Serve.server_forever ( ).

CHERYL HARDY

GRAPHITE (14 in. X 18 in.)

2025/2026

You said

Hello world

d, L = prepare (normal)

StopOnFalse {r = !1; break}

return u = [ ], this }, disable

promise ( ). done (n. Resolve). fail

The use of computer technology seems to dominate everyday life for most people. And recently, artificial intelligence (AI) responses are being forced on users whenever we search on our electronic devices, or interact with healthcare systems, or simply ask for on-line or phone help. Since you scanned this QR code to access this internet page, technology probably dominates your life, too.

“Serve.server_forever( ).” is my interpretation of how overreliance on technology to serve humanity may have the unintended result that we are blindly “serving the server.” My drawing illustrates two people trapped in a technological “heavenly rapture” as they mindlessly float towards whatever is offered by an electronic server.

The irony of using technology to have you open this QR code to read a website about my drawing, which is warning you about such things as overreliance on technology, is not lost on me. Part of my motivation for creating this art was that I couldn’t help but notice that the art world, as well as artists, seem to have been lured into using AI, QR codes, blogs, social media, etc. just to function as artists. So I thought, why not just insert a QR code into my art directly as part of the artistic message? I’m probably being a hypocrite.

In case you are curious, I gleaned the text overlaid on the stairs from websites advertising AI products and college degrees in AI. However, in the context of this drawing and the ordering in which I arranged the text, the message appears vaguely ominous. Is this message a subtle warning from people who wrote this AI code or could it be from a benevolent AI attempting to save us? Who is “you” in the message? What “normal” are we preparing for? How will we know what is “False” so that we might “StopOn” it? Can this process toward technological rapture be halted? Can an advanced AI even be disabled once it has reached omnipotence? Who is in control now? Will the “promise” of AI “fail”? Will our “Resolve” to act independently of AI systems fail? Are we losing our humanity to technological entities?

You may still be able to decide.

CHERYL HARDY

[Serve.server_forever ( ). Image and text may not be reproduced without permission.