TURBO.INSTITUTE Los Angeles · New York
Art · Media · Technology · AI · Hacker Culture

TURBO INSTITUTE: ACCELERATE

Turbo is an AI-native cultural R&D lab for art, technology, and discourse in the Arts District of Los Angeles, built on John Threat's Zero Day Society thesis. Picture 2600/Phrack meeting Andy Warhol's Factory. We synthesize hackers, artists, technologists, industry, and the public into experiences that explore and shape the next 100 years of art, technology, and futuring, and inspire the imagination.

Founded 2024 19 programs to date Seat: DTLA Working edition: turbo.cheap ↗
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Why Turbo? spinning turbo tire vrrrrrooom.

We're incubating the cultural movements that will define how society relates to artificial intelligence and emergent technologies in this new era.

The artists experimenting in our space today will be the voices shaping public perception of AI and robotics and art and the future. Just as consumer turntables birthed hip-hop, affordable Casio keyboards created electronic music, and camcorders launched indie film, and home computers created hacker culture; all of them spanned global cultures and billion dollar industries; accessible AI tools, open source LLMs, robots, drones are spawning entirely new art forms and culture.

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Program archive

19 programs · 2024 → now
✱Featured · Exhibition

DOLL HOUSE

Doll House aerial view Doll House drone shot Doll House night view

A living exhibition of thirty artists housed inside a single giant structure. Each window opens onto a different world. Thirty windows, thirty worlds, one house.

✱Featured · Jam · Performance

VIBE CODE JAM

Vibe Code Jam live coding on stage Vibe Code Jam audience Vibe Code Jam projection visuals

Live AI coding as performance art. Artists build complete applications in 8 minutes from audience prompts. Created by John Threat at RIP SPACE LA, scaled to 1,400 attendees with Rhizome and Anthropic.

✱Featured · Partner Night

404 MEDIA

404 Media panel on the couch 404 Media crowd 404 Media DJ set

A night with 404 Media, the journalist-owned publication reporting on the humans behind technology. Conversations on surveillance, hacking, and the fight for an independent internet, in collaboration with Turbo Cheap.

016Assembly · Sep 26, 2025

THE ART OF BED

Chloë Langford (Fantasia Malware), Alice Yuan Zhang, Huntrezz Janos, Amorette Muzingo

The Art of Bed, performer at the laptop with projected poetry The Art of Bed, performers gathered on the bed The Art of Bed, reclining performance before the dating-app screen

An evening dedicated to live performance, experimentation, and collective presence. Artists exploring language, code, intimacy, and interaction through live and networked media. Featuring sound-poems with loop machines, interactive community building, live poetry, and a performance on digital intimacy.

015Program · Sep 19-21, 2025

REALLY RADICAL RETURN 2 SCHOOL

Yuehao Jiang, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, Nat Decker, Maisa Imamović

Really Radical Return 2 School, LoRa radio and mesh networks talk Really Radical Return 2 School, radio spectrum workshop Really Radical Return 2 School, screening and discussion

RIP SPACE's first experimental curriculum program: a three-day series of workshops and discussions responding to LA's social, political, and environmental upheaval. Artists engaging with political pedagogy explore how technology can support collective learning, mutual aid, and tools for action.

014Exhibition · Jul 26 - Aug 3, 2025

THE SHAPE OF TIME

Errare Studio (Se Young Au + Kaitlyn Darby)

The Shape of Time, gathering around the central installation The Shape of Time, opening night crowd The Shape of Time, packed opening reception

An immersive sensory exhibition exploring the intersection of digital and embodied worlds through scent, textiles, sound, and digital imagery. California-iconic fragrances act as portals into layered temporalities, inviting a return to grounded, earth-bound awareness in the face of accelerated modern life.

013Assembly · Jun 28, 2025

SYNTHESIS ASSEMBLY

alsoknownasrox, melanie hoff, Drew Sensue-Weinstein, Huntrezz Janos

Synthesis Assembly, live performance at the LED wall Synthesis Assembly, audience and projection Synthesis Assembly, collaborative vibe coding jam

An evening of performance and improvisation with sound, coding, digital tools, and collaborative AI systems. Exploring hybrid ecologies through human-machine convergence, featuring multimedia performances and a collaborative vibe coding jam where creators interact with machine learning through intuitive prompts.

012Assembly · May 24, 2025

EXHAUSTED APOCALYPSES: AND THE RADICAL IMAGINARY OF ENDS

Riley Gold, Ezekiel Dixon-Román, Tara McPherson, Kai-Luen Lian

Exhausted Apocalypses, projected portrait Exhausted Apocalypses, reading before the LED wall Exhausted Apocalypses, in-conversation before the LED wall

A program asking if rational imagination can speak to the finitude of capital. When real alternatives are absent from social media and critical projects have abandoned the possibility of other worlds, what role does fiction and its technologies play in conceptualizing endings and beginnings?

011Partner · Mar 22, 2025

A RADIANT FUTURE | EPOCH'S 5TH ANNIVERSARY

Claudia Brăileanu, Ceren Su Çelik, Chris Coleman, Harriet Davey, Sophie Kahn, Parag K. Mital, nouseskou, Yoshi Sodeoka

A Radiant Future, Three Mile Island 3D model on the LED wall A Radiant Future, opening crowd with VR headsets A Radiant Future, participating artists

RIP SPACE x EPOCH celebrate five years of the visionary virtual exhibition space. A RADIANT FUTURE brings together eight internationally acclaimed artists envisioning tomorrow within a speculative 3D model of Three Mile Island, reimagined as a revitalized facility powering Microsoft's AI initiatives in 2028.

