MoMA in New York to exhibit AI project on synthetic memories by Catalan studio

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York is set to exhibit 'Synthetic Memories,' an innovative project by the Barcelona-based Catalan studio Domestic Data Streamers. This project leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to create visual representations of memories that were never physically documented, offering a unique way to explore personal histories.

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The project uses generative AI to create images of memories that were never physically recorded: those of the elderly, with Alzheimer's or dementia, displaced or refugees.

The studio announced that MoMA will incorporate nine pieces from the 'Synthetic Memories' initiative into its collection. Launched in 2022, the project focuses on generating images for individuals such as the elderly, those with Alzheimer's or dementia, and displaced or refugee populations. Each artwork is a collaborative effort: a person describes a memory to an interviewer, whose prompts are then translated for an image-generating AI model to approximate the recollection. The studio emphasizes that the final images are not intended to be photographic replicas but rather dreamlike evocations, with blurred faces, that "only evoke, not substitute" the memory.

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The final image is not intended to imitate a photograph, but rather reconstructs a memory with a dreamlike appearance and blurs the faces of the people involved in it, making it clear that it only 'evokes, not substitutes' it.

Pau Aleikum Garcia, co-founder and director of Domestic Data Streamers, stated that the project serves as both a platform for communities striving to preserve individual and collective memory and a critical reflection on the evolving uses of generative AI. The memories featured in the MoMA exhibition span diverse decades and contexts, including the struggle for LGBTQ+ rights during the Franco regime in Spain and the dictatorship in Chile under Augusto Pinochet. Other works highlight immigrant experiences, such as a woman's clandestine journey from Korea to Brazil, and intimate moments like walks after a flood in Valencia or family fishing nights in Dubai.

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The project functions both as a platform for communities struggling to preserve individual and collective memory and as a critical reflection on how the dominant uses of generative AI are changing.

"We work with data, but above all, we work with people: with what they remember, with what they know, and with that which often finds no place to be told," Aleikum noted. These pieces will be showcased as part of 'Full Disclosure: The Edge of Information Design,' MoMA's first exhibition dedicated to information design, running from September 27, 2026, to June 13, 2027. The exhibition will feature approximately thirty works, including pieces by artists like Kate Crawford, Vladan Joler, and the agency Forensic Architecture.

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We work with data, but above all, we work with people: with what they remember, with what they know, and with that which often finds no place to be told.