Refik Anadol was born on November 7, 1985 in Istanbul. He completed his bachelor's degree summa cum laude in Istanbul Bilgi University, Department of Communication Design in the field of Photography and Video. He then completed his master's degree of Design Media Arts at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He is still working as a lecturer and visiting fellow in the same department of UCLA.
In the early years of his career as an artist, Anadol was creating sculptures of architectural data, which he exhibited commonly in public spaces. Over time, he concentrated on major projects, in which he 'fed' artificial intelligence programs with data gathered from various fields; still preferring public spaces for exhibition. Lately, he has focused on machine memory; namely ways in which machines perceive and contemplate raw data. During his research for these projects, Anadol, in collaboration with mega institutions and corporations including NASA and Google, collects all kinds of data imaginable - be it visual, auditory, seismic, geographic, meteorological or cultural. These data, that the world and human beings create on impulse and involuntarily over the course of their lifetime, are later on served to the artificial intelligence program, which works with algorithms written specifically for the project. Thus, the artist creates data sculptures that demonstrate how technology and the machines we share our lives with comprehend and interpret the data we leave behind.
Refik Anadol, who has been in association with international corporations such as Google, Microsoft, Nvidia, Intel, IBM and Samsung, lives and works in Los Angeles.
Selected public site-specific auditory and visual performances and exhibitions include National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (Australia); MEET Digital Culture Center (Italy), Artechouse New York (USA); Walt Disney Concert Hall (USA); Hammer Museum (USA); International Digital Arts Biennial Montreal (Canada), Ars Electronica Festival (Austria); L'Usine Geneve (Switzerland); Arc de Triomf (Spain); Zollverein SANAA's School of Design building (Germany); Istanbul Design Biennial (Turkey) and Sydney City Art (Australia). Anadol has also been granted many awards including The Architect's Newspaper Best of Design Award in Exhibition Design, Microsoft Research Best Vision Award, German Design Award, UCLA Art+Architecture Moss Award, University of California Institute for Research in the Arts Awards, SEGD Global Design Award and Google's Art and Machine Intelligence Artist Residency Award.