The National Mall has become a hot spot for festivities this summer as the U.S. commemorates its 250th anniversary, hosting the (sparsely attended) Great American State Fair as well as a massive FIFA fan zone for the World Cup. The latest celebration arriving at the capital’s famous park is set to illuminate the red sandstone facade of the Smithsonian.
For the immersive public installation titled Smithsonian Dreams, the artist Refik Anadol will project images from the museum’s collection, as well as abstract graphics made with the help of AI, onto the Smithsonian’s Gothic Revival building. Lisa Sasaki, deputy under secretary for special projects at the Smithsonian Institution, tells Fast Company that Anadol’s work was guided by a question: “The Smithsonian Castle, if it could dream, what would it dream about?”
With more than 2 million library volumes, 156,000 cubic feet of archival materials (the size of two Boeing 737-800 airliners), and some 157 million objects and specimens, the Smithsonian Institution is one of the world’s largest repositories of knowledge. Using a custom artificial intelligence system, Anadol dove into almost 200 years of digitized items ranging over photographs, art, manuscripts, scientific records, objects, and even physical specimens.
Treating these elements as data points, Anadol created a UMAP (uniform manifold approximation and projection), mapping the connections between the data.
“For me, data is a form of memory,” Anadol said in a press statement. “Using machine intelligence as a creative collaborator, we are transforming the archive into a living experience where history, culture, science and imagination continuously unfold in new ways.”
Projected on the 145-foot-tall building, the installation will run for only two nights, July 17 and 18. To transform the castle, the installation is using Panasonic projection technology to showcase the artist’s immersive presentation as a show with visuals and sounds.
Anadol’s presentation spans 20 minutes, with various sessions planned during the public art show’s run. Telling the story of the Smithsonian, and the history it stores and records, the show unfurls through thematic chapters.
The story begins with James Smithson, the British scientist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries who bequeathed the items that would become the beginning of the Smithsonian’s collection. The show then maps various artworks and materials across the building’s surface, through the connections arranged by the AI technology.
In addition to developing AI to arrange and synthesize the connections that make up the artwork, there was a second technological challenge: displaying the projections on an ornate work of architecture.
Usually projection surfaces are light in color to let the media show properly. But the castle’s red surface was darker than ideal, requiring expert guidance from Panasonic.
“We knew from the beginning that could be a challenge, as well as the intricate facade and towers of the castle itself,” says Sasaki, the special projects officer. “It’s not a square box; it has towers and nooks and crannies and corners, all of which would need to be projected upon.”
To do that, the production team scattered 42 projectors with various lenses throughout the National Mall; one is set up at the roof of the National Museum of Natural History, more than 700 feet from the castle.
Figuring out the logistics for the projection was part of a 18-month collaboration between the Smithsonian and partners, including Panasonic. It took the team three nights to focus the lenses correctly.
Once unveiled, the show aims to inspire visitors to reimagine what dreaming can look like—as it did with the institution as a whole.
“I really hope people will take away a sense of curiosity and inspiration about what the images represent,” Sasaki says. “Whether it’s an object from the ethnobotany collection or the machines from the air and space collection— hopefully, there’s something in there that inspires them to want to explore more deeply and to dream for themselves.”