Cover Refik Anadol (Photo: Efsun Erkilic)
Refik Anadol (Photo: Efsun Erkilic)
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From creating digital art that is 50 per cent machine and 50 per cent human to imagining perfumes, Refik Anadol finds more solutions than problems in artificial intelligence
Like many children, Refik Anadol was a sci-fi fan. Blade Runner (1982), in particular, consumed his imagination and sparked his interest in tech. Unlike many fans of the genre, though, he didn’t see the stories solely as warnings of a dystopian future but rather the possibility of utopia.
“I started to see the beauty and the possibilities, hope and inspiration, instead of the darkness and all that doomsday violence” in the films, the renowned digital artist says. “I mean [the darkness] exists— I’m not trying to ignore it—but in the bigger picture, the world of utopia is way more creatively inspiring and challenging than that of dystopia.”
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Anadol’s optimistic outlook is prominent in a world that equally embraces AI and is sceptical of it. His generative AI work channels his passion and enthusiasm, and is characterised by wonder, colour and scale; this is perhaps why it has endured and grown beyond the hype that NFTs and other forms of digital art drum up. Generative AI refers to algorithmic models that can generate new text, images and other content based on data they’ve been fed. Using generative AI and creating the kind of work he does, he believes, is the first “truly physical way of to see science fiction in real life”.
The Turkish artist continues his ascent as a pioneer in this medium and in the digital art world, and his mesmerising works can be seen inhabiting large-scale public screens in big cities and major institutions around the world. Most recently his creations were on view at The Serpentine Galleries in London, for Echoes of the Earth: Living Archive, an exhibition in which viewers can immerse themselves in Anadol’s created environment which uses the artist’s experimentation with visual data from coral reefs and rainforests, and showcases the creative potential of AI. Other notable works include his installation Dior J’adore!, an exhibition that took place last autumn at the Beaux-Arts de Paris celebrating the brand’s perfume; Unsupervised—Machine Hallucinations, on view at New York’s MoMA from 2022 to 2023, with another iteration currently being screened at the Las Vegas Sphere.
Anadol’s popularity comes at a critical juncture at which institutions, especially museums, have been critiqued for upholding outdated modes of exhibition making and programming, and are contending with how to stay relevant in an ever-changing world. “Museums have to learn and understand the mentality and imagination of the artists who are working now, what type of artworks we are imagining and what the future is for museums,” he says. “It’s an artist’s job to reflect humanity as it now, and it’s an institution’s job—and challenge—to display this reflection.”
Tatler sat down with the artist to talk about his take on AI, what’s next for him, and why we should all embrace the reality of the technology’s influence.
Above Installation view of Andol’s "Unsupervised— Machine Hallucinations" (2022-23) at MoMA (Photo: courtesy the artist)
Installation view of Andol’s "Unsupervised— Machine Hallucinations" (2022-23) at MoMA (Photo: courtesy the artist)
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When did you begin using AI?
I’ve been using AI in my work for the last eight years, [since] my Google residency; I was the first artist in residence there. They invited me to learn how to use the medium. I trained over 300 AI models and worked on processing over 4 billion images. At that time, there was no open-source AI; no computation. It was pretty hard to work with AI but it taught me and my team the fundamentals of working with big data.
What excites you and concerns you most about AI?
I’m sure everyone has their own take, but for me [what’s exciting] is the ability to generate new realities; these can be sound, image, text, form and beyond. For instance, over the past four years, we were able to create an AI representation of smell. These new realities make it exciting.
In terms of concerns, it’s the question of who is curating information. Who do we trust? What is our source of information that we believe is right? Who is our copilot when we are travelling across these new technological distances? I think these are questions for humanity in general, and in the age of AI, I think there are more solutions.
More solutions than problems?
I think more solutions, but in the meantime, [AI is] a mirror for humanity: it will mirror exactly all of humanity’s problems and it will mirror all of our possibilities.
Above Installation view of Anadol’s "Echoes of the Earth" on view at Serpentine Gallery, London (Photo: Hugo Glendinning)
Installation view of Anadol’s "Echoes of the Earth" on view at Serpentine Gallery, London (Photo: Hugo Glendinning)
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You recently created a scent; can you tell us more about that?
