First Dataland Reviews
The Los Angeles Times and New York Times each have features on Dataland, Refik Anadol's AI art museum. Both critics are impressed with the technology but say less about artistic merit. NYT's Frank Rose summarizes the critical reception of Anadol's work and quotes Michael Govan on AI art: "It's like Marcel Duchamp—if you know what's behind it, you're open to understanding it."
Dataland opens in Downtown Los Angeles June 20, 2026. Tickets are now on sale.
Comments
You'd have to be Apelles of Kos for me to pay that freight.
> Michael Govan
If he were indifferent towards the Lucas Museum, less so Dataland - and given what the Geffen is all about and how LACMA in general is being managed ("a defacto museum of contemporary art...") - that would be a case of living in a glass house and throwing stones.
Although being too easygoing towards the visual arts, whether "treacle" or AI, etc, does run the risk of entering overly shaky territory. It makes it more likely a museum's installation won't dot all its "i's" and cross all its "t's."
https://youtu.be/UthlbgkH0gs?si=Zx6x1s0iXfxN3jaT
Is that the best you can do?!, is the overall reaction that place gives me:
However, the Louvre is extreme in the other direction. A happy medium is what I favor. But why Govan and his staffers can't do that right now is puzzling. Not enough time? Not enough employees? Not enough money---to hire workers who move and carry heavy objects?
Not enough objects for a wall, not enough display vitrines, not enough objects resistant to sunlight?
Or Brown/Pereira tastes, Powell/HHP tastes, Govan/Zumthor tastes?
^ That's nice and all, but it ain't no Mona Lisa.
Leonardo da Vinci's work is given a huge amount of space in the Louvre. That's one thing. Dora De Larios's work (although 4 objects) occupying a lot of space (both floor and wall) in the Geffen is a totally different matter.
Same with the Francis Bacon works, although 3 canvases instead of just one (and a rather small one too) in Paris's museum.
If LACMA wants to leave the impression they don't have enough stuff in storage that's suitable for display, they've done a good job.