Refik Anadol on AI, machine dreaming and art

Refik Anadol is a Turkish-American new media artist and designer. His works are just incredible – at first sight, they’re abstract and dream-like video works, constantly shapeshifting. What’s the most fascinating about these works, is how they come to be – through data-driven machine learning AI algorithms.

In our conversation, Refik explains the ins and outs of his work, through beautiful and often poetic language, talking about machines dreaming and hallucinating, and Refik himself painting with the data reimagined by the AI. And whilst we discuss the technology behind his work, we also dive into the real philosophy behind Refik’s art, connecting people regardless of languages, cultures and backgrounds, and how in truth, all he wants to do is heal people.

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Podcast music: James Greenfield

Production: Green Podcast Productions