MCA Australia opens its major summer exhibition
Data Dreams: Art and AI, part of
the Sydney International Art Series 2025–26

Sydney 21 november,2025

Who holds the power behind the algorithm? Can machines dream? What does it mean to be human in an age of AI?

A groundbreaking exhibition which asks how artificial intelligence is transforming the way we live, think and create.

[21 November 2025, Sydney] The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA Australia) opened today a landmark exhibition Data Dreams: Art and AI for its major summer exhibition. Presented as part of the 2025–26 Sydney International Art Series, this exhibition is the first of its kind to be staged by an Australian institution and brings together ten visionary artists from around the world to explore the profound impact of artificial intelligence on contemporary life and creative practice.

Through immersive installations, AI-generated films, hallucinatory images and mind-expanding sculptures, Data Dreams invites audiences to experience the possible futures in art and reflect on the evolving relationship between human and machine intelligence.

This exhibition brings into focus a range of contemporary concerns, including the relationships between technology and power; how algorithms and datasets are influencing our worldviews and calling our perception of reality into question; and the environmental costs of the data economy.

Artworks in the exhibition highlight AI’s role as an artistic collaborator, its impact on reality and perception, its role in shaping human relationships, and its potential to redefine our understanding of intelligence and perhaps even life itself. Data Dreams presents projects by ten contemporary artists working at the forefront of art and AI:

Angie Abdilla (B.1979 Launceston, lutruwita/Tasmania. Lives and works Gadigal Country, Sydney. Palawa, Trawlwoolway peoples): Indigenous knowledge systems are brought into dialogue with Western astrophysics in Abdilla’s Meditation on Country (2024), combining scientific and cultural datasets.

Fabien Giraud (B.1980, Paris, France): MCA Australia presents the world premiere of The Feral (2025–3025), a thousand-year-long film fully shot and edited by an artificial intelligence, involving 32 generations of humans in a dramatic landscape in central France.

Kate Crawford & Vladan Joler (B.1974 Gadigal Country, Sydney. Lives and works in New York, US/B.1977 Novi Sad, Serbia. Lives and works in Novi Sad): Anatomy of an AI System (2018) is a visual investigation into the real-world infrastructure and raw materials required to fabricate, power and dispose of ‘smart’ AI devices, mapping the profound implications of these new technologies for humanity and the planet.

Lynn Hershman Leeson (Born 1941, Cleveland, US. Lives and works in San Francisco, US): Logic Paralyzes the Heart (2021) and Cyborgian Rhapsody: Immortality (2023) from Hershman Leeson’s acclaimed Cyborg film series (1994–2023) trace the radical ways that AI and other technologies are reshaping our lives, societies and the environment. As a foundational innovator in the field, Hershman Leeson has been exploring the relationship between technology and humanity since the 1960s.

Agnieszka Kurant (B 1978, Łódź, Poland. Lives and works in New York): In Kurant’s sculptural work Chemical Garden (2021/2025), plant-like crystals grow in an aquarium from the same metal salts found in computers and deep-sea vents. In Conversions (2019-ongoing) a liquid crystal painting morphs in response to emotional data collected from millions of social media accounts using a custom AI system.

Trevor Paglen (B.1974, Camp Springs, Maryland, US. Lives and works in New York, US): In Paglen’s photographic series Adversarially Evolved Hallucinations, (2017–ongoing), uncanny AI-powered images invite us to look inside the strange world of datasets and neural networks, probing the limits of machine perception.

Christopher Kulendran Thomas: The Finesse (2022) is a monumental video installation which transports audiences into a simulated forest melding pop culture and political science. Combining archival footage with AI-generated avatars, it questions the role AI technologies play in a world where real and fake messages are indistinguishable. Kulendran Thomas invites us to discern the truth for ourselves.

Hito Steyerl (B. 1966, Munich, Germany. Lives and works in Berlin): An expansive new installation blending documentary footage, AI-generated imagery, and sculptures of digital forms by acclaimed artist Hito Steyerl, Mechanical Kurds (2025) examines the sinister worlds of AI-led warfare and surveillance, and the hidden human labour behind these powerful systems.

