Refik Anadol is a media artist and director born in Istanbul, Turkey in 1985. Currently lives and works in Los Angeles, California. He is a lecturer and visiting researcher in UCLA’s Department of Design Media Arts.
He is working in the fields of site-specific public art with parametric data sculpture approach and live audio/visual performance with immersive installation approach, particularly his works explore the space among digital and physical entities by creating a hybrid relationship between architecture and media arts. He holds a master of fine arts degree from University of California, Los Angeles in Media Arts, master of fine arts degree from Istanbul Bilgi University in Visual Communication Design as well as bachelors of arts degree with summa cum laude in Photography and Video. Co-founder and Creative director at Antilop.
As a media artist, designer and spatial thinker, Refik Anadol is intrigued by the ways in which the transformation of the subject of contemporary culture requires rethinking of the new aesthetic, technique and dynamic perception of space. Anadol builds his works on the nomadic subject’s reaction to and interactions with unconventional spatial orientations. Embedding media arts into architecture, he questions the possibility of a post digital architectural future in which there are no more non-digital realities. He invites the viewers to visualize alternative realities by presenting them the possibility of re-defining the functionalities of both interior and exterior architectural formations. Anadol’s work suggests that all spaces and facades have potentials to be utilized as the media artists’ canvases.
Privileging difference rather than singularity and movement rather than stasis, Anadol faces all the new challenges that the gradual development of an enriched immersive environment and ubiquitous computing impose on architects, media artists and engineers. How is our experience of space changing, now that digital objects ranging from smart phones to urban screens have all but colonized our everyday lives? How have media technologies changed our conceptualizations of space, and how has architecture embraced these shifting conceptualizations? These are the three main questions that Anadol tackles by not simply integrating media into built forms, but by translating the logic of a new media technology into spatial design.
He has been given awards, residencies and has served as a guest lecturer. He is the recipient of a number of awards, prizes including Microsoft Research’s Best Vision Award, German Design Award, UCLA Art+Architecture Moss Award, University of California Institute for Research in the Arts Award, SEGD Global Design Award and Google’s Art and Machine Intelligence Artist Residency Award. His site-specific audio/visual performances have been seen in Walt Disney Concert Hall (USA), Hammer Museum (USA), International Digital Arts Biennial Montreal (Canada), Ars Electronica Festival (Austria), l’Usine | Genève (Switzerland), Arc De Triomf (Spain), Zollverein | SANAA’s School of Design Building (Germany), santralistanbul Contemporary Art Center (Turkey), Outdoor Vision Festival SantaFe New Mexico (USA), Istanbul Design Biennial (Turkey), Sydney City Art (Australia), Lichtrouten (Germany).
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2018 “Melting Memories”, Pilevneli Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey
2018 “Liminality V1.0”, Evi Lichtungen, Hildesheim, Germany
2017 “Infinity Room / New Edition”, Kaneko Museum, Omaha, Nebraska
2017 “Data Sculpture Series” Neotopia at Art Center Nabi, Seoul, Korea
2017 “Melting Memories” Sven-Harrys Konstmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden
2017 “Infinity Room / New Edition”, MeConvention, Frankfurt, Germany
2017 “Archive Dreaming”, Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria
2017 “Wind of Linz”, Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria
2017 “Infinity Room / New Edition”, Beijing, China
2017 “Archive Dreaming”, Istanbul, Turkey
2017 “Infinity Room / New Edition”, Athens, Greece
2017 “Heterotopia”, Istanbul, Turkey
