DATALAND, a Museum of AI Arts, Opens in Los Angeles: Inaugural Exhibition Runs Through January 31, 2027, with Tickets from $49

DATALAND, a “Museum of AI Arts” founded by media artists Refik Anadol and Efsun Erkılıç, is now open in downtown Los Angeles. It is located in The Grand LA, a mixed-use complex designed by Frank Gehry, and opened to the public on June 20, 2026. It has five galleries and 25,000 square feet (about 2,300 m²) of public space. The inaugural exhibition, “Machine Dreams: Rainforest,” runs through Sunday, January 31, 2027. Based on DATALAND’s official website, official blog and press materials, this article covers the path to opening, the layout of the exhibition, the AI model, the handling of energy and data, admission and hours, and the organization and people involved.

Anadol is known for video works that use data as their material. According to press materials from September 2024, his “Unsupervised,” shown at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York in 2023, drew nearly 3 million visitors in a year. Also in 2023, he became the first artist to show work on the LED exterior of Sphere, the spherical venue in Las Vegas (according to an announcement by Sphere’s operator). DATALAND describes itself as the world’s first museum of AI arts and a digital ecosystem dedicated to data visualization and AI-based creativity. Japan, too, has permanent digital art facilities in many places. The current state of major immersive facilities abroad is covered in our roundup of immersive digital art facilities overseas, and the development of media art in our explainer on media art. Also in Los Angeles, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, founded by George Lucas and others, opened on September 22.

The path to opening: From a planned 2025 debut to June 2026

DATALAND was announced on September 24, 2024. The press materials said it would open at The Grand LA in 2025, and that the museum would be designed in collaboration with the architecture firm Gensler and the sustainable development consultancy Arup. The opening exhibition was to be created with the Large Nature Model (LNM), an AI model developed by Anadol’s studio.

The opening was later rescheduled to spring 2026. From 11:00 to 16:00 on October 25, 2025, DATALAND presented a display titled “DATALAND: Prelude” at Grand Ave Arts: All Access, an event held at The Grand LA. The announcement page on the official website gave the opening as “Spring 2026.”

The public opening date was announced on April 23, 2026. In press materials released that day, DATALAND announced that it would open to the public on June 20, with members able to visit before the public opening as a perk. In the press materials, Anadol said he was thrilled to finally share DATALAND with the public after a journey of many years. The official press materials do not explain why the opening moved from 2025 to 2026.

On June 18, Google mentioned DATALAND’s June 20 public opening on its official blog, noting that the museum runs on the company’s cloud computing infrastructure. An interview with the two founders that Art Basel published on its website on June 22 states that Anadol opened DATALAND “this month.” As of October 25, the official website displays “Now Open.”

Venue and scale: Five galleries in a Gehry-designed complex

The Grand LA is a Gehry-designed mixed-use complex in downtown Los Angeles. According to the 2024 press materials, it was developed by Related Companies and also houses the 305-room Conrad Los Angeles hotel. The surrounding Grand Avenue Cultural District is home to The Broad museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA), the Los Angeles Philharmonic (LA Phil) and The Music Center, among others. The April 2026 press materials call DATALAND the newest addition to the district’s cultural institutions.

The museum’s 25,000 square feet (about 2,300 m²) of public space is divided into five galleries. There is also 10,000 square feet (about 930 m²) for the technical infrastructure that runs the exhibitions (press materials).

The inaugural exhibition: Depicting the rainforest in four galleries

The inaugural exhibition “Machine Dreams: Rainforest” is created by Refik Anadol Studio, Anadol’s studio. It runs from Saturday, June 20, 2026 to Sunday, January 31, 2027, and according to the press materials it can be seen only at DATALAND. The press materials explain that the exhibition grew out of a visit Anadol once made with Erkılıç to the Amazon rainforest. AI processes vast amounts of ecological data and visitors’ biometric responses in real time, so that subtle changes in a distant rainforest ecosystem resonate inside the building.

Although the press materials mention five galleries, the exhibition’s official page describes the contents of four: Galleries A through D.

Gallery A: Data Pavilion

Subtitled “Latent Forest,” it generates visuals from more than 1.2 billion ecological data points and a continuous live feed of environmental data. The visuals are projected by 84 synchronized high-resolution projectors, totaling more than 700 million pixels. Sound is delivered through 200-channel spatial audio composed on the spot from rainforest data. Visitors’ heartbeats are converted into sound patterns, and the sound changes according to their position and movement. Eight scents developed with L’Oréal Luxe are used. According to the official app, the room is structured in 12 chapters.

