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

Run the Code presents a variety of artworks, such as digital video, LED screen, customized software, and animation, that were created over the past 25 years. The exhibition reflects the broad range of what is considered “art.”  

Generative artificial intelligence, or GenAI for short, is a type of computer program that learns patterns from large amounts of data—like photos or text—and then creates new images, sounds, or text inspired by what it learned. Several of the works in the show use generative custom code and software to create art and/or animation, which is a type of AI-powered animation where text prompts, sketches, or still images are used to create moving videos or animations.  

The kinds of AI tools many people know today—such as text-to-image generators or chat-based AI—only became widely available in the last few years. The only work in the show created using what we identify today as AI and machine learning, is Refik Anadol’s Machine Hallucinations – Study I, in which Anadol, an award-winning leader in the field, trained the system on hundreds of thousands of images. 

Run the Code is an original and immersive take on today’s modern digital age as seen through the lens of each artist featured in the exhibition.  

Much in the way a painter’s brushstroke varies widely, data is used differently by each artist in the exhibition to create art. The result is a one-of-a-kind experience of digital art in which no two works use data the same way.  

Works that use live data and information as its published online:  

• In Siebren Versteeg’s Daily Times (Performer), 2012, the current day’s New York Times is transformed into an abstract painting created by the news cycle.  
• In Daniel Canogar’s Billow I (2020), an LED screen displays abstract animations generated from live Google search data on everything from news topics to viral media.  

All of the artworks invite you to take a closer look and experience them for yourself.  Please note: Visitors cannot physically interact with all of the works.  

Works that are physically interactive: 

• Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Pulse Index (2010), records your fingerprint alongside your heartbeat, temporarily linking two forms of data commonly used to identify and measure the body.  
• Camille Utterback, Untitled 5 (2004), directly responds to your physical movement. As you move in front of the art installation, a network of gray lines flickers around your body, signaling that the work has been activated. A colored line traces your path across the projection, mapping your movement live in real time. What unfolds visually on the wall is shaped not only by your actions, but also by the movements of those who came before you, bringing new meaning to the term “crowdsourced.”  
•  Martin Reinhart, tx-mirror (2018). In tx-mirror, you encounter a live video of yourself captured at two different moments in time. As you move in front of the screen, your past and present movements collide, allowing you to see yourself from moments ago alongside yourself now. 

The Blanton is the only current venue in the world for Run the Code; the exhibition is currently not scheduled to travel. 

Absolutely! Casual photography and video with camera phones or handheld cameras is allowed. Please observe these rules: 

• No flash photography 
• No tripods, monopods, or selfie sticks 
• No photoshoots or professional sessions 
• Photography and video should not disrupt other visitors or limit accessibility of exhibitions, entrances/exits, doorways, and high-traffic areas

We love seeing photos from our visitors! Feel free to tag us @blantonmuseum, we may feature your experience on social!