This immersive exhibit about the intersection of tech and art is hidden underneath Chelsea Market in New York City - check out some the wild-looking work on display
Welcome to Artechouse - New York. Step into "Machine Hallucination," its inaugural interactive art-tech exhibit.
Located in a former boiler room in New York City's Chelsea Market, Artechouse has 6,000 square feet of exhibition space.
Refik Anadol is the media artist behind "Machine Hallucination." Anadol was an artist in residence at Google through its Artists + Machine Intelligence program.
"Machine Hallucination" takes visitors into the mind of a machine: viewers stand in a vast room with moving projections on three walls and the floor.
The exhibit has three chapters titled memory, consciousness, and dream.
"This work is a part of a series of other works (where) I am exploring the idea of embedding media arts into architecture by using machine intelligence," Anadol told Business Insider.
"This means hopefully spaces will have this cognitive capacity of remembering or dreaming or interacting with us in a way beyond just gimmicky, simple interactive things — in more cognitive, more purposeful and impactful imaginations," he said.
Anadol created these projections using machine learning, algorithms, and artificial intelligence.
He originally fed 130 million images of New York into an algorithm, and then ...
"We literally let this AI algorithm learn New York from this pattern of information and create its own consciousness," he said.
That means the images of the projections are computer-generated ...
... like this:
And this:
Viewers can't help but sit and contemplate.
Artechouse also has digital paintings by Anadol.
"I was very inspired by data as a pigment," Anadol said.
Back on the upper level of Artechouse, there's the "AR Bar," which serves augmented reality cocktails and mocktails.
By downloading the Artechouse app and pointing your phone at a bar coaster, you can view the floating AR version of the cocktail menu. (Don't worry — the cocktails themselves are real.)
Here's the current cocktail and mocktail list:
Financial District: Aylesbury Duck Vodka, raspberry, lychee, rhubarb
The Village: Spring 44 Gin, cucumber, basil, balsamic vinegar, peppercorn, mozzarella, garnish
Theater District: El Silencio Mezcal, roasted sweet corn, peach, cholula, Tajín.
Chelsea: Avua Amburana Cachaca, beet, carrot, allspice, ginger, apple, honey, leeks
Meatpacking District: Rittenhouse Rye, Dry Curacao, toasted rice, blackberry, cacao, mint, Old Fashioned Bitters
There's seasonal wine and beer, too.
Here's their "The Village" cocktail.
By pointing your phone at one type of coaster, an AR graphic of an abstract tornado envelops your cocktail on the app.
Another coaster makes it look like your cocktail is surrounded by blue and white AR figurines.
You can book a visit to see "Machine Hallucination" at the New York Artechouse on its website.
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