Refik Anadol Studio has announced details of their Machine Hallucinations -Space: Metaverse NFT Collection, which is set to be auctioned by Sotheby’s Hong Kong. To create the NFTs, Anadol has minted a machine’s memories and dreams of space onto the blockchain, manifested through eight unique artworks. The works are set to become the first-ever examples of immersive digital experiences being converted into NFTs.

The eight works consist of an immersive physical experience, three infinitely generative data paintings, three unique AI data paintings, and a one-of-a-kind robotically-produced AI data sculpture. Following their online auction from Sotheby’s Hong Kong from September 30th to October 4th, the works will be exhibited at the Digital Art Fair in Hong Kong from October 1st to 17th, 2021.

“Since 2015, I have been speculating the relationship between the human mind, architecture, aesthetics, and new media forms to answer the question: If a machine can learn, can it hallucinate?” said Refik Anadol, unveiling the NFT artworks. “After my residency at Google’s Artists and Machine Intelligence Program in 2016, I began pushing the boundaries of that question and creating my body of work by embedding media arts into architecture with countless canvases on which to display my art. My inspiration has always come from colliding the physical and virtual worlds, and with the advent of NFTs, I can now also imagine the metaverse as my canvas.”

The NFTs build on Anadol’s ongoing Machine Hallucinations series, which he began in 2016. In March 2021, Machine Memoirs: Space opened at the Pilevneli Gallery in Anadol’s native Istanbul and has since become the most visited art exhibition in Turkey’s history. To produce the NFTs, Anadol’s team used over 2 million raw images captured and recorded by the International Space Station, the MRO, and the Hubble telescope, creating a vast dataset to train the AI network.

Inspired by the idea that these telescopes were maintaining “visual travel journals of worlds presently unknown to humans,” Anadol’s team developed the artworks to convey the “dreams” which the telescopes would have about the universe. Among the eight works, three of the generative AI data paintings feature real-time data that delivers infinite possibilities, which according to Anadol, “strengthen the connection between the ever-changing technological advancements, and the inspiration it provides for media arts.”

Dear Friends,
Today I’m so excited to announce Machine Hallucinations – Space: Metaverse NFT Collection in collaboration with @Sothebys . This project gave us the opportunity to mint the artistic outcomes of our 3 years research into the blockchain. pic.twitter.com/3ZXoDm6eSY
— Refik Anadol (@refikanadol) September 16, 2021