Issue 4, Plus Connect

Refik Anadol

AI, Algorithms, and the Machine as Witness

Words PLUS MAGAZINE

Refik Anadol is a Turkish-American media artist who addresses the possibilities of technology and what it means to be a human in the age of A.I. Through his mesmerizing visualizations based on data and coding, Anadol creates digitized dreams, bringing a new perspective of what art can be in the 21st century. In this interview, Anadol talks about his vision of creating human interconnection and the importance of bringing consciousness to the machine.

PLUS MAGAZINE: I want to start by asking what comes to mind when you think of the term, data.

REFIK ANADOL: For me, data is a form of memory, a memory that can take any shape or form. Everything that is quantifiable becomes data. In that way, data can become personal – personally engaging with our own decisions, heartbeats, and Wi-Fi connection. I don’t think there’s anything wrong here. The problem always starts when what happens to this data. Most people monetize it, but some people are using it to express concerns or use them as a pigmentation. This diversity is exciting but also comes with ramifications. Any of us can solve any issues immediately, but the fact is that data is impossible to ignore; it’s material that entirely belongs to humanity.

P: You are right! As it opens exciting possibilities, there are also opposing sides to the idea of data and its interactions with technology. Our devices can now listen, adapt and suggest our behaviors. It can be alarming how the data is used uncontrollably in our everyday lives. I am curious to know how you approach this balance and what expectations you have.

RA: I have multiple expectations. The first one is, of course, transparency with data. It’s still unclear what goes on behind the scenes of algorithms systems. That’s the challenge and the problem for many of us and the issues that society is facing. For us, data is open-source, meaning we don’t enter a password or use anyone’s [personal] data -we have some ethics applied when working with data. We only look for the collective memories, not to one’s person-centric data. The collective memories, I believe, belong to humanity in general. But not everyone enjoys creating situations that are more ethically correct or not product-oriented. The problem is that everyone is trying to make a product with this information immediately. But for us, we never imagined ourselves focusing on someone’s personal life.

P: Collective data is a vital tool in your work. Quantum Memories uses so-called ‘real-time’ data to explore the possibility of a parallel world by processing approximately 200 million nature and landscape images. In the context of ‘real-time,’ how is the data being processed and transformed into an immersive experience corresponding to its ever passing of time?

RA: For this project, we used computational data and generated a simple pattern that inspired our A.I to learn from 200 million nature photos. So technically, we gave an eye and a brain to our A.I. by using quantum computer results. So, this unit bit string transforms into a noise algorithm that triggers new values that look like nature. We basically computed quantum bits string into a noise algorithm, and that algorithm triggered a new visual language, which people were watching that I called “Quantum Memories.”

P: This sounds like a rigorous process, and we can agree this is not a one-person job. Processing and researching the data must require a lot of time, teamwork, and energy. It is a heavily collaborative effort, and curious to know more about your team.

RA: Ever since I was a kid, I never liked imagining by myself. I would always bring my friends to a new place and share my experience with them. And when I finished my MFA studies at UCLA in 2014, the ultimate idea was to open a studio. But what was challenging was that I wasn’t aware of how complex every project was. There were so many problems starting from data science to architecture. It’s always a new challenge all the time that requires certain expectations and experience. But, when you collectively imagine and work, this becomes a minor problem- it becomes much more fun to solve problems together. That’s the beauty of being a team! It’s not an ego-centric journey but a collective journey, and it takes a lot of time and effort to create a cohesive vision with different minds.

P: It truly is, and when great minds come together, extraordinary results are made.

RA: Absolutely. And it’s like when you are doing a school project. It’s not a boring startup concept but a pure art studio with pure artistic intentions.