Art Unfolds in a Search for Keywords

The New York Times > Technology > Circuits: "'Imagination Environment' starts with a live television news broadcast that is displayed at the center of a wall-mounted array of nine computer monitors. A software program scans the broadcast's closed-caption stream and selects keywords that prompt Internet searches for images. Seconds after the live audio is heard, the news broadcast is surrounded by pertinent photographs and illustrations on adjacent screens, as well as some images completely unrelated.

Then, after a professor complained that applying such techniques to a source with the artistry of "The Godfather" was in a sense gilding the lily, Mr. Shamma turned to a recording of President Bush's 2003 State of the Union address. Whenever Mr. Bush's words about weapons and prisoners were converted into powerfully pertinent images, Professor Hammond said, "you realized how well crafted these speeches are." As the project progressed, Mr. Shamma had to make one other adjustment. Whenever a female name was mentioned, the search engines would cull a stream of naughty pictures. The artwork now uses a filter to ensure that the images are fit for public viewing.

But some researchers question the project's value. Marvin Minsky, a professor of media arts and sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with an interest in artificial intelligence, said he had grown impatient with systems that try to retrieve relevant knowledge from text without understanding what the text means. "Although this system may entertain some people and even give them some new ideas," he said, "to my mind, nothing justifies the use of inadequate systems by labeling them as art."