When Everything Is Lit

Rijksmuseum Library - Photo by Taruna Goel

"Do you think museums should completely fill their walls with paintings?" That's the question that Rijksmuseum Instagram handle posted this AM.

The funny thing is, I have been thinking a lot about art galleries and museums. In fact, I was at Rijksmuseum this summer, and it's a beautiful museum.

But I wonder. Can something that is designed to be clear and beautiful actually end up being tiring to look at?

Have you been to art galleries or museums where almost every painting is spotlighted and has its own special corner that takes your attention? I have. Rooms of white walls where I can see everything clearly. But after 30 minutes of walking around and paying attention to every brightly lit part of the room, my eyes get exhausted. I am seeing things, but I can't appreciate the art anymore.

It's what my daughter, a Contemporary Arts grad, likes to call "feeling arted out".

When that happens, she recommends that I sit for some time, away from the art and the bright lights. Perhaps even in a dark(er) area where there are more shadows and where the walls aren't quite as white.

I call it my visual quiet zone. The visual relief where I can simply look without paying any attention.

I am looking for a written quiet zone these days because I am "feeling arted out" after reading post after post of AI-generated content.

I can't deny the clarity of writing. Ideas are packaged as neat, single, short sentences, and the layout of the article is one sentence at a time (but who thinks like that?). It's like a stream of complete, purposeful, independently meaningful series of words (aka punchlines). Yet, as a whole, there is nothing for me to take away. It's a template that feels all too familiar, and is frankly becoming mentally exhausting to process what I am reading. And not because the words or ideas are complicated, but because they are overly consistent and too uniform. 

I am trying to reason why. Why is it crystal clear yet so muddy? I have a take. I think it's because AI-generated content is missing the rhythm and texture of human writing. The light and the dark corners where our eyes can rest, and our brains can shut off.

We are messy in the ways we think and write. When I write, some ideas are powerful, and hopefully, those sentences stick with you, but most other sentences are like fillers. They don't give any new ideas or say anything too dramatic, but simply build on the main ideas. There is an interplay of good writing combined with not-so-good writing (even if unintentional). It adds to the contrast and the variation that I expect when reading or listening to another human. Part of the human charm, I think. I should mention that I am not a fan of mistakes in human writing. So, I don't advocate adding imperfections to writing just to sound human. But I do appreciate the evidence of human thinking behind what's written or being read.

But with AI-generated content, where everything reads so perfectly, and every sentence is a main idea, it reminds me of the struggle of reading a page of text, all formatted in bold. 

Or walking around museums that completely fill their walls with paintings.

I need a written quiet zone.