For this AI data painting, Anadol was inspired by the famous astrophysicist Carl Sagan. In 1980, in an episode of his TV show Cosmos, 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, Anadol presents a “machine hallucination” that connects photographic astronomic data with AI technology and new media art, imagining a visualized data universe as a first step to reach the Earth’s unseen dimensions. This universe exhibits multiple flow of networks between data points made up of Earth’s and other celestial objects’ topologies, giving us a glimpse into the latent landscapes of our planet hallucinated by the mind of a machine.

Machine Hallucinations: Space is an-going AI research of data aesthetics at the RAS Lab based on collective visual memories of space. Since 2016, Anadol and his team have been using custom algorithms to train machine intelligence in processing these vast datasets and unfolding unrecognized layers of our external realities. RAS developed a custom software called Latent Space Browser which allows the team members to interact with GAN algorithms realtime and generate AI Data Paintings and Sculptures. In this NFT collection, the artworks invite the audience to reflect on the relationship between technology, AI, and space explorations by viewing how the machine intelligence hallucinates after “seeing” millions of space images taken by the Hubble, ISS, and MRO telescopes.

The artwork comes with an artist-signed 3D physical certificate with backup, a 75’’ digital canvas, a custom computer and software.