Digital artist Refik Anadol has created a new work that merges artificial intelligence, sport, and emotion, this time built around soccer player Lionel Messi’s personal history. The piece, titled Living Memory: Messi – A Goal in Life, is based on Mr. Messi’s favorite goal: his header in the 2009 UEFA Champions League Final. The artwork captures the emotional and physical details of that moment using data and AI to build a fully immersive experience.
The work will be auctioned in a dedicated Christie’s online sale from July 8 to 22. Visitors can experience it in person at a free exhibition at Christie’s New York in Rockefeller Center, open from July 12 to 22. All proceeds from the sale will support nonprofit organizations, including the Inter Miami CF Foundation’s global partnership with UNICEF. The initiative helps expand access to quality education in five countries across Latin America and the Caribbean.
The pro-athlete, Mr. Messi, said, “It’s an honor to join forces with the Inter Miami Foundation for a good cause – I feel privileged to be able to do so. This project means a lot to me, not only because it recalls a special moment in my career, but also because, thanks to such a unique artist like Refik, it can help improve the lives of others who truly need it.”
Mr. Anadol used an open-source motion-tracking framework to map seventeen points of Messi’s body, building a digital reconstruction of his movement during the goal. This was layered with biometric data—his voice, breath, heartbeat, and emotional indicators pulled from interviews—to shape a soundscape that mirrors Messi’s physical and emotional state in that instant. The result is an eight-minute work presented in 16K resolution, designed as an immersive viewing experience that gives people a chance to revisit the memory not just visually, but physically and emotionally.
Mr. Anadol said, “For me, this work is about transforming the data from Messi’s favorite goal into living memory – something that we have never done before. We’ve taken millions of data points – visuals, sounds, physiological signals – from one of football’s most iconic moments and turned them into a pioneering art experience. This isn’t about nostalgia. It’s about reliving the depth of that split second: what Messi felt, what the crowd felt, and what it meant to the world. This AI Data Sculpture work redefines how we experience memory through art.”
Ximena Caminos, Cultural Placemaker and Curator of the project, described it as a bridge between sport and memory that gives form to collective emotion. “Anadol transforms Messi’s iconic goal into a true time capsule – amplifying a historic moment in football and inviting viewers to not only witness memory, but to step inside it. For nearly a decade, he has been on the forefront of creating a new artistic language where memory becomes material, empathy becomes spatial, and art becomes a portal into shared consciousness. It is exciting to witness the expansion of this language into the world of sports.”
The work will also be featured during Christie’s Art+Tech Summit, taking place July 16–17 at Radio City Music Hall. The buyer will receive the digital file and a certificate of authenticity co-signed by Messi and Anadol.
Isabella Lauria, Christie’s Senior Vice President and Head of 21st Century Evening Sale, said, “It is a privilege to work alongside once-in-a-generation talents Leo Messi and Mr. Anadol to both celebrate their achievements and present an innovative, memorable, moving masterpiece of creativity at auction for a good cause. Christie’s prides itself on working with exceptional objects and with passionate collectors and creators, and this project is the ultimate example. We are so proud of the role we have played in this incredible collaboration and look forward to welcoming the public to a free, immersive exhibition of this work at Rockefeller Center in July.”
Living Memory: Messi – A Goal in Life follows Anadol’s earlier digital work Living Architecture: Casa Batlló, which sold for $1.4 million at auction in 2022. This latest piece takes a personal, emotionally charged moment in sport and turns it into something that can be seen, heard, and felt. It doesn’t just document the goal—it rebuilds the intensity of it in real time. The project brings together data, memory, and emotion in a way that pushes the boundaries of what digital art can be, and places it firmly within the space where creativity and purpose meet.
