The Salvador Dali Museum is going to revive the artist.

An extraordinary project is launching the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersberg, Florida. Starting in April, visitors will have the opportunity to learn more about the life and work of the artist from the person who knew him best – himself.

A new project called Dali Lives “revives” the surrealist through artificial intelligence (AI) technology. The artist’s image will communicate with viewers from several screens throughout the exhibition space.
The project is timed to coincide with the 30th anniversary of Salvador Dali’s death, which falls in 2019.
Justifying an ethically ambiguous move, Museum Director Hank Hein quotes the master himself: “If I ever die, which is unlikely, I hope people in the cafe will say, ‘Dali died, but not quite’. “In addition to our unprecedented collection of works, this technology will allow visitors to get to know his vast personality,” added Hein.

The “virtual Dali” was created by Goodby Silverstein & Partners (GS&P), an advertising agency in San Francisco. The algorithm was “trained” on hundreds of interviews, quotes and archival materials collected by the museum; the machine also mastered the artist’s facial expressions. Then an actor similar to Dali was invited, and in accordance with the face and manners of this man artificial intelligence has generated the image of a surrealist. Visitors will hear the actor’s true quotes of Dali himself, as well as lines to the evil of the day.
Salvador Dali. A gala contemplating the Mediterranean Sea, which from 20 meters is transformed into a portrait of Abraham Lincoln. Tribute to Rothko (version two)

This is not the first time that the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg is collaborating with GS&P. The first example was the project “The Gala contemplates you” at the exhibition in 2014. Then selfies of visitors turned into a projected full-scale copy of the monumental painting of 1976 “Gala contemplating the Mediterranean Sea, which from 20 meters is transformed into a portrait of Abraham Lincoln. Tribute to Rothko”.

Two years later was presented the virtual reality of “Dreams of Dali”, which takes viewers in the painting “Archaeological echo of” Angelus “Mille. It is now part of the museum’s permanent exhibition.