The installation creates a shared space between human and algorithm.
Güvenç Özel is an award-winning architect, artist, technology expert, and academic. He is widely recognized as a leading figure in the use of Extended Reality (XR) in architecture, as well as in interactive robotics and machine learning. Özel was in Istanbul for the 20th Contemporary Istanbul Art Fair that took place in September 24-28, with his work Neuroflux.
Özel explains that this piece is a conceptual evolution of a previous work, Holoflux, which he exhibited at Coachella in 2023: “While Holoflux focused on creating a spatially immersive environment, Neuroflux turned that exploration inward—toward the relationship between human cognition and machine intelligence. For this iteration, I used my own hand sketches and collages as the training material for the algorithm, embedding my visual sensibility into its generative logic. The process became a feedback loop—each machine-generated output informed a new round of manual drawings and digital manipulation. This continuous exchange blurred authorship, creating a shared creative space between human and algorithm. The title Neuroflux captures that neurological entanglement: the merging of human thought and computational flow into a single evolving aesthetic system.”
Özel credits RC for shaping his ability to think across disciplines: “RC instilled a form of intellectual curiosity that was both analytical and imaginative. That foundation made it natural for me to move between architecture, technology, and art—fields that now converge in my work. RC encourages independent inquiry, which is essential for anyone exploring a multidisciplinary path.”
For RC students looking to study interdisciplinary art or who are interested in the intersection of algorithms and art, Özel offers this advice: “I’d emphasize learning both the logic of systems and the nuance of human expression. Study code and computation, but also philosophy, literature, and visual culture. The most transformative ideas arise not from technical mastery alone, but from the ability to translate between intuition and computation. Interdisciplinary art today is about shaping new forms of intelligence—where creativity itself becomes a shared act between culture and technology.”
