DATALAND, the world's first museum of AI arts co-founded by artist Refik Anadol and Efsun Erkılıç, will open to the public on June 20, 2026, in downtown Los Angeles. Located in the Frank Gehry-designed building The Grand LA within the Grand Avenue Cultural District, the 35,000-square-foot venue will debut with the inaugural exhibition "Machine Dreams: Rainforest," an immersive 360-degree experience based on millions of images and sounds of nature. The custom AI model powering the exhibition was trained on data collected from 16 rainforests worldwide, with data partnerships established with the Smithsonian, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Getty, iNaturalist, and the Natural History Museum in London.
This opening matters because DATALAND represents a significant institutional milestone for AI-generated art, moving it from temporary installations into a permanent museum dedicated to the medium. The museum's emphasis on responsible data curation—building its own models and being transparent about data sources—addresses key ethical concerns around copyright and consent in AI art. Additionally, its commitment to sustainability, with the Large Nature Model hosted on a Google Cloud server running on 87% carbon-free renewable energy, sets a precedent for environmentally conscious AI art institutions.