010Exhibition · Feb 21-23, 2025

OPEN WORLD

Yuehao Jiang, John Threat, Kira Xonorika, Huntrezz Janos + Antigoni Tsagkaropoulou

Open World, robot dog performance Open World, adventure game projection Open World, forest game screening

Artists using exploratory technologies to tell stories of care, connection, climate futures, and collective survival. Works challenge boundaries between human, non-human, and digital worlds through atmospheric adventure games, robot dog performances, collective decision-making games, and XR technologies.

009Solo Exhibition · Jan 19 - Feb 9, 2025

SHININHO DOCKING

Yaloo

Shininho Docking, crowd before the hologram fan displays Shininho Docking, installation view in blue and magenta light Shininho Docking, Yaloo's holographic installation

A solo exhibition by Korean multimedia artist Yaloo exploring identity, cultural memory, and mythology. Inspired by the artist's grandmother reimagined as a K-pop idol and pirate ship captain, featuring holograms, 3D animations, sculptures, and soundscapes drawing on Pacific Rim maritime trade routes.

008Assembly · Dec 12, 2024

INTERNET PRESENT TENSE: WHO BUILDS THE WEB??

Amad Ansari, Xin Xin, John Threat, Nora Khan, Amanda Beech, Algorythm.Code

Internet Present Tense, conversation in front of the LED wall Internet Present Tense, full room with CRT installation Internet Present Tense, on-stage talk at the LED wall

An evening of talks, demos, and live performances exploring Cyberfeminism, hacker culture, and their impact on computation and internet ethics. Examining how interface tools are no longer the sole domain of professional developers but are shaped by artists, users, diverse cultures, and social movements.

007Exhibition · Oct 12, 2024

FROM URL TO IRL

New Art City x RIP SPACE: Nat Decker, Carrie Chen, Kiki Wu, Soto Sosa x Kat Sung, Serene Blumenthal, Yuehao Jiang, Alice Yuan Zhang

From URL to IRL, crowd and screens From URL to IRL, CRT and projection From URL to IRL

RIP SPACE teams with New Art City for a group exhibition showcasing an offline archive of virtual spaces by LA-based new media artists. Connecting cyber and IRL communities through New Art City's Memory Terminal, the collection spans early lockdown-era works to the present day.

006Exhibition · Sep 13-22, 2024

ECO ENCODED

Isabel Beavers, Mischa Kuma, Qianqian Ye + Tiare Ribeaux, John Threat

Eco Encoded Eco Encoded, particle cloud projection Eco Encoded, pallet CRT installation

A media-based exhibition transforming Rip Space into an immersive sonic and visual environment where 3D animation, AI, and experimental sound explore deep connections between humanity, nature, and technology. Synthesizing environmental research on deep ocean mining, oil extraction, and ocean noise pollution into speculative eco-futures.

005Exhibition · Aug 30 - Sep 7, 2024

RIB SPACE

Emory Hall, Chris Johst

Rib Space, serving the ribs Rib Space, BBQ projection and sculpture Rib Space, gallery crowd

A collaboration experimenting with the boundaries of reality in which men grill to win. Featuring real and AI-generated BBQ imagery, edible ribs served on stainless steel sculptures, and 3D-printed trophies recalling the aesthetics of American BBQ competitions. A postcard of latent hyper-masculinity and speculation of future food.

004Performance · Jun 1-2, 2024

SUPERPROMPT

Sarah Rothberg, strangejane x danielfromyesterday

Superprompt Superprompt Superprompt, live violin performance

The LA premiere of Sarah Rothberg's SUPERPROMPT, exploring how speech and communication are mediated through technology. Varying conversational interfaces between humans and AI avatars experiment with large language models, culminating in an interactive chatbot encounter and live electronic music performance.

003Program · Mar 30, 2024

TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE // TO FORGE OR NOT TO FORGE

Maya Man, Maisa Imamović

Too Good to be True, Maya Man lecture Too Good to be True, Little Ugly / MOCA Too Good to be True

A day of cyberfeminist programming centered on authenticity and online identity. Maya Man's lecture on algorithms, self-performance, and the absurdity of crafting identities online, paired with Maisa Imamović's hands-on coding workshop on web page forgery and urgent publishing.

002Screening · Mar 2, 2024

VIP RIP

Casey Kauffmann, Wednesday Kim, Cassie McQuater, Ásgerður "Ása" Arnardóttir

VIP RIP screening wall VIP RIP installation VIP RIP crowd

In the spirit of Frieze Week LA, works reflecting personal experience filtered through the sensory deluge of content, media, and information. Screened works exploring viral fame, social anxiety, and feminist browser-based gaming, accompanied by an installation and live DJ set by Ice Wall.

001Launch · Feb 1, 2024

GEN ZEIT

John Threat, Drew Sensue-Weinstein

Gen Zeit, opening crowd Gen Zeit Gen Zeit

The inaugural event celebrating the launch of Rip Space with the premiere of Gen Zeit, a generative AI hacker artwork. A mixed media installation using AI and coding software to listen to conversations, convert voice to text, and generate images as output, accompanied by an audience-reactive soundscape.

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We worked with

RIP SPACE
Rhizome
404 Media
Anthropic
New Art City
EPOCH
Bitforms Gallery
Gray Area
UCLA
CalArts
USC
FWB

Collaborate, fund, or host.

Turbo partners with institutions, galleries, publishers, and funders to stage programs, mount residencies, and bring the work to new rooms. If you're building at the edge of art and technology, there's a seat for you.

Partner with us See what's on ↗
Contact
Email
hello@turbo.institute
Instagram
@turbocheap ↗
GitHub
github.com/turbocheap ↗
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Seat
Los Angeles · New York
Live
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