WEBVTT 00:00:00.948 --> 00:00:03.783 Hi. I'm Refik. I'm a media artist. 00:00:03.783 --> 00:00:05.618 I use data as a pigment 00:00:05.618 --> 00:00:07.888 and paint with a thinking brush 00:00:07.888 --> 00:00:10.747 that is assisted by artificial intelligence. 00:00:11.364 --> 00:00:14.250 Using architectural spaces as canvases, 00:00:14.250 --> 00:00:15.818 I collaborate with machines 00:00:15.818 --> 00:00:18.737 to make buildings dream and hallucinate. 00:00:19.037 --> 00:00:21.680 You may be wondering, what does all this mean? 00:00:21.680 --> 00:00:24.632 So let me please take you into my work and my world. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:24.632 --> 00:00:28.453 I witnessed the power of imagination 00:00:28.453 --> 00:00:30.110 when I was eight years old 00:00:30.110 --> 00:00:32.279 as a child growing up in Istanbul. 00:00:32.279 --> 00:00:35.583 One day, my mom brought home a videocassette 00:00:35.583 --> 00:00:38.552 of the science fiction movie "Blade Runner." 00:00:38.552 --> 00:00:41.345 I clearly remember being mesmerized 00:00:41.345 --> 00:00:46.277 by the stunning architectural vision of the future of Los Angeles, 00:00:46.277 --> 00:00:48.697 a place that I had never seen before. 00:00:48.913 --> 00:00:52.368 That vision became a kind of a staple 00:00:52.368 --> 00:00:54.376 of my daydreams. 00:00:54.376 --> 00:00:57.011 When I arrived in LA in 2012 00:00:57.011 --> 00:00:59.914 for a graduate program in design media arts, 00:00:59.914 --> 00:01:02.166 I rented a car and drove downtown 00:01:02.166 --> 00:01:04.675 to see that wonderful world of the near future. 00:01:05.178 --> 00:01:08.431 I remember a specific line that kept playing 00:01:08.431 --> 00:01:10.567 over and over in my head: 00:01:10.567 --> 00:01:14.192 the scene where the android Rachael 00:01:14.192 --> 00:01:16.744 realizes that her memories are actually not hers, 00:01:16.744 --> 00:01:21.198 and when Deckard tells her they are someone else's memories. 00:01:21.198 --> 00:01:22.540 Since that moment, 00:01:22.540 --> 00:01:24.109 one of my inspirations 00:01:24.109 --> 00:01:25.828 has been this question. 00:01:25.828 --> 00:01:30.247 What can a mission do with someone else's memories? 00:01:30.247 --> 00:01:32.973 Or, to say that in another way, 00:01:32.973 --> 00:01:37.010 what does it mean to be an AI in the 21st century? 00:01:37.748 --> 00:01:41.133 Any android or AI mission is only intelligent 00:01:41.133 --> 00:01:43.586 as long as we collaborate with it. 00:01:43.586 --> 00:01:46.354 It can construct things that human intelligence 00:01:46.354 --> 00:01:48.323 intends to produce, 00:01:48.323 --> 00:01:51.325 but does not have the capacity to do so. 00:01:51.325 --> 00:01:54.029 Think about your activities and social networks. 00:01:54.029 --> 00:01:59.039 For example, they get smarter the more you interact with them. 00:01:59.039 --> 00:02:03.593 If machines can learn or process memories, 00:02:03.593 --> 00:02:05.362 can they also dream? 00:02:05.362 --> 00:02:06.768 Hallucinate? 00:02:06.768 --> 00:02:09.438 Involuntarily remember, 00:02:09.438 --> 00:02:10.866 or make connections 00:02:10.866 --> 00:02:13.501 between multiple people streams? 00:02:13.501 --> 00:02:16.995 Does being an AI in the 21st century 00:02:16.995 --> 00:02:20.648 simply mean not forgetting anything? 00:02:20.648 --> 00:02:24.142 And, if so, 00:02:24.142 --> 00:02:25.410 isn't it the most revolutionary thing 00:02:25.410 --> 00:02:28.145 that we have experienced 00:02:28.145 --> 00:02:31.665 in our centuries-long effort to capture history across media? 00:02:31.665 --> 00:02:33.500 In other words, 00:02:33.500 --> 00:02:36.977 how far have we come since we discussed "Blade Runner"? 00:02:36.977 --> 00:02:40.487 So I established my studio in 2014, 00:02:40.487 --> 00:02:42.805 and invited architects, 00:02:42.805 --> 00:02:46.229 computer and data scientists, neuroscientists, musicians 00:02:46.229 --> 00:02:48.075 and even storytellers to join me in realizing my dreams. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:48.075 --> 00:02:54.222 Can data become a pigment? 