VIDEO: Refik Anadol-AI Is an Extension of My Mind

In this interview, media artist Refik Anadol takes us on a visionary journey through his practice as an artist working in the digital realm between art, architecture, and technology. In a world where AI, technology, and data continue to redefine the boundaries of human expression and capabilities, Anadol has been working at the forefront of digital art, creating immersive visual experiences.

“I was 8 years old when my mom randomly brought a video cassette at home. (…) This moment I remember was when this android was saying to the other android that these memories are not yours; they are someone else’s. I clearly remember that part. It was a massive inspiration, including the future of Los Angeles. I think since then, my connection with science fiction started.”

Refik Anadol draws inspiration from the imaginary worlds of science fiction. In the interview, he describes his early fascination with the film “Blade Runner.” Like the film, his artworks and installations often feel like a journey into a sci-fi landscape, where the boundaries between reality and fiction blur. “In 2008, I coined the term, data painting. It was the very first time I used a custom software and a sensor, and I was able to see the invisible world of visible.“

Refik Anadol uses data as a pigment. He embraces AI as a collaborative tool. In this way, he is able to forge an interconnected partnership between himself as an artist and AI as an extension of his mind and capabilities. “We, artists, are always the alarm mechanisms for humanity.” By seeking to create art using AI in the digital realm, Refik Anadol is also contributing to the ongoing conversation about the role of technology in our lives. For him, art and technology can reshape our perceptions and experiences but also deepen our understanding of what it means to be human. “I’m trying to find the language of humanity.”

Refik Anadol (b. 1985, Istanbul, Turkey) is an internationally renowned media artist, director, and pioneer in the aesthetics of machine intelligence. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California, where he owns and operates Refik Anadol Studio and RAS LAB. The Studio’s research practice is centered around discovering and developing trailblazing approaches to data narratives. Anadol’s body of work addresses the challenges and the possibilities that ubiquitous computing has imposed on humanity and what it means to be a human in the age of AI. He explores how the perception and experience of time and space are radically changing now that machines dominate our everyday lives.

Refik Anadol’s global projects have received a number of awards and prizes, including the Lorenzo il Magnifico Lifetime Achievement Award for New Media Art, Microsoft Research’s Best Vision Award, and UCLA Art+Architecture Moss Award. Anadol’s site-specific audio/visual performances have been featured at iconic landmarks, museums, and festivals worldwide, such as the 17th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, The Museum of Modern Art (New York), The Centre Pompidou, Walt Disney Concert Hall and Casa Batlló (Barcelona), among many others.

 

Refik Anadol was interviewed by Malte Bruun Fals in his solo exhibition Nature Dreams at Arken Museum, Denmark in 2023. Camera: Jakob Solbakken, Editor: Malte Bruun Fals, Producer: Malte Bruun Fals & Marc-Christoph Wagner, © Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2023. Louisiana Channel is supported by Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond, Ny Carlsbergfondet, C.L. Davids Fond og Samling, and Fritz Hansen