This summer, the Smithsonian Castle will be the backdrop for an immersive public art experience. Smithsonian Dreams, an abstract light show using images from the Smithsonian’s collections, will be projected on the building on July 17 and 18.
The display is free and open to the public. It begins each evening at 9 p.m.
Smithsonian Dreams is a work by media artist Refik Anadol. The artist used a custom AI system to reinterpret millions of digitized Smithsonian collections and artifacts and create a “continuously evolving visual experience.” For example, it includes digitized fossils from the Museum of Natural History and images of flowers from the Smithsonian Gardens.
The show progresses in “thematic chapters inspired by the Smithsonian’s founding, beginning with the gift of British scientist James Smithson and expanding to themes of discovery, preservation, creativity and collective memory,” according to a news release. Viewers will see archival materials and artworks incorporated into the presentation.
“For me, data is a form of memory,” Anadol said. “The Smithsonian preserves one of humanity’s most extraordinary repositories of knowledge, accumulated across generations of discovery and imagination. Smithsonian Dreams asks what might emerge if that vast memory could become dynamic, if the Castle itself could learn from its collections, reflect upon them and dream through them. Using machine intelligence as a creative collaborator, we are transforming the archive into a living experience where history, culture, science and imagination continuously unfold in new ways.”
Anadol is also behind Los Angeles’ Dataland, a museum dedicated to exploring AI as an art medium.
Feature image courtesy Smithsonian