00:02:54.222 --> 00:02:57.608 This was the very first question we asked 00:02:57.608 --> 00:02:59.243 when starting our journey 00:02:59.243 --> 00:03:01.536 to embed media arts into architecture, 00:03:01.536 --> 00:03:04.838 to collide virtual and physical worlds. 00:03:04.838 --> 00:03:06.907 So we began to imagine 00:03:06.907 --> 00:03:08.208 what I would call 00:03:08.208 --> 00:03:10.294 the politics of data. 00:03:10.486 --> 00:03:13.053 One of our first projects, Virtual Depictions, 00:03:13.053 --> 00:03:15.088 was a public data sculpture piece 00:03:15.088 --> 00:03:17.958 commissioned by the city of San Francisco. 00:03:17.958 --> 00:03:20.042 The work invites the audience 00:03:20.042 --> 00:03:23.487 to be part of a spectacular aesthetic experience 00:03:23.487 --> 00:03:25.087 in a living urban space 00:03:25.087 --> 00:03:30.832 by depicting a ?? network of connections of the city itself. 00:03:30.832 --> 00:03:35.086 It also stands as a reminder of how invisible data 00:03:35.086 --> 00:03:36.739 from our everyday lives, 00:03:36.739 --> 00:03:39.574 like the ?? feeds that are represented here, 00:03:39.574 --> 00:03:42.066 can be made visible 00:03:42.066 --> 00:03:45.335 and transformed into sensory knowledge 00:03:45.335 --> 00:03:48.305 that can be experienced collectively. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:48.839 --> 00:03:52.699 In fact, data can only become knowledge 00:03:52.699 --> 00:03:54.267 when it's experienced, 00:03:54.267 --> 00:03:56.387 and what is knowledge and experience 00:03:56.387 --> 00:03:57.920 can take many forms. 00:03:57.920 --> 00:03:59.727 When exploring such connections 00:03:59.727 --> 00:04:02.832 through the vast potential of machine intelligence, 00:04:03.350 --> 00:04:05.618 we also pondered 00:04:05.618 --> 00:04:09.539 the connection between human senses 00:04:09.539 --> 00:04:13.432 and the machines' capacity for simulating nature. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:13.432 --> 00:04:18.136 These inquiries began while working on wind data paintings. 00:04:18.136 --> 00:04:20.490 They took the shape of visualized plans 00:04:20.490 --> 00:04:23.182 based on hidden data sets 00:04:23.182 --> 00:04:25.884 that we collected from wind sensors. 00:04:25.884 --> 00:04:28.602 We then used generative algorithms 00:04:28.602 --> 00:04:33.031 to transform wind speed, gust and direction 00:04:33.031 --> 00:04:36.367 into an ethereal data pigment. 00:04:36.583 --> 00:04:38.802 The result was a meditative 00:04:38.802 --> 00:04:41.194 yet speculative experience. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:41.561 --> 00:04:44.447 This kinetic data sculpture, titled, "Bosphorus," 00:04:44.447 --> 00:04:48.451 was a similar attempt to question our capacity to reimagine 00:04:48.451 --> 00:04:50.253 natural occurrences. 00:04:50.253 --> 00:04:55.969 Using high-frequency radar collections of the Marmara Sea, 00:04:55.969 --> 00:04:58.550 we collected sea surface data 00:04:58.550 --> 00:05:02.093 and projected its dynamic movement with machine intelligence. 00:05:02.093 --> 00:05:04.096 We create the sense of immersion 00:05:04.096 --> 00:05:06.831 in a calm yet constantly changing 00:05:06.831 --> 00:05:08.916 synthetic serial. 00:05:09.183 --> 00:05:11.509 Seeing with the brain 00:05:11.509 --> 00:05:13.560 is often called imagination, 00:05:13.560 --> 00:05:16.064 and, for me, imagining architecture 00:05:16.064 --> 00:05:18.348 goes beyond just glass, 00:05:18.348 --> 00:05:20.017 metal or concrete, 00:05:20.017 --> 00:05:24.494 instead experimenting with the furthermost possibilities of immersion 00:05:24.494 --> 00:05:28.381 and ways of augmenting our perception in built environments. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:28.631 --> 00:05:32.308 Research in artificial intelligence is growing every day, 00:05:32.308 --> 00:05:36.012 leaving us with the feeling of being plugged into a system 00:05:36.012 --> 00:05:38.597 that is bigger and more knowledgeable 00:05:38.597 --> 00:05:39.970 than ourselves. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:40.199 --> 00:05:43.776 In 2017, we discovered an open source library 00:05:43.776 --> 00:05:46.362 of cultural documents in Istanbul 00:05:46.362 --> 00:05:49.998 and began working on "Archive Dreaming," 00:05:49.998 --> 00:05:54.325 one of the first AI-driven public installations in the world, 00:05:54.509 --> 00:06:01.306 an AI exploring approximately 1.7 million documents that span 270 years. 00:06:01.888 --> 00:06:04.951 One of our inspirations during this process 00:06:04.951 --> 00:06:08.004 was a short story called "The Library of Babel" 00:06:08.004 --> 00:06:11.656 by the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. 00:06:11.656 --> 00:06:17.052 In the story, the author conceives a universe in the form of a vast library 00:06:17.052 --> 00:06:20.254 containing all possible 410-page books 00:06:20.254 --> 00:06:22.858 of a certain format and character set. 00:06:23.124 --> 00:06:24.815 Through this inspiring image, 00:06:24.815 --> 00:06:27.401 we imagine a way to physically explore 00:06:27.401 --> 00:06:29.503 the vast archives of knowledge 00:06:29.503 --> 00:06:31.788 in the age of machine intelligence. 00:06:32.005 --> 00:06:34.040 The resulting work, as you can see, 00:06:34.040 --> 00:06:36.615 was a user-driven immersive space. 00:06:36.615 --> 00:06:41.838 "Archive Dreaming" profoundly transformed the experience of a library 00:06:41.838 --> 00:06:44.390 in the age of machine intelligence. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:44.557 --> 00:06:48.301 "Machine Hallucination" is an exploration of time and space 00:06:48.301 --> 00:06:50.903 experienced through New York City's 00:06:50.903 --> 00:06:53.005 public photographic archives. 00:06:53.005 --> 00:06:55.481 For this one-of-a-kind immersive project, 00:06:55.481 --> 00:06:58.250 we deployed machine-learning algorithms 00:06:58.250 --> 00:07:02.321 to find and process over 100 million photographs of the city. 00:07:03.188 --> 00:07:06.214 We designed an innovative narrative system 00:07:06.214 --> 00:07:12.536 to use artificial intelligence to predict or to hallucinate new images, 00:07:12.536 --> 00:07:16.246 allowing the viewer to step into a dreamlike fusion 00:07:16.246 --> 00:07:18.666 of past and future New York. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:20.067 --> 00:07:25.578 As our projects delve deeper into remembering and transmitting knowledge, 00:07:25.578 --> 00:07:28.582 we thought more about how memories 00:07:28.582 --> 00:07:30.532 were not static recollections 00:07:30.532 --> 00:07:34.369 but ever-changing interpretations of past events. 00:07:34.369 --> 00:07:36.645 We pondered how machines 00:07:36.645 --> 00:07:40.282 could simulate unconscious and subconscious events 00:07:40.282 --> 00:07:41.951 such as dreaming, 00:07:41.951 --> 00:07:43.300 remembering 00:07:43.300 --> 00:07:46.028 and hallucinating. 00:07:46.028 --> 00:07:48.296 Thus we created "Melting Memories" 00:07:48.296 --> 00:07:51.282 to visualize the moment of remembering. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:51.282 --> 00:07:54.869 The inspiration came from a tragic event 00:07:54.875 --> 00:07:58.962 when I found out that my uncle was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. 00:07:58.962 --> 00:08:02.282 At that time, all I could think about 00:08:02.282 --> 00:08:04.734 was to find a way to celebrate 00:08:04.734 --> 00:08:07.429 how and what he remembered 00:08:07.429 --> 00:08:09.446 when we are still able to do so. 00:08:09.446 --> 00:08:11.911 I began to think of memories 00:08:11.911 --> 00:08:13.500 not as disappearing 00:08:13.500 --> 00:08:15.101 but as melting 00:08:15.101 --> 00:08:16.508 or changing shape. 00:08:16.508 --> 00:08:18.377 With the help of machine intelligence, 00:08:18.377 --> 00:08:21.580 we worked with the scientists at the Neuroscape Laboratory 00:08:21.864 --> 00:08:23.883 at the University of California, 00:08:23.883 --> 00:08:29.444 who showed us how to understand brain signals as memories are made. 00:08:29.444 --> 00:08:34.048 Although my own uncle was losing the ability to process memories, 00:08:34.048 --> 00:08:37.108 the artwork generated by the EEG data 00:08:37.392 --> 00:08:41.128 explored the materiality of remembering 00:08:41.128 --> 00:08:43.931 and stood as a tribute 00:08:43.931 --> 00:08:47.190 to what my uncle had lost. