Los Angeles AI art museum Dataland opens first exhibit inspired by Brazil's Acre forest

Dataland, the world’s first museum devoted to art created with artificial intelligence, opened in Los Angeles. Its inaugural exhibition, dedicated to tropical forests, was inspired by Turkish artist Refik Anadol’s visit to Brazil’s Acre state five years ago. Anadol said the experience with the Yawanawá people, who described nature as a "living intelligence," shaped the show’s concept.

The installation transforms forest data into immersive high‑definition projections, bird calls and flower aromas, while sensors capture visitors’ heartbeats and temperature. About 87% of the museum’s energy comes from renewable sources through a partnership with Google Cloud, and the data used were sourced with permission, largely from the Smithsonian’s archives. The museum was created by Anadol and his wife, artist Efsun Erkilic, and aims to demonstrate collaboration between AI and human creativity rather than replacement.