We talk about AV in many different contexts in this industry. However, we rarely think of it or refer to it as art. We tend to focus on technology first — the pieces and the parts that make the screen turn on, that make the display SHOW the art, but what if we were to think art first?

Refik Anadol has dedicated his work to be the center of all that. His data-driven machine learning algorithms create abstract environments that inspire and captivate. He took an early-life obsession with “Blade Runner” and has since created installations in cities upon cities. Anadol delivered the opening keynote at ISE 2022 and focused his talk on the intersection between AI, AV and architecture.

If you’re thinking, “what does that have to do with me and AV?” the answer is plenty.

While showing the different installations he and his team have worked on in the past, he detailed the different AV portions of each — and stressed that he’s used many different brands and types to accomplish many different things.

“The systems you are creating help people like me dream of what I can do,” he said.

Because at the end of the day, machines are the inspiration behind his work. Can machines dream? Can machines connect the physical and virtual worlds? Can nature be recorded as a memory? Anadol’s work is a testament to these questions.

And how can we, the AV industry be part of this? How can we be more than products, demos and services?

“A classic tv can be inspiring beyond a 16:19 design” — Refik Anadol@ISE_Show #AVtweeps pic.twitter.com/Ef31CCB1KP

— rAVe [PUBS] (@rAVePubs) May 10, 2022

If we begin to think about tech as a lens by which to celebrate being human, will that make us artists? Just something to think about as we enter the rest of the week at ISE 2022!