Refik Anadol is a Turkish media artist and designer internationally recognized for pioneering works that merge architecture and media art with data science and artificial intelligence. He is regarded as one of the artists who contributed to the emergence and global development of artificial intelligence–based art.

Refik Anadol was born on November 7, 1985, in Istanbul. He lost his father, Ünal Anadol, who was an executive at İş Bank, at the age of fifteen. He completed his high school education at Kadıköy Anatolian High School. He later studied at Istanbul Bilgi University, where he graduated in 2009 from the Department of Visual Communication Design with highest honors, specializing in photography and video. During his undergraduate education, he completed a double major in Visual Communication Design. As his graduation project, he realized Turkey’s first 3D video projection mapping project.

One of his early landmark works involved transforming the façade of santralistanbul into a dynamic surface using artificial intelligence, based on the idea of “turning architectural façades into canvases and using light as a material.” When the video documentation of this project was released, it quickly gained widespread attention online and became internationally recognized.

After completing a master’s degree in Visual Arts at Istanbul Bilgi University, Refik Anadol moved to the United States and earned a second Master of Fine Arts degree in Media Arts Design from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). During his graduate studies at UCLA, his experience in new media expanded significantly. While still a student, he presented audiovisual installations and performances at major international events such as the Istanbul Biennial, Ars Electronica, and the Montreal Biennial.

In 2011, concurrent with the 12th Istanbul Biennial, Refik Anadol collaborated with architect Alper Derinboğaz on an interdisciplinary installation titled Active Structures; Acoustic Formations. Installed on the façade of the Yapı Kredi Culture and Arts Center on Istiklal Avenue, the project involved recording environmental sounds along Istiklal Avenue, converting these recordings into data, and visualizing them through algorithmic processes. It is considered the first project in Turkey to explore the relationship between space, light, audiovisual performance, sound, and architecture in this manner.

In his early career, Refik Anadol focused on architectural data–driven sculptures exhibited primarily in public spaces. Over time, he shifted toward large-scale public installations that process diverse datasets through artificial intelligence systems. His recent works concentrate on machine memory—how machines perceive, store, and interpret data. For these projects, he collaborates with major institutions, including NASA and Google, collecting visual, auditory, seismic, geographic, meteorological, and cultural data.

In 2014, his project The Aether Project, developed as part of an academic course, received the Microsoft Research Award, becoming the first art project to earn this distinction. The work presented a cinematic experience generated by algorithms in real time, synchronized with live music performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

In 2015, Refik Anadol founded Refik Anadol Studio. That same year, he presented Infinity Room, a temporary installation exhibited at Zorlu Performing Arts Center, later shown consecutively at SXSW in Austin, Texas. In 2015, his permanent data sculpture Virtual Depictions was unveiled in San Francisco and is considered the world’s first visual data sculpture. In 2017, he created Wind of Boston, visualizing wind data collected at Boston Logan International Airport through large-scale digital canvases.

Other permanent public installations by Refik Anadol include Compound at Charlotte Douglas International Airport and Virtual Applique at the Beverly Center in Los Angeles. In 2016, he participated in Google’s Artists and Machine Intelligence program, formally adopting artificial intelligence as a core artistic tool.

In 2017, Refik Anadol processed over 1.7 million documents from the SALT Research archives in Istanbul using machine learning algorithms, transforming the clustered data into a media installation titled Archive Dream. His 2018 exhibition Melting Memories at Pilevneli Gallery used brainwave data collected from neuroscience laboratories at the University of California.

In subsequent years, Refik Anadol presented numerous major projects worldwide, including Machine Hallucinations at Artechouse in New York, Quantum Memories at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, and Machine Memories: Space exhibited in Istanbul and internationally. He was selected to participate in the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale and created the interactive installation Alcazar Dreams in Istanbul the same year.

Refik Anadol is the founder and director of Refik Anadol Studio in Los Angeles and teaches at UCLA’s Department of Design Media Arts, where he earned his MFA. His studio brings together a globally diverse team of designers, architects, data scientists, and researchers. He is also a co-founder of Dataland, the world’s first Museum of Artificial Intelligence Arts, scheduled to open at The Grand LA in 2025.

Refik Anadol is married to Efsun Anadol and lives and works in Los Angeles.

Awards
Microsoft Research Best Vision Award
German Design Award
UCLA Architecture and Arts Moss Award
2014 California Institute for Arts Research Award
2016 SEGD Global Design Awards – Honor Award
Google – Artist in Artificial Intelligence

Source: Biyografiler.com