SOMEONE | LAUREN LEE MCCARTHY
In 2019, the 205 Hudson Gallery in New York housed the command center of a rather peculiar project: above a simple rectangular table were installed four workstations, each equipped with a laptop, a lamp, headphones, and a chair, respectively.
Gallery visitors could sit at one of these workstations and interact with the interface open on the laptop. What makes this seemingly common dynamic peculiar? The interface was directly connected in real-time to smart devices installed in the private homes of four different people.
This is the SOMEONE project, conceived by artist Lauren Lee McCarthy. It’s a social experiment that explores the concept of privacy in relation to the new technologies being developed every day. The project consists of a simulation in which people visiting the command center take on the role of an assistant called, precisely, Someone, a sort of human version of Alexa, the famous artificial intelligence. After a starting message – “Hello Someone. (…) Your assistance is requested.” – the laptop connects to a person’s home, allowing control over certain aspects of its life. From the command center, one can speak, play a music playlist, turn lights on or off in various rooms, as well as control stoves, fans, even the microwave oven. In this way, a complete stranger can remotely control the networked devices of these four people, who acting as test subjects for the project.
What McCarthy aims to achieve with this project is to fuel a debate on how necessary it is to have full awareness of the implications of using an AI assistance system (such as the famous Alexa and Siri). SOMEONE is a role-playing game that can be unsettling and dangerously intoxicating at the same time.
While certain technologies may simplify life and make particular activities much more convenient, it becomes even more necessary to be aware of the consequences of specific decisions, even if they are not immediately clear. In this sense, projects like SOMEONE can help us, much like AI assistants.
Lauren Lee McCarthy
SOMEONE, 2019
Installation view, image by Stan Narten ©
Credits:
Software and hardware development by Harvey Moon and Josh Billions. Interface development by Lauren Lee McCarthy. Furniture design in collaboration with and fabrication by Lela Barclay de Tolly. Smart home participant collaborators include Valeria Haedo, Adelle Lin, Amanda McDonald Crowley, and Ksenya Samarskaya. SOMEONE was created with support from a Google Focused Research Award and the Harvestworks New Works Residency. It was first exhibited at 205 Hudson Gallery as part of Refiguring the Future. Screenshots by Lauren Lee McCarthy, installation photos by Stan Narten and Otto Saxinger.
Lauren Lee McCarthy, SOMEONE, 2019, interface still.
© Image by Lauren Lee McCarthy.
16/03/2024