Refik Anadol, Machine Memoirs - Space, 2021. © Refik Anadol Studio

An immersive sensory experience

Refik Anadol (b. 1985 in Turkey) is one of the leading artists globally within the realm of digital art. Engaging the audience’s senses to great and appealing effect, his huge installations are the result of his work with artificial intelligence in the form of data-driven algorithms. Refik Anadol’s works arise out of a genuine collaboration between man and machine. The works raise philosophical questions which point to a future where human existence is inextricably linked to data and advanced computer technology – to an even greater extent than today.

Refik Anadol will present three works at ARKEN, one of them created especially for this exhibition. Vast in scope and execution, all three take their point of departure in mass media’s visual presentation of nature, which affect our shared ideas about what nature is and what it looks like. Through AI algorithms, this data is transformed into completely new, partially abstract depictions of nature that the human brain cannot even imagine on its own. Visitors can look forward to a unique sensory experience in this encounter between art and digital technology which already permeates every aspect of our everyday lives.

Thought-provoking digital installations

Nature Dreams (2021) is the main work of the exhibition, comprising a 7 x 7 metre data sculpture. The imagery presented by the sculpture arises out of large data sets consisting of millions of pictures of nature. These are incorporated into its algorithms and used to create abstract, computer-generated images of nature, all ceaselessly changing and existing only in a machine. For the exhibition at ARKEN, Refik Anadol will also create a new work specifically rooted in the museum’s unique location in Ishøj beach park. Based on meteorological data from the area around ARKEN, algorithms translate this information into a visual world of images that will be displayed outdoors, projected onto the museum’s architecture. In the third work of the exhibition, visitors will enter an immersive installation where the viewer’s senses are subjected to a barrage of input from all sides, as if you had entered the brain of a machine.

Refik Anadol, Nature Dreams, 2021. Courtesy mabu.eth © Refik Anadol and KÖNIG GALERIE Berlin, Seoul. Photo: Roman März