Both imagination and technology can play a role in shaping our most deeply rooted traditions.

Artist Azra Akšamija blends traditional clothing with imagined futures as images of her in AI-generated headgear morph from one to the next. In the process, relationships between artificial intelligence, tradition, and cultural identity become increasingly vivid, while the perceived boundaries between cultures and eras become increasingly blurred.

Azra Akšamija is Director of the Art, Culture, and Technology (ACT) program at MIT. She is also a professor in the Department of Architecture and leads the Future Heritage Lab.

Hallucinating Traditions (2024), Azra Akšamija

Materials: AI animation

Dimensions: 5-channel video animation screened on holographic fan projectors

Artistic director: Azra Akšamija

Project research and development: Merve Akdoğan

Production: Merve Akdoğan, Azra Akšamija, Shua Cho