Installation uses artificial intelligence to visualise archive material

Istanbul – Designed by artist Refik Anadol, the installation uses machine learning to establish new connections between documents.

Archive Dreaming visualises the SALT Galata museum’s 1.7m documents. The artificial intelligence (AI)-powered archive creates connections between the museum’s collection of pictures, books and newspapers, and displays them as an immersive video installation that visitors can browse using a touchscreen interface.

According to Anadol, the installation is a new way of approaching art and history that challenges the traditional archive format. ‘This project is not science fiction,’ the artist explained at a discussion in the gallery space earlier this month. ‘I want people to see it as a proposition from the future.’