Refik Anadol, Visions of America: Am riques, 2014. | Photo: Courtesy of the artist.
Data is everywhere: we have big data, open data, data sets, data mining, data management, data visualization, data smog, the data deluge, and -- if you can believe it -- being a data scientist was dubbed the sexiest job of the 21st century by Harvard Business Review. We're scolded to manage our data properly, we fret about our data trails and yet, in all this data, it's sometimes hard to find good data. Data shows that data will be increasingly significant in the future. Data equals knowledge equals power. Data dominates.
If all of this sounds dreadful, take heart: the data artist (not celebrated by HBR) rejects the all-too instrumental uses of data, perversely employing it instead in the service of beauty and delight.
Enter Refik Anadol. The bespectacled, black-haired 30-year-old artist has established a bustling studio in Silver Lake dedicated to exploring the creative uses of data in a series of innovative art experiences that are grand. Not only that, the artworks strive to open up a conversation about the city and its complex and dynamic relationship to the people who inhabit it. What can visualizations of our city -- its public transport, weather patterns, water usage and so on -- tell us about who we are and what we're doing?
We have all this data, Anadol says cheerfully, but what does it mean? He answers his own question by musing, I think a new kind of storytelling can occur.
Refik Anadol, Augmented Structures v1.0: Acoustic Formations/Istiklal Street, 2011. | Photo: Courtesy of the artist.
Anadol, originally from Turkey, studied a full array of media forms, including video, graphic design and media art, earning both a BA and MFA in the Department of Visual Communication Design at Bilgi University in Istanbul. Deeply influenced by Blade Runner, which he saw at age nine, Anadol became obsessed with the intersection of architecture and media, wondering how he could take his burgeoning skills with media and make an intervention in built space.
To assuage this fixation, he headed outside with a projector and transformed the walls of a building at his university into a sea of movement, seemingly dissolving concrete materiality into fluid waves of images. Online documentation of the project garnered a huge international response. That success led me to do another project in Germany at the SANAA School of Design, Anadol recounts. Titled Quadrangle, the project once again sought to transform physical architecture into imagery. This time, the whole building became the canvas, it was a 360-degree experience. I learned how to use much more customized software to create the visuals, as well as how to create a whole new form of storytelling by using the existing geometry of the building itself in collaboration with SANAA team.
Anadol was subsequently invited to design a large-scale media installation as part of the Istanbul Biennial in 2011, using the city's well-known public mall called Istiklal Street, which is nearly a mile long and is traversed by millions of people. Old-fashioned trolleys travel down the street's center, which is otherwise open only to pedestrians. Anadol captured sound on the street at differing times of the day and night, and then, using nine projectors, presented a massive visual reinterpretation of the sound as a site-specific moving image artwork titled Augmented Structures v1.0. The whole thing is a very dynamic form of sculpture, Anadol says. The sculpture is transformed in real time so every day you see a different quality of storytelling.
--
--
Inspired to push farther, Anadol traveled to Los Angeles and enrolled in the Design Media Arts program at UCLA, where he worked with Casey Reas and other faculty members, earning a second MFA and honing his skills further.
For his thesis project in the program in 2014, Anadol wanted to interact with a major Los Angeles architectural landmark. He selected the Walt Disney Concert Hall, initially imagining that he would transpose a concert happening inside the hall to the building's exterior, projecting imagery onto the already seemingly in-motion surfaces of the building and creating an experience for the city outside. This desire to share an art experience in public space is emblematic of Anadol's temperament: he boasts an infectious enthusiasm and generosity, as well as an almost utopian zeal for what art can lend to our current moment of cultural transformation and emerging sense of literacy related to the impact and role of data today.
However, Anadol's enthusiasm outstripped his abilities at that moment, and he was forced to scale back a bit. He turned instead to the concert hall's interior, wondering how he might engage the space alongside the orchestra during a performance.
Refik Anadol, Visions of America: Am riques, 2014. | Photo: Courtesy of the artist.
Esa-Pekka Salonen was super interested in the idea of using the interior somehow as a form, Anadol says. He said, Var se is an important inspiration. What if we took the first piece that he wrote when he arrived in the United States?' The piece Salonen referenced was Am riques, which was written by Var se between 1918 and 1921 while the composer lived in New York City. Var se was interested in playing with what he called zones of intensities, and the resulting 24-minute piece is a raucous, robust composition that engages a very large orchestra with 115 players. Anadol may have had to re-set his ambitions, but not by much.
The building's architect, Frank Gehry, was also enthusiastic about Anadol's proposal and provided the artist with the 3-D models of the hall. It's a very intimate space, continues Anadol, who knew that the intimacy would require precision and care in creating a seamless im
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
19/08/2026
As the cost of IP nears price parity with traditional SDI, Reynolds argues that ...
19/08/2026
A private 5G bubble was chosen instead of traditional broadcast RF for the race ...
19/08/2026
(L-R) Rafael Manuel and Isabel Sicat attend the Filipi ana premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre on January 23, 2026, in Park Cit...