2017 “Infinity Room / New Edition”, SXSW, Austin, TX
2016 “Warhol X Anadol”, Young Projects, Los Angeles, USA
2016 “Radical Atoms”, Ars Electronica – Computer Animation Festival, Linz, Austria
2016 “Infinity Room”, The Conference, Malmö, Sweden
2016 “Infinity Room”, TAG Festival, Mexico City, Mexico
2016 “MultipliCITY – Victor Vasarely”, Fondation Vasarely, Paris, France
2016 “Cavity” InfoComm 2016, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
2016 “Infinity Room” Mapping Festival, Geneva, Switzerland
2016 “Infinity Room” VIA Festival, Paris, France
2016 “Infinity Room” EXIT Festival, Paris, France
2015 “Infinity Room” Day For Night, Houston, Texas, USA
2015 “Cavity” Monochrome, Akbank Sanat, Istanbul, Turkey
2015 “Liminal Room” Istanbul Light Festival, Istanbul, Turkey
2015 “SIGGRAPH ASIA 2015” Art Gallery, Kobe, Japan
2015 “Expected” Port City Talks / Istanbul-Antwerp, Europalia, Antwerp, Belgium
2015 “Wavelengths” Digital Turkey Exhibition, Europalia, Antwerp, Belgium
2015 “Infinity Room” Artnivo, Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey
2015 SIGGRAPH 2015 : Electronic Theatre, Los Angeles, USA
2015 Ars Electronica – Computer Animation Festival, Linz, Austria
2015 “The New Creativity: Man and Machines”, MAK, Los Angeles, USA
2015 “Digital Couture” / Epson, Industria SuperStudio, New York, USA
2015 Waves, Blok Art Space, Istanbul, Turkey
2014 Cavity, RH Contemporary Art Gallery, New York, USA
2014 Algo-Rhythms, Sonos-Studio, Los Angeles, USA
2014 Adobe Creative Cloud Mosaic Project, New York, USA
2014 UCLA DMA Media Arts MFA Exhibition, New Wight Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
2014 Presentism: Light as Material, Young Projects, Los Angeles, USA
2014 VitrA Contemporary Architecture Series: Dreams to Reaalities Istanbul Modern, Istanbul,
2013 Parallel Threads, Ekavart Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey
2013 Prefix, Media Arts MFA Exhibition, New Wight Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
2013 Incidence, UCLA DMA MFA Group Show, Design Matters Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
2013 The Active Apparatus and Liminal Landscapes, Young Projects, Los Angeles, USA
2012 Istanbul Design Biennial, istanbulmodern, Istanbul, Turkey
2012 Sceptical Interventions, Pilevneli Projects, Istanbul, Turkey
2012 Istanbul Summer Exhibition, Antrepo 5, Sanat Limanı, Istanbul
2011 Minus Feld, American Hospital, “Operation Room”, Istanbul
2010 Human Landscapes, Goethe Institut&Contretype, Brussels, Belgium
2010 Spagat, Marta Herford Museum, Herford, Germany
2010 Untitled II, ULG, Liége, Belgium
2010 Track 09, ÇSM – santralistanbul, Istanbul
2009 Untitled, Galeri 1 – santralistanbul, Istanbul
2009 Academy Meets Photokina, Photokina, Köln, Germany
2008 Track 08, Contemporary Art Center – santralistanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
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2018 “Liminality V1.0”, Evi Lichtungen, Hildesheim, Germany
2017 “Infinity Room / New Edition”, MeConvention, Frankfurt, Germany
2017 “Archive Dreaming”, Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria
2017 “Infinity Room / New Edition”, Beijing, China
2016 “Data Cloth” Broad Art Center, Los Angeles, USA
2016 “Cavity” InfoComm 2016, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
2015 “Infinity Room” Day For Night, Houston, Texas, USA
2015 “Liminal Eoom” Istanbul Light Festival, Istanbul, Turkey
2015 “Erik Satie’s Vexations” UCLA Ostin Rehearsal Room, Los Angeles, USA
2015 “Infinity Room” Artnivo, Istanbul, Turkey
2014 “Visions of America: Amériques” LA Phil, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, USA
2014 “Tree of Life”, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, USA
2014 “Algo-Rhythms”, Sonos-Studio, Los Angeles, USA
2014 “The Aether Project”, IDEAS, Los Angeles, USA
2013 “Semaphore”, LichtRouten, Lüdenscheid, Germany
2013 “Liminality”, Temporary Immersive Environments, Los Angeles, USA
2012 “Peripheral”, Temporary Immersive Environments, Los Angeles, USA
2012 “Highlights”, Urban Prototyping:SF, San Francisco, USA
2012 “Augmented Structures v2.0”, Istanbul Design Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey
