Berkeley husband-wife art team’s ‘Ancient Wisdom’ exhibit coming to S.F.

On exceedingly rare occasions, two distinctly separate human beings join their talents, energies, minds, imaginations and purposes in a long marriage.

Even more exceptional are when the people in those literal marriages extend their individual tendril-like professional paths toward each other, braiding them into endeavors that become something greater than either could have created alone. The “mine and yours” are rendered indistinguishable from one another.

Such is the case with multidisciplinary artist Tiffany Shlain and Ken Goldberg, a UC Berkeley professor of engineering and art practice. The Berkeley-based life and work partners’ newest collaboration is “Ancient Wisdom for a Future Ecology: Trees, Time and Technology.”

The exhibition interweaves concepts related to time that include California and Jewish history, mathematics, the development of written language, the ancient practice of reading tree rings and the incursions and advantages of artificial intelligence. After its fall 2024 opening in Los Angeles as part of the Getty Center’s “PST ART: Art & Science Collide” initiative at the Skirball Cultural Center, “Ancient Wisdom” will arrive on Thursday next week at the di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art’s San Francisco location.

Concurrent with the exhibition is extended programming including artist-led tours, presentations, conversations with special guests and more. Although far from the first time the award-winning pair have collaborated — during the past 20 years, partnerships have produced several award-winning films and acclaimed projects — Shlain says in an interview that “Ancient Wisdom” was especially rewarding.

The project combines Shlain’s fascination with the ancient practice of reading time through tree rings and her knowledge of feminism and Judaism that backstories her large-scale, wood sculptures with Goldberg’s interest and expertise in art, technology and AI. The materials used in the sculptures come from salvaged tree sections sourced from Bay Area fields and lumber yards, reflecting another shared interest in the local environment and sustainability.

An overview of “Ancient Wisdom” shows the “Tree of Knowledge” sculpture, a prime example of their work together. The 10,000-pound slice taken from a fallen eucalyptus tree is smooth on one face, rough on the other. On the smooth side, Shlain used the ancient practice of pyrography — literally writing with fire — to inscribe 160 questions in six categories that resulted from more than a year of discussion. Feminist milestones, empirical and fundamental questions all humans wrestle with, humorous references, 5,000 years of Judaic narrative history and more are burned into the wood.

“It’s exhilarating, scary and exciting,” Shlain says. “Even though there is so much planning, taking designs printed on paper and using scissors, tape, carbon paper and tracing (to transfer onto wood), my heart almost stops when I use this soldering tool that’s red-hot and emits flames. It becomes meditative once I get into the groove.”

Shlain describes the process as “listening” to the wood for what it tells her it wants to be and to express and says the show’s artworks are “physical manifestations” of her relationship and conversations with Goldberg during 30 years together. Another work, “Abstract Expression,” centers on the history of mathematics through science.

In documenting equations from Pythagoras to ChatGPT, Shlain says, “That was an example where we saw a fallen redwood tree that arrived from the salvage yard with large cuts on the edge. At first we worried about its condition. With time and thought, it became geometric and changed. We went in with one intention and the wood told us what it wanted to be.”

Made on reclaimed poplar wood, “DendroJudaeology: A Timeline of the Jewish People” covers multiple Judaic stories, touching on Moses, the Holocaust, pop culture personalities, films, art and more. Popular trees were found in ancient Israel, and the wood formed a satisfying link to the couple’s East European ancestry.

The show’s two installations in which AI is foremost include a four-minute video, “Speculation, Like Nature, Abhors a Vacuum,” and the “Acknowledge” participatory website. The latter is inspired by artist Ed Ruscha’s “Streets of Los Angeles’ photo and video archive.

“It started with an AI and environment project using overhead maps and plots of tree locations trying to identify genus for each tree and the variations between different L.A. streets and neighborhoods,” Goldberg says in a separate interview. “At some point after we started working on the exhibit, we saw the Ruscha retrospective in New York and realized he was doing something analogous with L.A. architecture. Then we decided to adopt his elegant pacing.”

Bay Area and other residents can upload an image of a specific tree in San Francisco with an address, and the AI system will identify the tree, estimate when it was planted, create a customized 100-word textual “tribute” and generate an idealized digital image. Goldberg says the project for him issued from pleasant discoveries about collaborating with Shlain; interesting questions still unanswered about science and mathematics; and confirmation of his profound concerns about AI.

“I discovered that Tiffany has so many impressive skills that I lack. I love her visual style and sense of humor. During the making of ‘Abstract Expression,’ we consulted a number of colleagues from Berkeley. One mathematician said that Maxwell’s equations should not be included ‘because they are not mathematical.’ I had to explain that this was a history of science, not of mathematics and it was interesting to think about the differences.”

Maxwell’s equations (“four equations that, together, form a complete description of the production and interrelation of electric and magnetic fields,” according to the Encyclopedia Brittanica) made the final list and support one of Goldberg’s guiding artistic principles.

“I always try to avoid being pedantic or patronizing. I believe the key with artwork is that it is open-ended … the best art has multiple possible meanings and invites viewers to come up with their own interpretations.”

About AI, Goldberg seems equally aware of the technology’s benefits and dangers.

“I worry that AI will become increasingly adept at capturing our attention and reducing our ability to connect with other humans. I’m also worried about loss of privacy. But I’m hopeful that AI can reduce drudgery and help humanity solve complex problems and help create new art and films.”

Shlain says she’s excited to have the exhibit travel to their hometown region.

“The Bay Area has some of the oldest trees in the world, and many of the ideas are based in AI, which is vital in an area with so much new technology. I’d love to see the show go to Israel and other locations around the world to face new questions in different communities.”

For tickets and details online about their exhibition, visit bit.ly/shlaingoldbergdirosa2026.

Lou Fancher is a freelance writer. Reach her at lou@johnsonandfancher.com.