Refik Anadol

With the spectacular work "Glacier Dreams" (2023), Refik Anadol (*1985 in Istanbul, lives in Los Angeles) uses AI to address one of the most important issues of our time - climate change. For this work, Refik Anadol used over 100 million images from online and institutional archives as well as a specially collected, additional data set of more than 10 million glacier images from Iceland, Greenland and Antarctica. Beyond glacier research and with the help of AI, Anadol creates poetic experiences with poignant images of glaciers and aims to draw attention to their fragility.

At the Kunsthaus Zürich, this work is now being presented as an immersive installation that involves the entire body from all sides. The senses of sight, hearing and even smell are addressed and invite us to reflect sensually, physically and intellectually on the effects of glacial melting. Anadol's pixels are reminiscent of the dabs of paint by Impressionist Claude Monet, who anticipated immersive art in the form of painting with his large, world-famous water lily pictures in the Kunsthaus. Anadol coined the term "data painting" for this, where paintings no longer have to dry, but instead constantly take on new forms in a constant flow and question the closed nature of a work of art.

On display until at least the end of January 2027

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Refik Anadol

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