It is believed that the first fireworks illuminated the sky of China sometime between the years 600 and 900 AD. An alchemist - or data apprentice - accidentally mixed charcoal, sulfur, and saltpeter... and discovered that this darkish combination reacted violently when in contact with fire. Its combustion also produced a colorful flash. What we now know as gunpowder soon began to be used in rituals to ward off evil spirits. From a cultural perspective, it was equivalent to a second exit from the cave.
The most disruptive art of the 21st century somewhat resembles the almost magical origin of pyrotechnics. Refik Anadol could pass for the great-great-grandson of the shaman who two millennia ago found a new world in an explosion. The difference is that today's fascination is not a result of chance but of will. Specifically, the determination that involves the use of big data as a brush and screens as canvases. Anadol (Istanbul, 39 years old) is the world's most important multimedia artist. The genius who introduced artificial intelligence at MoMA (Unsupervised, 2022) turning cold lines of code into sensual textures. He is also the creative director of the world's first museum dedicated exclusively to pieces created with algorithms: Dataland, which will open its doors in Los Angeles at the end of the year. In other words, a person walking through the 21st century following in the footsteps of Pablo Picasso and Sam Altman.
His work explores the boundary between art, technology, and science through multisensory experiences and immersive environments as hypnotic as a lava lamp in a dark room. Or like the mutating surface of the planet Solaris. Refik Anadol is particularly interested in what he calls the "collective memory of Humanity": cultural expression, urban interaction, and the relationship with nature. He believes that we are living in a unique moment in Art History comparable to the Renaissance, hence he invites the viewer to transcend the distinction between material and digital. The New York Times coined a new concept to define his proposal: technodreaming.
"I have been working with data and AI for over a decade. I dream that one day buildings will have memories and be more than just concrete, steel, and glass. It is an aspiration I have had since I was eight years old, when I watched Blade Runner and was given my first computer a few days later. Imagine what it meant for that child to see flying cars and humanoids talking to each other," he explains via video call from the city of stars with an unusual energy at eight-thirty in the morning (local time). "I remember looking around my room and wondering why the walls didn't move. I hope that the future of architecture will be transformative and inspiring. Geniuses like Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, or Antoni Gaudí are a compass. I feel that it is time to take their ideas and project them to the next level."
The pioneer of post-digital painting, sculpture, and architecture does not cite randomly. In early May 2023, he turned Casa Batlló (Barcelona) into the canvas for a spectacular nighttime mapping. Over the facade of the emblematic modernist residence, he extended a greenish-blue glow of the aurora borealis that transformed into an organic pulsation resembling moss blooming, the ebb and flow of tides, and the movement of the Solar System. Anadol had already turned the basement of the house into his personal laboratory with the first 360º work in History: In the Mind of Gaudí (2021). He repeated with Gaudí Dreams (2024).
"It has been almost three years since the projection, and I still receive emails from people who saw it," confesses the recently honored with the TIME 100-AI Impact award. "It was very powerful to see how 65,000 people gathered there and celebrated life."
"The great advance of digital creation will be the incorporation of smell"
"I have to confess that this is one of the most exciting projects of my life," he admits. "Frank Gehry is my personal hero. His idea of transforming the concept of a museum into something never seen before was visionary. I presented this project to him, and he loved it. I know his tastes very well. I spent a lot of time with him in 2018 when I designed WDCH Dreams. He spent two hours examining each of the images I was going to project," he says about the double performance that elevated him to celestial levels: the information membrane with which he covered the metallic structure of one of the world's best concert halls (the Walt Disney Concert Hall) and the interactive installation he conceived inside the venue to celebrate the centenary of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. For this, he used the digital assets of the orchestra: 587,763 image files, 1,880 video files, 1,483 metadata files, and 17,773 audio files (equivalent to 16,471 performances).
'Infinity Room', the Turkish artist's experiment with light (2015).Refik Anadol Studio
Back in Bilbao, Living Architecture will also feature an educational space where visitors can delve into Refik Anadol's processes with AI and the Large Architecture Model (LAM) model developed by his studio. "At this moment, all major language models focus on human reasoning, but they are not necessarily creative. They are designed to become another assistant for personal life. AI can be used in an academic or creative context. We have developed our model as a reaction and to claim that nature also exists.
With this project, we want to tell the world that in the era of AI, it is possible to do things differently.
All our projects use data obtained ethically and sustainable energy."
Invariably dressed in black like a supervillain and with a haircut reminiscent of Kim Jong-un (a look he complements with round glasses), Anadol speaks with the same passion with which he arrived in Los Angeles in 2012 to attend the Design Media Arts program at the University of California - where he now teaches in the department - after studying Photography, Video, and Fine Arts in his hometown. He admits that the first thing he did was rent a car and head straight to the center of the dystopian megacity where detective Deckard chased replicants. In his own way, he has also pursued the famous electric sheep. His colossal LED screens - the one for Unsupervised measured 6 by 7 meters - could well be an echo of those seen in Blade Runner on the street.
Is art experiencing a 'Blade Runner moment' with the convergence of science and technology?
