Founded as an AI-assisted exploration of pop culture and branding, this project constructs a fictional K-pop group as a fully realized brand system, integrating music, visuals, and merchandise. For Sónar+D, the project created TU-L1P, a group whose name fuses the natural symbolism of a tulip with the coded language of digital culture.

The debut album, Photosynthesis, extends this concept through AI-generated imagery, member identities, and a range of merchandise that includes tulip-shaped lightsticks, collectible photocards, and character-based products inspired by stylized birds representing each member. A special edition of the album containing tulip seeds further connects the physical object to the group’s conceptual identity. An AI-generated title track, developed through iterative prompt design, completes the audiovisual experience.

The project developed by Ceyda Balcı investigates how contemporary pop culture brands can emerge from hybrid human–AI workflows. Music, visual identity, and merchandise operate as an interconnected system: each element interacts with the others to create a cohesive experience where AI augments human creative direction. TU-L1P exemplifies the potential of algorithmically assisted design to shape not just music, but the entire narrative and aesthetic universe of a fictional idol group.