Nature, Memory, and AI: Inside Refik Anadol’s Living Art
Refik Anadol is a Turkish-American media artist, director, and pioneer in the use of machine intelligence as a creative collaborator. Based in Los Angeles, his studio has become one of the world’s leading voices in data-driven art, with works exhibited in over 50 countries and permanently housed in collections from MoMA to the Centre Pompidou. Named to TIME100’s list of the most influential people in AI, Anadol has redefined how we think about the intersection of art, technology, and memory. His practice spans large-scale public installations, immersive environments, and open-source projects, each one pushing the boundaries of what it means to visualize the unseen.
Refik Anadol by Efsun Erkilic
Anadol’s art lives at the edge of perception, where memory slips into hallucination and data becomes dream. From Unsupervised at MoMA to monumental outdoor installations, he transforms the overwhelming flood of information in our age into meditative experiences of light and motion. His practice asks: what if technology could be more than machinery, more than noise? What if AI could become a mirror of humanity, a tool to slow down, to heal, to connect? For Anadol, art is not only spectacle but sanctuary, offering moments of digital serenity in a world that rarely pauses.
“I strive to create spaces where people can feel connected to something larger than themselves—to each other, to nature, to a shared sense of wonder.”
At the core of this vision lies nature, the ultimate archive, the one true universal connector. With the Large Nature Model, the world’s first open-source generative AI model dedicated to the natural world, Anadol trains algorithms on millions of images of forests, coral reefs, skies, and deserts. The AI doesn’t replicate nature so much as dream with it, surfacing unseen patterns, rhythms, and possibilities. Here, technology becomes a collaborator with the earth itself, preserving fragile ecosystems while reawakening human empathy. It is art as both preservation and provocation: a reminder that the future of the planet is inseparable from how we choose to see and remember it.
Echoes of The Earth - Living Archive ©Refik Anadol Studio
Echoes of The Earth - Living Archive ©Refik Anadol Studio
Echoes of The Earth - Living Archive ©Refik Anadol Studio
That ethos of listening rather than imposing deepened during one of Anadol’s most transformative journeys — his time in the Amazon rainforest with Chief Nixiwaka and the Yawanawa community. Immersed in a culture where nature is regarded as teacher and kin, he found new ways of collaboration between tradition and technology. From this experience came Winds of Yawanawa, a work that translates the invisible movements of the forest’s wind into living, evolving art. Like the Large Nature Model, it embodies Anadol’s belief that ancestral wisdom and AI can coexist in fragile, vital harmony, bridging worlds rather than dividing them.
“Refik Anadol’s installations ask us to imagine futures built not on dystopia, but on poetic optimism: worlds where AI extends human imagination rather than replacing it, where memory and nature are preserved rather than lost. In his hands, art becomes a safe space to question, to feel, and to heal; a collective journey toward redefining what is real, and what might still be possible.”
In R+W Naturals, we connect with extraordinary people making waves in sustainability, art, design, architecture, gastronomy, wellness, and wildlife — from travel and hospitality industry icons to acclaimed architects, designers, influential artists, forward-thinking musicians, boundary-pushing chefs and visionary explorers. We connected with Anadol and explored the single thread that runs across all of his projects: the belief that art can reshape our relationship to reality. By making the invisible visible, whether the movements of wind, the collective traces of memory, or the shifting data of ecosystems, Anadol opens portals to spaces we cannot ordinarily perceive. His installations ask us to imagine futures built not on dystopia, but on poetic optimism: worlds where AI extends human imagination rather than replacing it, where memory and nature are preserved rather than lost. In his hands, art becomes a safe space to question, to feel, and to heal; a collective journey toward redefining what is real, and what might still be possible.
Winds of Yawanawa ©Refik Anadol Studio
Winds of Yawanawa ©Refik Anadol Studio
Winds of Yawanawa ©Refik Anadol Studio
R+W: I was lucky enough to visit Unsupervised at MOMA and was utterly blown away. You’ve transformed the overwhelming abundance of content in today’s world into something meditative and beautiful. How do you see your immersive installations as spaces for personal reflection and collective healing?
RA: Thank you—it means a great deal to hear that Unsupervised resonated with you. In a world saturated with information, I see immersive environments, especially public environments, as sanctuaries—spaces where people can slow down, breathe, and simply be. Through light, motion, and sound, I try to offer a kind of digital serenity—an invitation to meditate on pattern, memory, and presence. If even one person finds a moment of calm or reflection within the work, then the piece has done its job.
“Through light, motion, and sound, I try to offer a kind of digital serenity—an invitation to meditate on pattern, memory, and presence. If even one person finds a moment of calm or reflection within the work, then the piece has done its job.”
Unsupervised, MOMA ©Refik Anadol Studio
R+W: Could you share your thoughts on the role of connection and community in your work? How do you envision your art serving as a bridge that brings people together?
RA: Connection is at the core of everything I do. Our studio is collaborative, our data often comes from long-term collaborations, and our installations are designed to be experienced communally. I believe art should be seen and felt together. Whether on the façade of a museum or in the intimacy of VR, I strive to create spaces where people can feel connected to something larger than themselves—to each other, to nature, to a shared sense of wonder.
“Nature is our first and most profound form of data. Its rhythms, its resilience, its diversity—all of it holds universal language. ”
R+W: How do you see nature as a universal connector, and how does Large Nature Model explore this concept through AI?
RA: Nature is our first and most profound form of data. Its rhythms, its resilience, its diversity—all of it holds universal language. The Large Nature Model was born from a desire to teach AI about the intelligence of nature. We trained it on millions of ethically sourced images from ecological archives, from coral reefs to cloud formations. The model doesn’t imitate nature—it learns from it, hallucinates with it, dreams in its patterns. In doing so, it invites us to see nature as an active, intelligent collaborator.