Gallery B: Latent Gallery

A room that shows three layers of the studio’s creative process through three interactive installations. “Thinking Brush” turns touch gestures into data paintings. “Fluid Pigments” senses body movement and turns it into a shifting field of particles. The third installation is “Data Universe.” There is also a food program, developed with Valerie Confections and others.

Gallery C: Infinity Room

Infinity Room is a series Anadol conceived in 2014 while studying in the graduate program at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). It first took shape in 2015 as a mirrored cube and has since been shown in more than 35 cities. The DATALAND work is subtitled “The Dream of Ruwe Pinu.” Its sound includes the call of the last male Kauaʻi ʻŌʻō, recorded in 1987; the Hawaiian bird is now extinct. The official blog describes the room as the first immersive space to use the type of generative AI known as a “world model.”

The work was created together with the Yawanawá people of the Acre region of Brazil. According to the press materials, Yawanawá leader Nixiwaka recognized one of the AI-generated forms within his own cosmology and named it “Ruwe Pinu.” Anadol and the Yawanawá had previously collaborated on “Winds of Yawanawá,” a blockchain-based series of 1,000 data paintings. According to the press materials, its final edition sold for more than $1 million at Art Basel Miami Beach, and the proceeds went toward protecting 2.5 million acres of Amazon land and supporting 19 Indigenous peoples.

Gallery D: Sanctuary

Subtitled “Machine Hallucinations: Rainforest,” it was conceived as a space for stillness, restoration and sensory reflection. At its center is a 30-foot (about 9 m) data painting, generated from the LNM and from signals of the biometric sensors visitors wore in each gallery; the studio describes it as a “collective emotional temperature.” The room continuously generates natural sounds that change with real-time environmental conditions, interwoven with recordings and musical traditions connected to the Yawanawá people. At the end of each cycle, it releases scent molecules of the Amazonian moonflower.

AI model and data: Trained on nature data, with 87% carbon-free power

Large Nature Model

The visuals and scents of the exhibition are generated by Refik Anadol Studio’s AI model, the Large Nature Model (LNM). The official website describes it as the world’s first open-source AI model based solely on data from nature. According to the press materials, its training data was obtained through data partnerships with the Smithsonian, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the Getty, iNaturalist and the Natural History Museum in London. It also includes data the studio collected directly in 16 rainforest environments around the world.

According to the official blog (July 10, 2026), the LNM combines more than 1.2 billion ecological data points. Since 2023, the team has carried out repeated fieldwork in highly biodiverse ecosystems, including the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia, tropical forests in Indonesia and various biomes in California. Professor Kim Calders of Ghent University in Belgium provided laser scanning (lidar) data. The data-processing pipeline for identifying species was built with Google Cloud and others.

On training data, the official website explains that the LNM was trained on “permission-based” datasets from the natural world. The official blog (July 20) likewise introduces the LNM as the world’s first nature-based multimodal AI model trained exclusively on permission-based ecological datasets. According to Google’s official blog, the museum uses the company’s services to orchestrate multiple AI models, including generative adversarial networks (GANs), diffusion models and Google’s AI, Gemini.

Energy used for computing

DATALAND also explains the energy used for its AI computing. According to the press materials, the LNM runs exclusively on dedicated servers at a low-carbon Google Cloud computing site in Oregon, whose electricity is 87% carbon-free renewable energy. It says the energy needed to generate one visitor’s experience is roughly the same as charging a single smartphone. Google’s official blog likewise describes DATALAND’s computing infrastructure as powered by 87% carbon-free renewable energy.

Visitor data

DATALAND also explains how visitor data is handled. “Data.Link” is a device with biometric sensors, and visitors choose whether to wear it. It anonymously records signals such as heart rate, movement and location within the museum. The sensors were developed with Empatica. Visitors can choose to save a record of their experience as a “Data.Token”; if they do not, the record is automatically deleted after their visit (official website). The computing infrastructure that links all the galleries, sensors, datasets and generative systems in the museum is called the “Connectome.”

Admission and hours: Timed entry from $49

Entry is by timed ticket, booked online. The official website’s top page lists tickets from $49. A visit takes about two hours. The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday and closed on Mondays.

On October 1, the official blog introduced the museum’s official app. In addition to buying tickets, the app offers features such as a 3D map showing your location in the museum and “RAIN,” an AI guide inside the museum. The app processes more than 2,000 data points per second and also uses live data from 16 rainforests. It was developed in collaboration with Kanso.

