Dataland, the world's first museum dedicated to AI arts, will open on June 20 in downtown Los Angeles. Co-founded by new media artists Refik Anadol and Efsun Erkılıç, the 35,000-square-foot museum anchors the $1-billion Frank Gehry-designed Grand LA complex. Its inaugural exhibition, "Machine Dreams: Rainforest," created by Refik Anadol Studio, uses vast data sets from partners including the Smithsonian and London's Natural History Museum to immerse visitors in a machine-generated sensory experience of the Amazon rainforest. The museum features five immersive galleries, a 30-foot ceiling, and is powered by an open-access AI model called the Large Nature Model, which runs on Google Cloud servers using 87% carbon-free energy.
This opening matters because Dataland represents a major institutional commitment to legitimizing AI as a medium for fine art, at a time when the technology is both rapidly evolving and sparking anxiety about its societal impact. By collecting and preserving AI art with transparent data sourcing and a focus on sustainability, the museum positions itself as a bridge between cutting-edge technology and environmental consciousness. Its location in a landmark Gehry building across from Walt Disney Concert Hall also signals that AI art is being taken seriously within the mainstream art and architecture world.