Photograph: Michael Juliano for Time OutArtificial intelligence continues to be a controversial topic, with some embracing what AI has to offer and others avoiding it at all costs. But the terms “AI” and “art” when used together seem to be met with nearly unanimous resistance. “There are lots of concerns about AI—and rightfully—but what happens here is something else,” Refik Anadol tells me during a preview of Dataland, his soon-to-open museum of AI arts. “This is completely done by artists, for artists. It's a very different approach to the AI systems, and it is all about reminding us about being human.” Dataland, which officially opens its doors June 20, is the latest museum to land on Grand Avenue, inside the Frank Gehry–designed Grand complex. The media artist, UCLA professor and Angeleno knows all too well that AI is a hot-button topic that causes some to automatically dismiss his work. (And as an AI skeptic myself, I had my own questions about what I was going to think of Dataland.) But Anadol isn’t churning out the automated, dehumanized slop that comes to mind when you think of AI—Dataland is indeed something different, with humans and creativity at the helm. And hearing him talk about the project with the zeal of a mad scientist, his enthusiasm was contagious. It’s likely you’ve encountered Anadol’s work before in some capacity. In 2018, he made headlines for transforming the face of the Walt Disney Concert Hall with projections on the occasion of the LA Phil’s 100th anniversary. You can also see his piece Living Arena, an “AI data painting,” outside Intuit Dome. And now, just across the street from Disney Hall, he has his own permanent space for his work, Dataland. Its inaugural exhibition, “Machine Dreams: Rainforest,” is on display from June 20 through January 31, 2027. The choice to focus on the rainforests for the first exhibition here may seem a bit surprising and at odds with the “data” of it all, but when you look at Anadol’s focus on nature through his work, it’s not surprising at all. The large language model Anadol uses is called “Large Nature Model”—it’s the world’s first open source AI model based solely on nature data. “We believe that the Large Nature Model is a paradigm shift in how we can use AI to perceive our natural world,” reads the Dataland website. And that data is ethically sourced from institutions including the Smithsonian, Getty Conservation Institute and the Natural History Museum in London (you can actually browse the data yourself in the Latent Gallery). Beyond that, data is pulled from the Refik Anadol Studio’s firsthand trips to 16 different rainforests. And fittingly, Anadol has worked with Google Cloud to operate the LNM using 87% carbon-free renewable energy and minimize its environmental footprint—apparently each visitor’s trip through the museum uses only as much energy as a single smartphone charge. Photograph: Michael Juliano for Time OutThe Latent Gallery at Dataland The result of all this work is a truly multisensory experience—Dataland is touted as the world’s first “omni-sensory” museum. The visuals are dazzling, yes, but there are touch-screen elements, projections that react to your movements, an ambient soundtrack throughout from composer Kerim Karaoğlu, and innovative scents. There’s even (for priority ticket holders) a taste element: data.chocolate, a series of four truffles created by local chocolatier Valerie Gordon especially for the museum, inspired by the cacao of the rainforest. At the center of Dataland is a question Anadol has long been exploring: “For 5,000 years, humans have been emotionally moved by artworks, but the relationship has always flowed in one direction. While developing Dataland we asked ourselves, ‘Is it possible for artworks to feel us back?’” That’s where the biosensors come in. When you enter Dataland, after watching a short introductory video in the Discovery Portal, you scan your ticket’s QR code at a station, where a futuristic-looking box slides open and reveals your wearable tech. First, there’s a scent device, which you wear around your neck. It releases scents especially crafted by L’Oréal Luxe to evoke the essence of data, petrichor (the distinctive smell of the ground when it rains), flowers and more. The personalized scent molecules somehow don’t fill the room you’re in or linger on your person. The other piece of hardware you’ll don is Empatica’s EmbracePlus, an Apple Watch–esque device that tracks your time spent in the museum, movements, heartbeat, skin temperature, emotion temperature and skin conductivity (i.e., what gives you goosebumps). The idea is that the museum responds in real time to visitors’ biometrics and, over time, is shaped by the input, meaning you won’t have the exact same experience here twice. (Note: Your captured data remains anonymous and is erased after 30 days.) Photograph: Michael Juliano for Time OutThe Data Pavilion at Dataland In all, the museum consists of five galleries and boasts a total of 1.5 billion pixels. Two of these rooms you’ll likely