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An AI-powered simulation of the Amazon rainforest will transport visitors at a Los Angeles museum through visual displays, the sounds of macaws, and the scent of wet soil after a rainstorm.
Biometric data collected from visitors, including their movements, heart rates, and skin temperatures, will feed the computer system generating the immersive environment through a network of wristband sensors worn by ticket holders.
"Machine Dreams: Rainforest" is the inaugural exhibition at Dataland, a new museum in downtown Los Angeles founded by digital artists Refik Anadol and Efsun Erkilic. Their installation uses 10 million lines of code to power animations across 1.5 billion pixels.
Anadol said the project was inspired by a trip to the Brazilian Amazon, a destination he believes everyone should experience.
"But I do not believe we should all go to the rainforest," he told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"The question was: can the rainforest come to us? Can we still connect, feel special, respect and love nature, learn about it?"
Wall-mounted sensors will track visitors' movements, and guests will wear a medical-grade, watch-like device to monitor their emotions and heart rate for interacting with the model. They will also carry a portable scent diffuser throughout the experience.
Using billions of images and datapoints, the model will create a constantly evolving experience.
It is as if the system were "dreaming," Erkilic explained.
"It's moving all the time, because it's gathering data. As soon as it builds one structure, it also affects the overall storytelling," he said.
"It's coming from a more poetic place instead of a scientific place. The machine itself is trying to recreate the reality based on the data points, it's like bringing all the little bits and dots and trying to build the reality itself."
At the end of the experience, visitors can sample chocolates with flavors generated by the model, or print T-shirts and paintings resulting from their interaction.
These are intended to serve as tangible souvenirs of the ephemeral dream in Dataland.
"The system forgets you; that is the beauty of it," says Anadol.
Dataland opens to the public on June 20.
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