People visit a digital art exhibition in a cinema in Istanbul, Turkey on November 24, 2021. A digital art exhibition, created using artificial intelligence (AI), fascinates art lovers in a recently renovated old cinema in Istanbul (Photo: Xinhua)

People visit a digital art exhibition in a cinema in Istanbul, Turkey on November 24, 2021. A digital art exhibition, created using artificial intelligence (AI), fascinates art lovers in a recently renovated old cinema in Istanbul (Photo: Xinhua)

People visit a digital art exhibition in a cinema in Istanbul, Turkey on November 24, 2021. A digital art exhibition, created using artificial intelligence (AI), fascinates art lovers in a recently renovated old cinema in Istanbul (Photo: Xinhua)

People visit a digital art exhibition in a cinema in Istanbul, Turkey on November 24, 2021. A digital art exhibition, created using artificial intelligence (AI), fascinates art lovers in a recently renovated old cinema in Istanbul (Photo: Xinhua)

A digital art exhibition, created using artificial intelligence (AI), fascinates art lovers in a recently renovated former cinema in Istanbul.

The exhibition, “Alkazar’s Dream”, was designed and produced by renowned Turkish contemporary artist Refik Anadol as a devotion to the history and culture of Turkish cinema.

Anadol processed by AI algorithms 150 films screened between 1947 and 2010 in the former Alkazar cinema on Istiklal avenue.

“If Alkazar, who keeps countless memories in his mind in his old building, had a dream, what would it contain?” He asked.

His response was purely digital, based on the latest AI technologies and artificial neural networks, bringing the historical memory of the theater together with the audience in 3D.

“We were able to achieve an average of 35 million images and over 500,000 unique words in two frames per second from each film,” the artist told the daily Hurriyet.

“This is the first time in the world that such a large amount of data has turned into performance through AI,” noted Anadol.

The experience consists of two parts and lasts 20 minutes. In the first 10 minutes, the audience has the opportunity to watch the AI-created images of Turkish cinema with a combination of music.

“Each movie is understood by reading the AI ​​networks one by one, then the AI ​​has a dream,” the artists explained.

In the second part, “AI understands the movement, direction and speed of people and turns each viewer into a pigment with light”, so viewers can interact with art through movement.

Karpat Polat, an advertising agent, said it was an “incredibly interesting experience”.

“I’m a visual arts buff, but when I first came here I had a completely different experience,” Polat said of his feelings about the exhibition. “You are in a whole different area where you have lost your sense of reality.”

Burcu Ozdemir, a resident of Istanbul, said watching something so innovative in such a historic setting was very impressive.

“Seeing some footage (of Turkish films) that we loved and enjoyed in the past in this environment in digital form fascinated me a lot,” Ozdemir told Xinhua.

After a facelift, the Alkazar Cinema, built in 1923, reopened earlier this month under the new name Hope Alkazar. In the place, various events will take place under the theme of The Scene of the Movement.