A video work from Refik Anadol’s new solo exhibition in Istanbul.

"As the symbiotic relationship between human life, science and technology continually transforms, the role of machines in pushing the boundaries of imagination generates intriguing discussions about successful human-machine teams. Refik Anadol, who sees artificial intelligence as collaborator rather than a mere tool, has been exploring interrelated key concepts for challenging our conventional understanding of the cosmos, human senses, machines, and the mind. Machine Memoirs: Space, the most comprehensive solo exhibition by Refik Anadol Studio in Istanbul to date, speculates a new conceptual framework to turn the spotlight on the vast photographic archives that document the history of space exploration.

In Machine Memoirs: Space, machine-based visual speculations about space, and humanity’s historical attempts to explore its depths unveil intricate connections between obscurity and openness, creating an alternate data universe of abstract forms where reams of information produce open-ended aesthetic possibilities. In 1980, in an episode of his TV show Cosmos, astrophysicist Carl Sagan said, “Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.” Forty-one years after Sagan’s statement, Refik Anadol Studio presents yet another speculation of imagining a (data) universe as a first step to reach its unseen dimensions with a poetic flow of metaphors that connect photographic astronomic data with observable human emotions formed around public art."

https://art50.net/en/refik-anadol-machine-memoirs-space/