Explore Refik Anadol's First Solo Exhibition in Germany

LATENT BEING is a new installation presented by LAS Light Art Space that turns Kraftwerk Berlin into a dynamic human-AI eco-system

By LAS Art Foundation

Light Art Space

Opening Night, Refik Anadol: Latent Being, November 22, 2019 by ©Refik AnadolLAS Art Foundation

LATENT BEING by Refik Anadol

From 23 November, 2019 to 5 January, 2020 LAS (Light Art Space) presented LATENT BEING, a new installation by Refik Anadol that turned the cathedral-like, concrete magnitude of Kraftwerk Berlin into a dynamic human-AI eco-system. An immense amount of Berlin-related visual and sonic memories, the architecture and the visitors all become participants in the performance. Anadol allows the visitors to submerge themselves into a world where they observe and interact with the mind of a machine.

Experience Latent Being by Refik Anadol in 360°LAS Art Foundation

Watch the 360° video and immerse yourself into the exhibition...

Entrance Kraftwerk Berlin by ©Camille BlakeLAS Art Foundation

Impressions from the exhibition, Refik Anadol: Latent Being, November 22, 2019 by ©Camille BlakeLAS Art Foundation

CHAPTER ONE:
The choreography of this installation unfolds in four chapters as a meditation on time, memory and our interactions with both organic and inorganic beings.
In the first chapter, the machine is set in motion and fed a dataset of over ten million photographic memories.

Impressions from the exhibition, Refik Anadol: Latent Being, November 22, 2019 (2019-11-23/2020-01-05) by ©Camille BlakeLAS Art Foundation

Public Opening - Refik Anadol: Latent Being, November 22, 2019 by ©Marcelina WellmerLAS Art Foundation

CHAPTER TWO:
In the second chapter, the cerebrum of the machine begins to process the visual information using the VGG16 neural network, which is capable of classifying vast numbers of images. Light and laser sculptures fill the space, representing the layers of the neural network.

Impressions from the exhibition, Refik Anadol: Latent Being, November 22, 2019 by ©Camille BlakeLAS Art Foundation

Impressions from the exhibition, Refik Anadol: Latent Being, November 22, 2019 by ©Camille BlakeLAS Art Foundation

Impressions from the exhibition, Refik Anadol: Latent Being, November 22, 2019 by ©Camille BlakeLAS Art Foundation

CHAPTER THREE:
In the third chapter, the machine starts to recognize the life inside the Kraftwerk building, as it registers the movement patterns of the visitors.

Impressions from the exhibition, Refik Anadol: Latent Being, November 22, 2019 by ©Camille BlakeLAS Art Foundation

Public Opening - Refik Anadol: Latent Being, November 22, 2019 by ©Marcelina WellmerLAS Art Foundation

CHAPTER FOUR:
Finally, digitised and processed portraits of the city: its architecture, landscape and inhabitants, morph beyond recognition into a large-scale mesmerising AI data painting, created using the Style-GAN algorithm.

Impressions from the exhibition, Refik Anadol: Latent Being, November 22, 2019 by ©Camille BlakeLAS Art Foundation

This hallucination or dream is punctuated by the presence of the visitors as their steps are tracked in real-time, generating a white noise abstraction.

Public Opening - Refik Anadol: Latent Being, November 22, 2019 by ©Marcelina WellmerLAS Art Foundation

Public Opening - Refik Anadol: Latent Being, November 22, 2019 by ©Marcelina WellmerLAS Art Foundation

Public Opening - Refik Anadol: Latent Being, November 22, 2019 by ©Marcelina WellmerLAS Art Foundation

Latent Being explores aesthetics and creativity at the convergence of human interaction and machine intelligence and acts as a symbol of a larger narrative that Anadol’s work touches upon. It reminds us that the existence of the somewhat unfamiliar AI entities is powered and steered by humans and that our relationships with other minds – human or artificial – are what we make of them.

Explanation by Refik Anadol by Video Production: Hiro Tanakaa, Director of Photography: Cornelius Diemer, Assistant Camera: Hans Goedecke, Editor: Paul BröseLAS Art Foundation

Refik Anadol (*1985 in Istanbul, Turkey) talks about his work.

Impressions from the exhibition, Refik Anadol: Latent Being, November 22, 2019 by ©Camille BlakeLAS Art Foundation

LAS Light Art Space

LAS Light Art Space is a non-profit art foundation based in Berlin. Bringing together art, science and new technologies, LAS presents exhibitions of contemporary and pioneering historical art works, using the medium of light in a broader sense. LAS closely collaborates with artists, commissions site-specific installations and initiates spatial interventions, offering sensory experiences for all audiences. In creating an interdisciplinary platform, LAS aims to challenge the perception of the present and wants to stimulate the imagination of the future. Prior to the opening of permanent premises, LAS stages pilot projects at selected locations in Berlin and around the globe.

Credits: Story

Refik Anadol - Latent Being, 2019 at Kraftwerk Berlin
Duration: 27:30min
Custom software, 8 channel audio, 1 LED display, 5 channel video projection, 16 channel laser projection, position tracking system, media servers.

Sound Design: Kerim Karaoglu

Generative Design and Artistic Consultancy: analogNative

Laser Animation Design and System Development: Arístides García

Refik Anadol Studio
Alex Morozov
Carrie He
Christian Burke
Danny Seoung
HyeJi Yang
Efsun Erkilic
Ho Man Leung
Julia Thompson
Kyle McLean
Nicholas Boss
Pelin Kivrak
Raman K. Mustafa
Toby Heinemann

StyleGAN Algorithm by NVIDIA

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.
Explore more
Related theme
From Bach to Bauhaus
Art, sights and history brought to you by over 160 institutions in Germany
View theme
Google apps