MACHINE HALLUCINATIONS — NATURE DREAMS, designed specifically for KÖNIG GALERIE, comprises three novel aesthetic approaches to a vast photographic dataset of nature: A giant data sculpture displaying machine-generated, dynamic pigments of nature titled NATURE DREAMS, four new series of data paintings, and WINDS OF BERLIN, a site-specific, public art projection on the tower of ST. AGNES which will be created based on environmental real-time data collected from the city.

Anadol is a pioneer in the world of rare digital art and crypto collectibles, minting the first fully immersive digital artwork NFT in September 2021. For KÖNIG GALERIE he creates unique NFT options: the AI data sculpture NATURE DREAMS, and his public projection, WINDS OF BERLIN, which will mark the first time a generative public artwork in Berlin to be offered in NFT form.

An architectural exhibition of synesthetic reality experiments based on GAN algorithms developed by artificial intelligence and inspired by fluid dynamics, NATURE DREAMS turns datasets into latent multi-sensory experiences to commemorate the beauty of the earth we share.

The exhibition’s eponymous, sublime AI Data Sculpture, Nature Dreams utilizes over 300 million publicly available photographs of nature collected between 2018- 2021 at Refik Anadol Studio. Combined, this represents the largest raw dataset of nature ever gathered for an artwork, which was then used to train a GAN AI algorithm. The resulting AI Data Painting incorporates pigments, shapes, and patterns that we associate with nature, but only exist in the mind of a machine as dreams. Each variation features a stunning visual interpretation, together forming a multi- faceted reflection of the nuanced relationship between technology, humanity, and culture. With the assistance of the Google AI Quantum team, Anadol was granted access to one of the world’s foremost quantum computing research projects all- owing him to merge AI-induced latent space with a quantum hyperspace, and thus speculate an alternative reality through the lens of nature aesthetics.

“In 2016, during my artist residency at Google’s Artists and Machine Intelligence (AMI) program, I coined the terms ‘AI Data Painting’and ‘AI Data Sculpture’ as a way to encapsulate a groundbreaking exploration into the creative capacities of artificial intelligence. This concept was born from a profound curiosity: if a machine can learn, can it also dream? Can it hallucinate? These questions propelled my artistic inquiry, leading to the development of visual works that transcend traditional art forms. By harnessing vast datasets and AI algorithms, I sought to visualize the dreams of machines, creating ethereal landscapes that blur the line between the digital and the physical. AI Data Painting thus represents not just a new technique, but a philosophical pondering on the evolving relationship between human creativity and machine intelligence, inviting viewers to contemplate the potential for AI to not only mimic reality but to imagine beyond it.”

The exhibition’s eponymous, sublime AI Data Sculpture, Nature Dreams utilizes over 300 million publicly available photographs of nature collected between 2018- 2021 at Refik Anadol Studio. Combined, this represents the largest raw dataset of nature ever gathered for an artwork, which was then used to train a GAN AI algorithm. The resulting AI Data Painting incorporates pigments, shapes, and patterns that we associate with nature, but only exist in the mind of a machine as dreams. Each variation features a stunning visual interpretation, together forming a multi- faceted reflection of the nuanced relationship between technology, humanity, and culture. With the assistance of the Google AI Quantum team, Anadol was granted access to one of the world’s foremost quantum computing research projects all- owing him to merge AI-induced latent space with a quantum hyperspace, and thus speculate an alternative reality through the lens of nature aesthetics.

This artwork comes with an artist-signed 3D physical certificate with backup source installation files, a custom computer with software, to be shipped by the artist to the future buyer. Refik Anadol‘s studio will assist the future buyer with installation instructions and oversight. The LED screen is not included.

MACHINE HALLUCINATIONS is an ongoing exploration of data aesthetics based on collective visual memories of space, nature, and urban environments. Since the inception of the project during his 2016 during Google AMI Residency, Anadol has been utilizing machine intelligence as a collaborator to human consciousness, specifically DCGAN, PGAN and StyleGAN algorithms trained on these vast datasets to reveal unrecognized layers of our external realities.

Anadol and his team collect data from digital archives and publicly available resources, then process the millions of photographic memories with machine learning classification models. The sorted image datasets are then clustered into thematic categories to better understand the semantic context of the data universe. This expanding data universe not only represents the interpolation of data as synthesis, but also becomes a latent cosmos in which hallucinative potential is the main channel of artistic creativity. As a thoroughly curated multi-channel experience, MACHINE HALLUCINATIONS offers a new form of sensational autonomy via cybernetic serendipity.