Tiffany Shlain

Among the trees is the one place where Reboot Network member Tiffany Shlain has always felt spiritual. Walking through the majestic redwoods of nearby Muir Woods feels like being in a cathedral of wisdom, of living beings that were witness to all of humanity. This deep connection led her to create a series of tree rings, including her latest, DendroJudaeology: A Timeline of the Jewish People, co-created with artist and professor Ken Goldberg. The artwork distills 5,000 years of Jewish history into 140 moments on a tree ring slice. It is included in the exhibition Ancient Wisdom for a Future Ecology: Trees, Time & Technology, now on view at the Skirball Cultural Center as part of Getty’s PST ART: Art & Science Collide. Read more about the artwork and exhibition here.

“I’m a blonde blue-eyed Jew named Tiffany and I’m married to a blond blue-eyed Jew named Ken. So perhaps it makes sense that eighteen years ago, I directed a film called The Tribe, an unauthorized, unorthodox history of the Jewish people and the Barbie doll. My husband and I co-wrote the film, which in many ways, was a distillation of all of our conversations about being Jewish in an assimilated culture. As someone who was always told I didn’t “look Jewish,” I thought it was one of the great ironies of the 21st century that the world’s most famous WASP, Barbie, was created by a Jewish woman.” Read more from Tiffany Shlain here. 

Human Nature is the culmination of Reboot Network member Tiffany Shlain’s 2022 Artist-in-Residence at SHACK15 in the SF Ferry Building. The exhibit aims to tap into the sense of awe and humility a forest can inspire. Shlain explores what happens when we step back to view ourselves within the expansiveness of nature and time and consider how this scale realignment can change our perspective, offer context, reveal absurdities, and evoke humility, insights, and awe. The show includes sculpture, photography and time-based media. Read more here about Shlain’s inspiration here.