Philippe Parreno's AI-driven retrospective transforms Serralves Museum into a living ecosystem

Philippe Parreno's exhibition 'A Time Coloured Space' at the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art in Porto from 3 February to 7 May 2017 reimagined the museum as an animated entity. The French artist filled the Álvaro Siza-designed building with serial works, including over 200 Fireflies (2012–16) drawings on hotel letterhead and 10,000 Speech Bubbles (1997–) suspended from ceilings. AC/DC Snakes (1995–2010), Happy Ending lamps (2014–16), and Fraught Times: For Eleven Months of the Year it's an Artwork and in December it's Christmas (2008–16) trees populated the spaces. An artificial intelligence attempted to learn Dmitri Shostakovich's Fugue no. 24 in D minor (1950–1), with a Disklavier piano playing the results in the auditorium. This AI generated a 3D film, 'A Time Coloured Space' (2017), and controlled the gallery's lighting, sound, and window blinds. Parreno's approach shifted from baroque grandeur to spectral minimalism, emphasizing timbre and absence. The exhibition functioned as a landscape of eternal recurrence, with artworks engaging in silent conversation. Parreno delegated choreography to designed systems, making quasi-objects participants in the event. The show marked a development in his work, following earlier projects like his 2013 Palais de Tokyo exhibition and 2016 Turbine Hall commission. First published in ArtReview's April 2017 issue, the retrospective highlighted Parreno's ongoing interest in architecture and event fusion.