Salvador Dalí Museum in Florida Plans $38M Expansion with AI and AR Spaces

The Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, has announced a $38 million expansion project that includes a 400-space parking garage and 1,800 square meters of new exhibition space. The museum, originally founded in 1982 and housed in a building designed by Yann Weymouth since 2011, will add a wing dedicated to artificial intelligence and augmented reality experiences. Construction is expected to take two years. The museum has requested $17.5 million in funding from Pinellas County, proposing to use revenue from a 6% tourist tax on accommodations. The expansion coincides with the launch of "Dalí Lives," an AI-powered digital clone of Salvador Dalí that interacts with visitors, created using hundreds of interviews, videos, and archival materials. The project was developed by an algorithm that superimposes a realistic face onto an actor's body, reviving the artist who died on January 23, 1989.