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Project Summary

The Linq Hotel + Experience, completed June 2019, is the casino of the future, merging augmented digital art with audiovisual experiences. DATALAND features over 160 displays and several thousand square feet of Unilumin LED in this first-of-its-kind AV system and showcases designs by media artist Refik Anadol. This experience actively collects data by measuring guests’ locations and actions, converts this data to flowing, beautiful images, and outputs onto a digital canvas for said guest to interact with. These digital canvases display constantly changing and never-repeating art and also serve as digital wayfinding, collaborative AV, and kinetic architecture.

Caesars Entertainment’s goal was to design a space and experience that catered to a new generation of casino-goers. These users demand unique, shareable, immersive experiences- this first and only of its kind experiential audiovisual deployment does that and more. The LINQ's transformation began last fall with the opening of The Book, the next generation of race and sports book, and continued with the introduction of the all-new integrated Strip-side RE:MATCH bar, both worked on by McCann Systems. The digital art exhibition by Refik Anadol winds throughout the casino floor, outside towards the strip, and all around the architecture. Virtual reality, hologram gaming, Esports, interactive multi-stage entertainment, arcade games, the Pulse Arena, rentable Fan Caves, and social media integration are all featured in the LINQ, weaving the art into the enhanced experience and making a synthetic, mixed reality art and AV project.

A personal favorite of the space: when a jackpot hits in the art installation area, an entire AV takeover happens. Lighting changes, special music plays (usually "money" related), and the video and art programming changes to show raining dollar bills and coins. This turns a personal jackpot into a shareable, community event, and is easily my favorite part of DATALAND and the Linq installation. This is functional, interactive, larger than life art that you can literally walk through, and still excels at its main purpose of enhancing the architecture and environment and wayfinding. The artwork itself is incredibly pleasing and (especially in the mirrored wall and ceiling vestibules) leaves one wondering just how Refik, McCann Systems, and Caesars did it, provoking interest in the technology, data, and AV all at once. It can be enjoyed simply as art or as an informative experience.