︎ Living Encyclopedia, 2025
Living Encyclopedia (link) is the world’s first Artificial Intelligence (AI) system dedicated to nature. It “is reimagining the traditional concept of an encyclopedia by transforming static knowledge into an evolving, multi-sensory experience powered by AI, where nature's beauty and complexity are brought to life through dynamic visuals, sound, and interaction.”1 With three modes: Research, Create, and Dream, subscribers can explore the natural world or reimagine it.
Sample output from Create Mode, 2025
Research
Discuss topics of flora, fauna, and fungi • explore the model’s latent space • monitor processes and its climate impact
Create
Generate images and depth maps in high-resolution • keep a history of all your creations • save and distribute outputs
Dream
Lean back to a meditative walk through the latent space of the model • see and hear nature in a never-ending landscape
Living Encyclopedia is a paid for service that allows subscribers to access and explore the AI model, dubbed the Large Nature Model (link), that Refik Anadol Studios has developed over the last 10 years. Among its significance as a model built by artists and focused on data from the natural world, it is also a foundational source material for the artwork to be shown at Dataland’s inaugural exhibitions. Dataland is opening this year, 2025, across the street from the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles.
I have written even more about the process of developing the Living Encyclopedia in my monthly newsletter (link). Dataland has also written extensively about it as well (link). A nice review of the project can be found on artnet (link) written by Adam Schrader.
1.
Dataland: About Living Encyclopedia. Dataland, 2025. https://dataland.art/about/living-encyclopedia/