I descended an elevator into an expansive AI rainforest, where digital images of green and gold, vaguely resembling trees, flickered across every wall, while the floor and ceiling displayed an ever-evolving blue, root-like network that lit up in response to my steps. Sounds of an orchestra rang out, punctuated by the chirping of crickets. I was hit with a familiar scent, herby and spicy, like cutting into a fresh jalapeño.
I had entered Dataland, billed as "the world's first museum of AI arts," which opened last month in downtown Los Angeles.
I was there to see the inaugural exhibit, "Machine Dreams: Rainforest," which features five galleries of multi-sensory art generated by AI trained on data from the natural world.
Dataland was founded by media artist Refik Anadol and his partner, artist Efsun Erkiliç.
Google, a collaborator on Dataland, says the museum uses Google Cloud tools to create generative soundscapes, sense visitors' emotions, adjust scents "algorithmically," and respond to human movements.
In a time when the use of AI in art remains controversial, Dataland is the ultimate embrace of it.
The art was often beautiful and interactive
My weekday afternoon ticket was $59, and after a group of about 20 of us formed, we were let into the first of five galleries.
"You are standing inside a work of art that is still unfolding," a recorded voice said. "Your presence shapes the world you're about to step into."
We were given two wearable devices: a wristband resembling a watch that tracked movement, temperature, and pulse, and a U-shaped device worn around the neck that emitted scents. Rather than fill the rooms with a single scent, each person would be exposed to different scents on their individual devices.
The visuals were often trippy, ranging from abstract — like a wave of colorful balls that resembled Dippin' Dots — to more literal, like fantastical flower shapes or pink and blue birds fluttering across the screen.
Sometimes the images looked more like the inside of a computer than like nature, highlighting the mash-up of tech and the environment on which the whole premise was built.
In one gallery, visitors could make their own AI art on small, interactive screens. I made strokes and watched as the image on the big screen in front of me morphed into an abstract bird-of-paradise flower that vaguely matched the shape of my drawing.
Being tracked through a museum could weird some people out
Visitors interacted with the space, watching their steps and waving their hands to see how the art responded. At one point, the screens went dark, and light circles appeared around each of our feet, displaying our pulse and temperature.
According to the museum, the wristbands track your "skin's electricity" in order to "capture your response to the artwork within." It also tracks your movements through the space, and on one screen, I could see myself, labeled M4 per my assigned wristband, walking along.
One screen showed how each person in the room reacted to the space — I could see the line for me, M4, on graphs that showed changes in my "emotion temperature" and "heartbeat" during my visit.
It was a bit interesting to see my avatar on the screen and realize how long I'd spent in each room, but I wasn't entirely sure what to make of the data, and I wondered if some people might feel a bit weird about being monitored.
I wasn't sure how to feel about it
I spent about 90 minutes wandering through Dataland. I was occasionally delighted by some of the images. I got a spark of curiosity when I was randomly hit with a new scent — "Is that more woodsy or smoky?" — and the sounds often matched the hypnotizing motions of the images in an interesting way.
It was impossible not to think about the fact that the art had been created by AI. I tend to ask myself two questions when I view a piece of art: How does this make me feel? What is the artist trying to say?
Without the feeling that the art was the direct result of a thinking, feeling human being, it was hard for me to connect with much of it.
The most moving part of the experience for me wasn't AI-generated at all — it was a real recording of a now-extinct Hawaiian bird, calling out for a mate and getting no response.
I spent much of my time at Dataland ruminating on a simple question: What is art? And can it really come from AI?
While the images were often dazzling and I enjoyed parts of it more than I expected, I left with a lingering uncertainty about whether I'd seen art, tech, or a strange new combination of both.
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Kelsey is a senior reporter for Business Insider, where she covers business and tech news as well as stories about travel, luxury, and consulting.Her feature story "Disaster at 18,200 feet" received awards from the New York Press Club and the North American Travel Journalists Association, as well as honorable mention from the Society of American Travel Writers. It was also included on Longreads' and Pocket's best of 2022 lists. She has also received an American Journalism Online Award for her coverage on missing and murdered Indigenous people in Wyoming.She's appeared on CBS, NPR, NBC, and other outlets to discuss her work. She previously worked on the world news desk at the BBC in London and received a master's in journalism from Northwestern University.She can be reached by email at [email protected] or via the encrypted-messaging app Signal @kelseyv.21.Popular storiesDisaster on Denali: Inside a 1,000-foot fall on America's highest peakThrifting is more popular than ever. It's also never been worse.Rolex wouldn't service the vintage watch my mom inherited. Watchmakers say it happens all the time.A tiny, invasive bug and the climate crisis are changing how guitars are made, and shifting the course of music historyThe tourism free-for-all is overGovernment-run boarding schools were founded to 'civilize' Native Americans. Hundreds of dead children remain buried in the schoolyard graves.Meet the Texas minister who helps fly dozens of women to New Mexico every month to get abortionsPeople are flocking to Colorado for the great outdoors, but the air pollution is so bad, it's forcing many to stay insideInside Kabul: An aid worker reveals the devastating chaos that erupted during the US exit from Afghanistan
