AI Art You Can Smell – What to Expect at Refik Anadol’s Dataland in LA

October 24, 2025 by guest author, Antonia Hamberger

Refik Anadol is almost like the Taylor Swift of AI art. He commands a large following among AI enthusiasts – much like Taylor Swift does among Gen Z and millennials. Many, however, think the hype is overblown. Yet, just as Taylor’s songs often sneak onto the playlists of skeptics and aren’t skipped, visitors to Refik Anadol’s exhibitions rarely leave bored but come out wide-eyed or hypnotized.

Anadol works with such vast amounts of data that his algorithms produce shapes and colors that are completely unpredictable. You might search in vain for a pattern – or simply let yourself be carried away in a trance. Either way, it’s hard to look away.

His artworks are displayed on massive LED screens or projection surfaces, often paired with sound. At the recently concluded “Living Architecture: Gehry” exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, an entire room with soaring ceilings was transformed using high-performance projectors and immersive surround sound.

For the upcoming Dataland in Los Angeles – Refik Anadol’s first museum of his own – the artist is taking immersion to a new level. One installation, the “Infinity Room,” will even diffuse AI-generated scents created by his own AI model, the “Large Nature Model.” According to Dataland’s creators, it is also the first immersive space to use a “World Model” – an AI system that “understands the dynamics of real physics and spatial properties.”

The Infinity Room at Dataland will be Refik Anadol’s first exhibition featuring AI-generated scents. (Image: Dataland)

The Infinity Room builds on one of Anadol’s earliest works from his UCLA days. Since then, his studio has experimented with bringing it to life in different ways through projection, LED walls, mirrors, and visuals. To date, Infinity Room has been displayed in 35 cities and seen by 10 million visitors.

At Dataland, the installation will occupy one of five galleries. While the museum was initially scheduled to open at the end of 2024, its opening has been postponed to spring 2026. Until then, Anadol’s works can be experienced at several permanent exhibitions, including the Columbia University Kravis Hall in NYC and the Museum of the Future in Dubai.

Here’s a first video snippet of the Infinity Room installation:

 

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