Deep Meditations: Morphosis (2019)

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 collaboration between visual artist Memo Akten and electronic musician Max Cooper, created as part of Cooper’s Yearning for the infinite audio-visual performance at the Barbican in London (2019).

The piece explores how natural structures – from the most tiny to the most huge – share aesthetic properties, as recognized by both artificial and biological neural networks, and are recreated using deep artificial neural networks in continuous flowing sequences via these connections. It is a study of the seemingly infinite nature of space and natural physical structure, which can loop back on itself to give endless visual exploration and variation.

The live performance at the Barbican consisted of a six-channel projection onto a 20m wide gauze in front of the stage as well as projections on the side walls, the audience, and the ceiling for a fully enveloping and hypnotic experience.

The piece is an extension of Akten’s Deep Meditations series.

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Series

More works in the Deep Meditations series.

Selected Exhibitions, Performances & Presentations(9 / 9)

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)

Features(4 / 4)

Books(1 / 1)

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)

News(3 / 3)

Academic Papers(7 / 7)

Collections(1 / 1)

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)