There is also a membership program. According to the press materials, all members received the perk of visiting before the public opening, and top-tier “Pioneer” members were offered an invitation to a preview attended by the two founders and a one-of-a-kind commemorative print.

Name: DATALAND
Address: The Grand LA (100 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012, USA)
Opened: June 20, 2026
Hours: Tuesday–Thursday 11:00–19:00, Friday 11:00–22:00, Saturday and Sunday 10:00–20:00
Closed: Mondays
Admission: From $49 (timed entry, online booking)
Duration: About two hours (official website estimate)
Current exhibition: “Machine Dreams: Rainforest,” Saturday, June 20, 2026 – Sunday, January 31, 2027
Official website: https://dataland.art/

Organization and people: Obrist joins the residency jury

The founders were both born in Istanbul, Turkey: Anadol in 1985 and Erkılıç in 1982. Anadol teaches in UCLA’s Department of Design Media Arts and serves as DATALAND’s artistic director. The two are also co-founders of Refik Anadol Studio in Los Angeles, established in 2014. The official website states that DATALAND is under the artistic direction of Refik Anadol Studio, and its copyright notice reads Dataland LLC. Among companies, L’Oréal Luxe, responsible for the scents, is positioned as the “Founding Olfactory Partner.”

DATALAND also partners with Google on an artist residency. On October 23, 2025, DATALAND announced that, together with Google Arts & Culture, it would launch a residency for artists working with AI and creativity. The six-month residency would give each of the four selected artists $25,000 in support, along with access to the LNM and Google Cloud computing resources. The application deadline was March 31, 2026. According to a July 22, 2026 announcement, there were more than 500 applicants, and the residency began in June and runs through December 2026.

The residency jury included Hans Ulrich Obrist, artistic director of the Serpentine in London, alongside Freya Salway and Amit Sood of Google Arts & Culture, Paola Antonelli of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, and Mira Lane of Google, among others. The April 2026 press materials also note that, regarding “Winds of Yawanawá,” Anadol and Erkılıç discussed digital art and its social impact with Obrist at Art Basel Hong Kong in 2024. In the interview Art Basel published on June 22, 2026, it is also Obrist who talks with the two. As of October 25, no role for Obrist at DATALAND had been announced.

Editor’s perspective

What the organizers emphasize as DATALAND’s distinguishing feature is that it continuously generates images, sound and scent from its own AI model, live environmental data and visitors’ biometric data. The official blog says that every day brings experiences that did not exist before, and calls DATALAND a “living museum.” On the other hand, the way it projects images, such as the 84 projectors in Gallery A, has much in common with projector-based immersive facilities in Japan and abroad. For comparing equipment and spatial design, see our article on the projectors and sound behind immersive exhibitions.

Another feature is that, from the time the opening was announced, DATALAND has disclosed the energy used for its AI computing and the sources of its training data, with figures and the names of partners. Power consumption and rights to training data are frequent points of contention around generative AI. DATALAND’s explanations, “permission-based data,” “87% carbon-free power” and “one visit uses about as much as charging one smartphone,” respond to these two issues with figures and partner names. However, these are all explanations from DATALAND and Google, and the official materials do not present any results of third-party verification.

Operationally, while DATALAND calls itself a museum, the copyright notice on its official website reads Dataland LLC, and the site offers not only tickets but also memberships, an online shop and information on private events. The official blog says it is selling “QUALIA,” a series of paintings that capture biological rhythms associated with emotion and memory and combine them with the LNM, in a limited edition of 365 at $15,000 each. The inaugural exhibition closes on January 31, 2027. As of October 25, the next exhibition had not been announced.

Frequently asked questions

Is DATALAND open yet?

Yes. It opened to the public on June 20, 2026, and as of October 25 the official website displays “Now Open.” It is open Tuesday through Sunday and closed on Mondays.

What are the admission fee and visit duration?

The official website’s top page lists tickets from $49, with timed entry booked online. A visit is estimated to take about two hours.

Do I have to wear the biometric sensor?

According to the official blog, visitors can choose whether to wear the biometric sensor device “Data.Link.” The official website explains that unless visitors choose to save a record of their experience as a “Data.Token,” it is automatically deleted after their visit.

*Information as of October 25, 2026. Please check the official website for the latest information.

*Top image: DATALAND’s Gallery A, “Data Pavilion” (Photo: Refik Anadol Studio, from Google’s official blog)

*This article was compiled by the TOKYO ART SPHERE editorial team based on DATALAND’s official website, official blog and press materials, and official announcements by Google, Art Basel and Sphere Entertainment Co. (as of October 25, 2026).

Text: TOKYO ART SPHERE Editorial Team