19/08/2026
Studio owners invited to have their say on rates cuts
The Music Producers Guild (MPG) are inviting UK-based studios to take part in an in-depth survey that ...
19/08/2026
Vintage-inspired desktop interface revealed
Harrison's latest hardware offering sees them head into the world of audio interfaces, delivering a 10-in/12...
19/08/2026
Granular effect remains locked to scale and tempo
Described as your dream granular effect , Minimal Audio's latest creation is capable of turning any s...
19/08/2026
First polyphonic SWAM instrument incoming
Audio Modeling's latest physical-modelling orchestral instrument is just around the corner, and is now availab...
19/08/2026
World Cup Games Generate 84 Billion Minutes Across FOX, Fox Sports 1 and NBCU...
19/08/2026
July brought typical peak-holiday drops in viewership, driven primarily by viewers stepping away from screens and a visible decline in reach across both traditi...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Henry joins BCE as the company accelerates its commercial strategy and expands its international presence across the media, broadcast and technology markets. He...
19/08/2026
iWedia, a leading provider of software solutions for connected TV devices, today announced a major milestone in Android platform optimization with the successfu...
19/08/2026
NTP Technology announces that ST 2110-30 audio-over-IP connectivity with AES67 and RAVENNA capabilities is now available for the brand's world-class audio i...
19/08/2026
Net Insight has been selected to provide its Nimbra platform by the service provider Big Blue Marble, formerly ORS Group, as the core media transport solution f...
19/08/2026
LiveU has supported Coventry City FC and several other top-flight UK football clubs through one of their most demanding live production challenges of the year, ...
19/08/2026
Nature Seekers Documentary Shot with Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF
Brie Clayton August 18, 2026
0 Comments
Filming endangered turtles required camera...
19/08/2026
Neyrinck Brings D-Control Consoles Back to Life on Apple Silicon with D-Control ...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Riedel Communications today announced that Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Perth, Australia, implemented a comprehensive communications infrastructure that brin...
19/08/2026
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, will spotlight a major leap forward in remote guest con...
19/08/2026
Integrated platform melds media asset management, playout automation and newsroom workflows
EMAM, PlayBox Neo and SNEWS have officially launched Nuvex, a conne...
19/08/2026
Screen Australia releases the Private Investment Toolkit to strengthen screen in...
19/08/2026
Do Aussies truly value local content? Unpacking Screen Currency 2026 with Deirdr...
19/08/2026
There's an early Christmas gift for Bookish fans, as UKTV confirms the re-commission of the hit U&alibi drama, created by and starring Mark Gatiss. Viewers ...
19/08/2026
Wednesday 19 August 2026
Sky gives sports fans the chance to watch multiple liv...
19/08/2026
On Saturday September 5 Katie Taylor will step into the ring for the fight of her life against Flora Pili in front of 80,000 fans in Croke Park. A legendary fig...
18/08/2026
SportStream 2026, a free three-day virtual event, will take place September 15-17. One registration provides access to all three days of live programming and on...
18/08/2026
BeckTV will introduce BeckFlow to the European market at IBC2026, demonstrated on the Providius stand (10.F53).
BeckFlow is a web-based schematic documentation...
18/08/2026
Boland Communications will introduce a SMPTE ST 2110 input option for its 4K monitors at IBC2026, along with a new 55-inch super-narrow bezel display for video ...
18/08/2026
Dolby Laboratories and the Seattle Seahawks have announced a partnership integrating Dolby OptiView into the Seahawks' live streaming coverage, making the S...
18/08/2026
For BMG Executive Producer of Sports Production, Graham Taylor, producing live s...
18/08/2026
TMRW Sports has appointed Rufus Hack as President of Golf, a newly created role in which he will lead the company's golf businesses including TGL presented ...
18/08/2026
SMT will provide race technology for FOX Sports' coverage of the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C. on August 23, when the NTT INDYCAR SERIES races ...
18/08/2026
The live, YouTube-native roundtables combine fan voices, credentialed reporters,...
18/08/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
18/08/2026
The industry legend sounds off on replacing the Heat's iconic Medusa score...
18/08/2026
William F. Rasmussen, the sports fan-turned broadcaster and entrepreneur whose out-of-the-box idea of a 24-hour cable sports network, ESPN, changed forever the ...
18/08/2026
DAZN Group has completed its acquisition of ViewLift, a provider of streaming and digital solutions for sports content owners. The acquisition was first announc...
18/08/2026
The American Association of Professional Baseball (AAPB) has added SI TV, Sports Illustrated's 24/7 streaming channel, as a broadcast partner for the remain...
18/08/2026
The Esports Foundation has announced that the inaugural Esports Nations Cup (ENC), originally scheduled for November 2026 in Riyadh, will be postponed to Novemb...
18/08/2026
Diversified has announced a new Global Managed Services Practice, consolidating the company's managed services capabilities into one organization. Rob Mello...
18/08/2026
Appear has completed a proof of concept with Thoroughbred Racing Productions (TRP), demonstrating multi-camera remote live production over bonded 5G cellular an...
Refik Anadol, Visions of America: Am riques, 2014. | Photo: Courtesy of the artist. 
