Using machine learning algorithms, artist Refik Anadol developed a media installation by using Çatalhöyük Research Project’s archive of 2.8 million data records. Commissioned as part of the exhibition “The Curious Case of Çatalhöyük,” this poetic representation of an archaeological archive can be experienced as of November 14th2017 at ANAMED.

ANAMED presents the artist Refik Anadol’s media installation, AI data sculpture which reinterpreted the entirety of the excavation archive of the Neolithic site Çatalhöyük, in Konya, Turkey. Anadol has visually collated 2.8 million data records of 250,000 finds discovered throughout the 25 years of scientific research conducted by the Çatalhöyük Research Project. Over 1000 relational database tables have been translated into a poetic visual experience.

The archive is a rich digital resource that has been organized by teams of specialists. It consists of millions of pieces of interconnected data including tabular records, diaries, images, and technical reports. The records belong to units, spaces, features, and buildings discovered during the archaeological excavations at the UNESCO World Heritage List site of Çatalhöyük. By employing machine learning algorithms to sort relations among these records, Anadol transforms this knowledge into an immersive AI Data Sculpture installation that transcends research, archaeology, art, and technology. In an archaeological context, this is the first instance that a data source of such magnitude is being used in an artistic and aesthetic framework.

Anadol’s installation, a search for multidimensional data interaction, has been made possible by the technological sponsorship of Arçelik and implemented by PATTU Architecture. The work will be on display as part of “The Curious Case of Çatalhöyük” exhibition at ANAMED in Istanbul, from November 14, 2017 to January 14, 2018.

“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.”