Los Angeles Times post titled “The latest canvas for Refik Anadol’s AI-generated art? The new Sphere in Las Vegas” — Aug 31, 2023
Post Summary:
Refik Anadol’s Machine Hallucinations: Sphere is one of the first artworks created for the Las Vegas Sphere, using its enormous LED-covered exterior as a fully immersive, architectural canvas. Instead of treating the surface as a screen for static content, Anadol approaches it as a living system, driven by artificial intelligence and vast datasets.
The work is generated through machine learning models trained on large collections of visual data, including imagery related to nature, space, and collective memory. These inputs are transformed into continuously evolving visuals that flow across the Sphere’s surface, creating a sense of movement, depth, and transformation at an urban scale. The result is not a fixed composition but an ongoing process, where the visuals are constantly shifting and never repeat in exactly the same way.
By using AI as both a creative tool and a conceptual framework, Anadol positions the artwork between data, memory, and imagination. The piece reflects his broader practice of exploring how machines can “interpret” and “hallucinate” data, producing new visual languages that sit between the familiar and the abstract.
Installed on one of the most technologically advanced buildings ever constructed, the project expands the role of architecture beyond function or form. The Sphere becomes a dynamic medium for storytelling, where data and algorithms shape the visual identity of a landmark in real time. In this sense, the work points toward a future in which cities themselves can act as platforms for large-scale, generative art experiences.