Dataland, a new museum in Los Angeles dedicated to AI-generated art, opens on June 20 with its inaugural exhibition 'Machine Dreams: Rainforest'. Founded by artists Refik Anadol and Efsun Erkilic, the immersive experience uses 1.5 billion pixels and 10 million lines of code to recreate a sensory version of the Amazon rainforest, complete with sounds, smells, and visuals. Visitors wear sensors that track their movements, heartbeats, and skin temperature, feeding data into the AI model that continuously evolves the display in real time.
The exhibition matters because it represents a new frontier in museum experience design, where AI not only generates art but adapts it based on live audience biometric data. By bringing a digital rainforest to an urban setting, Anadol and Erkilic raise questions about how technology can foster connection to nature without requiring physical travel. The project also highlights the growing role of AI in creating participatory, ephemeral art that blurs the line between viewer and artwork.