be seeing all over social media. But however good they may look on a screen, the galleries—especially the Data Pavilion and Anadol’s Infinity Room—are utterly transfixing in person. The Data Pavilion, with its “Latent Forest” display, is the museum’s largest gallery and a showstopper—traveling down the escalators into the room with mirrored walls, ceilings and columns, I broke into a huge grin. Inside, 84 hi-res projectors fill the room with visuals of data, rainstorms, flowers and trees in bloom, and abstract data pigments—all taking cues from a live feed of rainforest data, as does the soundscape—for a result that’s trippy, dizzying and relaxing all at once. Anadol recommends spending around 35 minutes in the room. That might seem a little long, but if you find a spot to sit and steady yourself, it’s a surprisingly meditative space—I didn’t want to leave. Photograph: Michael Juliano for Time OutThe Infinity Room at Dataland After passing through the Latent Gallery—with interactive stations that let you create your own art and access the vast data sets yourself—you can make your way to the more intimate Infinity Room. All four walls, in addition to the ceiling and floor, are made of LED panels (hence why you’re given shoe coverings on the way into the museum). The experience takes eight minutes and loosely tells a story inspired by a trip to an Amazon rainforest Anadol took with his partner, Dataland co-founder Efsun Erkiliç, about a hummingbird that’s gone extinct. It’s a completely different experience than the famed Infinity Room by Yayoi Kusama offers at the Broad across the street. “Kusama—huge respect and love to her work—she plays with the stillness of the infinity. In fact, [our] Infinity Room is completely a different direction that’s completely in movement, in motion,” says Anadol. Photograph: Michael Juliano for Time OutThe Sanctuary at Dataland The final gallery is dubbed the Sanctuary, which you enter with a group of fellow museum-goers for a look at your collective “emotional temperature," which is then turned into a 30-foot-tall data painting, in the vein of Anadol’s Intuit Dome and MoMA works. At the close of your experience, you’ll be treated to a song by the Yawanawá tribe and the lovely scent of the Amazonian moonflower, a rare specimen that only blooms for 12 hours a year. The team was able to record the scent molecules without harming the flower and bring it back to share with L.A. visitors. On your way out, as you hand back your devices, you’re given a data token that contains a “personalized sensory archive.” The idea is that the data on this can be turned into a T-shirt emblazoned with a custom artwork depicting your museum journey, as well as a customized scent, which a machine will mix up for you on the spot in the high-tech gift shop. It’s worth noting that while there is clearly tons of thought, research, knowledge and, yes, data behind everything you see at Dataland…you might not exactly understand what you’re looking at. You might just see dazzling visuals and enjoy the immersive nature of the experience—and that’s ok. I think the museum still has value on that level. But there is a lot going on here, even if the process can seem a little opaque at times. After doing a bit of research following my visit, I feel like I have a more comprehensive idea of Dataland than I did while I was in the museum itself. But a bit of a learning curve is to be expected, given how new the concept of a “living museum” is for most people. I asked Anadol how important it is to him that people get what they’re seeing in the moment, and he pointed me toward an app that visitors can consult during their museum visit. “We have an special application that will be easy to download. [It] will allow the audience to learn about their data in real time.… So there will be all these living conversations with the artworks and with the systems.” Besides the AI stigma, another potential sticking point for some may be the ticket price. Dataland isn’t a nonprofit like its neighbors, the Broad or MOCA, and as such, it’s not free to visit. Tickets start at $49 on weekday mornings and go all the way up to $59 in the afternoons and $79 on weekends. Priority access tickets—which include express entry, the data.chocolate tasting, a tote, lanyard and a discount on merch—range from $89 to $129. Though, while I did attend the press preview and didn’t have to buy a ticket, I found myself thinking I would have absolutely paid the price of admission for my experience. Price-wise, it’s on par with the pop-up exhibition Hospital of Emotions and even the recent Harry Potter drone show. And Dataland isn’t a one-trick pony: After January 31, an entirely different exhibition will take over the space, presumably offering a new mind-bending experience. I, for one, can’t wait. Dataland is located at 100 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012. Its hours are Tue, Wed 11am–8pm; Thu, Fri 11am–10pm; Sat 10am–10pm; and Sun 10am to 8pm. You can purchase tickets here. ...read more read less