Echoes of the Earth ©Refik Anadol Studio
R+W: How does the Large Nature Model contribute to the conversation on environmental sustainability? In what ways do you address the idea of preservation through your work?
RA: For me, data is memory. And memory deserves to be preserved, especially when it comes to fragile ecosystems. With the Large Nature Model, we ask, what does it mean to create an archive of the earth through AI? How can we preserve the beauty and complexity of the planet not only visually, but ethically? Sustainability in our studio means working with institutions to source data responsibly, reduce environmental footprint, and promote awareness. But it also means creating works that invite empathy—because once we feel connected to the Earth, we are more likely to protect it.
“For me, data is memory. And memory deserves to be preserved, especially when it comes to fragile ecosystems. With the Large Nature Model, we ask, what does it mean to create an archive of the earth through AI? How can we preserve the beauty and complexity of the planet not only visually, but ethically? Sustainability in our studio means working with institutions to source data responsibly, reduce environmental footprint, and promote awareness. But it also means creating works that invite empathy—because once we feel connected to the Earth, we are more likely to protect it.”
R+W: Your work bridges the past and the future, memory and hallucination to create a transformative experience. How do you view art as a portal to another world?
RA: As an artist, I think beyond reality. I see my installations as dream machines. They bridge timelines, evoke forgotten sensations, and activate flow states. When an AI model trained on memory begins to hallucinate, it reveals something between fact and feeling—between what we remember and what we imagine. That in-between space, for me, is where transformation happens.
Echoes of the Earth ©Refik Anadol Studio
R+W: Could you elaborate on the significance of memories in your work? What personal experiences and memories have shaped your decision to explore the themes of both personal and collective memory in your art?
RA: Memory is at the center of my practice. I lost a dear family member to Alzheimer’s, and that deeply personal loss shaped how I think about data, memory, and time. Much of my work has been an attempt to hold onto memory—collective and personal—before it slips away. From scanning brainwaves to preserving cultural archives, I am constantly searching for ways to externalize memory, to visualize what cannot be held. I believe memories are not static—they evolve, like living organisms. And art is one way to keep them alive.
“Much of my work has been an attempt to hold onto memory—collective and personal—before it slips away. From scanning brainwaves to preserving cultural archives, I am constantly searching for ways to externalize memory, to visualize what cannot be held. I believe memories are not static—they evolve, like living organisms. And art is one way to keep them alive.”
Refik Anadol, Echoes of the Earth, Photo by Hugo Glendinning
Nature Dreams ©Refik Anadol Studio
Nature Dreams ©Refik Anadol Studio
R+W: Your work often makes the invisible visible, from complex data to the hidden patterns of nature. Can you elaborate on how your art helps us visualize spaces and phenomena we cannot ordinarily perceive?
RA: This is perhaps the most consistent theme in my work. I’ve always been drawn to systems that shape our world but go unseen—weather patterns, neural signals, urban noise, even the rhythms of a city’s wind. With the help of AI, I try to surface these hidden dimensions to expand perception. When we visualize the invisible, we become more attuned to complexity—and that awareness can lead to empathy, curiosity, and even action.
Refik Anadol, Echoes of the Earth, Photo by Hugo Glendinning
R+W: You speak of finding hope and positivity in a world that often feels dystopic. How do you use AI and your art to inspire utopian possibilities for the future?
RA: I often describe my practice as a search for poetic optimism through technology. In the face of climate collapse, displacement, and digital fragmentation, art must offer more than critique—it must offer vision. AI has immense potential, but it must be guided with care. I use it to amplify human imagination, to dream better futures. Utopian thinking isn’t naive; it’s necessary. Through data, design, and collective engagement, I try to shape spaces that remind us the future is still open—and still ours to shape.
“Utopian thinking isn’t naive; it’s necessary. Through data, design, and collective engagement, I try to shape spaces that remind us the future is still open—and still ours to shape.”
R+W: Who are your key influences in the art world? Can you share three major figures that have significantly inspired your work?
RA: Zaha Hadid, Frank Gehry, James Turrell.
Aldeia Sagrada Yawanawa by Camilla Coutinho
Yawanawa by Filipe Foto
Aldeia Sagrada Yawanawa by Camilla Coutinho
“One of the most transformative journeys in my life was my visit to the Amazon rainforest, where I had the incredible honor of spending time with the Yawanawa community. That experience became the foundation for our project Winds of Yawanawa, which draws inspiration from the ancient wisdom of the forest and the profound relationship the Yawanawa people have with nature. It was there that I truly felt how nature itself could be a living data source, a dynamic archive of knowledge and memory. ”
R+W: Nature and travel are often significant sources of inspiration. Can you share your most transformative journey and the landscapes that have had the greatest impact on your work?
RA: One of the most transformative journeys in my life was my visit to the Amazon rainforest, where I had the incredible honor of spending time with Chief Nixiwaka and the Yawanawa community. That experience became the foundation for our project Winds of Yawanawa, which draws inspiration from the ancient wisdom of the forest and the profound relationship the Yawanawa people have with nature. The landscapes of the Amazon—the breath of the trees, the rhythm of the rivers, the invisible yet powerful patterns of the wind—left a lasting impression on me. It was there that I truly felt how nature itself could be a living data source, a dynamic archive of knowledge and memory. This encounter deepened my belief that technology can help us listen to and learn from the natural world, and that through art, we can share these stories in new, meaningful ways.
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