2012 “Epiphaneia”, Montreal Design Biennial, Montreal, Canada
2012 “Legorreta Alive”, SantaFe Art and Design Universty, New Mexico, USA
2011 “Augmented Structures v1.0”, Yapı Kredi Kültür ve Sanat Merkezi, Istanbul, Turkey
2011 “Arc de Triomf”, Barcelona, Spain
2011 “Cerha Momentum”, Ars Electronica Festival, Linz, Austria
2010 “MRO”, Tabakfabrik – Ars Electronica Festival, Linz, Austria
2010 “Quadrangle”, Zollverein – Ruhr 2010 European Capital of Culture, Essen, Germany
2009 “Quadrature”, Contemporary Art Center – santralistanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
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2017 Quotation Magazine JP – Review
2017 LA Times – Review
2017 Creators Project CH – Review
2017 Creative Applications – Review
2017 Creators Project – Review
2017 Daily Sabah – Review
2017 Dezeen – Review
2017 Designboom – Review
2017 Engadget – Review
2017 Forecast Public Art – Review
2017 WIRED – Review
2017 Creative Applications – Review
2017 Creators Project – Review
2016 LA Times – Review
2016 Wired – Review
2016 Metropolis Mag – Interview
2016 The Atlantic – City Lab – Interview
2016 Co.Exist – Interview
2016 KCET – Art Bound – Interview
2016 Fubiz – Feature
2016 Artfulliving – Interview
2016 Design Milk – Review
2016 FastCo.Design – Review
2016 Frame Magazine – Review
2016 NTV MSNBC – Review
2015 Creative Applications – Feature
2015 Fubiz – Feature
2015 Creators Project / Vica – Feature
2015 Archinect – Feature
2015 HiFructose – Feature
2015 TwistedSifter – Feature
2015 Fubiz – Feature
2015 Saatchi Online – Feature
2015 Juxtapoz – Feature
2015 Arch Atlas – Feature
2015 E-Flux – Announcement
2015 Notcot – Feature
2015 Bak Magazine – Feature
2015 Creators Project / Vice – Feature
2014 Microsoft Blog – Feature
2014 ArchDaily – Feature
2014 Fubiz – Feature
2014 Gizmodo – Feature
2014 FastCo Design – Feature
2014 Creative Applications – Feature
2014 The Creators Project – Feature
2014 Archinect – Review
2014 LA Times – Article
2014 LA Weekly – Article
2014 Stage and Cinema – Review
2014 The Creators Project – Article
2014 Huffington Post – Article
2014 Digital Art Served – Feature
2014 10Sayfa – Interview
2014 XOXO The Mag – Interview
2014 Art Served – Feature
2014 I.D Magazine – Feature
2014 Protein – Feature
2014 Motherboard Vice – Article
2014 Wired – Article
2014 Sanatblog – Interview
2013 LA Times – Article
2013 The Creators Project – Article
2013 LA Weekly – Article
2013 IdN World – Interview
2013 The Fox is Black – Selection
2013 LA Mag – Selection
2013 Design Boom – Selection
2013 Art Ltd Magazine – Interview
2012 Designboom – Article
2012 Archinect – Article
2012 Create Digital Motion – Article
2012 ArchDaily – Article
2012 Fubiz – Article
2012 Designweek – Article
2012 artsHub Australia – Article
2010 Creative Applications Network – Featured
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2017 Digi.logue Future Tellers – Speaker
2017 Ars Electronica / AI Panel – Lecture
2017 Google AMI – Speaker
2017 USC – Praxis – Speaker
2017 Microsoft Research – Speaker
2017 G-Tech – Speaker
2017 INST-INT – Speaker
2016 CalARTS Visiting Lecture Series – Lecture
2016 SEGD X Lab NYC – Lecture
2016 The Conference Generative Design – Lecture
2016 Microsoft Windows Design Group – Lecture
2016 Strelka Institute – Lecture
2016 Digital Hollywood Music 2020 – Lecture
2016 Digi.logue Discovery and Innovations in New Media and Art – Lecture
2016 Resonate – Lecture
2016 Perspectives: The Design Fusion of Art and Architecture – Panel
2016 Art and Machine Learning Symposium – Gray Area / Google – Talk
2016 Microsoft Research – Social Computing Symposium – NYU / ITP – Talk
2015 BEYOND MUSIC: Composition and Performance in the Age of Augmented Reality – Lecture
2015 USC Interactive Media Forum – Lecture
2015 Resonate – Lecture
2015 NODE15 – Talk + Lecture
2015 Loyola Marymount University – Talk + Lecture
2014 Microsoft Research Social Computing Symposium – Talk + Lecture
2014 UCLA IDEAS – Talk + Lecture
2013 Microsoft Research – Design Summit – Talk
2012 UCLA Design Media Arts – Talk
2010 ISEA 2010 – Talk