The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao presents a series of installations by Refik Anadol entitled "in situ," which pushes the boundaries of contemporary practices through the work of several artists. Frank Gehry, the architect of the Spanish institution, inaugurates this unprecedented exhibition.
In nearly twenty years, Refik Anadol has become a pioneer of post-digital architecture and artificial intelligence (AI) in public art. This Istanbul native, now based in Los Angeles, creates multisensory experiences. His works thus lie at the intersection of art, science, technology, and architecture. In his creative process, he explores "collective memories, the relationship between humanity and nature, perceptions of space and time, and human-machine collaborations." His inspiration? It came as a child watching Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (1982).
Since then, this founder of Refik Anadol Studio and Dataland, the first AI art museum set to open in Los Angeles in 2025, has been transforming data into 3D environments and protean, shifting, and abstract installations. He has notably created visual sculptures for Art Basel, the Centre Pompidou, MoMA, and the Venice Biennale, based on data from millions of images. His collaborations range from Google and NVIDIA to NASA, as well as UCLA, Harvard, and Stanford.
Frank Gehry in the spotlight
This year, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao is launching its "in situ" exhibition concept. This initiative aims to explore new ways of perceiving and inhabiting space, bringing together the work of artists from the visual arts, technology, music, and performance. "Living Architecture: Gehry" kicks things off.
This installation reimagines Frank Gehry's architectural legacy through the lens of artificial intelligence and generative art. Refik Anadol's studio developed a cutting-edge technology: Large Architecture Model (LAM). This model forms a vast, freely accessible archive of images, sketches, and plans, transforming Frank Gehry's ingenious language into landscapes of dynamic shapes, colors, and movement.
This visual spectacle is accompanied by a score and an immersive soundscape, designed by Kerim Karaoglu. The Berlin-based composer blends AI-generated audio with physical recordings captured within the museum.
Six interconnected chapters
"Living Architecture" explores the work of this leading figure of deconstructivism and post-structuralism, who designed the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. He is also responsible for the Dancing House in Prague, the Vitra Design Museum in Germany, and the Cinémathèque Française and the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris. Refik Anadol chooses to examine, in six distinct stages, the evolution of data toward architectural imagination.
The first segment, “Data Universe,” is a memory space that compiles materials and data (archival photographs, plans, and structural documents). The second, “Data Tracing,” highlights the complex patterns that emerge from the processing of this data through forms, textures, and spatial composition. “Data Tunnel” then transforms these patterns into visual environments within the museum space, inviting visitors to engage in the evolving process of human-machine collaboration.
Meanwhile, "Grand Model of Architecture" showcases the new structural possibilities generated by AI, renewing the typical forms of Frank Gehry. "Machine Hallucination" embraces abstraction. These same structures break free from conventional spatial constraints, offering hallucinatory and dreamlike visions. As for "Dreams," this final chapter roams freely through the world of architecture, where AI continuously and in real time modifies new forms.
All this data comes from ethical sources and is powered by sustainable computing practices. Refik Anadol also wants to demonstrate that innovation and responsibility go hand in hand. With this first audiovisual exhibition, he continues to explore the infinite potential of the physical and digital worlds.
“In situ: Refik Anadol”
Guggenheim Bilbao
Abandoibarra Etorb., 2, Abando, Bilbao (Spain)
Until 19 October 2025