It was in collaboration with Dior Parfums. We used AI to reconstruct the perfume ingredients and turn them into an artwork: you step into a world where something invisible becomes visible. With generative digital art, your material is data; you can’t see what it looks like. Similarly, things around us are made up of information that we can’t see but we can feel: our brain thickness, our body vitals and even the weather. AI allows us to make what exists, but is perhaps invisible, visible.
What was your entry point into the creative space?
Photography and fine art, but I still cannot draw. From photography, I was interested in learning how to preserve memories; it showed me how light and material are connected. After studying computer science, I learnt how to collect data, which is kind of what photography does as well. When I travel, for example, I collect data, it’s a part of my research; and it’s not just downloading, but recording data, sound, images and text. That’s what interests me about AI: it’s a new way to create, preserve and generate memories.
How much of the process of producing your visuals is automated remixing and how much of it is real reimagining? How far can your creations think like creative humans?Fifty per cent machine and 50 per cent human—I always try and have this equal approach. I’m super hands-on when it comes to aesthetic decisions, but I see it as co-creation; [AI is] a thinking brush. AI tools will not make breakthroughs; they are the breakthroughs.
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Above A look inside Anadol's studio (Photo: Kyle Raymond Fitzpatrick)
A look inside Anadol's studio (Photo: Kyle Raymond Fitzpatrick)
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What are the biggest misconceptions about digital art?
Many people believe when they unplug the power of a digital artwork, the artwork dies. AI works are in the cloud and they’ll live longer than us. But on a more serious note, I think that the art world had this bias: they just didn’t think that artists like myself, working with digital tools, can make art. For some reason, there was a gap, [but the gap is closing] because of the pandemic. During the pandemic, I think there was this massive change with the blockchain space, and many digital collectors and artists could transform and translate their ideas into the public realm, which created a connection. What is fascinating to me is that gap has closed so fast and now the museums are challenged by how to show this media.
How do you approach the physical manifestation of your work and how it is exhibited in physical spaces? And what’s your take on one of the more common criticisms of digital art: why bother exhibiting it in a physical space if it’s meant to viewed on a screen or online?
There are two ways of looking at digital art: there’s surface and then there’s depth, and the depth is very different from the shiny pixels which appear on the surface. To be able to make that distinction is on the viewer; for people who only see the surface, that’s what the art will be limited to. Art tests human capacity for imagination, and every surface in the universe can be a canvas. That’s one of the reasons why, in my exhibitions, the majority of my work is always on large walls, showing the process, the sources and the data: to try to make sure the audience can see beyond the shiny pixel surface.
My work is also very much a physical intervention of spaces, façades, walls and scale. Immersive environments like our show at Serpentine are actually created in a very small space, but make a big impact. A thousand people a day can now travel and see it, some even study it—and that’s the effect I’m trying to create in society: trying to bring people together to discuss and go deeper than surface.
Above A still from Anadol’s Living Archive: Nature from The Large Nature Model which, was exhibited at the 2024 World Economic Forum (Photo: courtesy the artist)
A still from Anadol’s Living Archive: Nature from The Large Nature Model which, was exhibited at the 2024 World Economic Forum (Photo: courtesy the artist)
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If you could create anything, what would it be?
We’re working on it right now: it’s our AI museum, DataLand. It will feature Large Nature Model, which is the world’s first open-source, generative AI model dedicated to nature. The model is the first of its kind because we based it on an extensive dataset we collected from the natural world; the algorithms are based on nature’s intelligence, rather than human intelligence. That’s our next challenge as a studio: to manifest this new natural world to humanity in a physical space. With this project, we intend
to bring together educators, creatives and artists.
What’s next for humanity?
AI. AI will profoundly change everything. It will challenge us to question reality, question creativity.
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Aaina was the Arts and Culture Editor of Tatler Asia. A passion for history and all things visual led her in the pursuit of art history. With extensive experience in the art world working for a range of art institutions, she combined her passion and expertise in the form of art and culture journalism. Prior to Tatler, Aaina worked as a culture reporter for South China Morning Post and editor at the online art platform Cobo Social. Additionally, she has contributed to a variety of prestigious art publications including Art Review, The Art Newspaper, Ocula, Art Agenda, Artsy, Design Anthology, and Artomity. Follow her on Instagram.