Exactly. We are seeing robots literally coming out of the factory. At the end of last year, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to three scientists who developed an AI tool that can quickly and reliably predict protein structures. It is a revolution for all of humanity. Nothing to do with the experimental technological phase of my beginnings.
How inspiring and terrifying is this crossroads?
I'll be super honest on this topic: it is the first time in history that we have a technology as widely used as electricity that not only has a function but also reasons and remembers. It is a tool that, if we are not careful with it, could lead us in the wrong direction. That's why in my work, I always demystify AI and teach where I extract the data from and what kind of algorithms I use [DCGAN, PGAN, and StyleGAN]. I always share this information. As long as people do not understand this technology, there is a risk of spreading fear and psychosis. AI offers endless possibilities, and those possibilities come with responsibilities. That's why in our exhibition, there is an educational room where you can access the machine's brain. I was with President Macron two weeks ago at the Paris Artificial Intelligence Action Summit. The studio's work was praised for its respect for nature. I feel very honored to have been recognized by the UN in that forum.
Why did you want to explore the connection between art and artificial intelligence?
As I mentioned before, I have been a nerd since I was young. I love computers and technology in general. Science and innovation have always inspired me. The question that arose within me is what it really means to be human. Because without our essence, technology is nothing. I enjoy the human-machine collaboration, but only with honesty and 50%. I don't believe AI can be creative on its own. It is the human who imagines, creates, innovates. I may not draw very well, but I know how to achieve color, shape, or texture. I like to paint with a thinking brush. Data is not just numbers but a new material. They are like pigments that never dry. Or living molecules that I can program.
Where do you consider your installations most appealing to the viewer? In places with a constant and fast flow of people, like an airport, or in those that somehow encourage slow transit, like a museum?
In both. My idea of art refers to both the individual and the group. I love that a piece installed in a school inspires a student. I love that if it is installed in a hospital, it gives hope. I don't see it as mutually exclusive at all. As I said, I can't forget how beautiful and transformative the experience at Casa Batlló was. Or that of the MoMA, which was visited by three million people. This is the power of art: to impact everywhere.
Dressed invariably in black like a supervillain and with a haircut reminiscent of Kim Jong-un (complemented with round glasses), Anadol speaks with the same passion with which in 2012 he arrived in Los Angeles to attend the Design Media Arts program at the University of California - where he now teaches - after studying Photography, Video, and Fine Arts in his hometown. The first thing he did, he admits, was to rent a car and head straight to the center of the dystopian megacity where detective Deckard chased replicants. In his own way, he has also been after the famous electric sheep. His colossal LED screens - the one in Unsupervised measured 6 by 7 meters - could well be an echo of those seen in Blade Runner on the street.
'Living Architecture' is accompanied by a sound landscape that enhances the sensory immersion. I know you have developed a project with flower fragrances for Dataland. Is the olfactory experience the next artistic horizon?
Yes! And we have a surprise for visitors [disappears for a second from view and returns with small glass bottles]. When I see any piece of digital art, I feel that something is missing, and it's the smell. Smell is very important for the formation of emotions and memories, even for understanding the environment. Many times we are able to go back to the past thanks to a specific smell. Four years ago, I realized that the olfactory experience would be the great advancement of digital art. AI finds it very difficult to dream up new scents, so I dedicate myself to testing them. These are for Bilbao, by the way [points to the little bottles]. It is an experience confined to a small space, but we want to explore the idea of smelling Frank Gehry's unique universe through materials like titanium, concrete, or wood.
You have just been in the sacred village of the Yawanawá people in the Brazilian Amazon to support your mentor: Chief Biraci Nixiwaka. What do indigenous culture and spirituality bring to your vision as a creator just when both are threatened in much of the Western Hemisphere?
I feel very honored to have had the opportunity to meet up to 40 spiritual leaders and to have been accepted into their community. It was a very powerful feeling to remember what it means for societies to live in harmony with nature for centuries. They are incredible people who deserve to be heard. Their spirituality was very inspiring to me. They have been my mentors for four years and even gave me a special name. I am not a tourist in the jungle. I love and respect nature. In my work, I do not replace it but try to understand its language. I hope that AI can be a bridge between humanity and nature through ancestral wisdom. We will need all our senses to truly ensure that we understand what is to come.
Many artists oppose the use of AI and denounce the training of algorithms with copyrighted material without the consent of the authors. How do you assess this complaint?
Artists have every right to criticize these practices. I collect my own data and train my own models. I work with institutions that have open databases and share that information: MoMA, the United Nations, NASA... Creators who want to use this technology have two options: use existing tools or create their own.
These artists do not have as powerful a voice as yours to fight against the plundering of their work.
That's why we are creating an institution like Dataland, so they can use AI with the absolute guarantee that it is safe, ethical, and respectful of nature. If we didn't create it, I don't think we could address the problem. I have just made my platform Living Encyclopedia: Large Nature Model (LNM) available to other artists.
A few days after this interview, almost 4,000 artists sent a letter to Christie's demanding the cancellation of Augmented Intelligence, a major auction in New York of AI-generated works. They argued precisely the use of unauthorized pieces without permission or economic compensation to create commercial works that compete with theirs. They also criticized that the auction not only legitimized such practices but also encouraged the unauthorized use of creative works.