in situ: Refik Anadol

Curator: Lekha Hileman Waitoller

Exhibition Partner: 10F1

Technology Partner: Euskaltel

With the collaboration of Google Cloud

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao proudly presents in situ: Refik Anadol, an innovative exhibition at the intersection of artificial intelligence and art, inspired by the Museum’s iconic architecture. This presentation marks the debut of in situ, a new series dedicated to site-specific installations that push the boundaries of contemporary artistic practices. Bringing together artists working across visual art, technology, music, and performance, in situ explores new ways of perceiving and inhabiting space.

Living Architecture: Gehry is a groundbreaking audiovisual installation that reimagines Frank Gehry’s legacy through AI and generative art. At its core is the Large Architecture Model (LAM), a custom-built AI model developed by Refik Anadol Studio. Trained over months on a vast archive of ethically sourced open-access imagery, sketches, and blueprints, LAM transforms Gehry’s architectural language into fluid, ever-shifting landscapes of form, color, and motion that are projected on the gallery’s fourteen-meter-high walls.

The work unfolds across six interconnected chapters, each representing a stage in the evolution of data into spatial imagination. Augmenting this visual spectacle is an immersive soundscape composed by Kerim Karaoglu, blending AI-generated audio with material recordings captured within the Museum.

Anadol’s practice uses data as a primary material, employing neural networks to generate striking visualizations of digitized memories. By uniting architecture, AI, and art, he pushes the boundaries of interdisciplinary creativity, inviting audiences to reconsider their relationships with the physical world, public environments, and the emerging decentralized technologies. His AI-generated sculptures, live performances, and installations redefine conventional notions of authorship, perception, and materiality in contemporary art.

As the inaugural exhibition of the in situ series, Living Architecture: Gehry exemplifies Anadol’s vision for AI-driven, site-specific art, where data becomes material and space evolves into a perpetually shifting canvas. Built upon ethically sourced data and powered by sustainable computing practices, the installation reflects a conscientious approach to digital creation, where innovation and responsibility go hand in hand.