The "Rumi Dreams" project by world-renowned artist Refik Anadol is featured in the city of Gaziantep under the auspices of the Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality as part of the 750th anniversary of the passing of 13th-century Islamic poet, scholar and Sufi mystic Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi.
To create the artwork, Refik Anadol and his team delved into the lens of poetic algorithms, one of the most meaningful inventions of the 21st century, and fed the artificial intelligence (AI) with translations of "Mesnevi," a didactic epic poem in six volumes, in 19 languages for "Rumi's Dreams," alongside a dataset comprising millions of tekke (dervish lodges), archival documents and manuscripts.
By creating a machine memory reflection of one of the most significant archives in human history, Anadol and his team transformed the unique Rumi archives brought to life by AI into a visual spectacle based on light and motion.
The "Rumi Dreams" work, which showcases the dazzling transition of light, knowledge and movement, invites all art enthusiasts to find, in the words of Mevlana, the "light that illuminates the world." Since its opening in December, approximately 20,000 visitors have seen the work.
The visitors can see "Rumi Dreams" until Jan. 31.
