Run the Code: Data-Driven Art Decoded by Thoma Foundation x Blanton Museum of Art | teamLab

Name: Run the Code: Data-Driven Art Decoded by Thoma Foundation x Blanton Museum of Art
Start: 2026-03-08
End: 2026-08-02
Location: Blanton Museum of Art

Run the Code: Data-Driven Art Decoded by Thoma Foundation x Blanton Museum of Art

今天結束

2026.3.08(Sun) - 8.02(Sun)Blanton Museum of Art, Austin

Group Exhibition

Run the Code: Data-Driven Art Decoded by Thoma Foundation x Blanton Museum of Art

今天結束

2026.3.08(Sun) - 8.02(Sun)Blanton Museum of Art, Austin

Group Exhibition

作品

The World of Irreversible Change

This work is both somewhere in time and here and now.
The world of the artwork exists within the same flow of time as the real world. Morning arrives in the artwork with the sunrise in the real world, and when the sun sets, evening begins. If it rains in the real world of the work’s location, it rains in the world of the artwork, and the flora changes every day with each passing season.
The people’s lives also change continuously depending on the time of day and weather of the real world. Festivals and events are held with the seasons, and as various stories are added day by day, the lives of people continue.
The actions of viewers influence the world of the artwork. The people in the artwork respond when a viewer touches them. If the interaction is limited, however, they eventually return to their daily lives. But if a viewer continues to touch people in the artwork, fights break out amongst those who are near to each other. The fighting escalates into deaths, eventually spreading throughout the city, which becomes engulfed in flames. The flames last for over a year, and as the city burns to the ground, the people in the artwork eventually die out.
Once the world begins to burn, the world from before can never be seen again. The actions of viewers do not just cause a temporary reaction; it becomes the history of the world of the artwork, and continues to remain as an irreversible result. The viewers themselves are also those who cause this outcome.
In the ruined city where not a single person remains, the sun rises and sets with the time of the real world. As time passes, after a few months, new flora begin to grow in the burnt ruins of the city. Flowers and plants grow, bloom, and scatter repeatedly, changing daily within the real passage of time. In spring, the flowers and plants grow deeply, flowers bloom in profusion, and birds sing. As the seasonal changes of the flora repeats itself, the world continues.
Even if human activity ends, time does not stop. The seasons turn, the flora are born, and the world continues to change.
The viewers, as the cause of history, continue to live with that outcome.

關於 teamLab

teamLab是自2001年起開始活動，並持續探索藝術、科學、技術和自然界交彙點的國際性跨域藝術團隊。由藝術家、程序員、工程師、CG動畫師、數學家和建築師等各個領域的專家組成。

teamLab想通過藝術，摸索人與世界的關系和新的認知。人類為了更好地認知世界，習慣性地把世界分割，並將其視為具有邊界的事物。我們探索認知的邊界，並試圖超越人類對世界、對時間連續性的邊界的認知。世間萬物都是奇跡般地存在於積年累月且沒有邊界的連續性上的。

teamLab的作品被世界各大藝術機構收藏，如墨爾本維多利亞國家美術館（墨爾本）、悉尼新南威爾士州美術館（悉尼）、阿德萊德南澳大利亞藝術畫廊（阿德萊德）、赫爾辛基阿莫斯·雷克斯美術館（赫爾辛基）、舊金山亞洲藝術博物館（舊金山）、洛杉磯現代美術館（洛杉磯）、伊斯坦布爾Borusan當代藝術收藏館（伊斯坦布爾）、紐約亞洲協會博物館（紐約）。

teamlab.art

Biographical Documents

Exhibition Overview

What happens when code and data become the raw materials of art?

In Run the Code, contemporary artists harness algorithms and generative AI models to create powerful, thought-provoking works that explore nature, art history, internet culture, and human behavior. Showcasing highlights from the Thoma Foundation’s Digital and Media Art Collection, this immersive exhibition transforms digital information into sensory works of art.

Included are some of the most important digital and generative artists working today: Refik Anadol, Daniel Canogar, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, teamLab, Siebren Versteeg, Leo Villareal, and Marina Zurkow, among others.

Some create interactive systems that respond to your movement, touch, or presence — inviting you to become part of the artwork. Others design custom software that generates ever-evolving images right before your eyes. Digital landscapes reflect on our relationship with the natural world, while other works remix historical paintings and cultural archives through machine processes. Together, these artworks demonstrate that algorithms can be more than technical tools — they can also serve as a creative medium.

Though grounded in advanced technology, these artworks are deeply human, raising important questions for the digital age: What does it mean to create art in a world shaped by data? And how might it help us reimagine our relationship to the information that surrounds us? From interactive installations to complex systems running behind the scenes, Run the Code brings together art and technology in exciting, unexpected ways.

Organized by Hannah Klemm, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Blanton Museum of Art