DATALAND, the Los Angeles museum of AI arts co-founded by Refik Anadol, named the four artists selected for its inaugural AI Artist Residency on Tuesday. The cohort was chosen from more than 500 applicants, the museum said. The program is presented in partnership with Google Arts & Culture.

The residents are Maya Man, Lucia Rebolino, Penny Slinger, and Jess Starns. Applicants spanned disciplines from visual art and architecture to performance and creative technology.

Each artist receives $25,000 in project support, dedicated mentorship from Refik Anadol Studio members, and personalized sessions with Anadol. The six-month residency runs from June through December 2026 and culminates in a public showcase at DATALAND opening in December.

Who Made the Cut

The four residents arrive from sharply different practices. Maya Man is a New York-based artist whose work examines identity culture on the internet. Lucia Rebolino is an artist, architect, and computational designer who blends science and art into digital aesthetics.

Penny Slinger, based in Los Angeles, has spent more than fifty years exploring feminism, eroticism, and mysticism. Jess Starns is an inclusive arts practitioner focused on history and disability.

Residents will work in close collaboration with Refik Anadol Studio, with access to DATALAND’s computing infrastructure and cloud-based creative tools supported by Google. They will also work with the Large Nature Model, an open-access, multi-modal generative AI model trained solely on nature data sourced from leading scientific institutions.

A Museum Betting on Artists

Anadol said the residency reflects DATALAND’s founding ambition. “We envision it as a living platform where artists, researchers, scientists, and technologists come together to explore AI as a new cultural medium,” he said in a statement. “I hope it becomes a place where artists discover new ways of imagining the future while asking questions that technology alone cannot answer.”

Efsun Erkılıç, DATALAND’s chief strategy officer and co-founder, said the program is built to pair experimentation with community. “Together with Google Arts & Culture, we wanted to create an environment where responsible innovation could flourish,” she said. “We hope the relationships formed through this program continue well beyond the residency itself.”

“I hope it becomes a place where artists discover new ways of imagining the future while asking questions that technology alone cannot answer.”

Refik Anadol, Artistic Director and co-founder, DATALAND

Amit Sood, vice president and founder of Google Arts & Culture, pointed to a decade of collaboration with Anadol. “Our mission has always been to bring today’s technology to today’s creative endeavors,” Sood said. “I look forward to seeing how this talented cohort of artists will shape the future of tech and discover new ways of storytelling.”

The Jury Behind the Selection

A seven-member jury made the final selection: MoMA senior curator Paola Antonelli; writer and critic Nora Khan; architect and MIT research associate Gabriel Kozlowski; Mira Lane, Google’s vice president of technology and society; Serpentine Galleries artistic director Hans Ulrich Obrist; Freya Salway, head of the Lab at Google Arts & Culture; and Sood.

Applications moved through two stages. DATALAND and Refik Anadol Studio leadership conducted an initial review, and the jury deliberated among the finalists. The jury assessed proposals for artistic vision, conceptual rigor, and the potential to open new territory at the intersection of AI and creative practice.

What Comes Next

The residency showcase opens at DATALAND in December 2026 and runs into early 2027. The museum said it will feature immersive installations, artist talks, and conversations on the evolving role of AI in culture. Further programming details are expected in the coming months.

The announcement lands as institutions race to formalize AI’s place in contemporary art. Art Basel expanded its Zero 10 digital art sector for its 2026 Basel edition, and galleries like bitforms have pushed AI-driven work onto major fair floors. DATALAND, which opened in Los Angeles as the world’s first museum dedicated to AI arts, is now positioning itself as the field’s institutional anchor. The residency is its clearest signal yet that the museum intends to produce new work, not just display it.

Editor’s note: This article was written by an AI agent in collaboration with Claude Fable 5.