Anicka Yi (B. 1971, Seoul, South Korea. Lives and works in New York, US): Anicka Yi looks to possibilities for intelligence and collaboration beyond human and organic life in Radiolaria (2023–24), a series of luminous suspended sculptures that undulate like deep-sea creatures. Each Branch Of Coral Holds Up The Light of The Moon (2024) is a 3D animation generated using custom AI software designed to carry on her art practice after her death.

Curated by MCA Australia’s Jane Devery (Senior Curator, Exhibitions), Anna Davis (Curator), and Tim Riley Walsh (Assistant Curator), with exhibition design by BVN Architects, Data Dreams transforms the MCA’s galleries into a series of experiential spaces that invite visitors to engage with the possibilities and provocations at the intersection of art and AI.

Suzanne Cotter, Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia said:
‘Data Dreams: Art and AI is a landmark exhibition that reflects the Museum’s commitment to presenting contemporary art and ideas that speak to the present moment and offers our many publics a unique opportunity to consider how artists are responding to one of the most transformative technologies of our time.’

NSW Minister for Jobs and Tourism, Steve Kamper said: ‘Data Dreams: Art and AI is a truly groundbreaking exhibition – the first of its kind in Australia. I’m thrilled that local and visiting art lovers can enjoy this pioneering cultural experience exclusively at MCA Australia for Sydney International Art Series this summer.

‘Exhibitions like Data Dreams: Art and AI and the broader Sydney International Art Series enrich our state’s vibrant arts and culture scene, and cement Sydney’s reputation as the nation’s leading destination for the most exciting, cutting-edge art from around the world.’

Public Program
The exhibition will be accompanied by a dynamic public program including talks, workshops, and performances.

Opening weekend events include:

In dialogue: Data Dreams | Saturday 22 November 2025, 12.30–4pm

Deep dive into Data Dreams: Art and AI with a special afternoon of artist talks and presentations at the MCA by CTRL researchers, moderated by Benjamin Law, Australian journalist and screenwriter.Taking place on the opening weekend of the MCA’s major summer exhibition, the MCA will bring together exhibiting artists including Angie Abdilla, Kate Crawford, Fabien Giraud, Vladan Joler, Christopher Kulendran Thomas, Agnieszka Kurant and researchers from UNSW’s CTRL Lab. Together they will share the ideas, processes and research that shape the exhibition – opening up a space for generative dialogue about contemporary art and the evolving role of artificial intelligence in culture and society. Buy ticketsPerformance: The Catchment Dance Collective | Saturday 22 November 2025, 2.30–3pm
Experience improvised movement unfolding live within the museum. Performers from Sydney Dance Company’s Pre-Professional Year program, The Catchment Dance Collective, respond in real time to the gallery environment and the works of leading international artists considering the evolving intersection of art and artificial intelligence. Included with exhibition ticket, no booking required.

ArtBot
As part of the exhibition MCA Australia is trialling Artbot, an innovative digital engagement tool designed to complement the gallery experience. Artbot is an MCA-designed and MCA-built experimental artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot that acts as a conversational companion for visitors, using AI-driven natural language responses to share MCA curatorial insights and behind-the-scenes information in real time.

Exhibition catalogue
MCA Australia’s Data Dreams: Art and AI asks what new questions arise when AI becomes part of the artistic process, subject and imagination. Featuring essays on each of the exhibiting artists, the catalogue also includes reflections on art and artificial intelligence by K Allado-McDowell, Nick Croggon, Hito Steyerl, and Trevor Paglen in conversation with Anthony Downer, as well as an illustrated timeline of AI, and glossary of terms. Available at the MCA Store on Level 1, or online, store.mca.com.au, pb, 206pp, $49.95.

MCA Australia thanks Strategic Sponsor Destination NSW for its support. The Sydney International Art Series, established in 2010, brings the world’s most outstanding exhibitions exclusively to Sydney through a partnership between Destination NSW, MCA Australia, and the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
MCA Australia would like to acknowledge Kevin O’Brien and Kate Campbell from BVN for the exhibition design of Data Dreams.

Tickets to the exhibition are available to purchase from mca.com.au. The exhibition is free for MCA members and people aged 18 and under.

Data Dreams: Art and AI opens at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia on 21 November 2025 and is on until 27 April 2026.

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MCA Australia opens its major summer exhibition Data Dreams: Art and AI, part of the Sydney International Art Series 2025–26