This project is part of the Deep Meditations series.
Deep Meditations is a series of abstract films and installations that explore how we make meaning and the gap between felt experience and representation. The works invite us on a spiritual journey through slow, meditative, continuously evolving images and sounds: fragments of our collective experience refracted through a deep neural network.
“It feels like the machine is trying to tell me something…” – audience member
A short film about darkness and hope.
Arguably the world’s first film constructed in and told entirely through the latent space of a Deep Neural Network, with meaningful human control over narrative.
Selected Exhibitions, Performances & Presentations(10 / 10) Only selected shows with project pages are listed below. For more complete exhibition and performance history please see Show History . Words(5 / 5)
The artist’s own writing about this work.
Press(28 / 28) Articles, reviews and other press relating to this work.
Interviews(4 / 4) 2022 The Networked Condition: Memo Akten Case Study , Abandon Normal Devices , 12 Apr 2022 · Interview 2020 Memo Akten’s art sees artificial intelligence tackle life, love, and faith , Dazed & Confused , 19 Feb 2020 · Interview 2019 Memo Akten: Spiritual Technology , Metal Magazine , 30 Nov 2019 · Interview 2019 Beyond The Data: Memo Akten Interviewed , Clash Magazine , 29 Aug 2019 · Interview
Catalogs(3 / 3) 2026 EMERGENCE , Kate Vass, Ágnes Ferenczi (eds.), Kate Vass Galerie , pp. 95–114 · Catalog 2023 Contemporary Istanbul, 18th Edition — Catalogue , Contemporary Istanbul , pp. 129 · Catalog 2020 Immaterial/Re-material: A Brief History of Computing Art , Jérôme Neutres (eds.), UCCA Center for Contemporary Art / Culture and Art Publishing House · Catalog
Other Coverage(6 / 6) 2023 Exploring ArtScience Museum’s ‘Notes From the Ether: From NFTs to AI' , Stir world , 23 Sep 2023 2022 AI Artist Spotlight: Memo Akten , NightCafe , 22 Dec 2022 · Article 2021 Memo Akten: the environmentally conscious digital artist , Art Rights , 13 May 2021 · Article 2021 An Exhibition of Creative AI and Generative Art: ‘Thin as Thorns In These Thoughts in Us’ , Art Now LA , 29 Jan 2021 · Review 2018 AI art is on the rise – but how do we measure its success? , Apollo , 13 Sep 2018 · Review 2018 Made by Machine , The Indian Express , 6 Sep 2018 · Article
Academic Papers(7 / 7) 2024 Beyond Hegel's End of Art: Exploring the Implications of Memo Akten’s Deep Meditations: A Brief History of Almost Everything for Contemporary Aesthetics and Metaphysics , Lai Man Tin, Journal of Interactive Media 2 (2/2024) · Academic paper 2024 A Questionnaire on Art and Machine Learning , Michelle Kuo, Pamela M. Lee (eds.), OCTOBER 189 , pp. 97, Christiane Paul’s response; Summer 2024 · Academic paper 2024 Yeni Medyanın Sanata Etkisi: Dijital Sanat Paradigmasında Değişen Sanat Algısı ve Sanatçıların Bakış Açısı , Meltem Tan, İzmir Kâtip Çelebi Üniversitesi, Master’s thesis · Academic paper 2023 Anatomical Intelligence: Live coding as performative dissection , Joana Chicau, Jonathan Reus, Organised Sound 28 (2) , pp. 290–304 , 22 Aug 2023 · Academic paper 2023 AI Psychoanalysis – An ever elusive audio-visual web experience , Simon Fankhauser, MA thesis, Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture · Academic paper 2022 De-Autonomy of Post-Human Imagination: New Directions in the Theory of Art , Mikhail A. Stepanov, Actual Problems of Theory and History of Art 12 , pp. 663–673 , 11 Oct 2022 · Academic paper 2022 Analysis of Exhibition Spaces in the Case of Artificial Intelligence Artworks , Şeyma Göktürk, Master’s thesis in Architecture, Izmir University of Economics · Academic paper Show History(15 / 15) Solo Exhibitions and Presentations(2 / 2) 2024 Gallery QI , La Jolla, CA, USA , 25 Jan 2024 2020 Deep Meditations: A brief history of almost everything in 60 minutes , How We Make Meaning , QUAD Gallery , Derby, UK Performances(1 / 1) Group Exhibitions(12 / 12) 2026 Emergence , Kate Vass Galerie , Zurich, Switzerland , 8 Sep–8 Dec 2026 ONGOING 2023 Notes from the Ether: From NFTs to AI , ArtScience Museum , Singapore , 19 Aug–24 Sep 2023 2022 The Unrestricted Society , Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab , Taipei, Taiwan , 24 Sep–27 Nov 2022 2021 HYDRA: New Media Art in the Context of Eco-Anxiety , Sevkabel Port Cultural Center , St. Petersburg, Russia 2020 Immaterial / Re-material: A Brief History of Computing Art , UCCA Center for Contemporary Art , Beijing, China , 26 Sep 2020–17 Jan 2021 2020 Thin as Thorns, In These Thoughts in Us: An Exhibition of Creative AI and Generative Art , Honor Fraser Gallery , Los Angeles, CA, USA , 8 Sep 2020–8 Jul 2021 2019 Sónar+D , Barcelona, Spain , 17–20 Jul 2019 2019 Voices of Sónar+D , ME London , London, UK , 8 May 2019 2019 Cybernetic Consciousness , Itaú Cultural , São Paulo, Brazil , 28 Mar–19 May 2019 2019 Kennin-ji Temple , Kyoto, Japan , 14–24 Mar 2019 · organized by Kyoto University 2019 Future and the Arts: AI, Robotics, Cities, Life , Mori Art Museum , Tokyo, Japan 2018 Gradient Descent , Nature Morte , New Delhi, India , 17 Aug–15 Sep 2018