To celebrate our daughter getting her BFA in graphic design (I’m biased but she’s pretty talented), our family visited Europe. One of the highlights was a visit to Tate Modern. Among the many impressive works was an installation by the Brazilian artist, Cildo Meireles. Meireles is known for large and dense installations that encourage interaction with his work.

Sora described Babel to a customer in her Tokyo coffee shop. Writing commercial fiction didn’t allow me to detail to this impressive work. When I walked into the gallery, I knew immediately Babel was something that would stay with me (note: Un-mute the audio on for the best way to experience the installation.):

Tate Modern’s description of Babel can be read here. I found this excerpt particularly helpful:

Babel  2001 is a large-scale sculptural installation that takes the form of a circular tower made from hundreds of second-hand analogue radios that the artist has stacked in layers. The radios are tuned to a multitude of different stations and are adjusted to the minimum volume at which they are audible. Nevertheless, they compete with each other and create a cacophony of low, continuous sound, resulting in inaccessible information, voices or music.

In describing this work, Meireles refers to a ‘tower of incomprehension’ (quoted in Tate Modern 2008, p.168). The installation manifests, quite literally, a Tower of Babel, relating it to the biblical story of a tower tall enough to reach the heavens, which, offending God, caused him to make the builders speak in different tongues. Their inability to communicate with one another caused them to become divided and scatter across the earth and, moreover, became the source of all of mankind’s conflicts.

What a great metaphor for what we humans are challenged with every day: seeking to understand one another amid the cacophony. Since the start of the information age, we have been forced to adapt to ever decreasing signal-to-noise ratios. Finding understanding is different for us today and requires more effort. The same holds true with consuming information. Historically, the challenge was finding information. Today, the challenge is curating information. Today, anyone with an idea can find someone who agrees with them. We’re that connected. Finding truth and wisdom, however, has become more difficult than ever. This thoughtful documentary illustrates this difficulty.

Meireles’ Babel was a fitting backdrop and title for chapter 8. One of the characters is struggling with his own internal monologue, rocked the person he sees in front of him and the ways that person might change his views of who he is. The garrulous Sora explains how she was struck by seeing Babel while the person she is talking to can’t even hear what she is saying.

I’d like to hear your perspective on Meireles’ work. Please let me know in the comments below.