum through July 12.
