Memo Akten

Memo Akten is a Turkish-born multidisciplinary artist based in Los Angeles whose practice spans machine learning, interactive installation, live performance, and theoretical writing. His work investigates the nature of consciousness, perception, and creativity — using computational systems, and particularly neural networks, as tools for philosophical inquiry as much as artistic production.

His project Aggregate (2014) — a real-time system that analyses and responds to the movement of performers using custom machine learning algorithms — was an early and influential demonstration of how machine learning could function as a creative medium rather than a technical instrument.

Learning to See (2017–ongoing) extends this investigation into the relationship between machine and human perception, using neural networks trained on specific subjects to interpret any visual input through that lens — demonstrating both the extraordinary capability and the fundamental strangeness of how neural systems construct meaning from visual data.

Akten has exhibited at the Barbican, Ars Electronica, MoMA, Tate, and major venues worldwide. He holds a PhD from Goldsmiths, University of London, where he was part of the Creative Computing Institute.