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:47.190 --> 00:08:51.611 Almost nothing about contemporary LA 00:08:51.611 --> 00:08:54.197 matched my childhood expectation 00:08:54.197 --> 00:08:55.538 of the city, 00:08:55.538 --> 00:08:58.692 with the exception of one amazing building: 00:08:58.692 --> 00:09:02.311 the Walt Disney Concert Hall, designed by Frank Gehry, 00:09:02.311 --> 00:09:04.380 one of my all-time heroes. 00:09:04.380 --> 00:09:07.589 In 2018, I had a call from the LA Philharmonic 00:09:07.589 --> 00:09:09.624 who was looking for an installation 00:09:09.624 --> 00:09:13.677 to help mark the celebrated symphony's hundredth year anniversary. 00:09:13.909 --> 00:09:16.988 For this, we decided to ask the question, 00:09:16.988 --> 00:09:20.074 can a build learn? Can it dream? 00:09:20.825 --> 00:09:22.025 To answer this question, 00:09:22.025 --> 00:09:25.402 we decided to collect everything recorded 00:09:25.402 --> 00:09:27.923 in the archives of the LA field and WHC, 00:09:27.923 --> 00:09:32.811 to be precise, 77 terabytes of digitally archived memories. 00:09:32.811 --> 00:09:35.097 By using machine intelligence, 00:09:35.097 --> 00:09:38.433 the entire archive going back 100 years 00:09:38.433 --> 00:09:41.319 became projections on the building's skin, 00:09:41.319 --> 00:09:45.412 42 projectors to achieve this futuristic public experience 00:09:45.412 --> 00:09:47.664 in the heart of Los Angeles, 00:09:47.664 --> 00:09:52.342 getting one step closer to the LA of "Blade Runner." 00:09:52.342 --> 00:09:54.761 If ever a building could dream, 00:09:54.761 --> 00:09:56.829 it was in this moment. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:00.049 --> 00:10:03.292 Now, I am inviting you to one last journey 00:10:03.292 --> 00:10:05.795 into the mind of a machine. 00:10:05.795 --> 00:10:09.365 Right now, we are fully immersed in the data universe 00:10:09.365 --> 00:10:12.091 of every single created TED Talk 00:10:12.091 --> 00:10:14.092 from the past 30 years. 00:10:14.092 --> 00:10:20.565 That means, this data set includes 7,705 talks from the TED stage. 00:10:21.433 --> 00:10:23.641 Those talks have been translated 00:10:23.641 --> 00:10:25.843 into 7.4 million seconds, 00:10:25.843 --> 00:10:30.093 and each second is represented here in this data universe. 00:10:30.093 --> 00:10:32.259 Every image that you are seeing in here 00:10:32.259 --> 00:10:35.228 represents unique moments from those talks. 00:10:35.228 --> 00:10:37.221 By using machine intelligence, 00:10:37.221 --> 00:10:41.407 we processed a total of 487,000 sentences 00:10:41.407 --> 00:10:45.819 into 330 unique clusters of topics like nature, global emissions, 00:10:45.819 --> 00:10:47.620 extinction, race issues, 00:10:47.620 --> 00:10:49.105 computation, 00:10:49.105 --> 00:10:52.758 trust, emotions, water and refugees. 00:10:52.758 --> 00:10:55.630 These clusters are then connected to each other 00:10:55.630 --> 00:10:56.784 by an algorithm, 00:10:56.784 --> 00:11:00.950 and generated 113 million line segments, 00:11:00.950 --> 00:11:03.910 which revealed new conceptual relationships. 00:11:03.910 --> 00:11:06.064 Wouldn't it be amazing 00:11:06.064 --> 00:11:07.381 to be able to remember 00:11:07.381 --> 00:11:10.450 all the questions that have ever been asked on the stage? 00:11:11.758 --> 00:11:13.126 Here I am, 00:11:13.126 --> 00:11:16.011 inside the mind of countless great thinkers, 00:11:16.011 --> 00:11:17.629 as well as a machine 00:11:17.629 --> 00:11:20.032 interacting with various feelings 00:11:20.032 --> 00:11:22.241 attributed to learning, 00:11:22.241 --> 00:11:23.325 remembering, 00:11:23.325 --> 00:11:24.460 questioning 00:11:24.460 --> 00:11:27.213 and imagining all at the same time, 00:11:27.529 --> 00:11:30.882 expanding the power of the mind. NOTE Paragraph 00:11:31.198 --> 00:11:33.691 For me, being right here 00:11:33.691 --> 00:11:38.113 is indeed what it means to be an AI in the 21st century. 00:11:38.113 --> 00:11:40.515 It is in our hands, humans, 00:11:40.515 --> 00:11:44.141 to train this mind to learn and remember 00:11:44.141 --> 00:11:46.994 what we can only dream of. NOTE Paragraph 00:11:46.994 --> 00:11:48.362 Thank you.