Food for Thought Inspiration Session

The value of art in AI

AI is everywhere and its influence on our daily lives is profound. For instance, images are increasingly manipulated, AI controls the light in our homes and influences our political choices.

But is AI really capable of being creative? Can it come up with new ideas? And to what extent can AI reflect on ethical issues? It is precisely these relevant angles where the value of art becomes apparent.

From the CoE Creative Innovation, the research group Creative Media for Social Change -part of the Centre for Applied Research FDMCI- together with Team Kallenbach set up a research collaboration with Breitner Academy on 'The value of art in AI'. Team Kallenbach supervised two groups of third-year students within Breitner's Digital Art(s) (Un)Plugged minor, each of whom developed a creative intervention.

These two student groups tackled questions around 'human-centred digitisation', such as: what is the current functioning and role of AI and its impact in society? In addition, the project was about developing media users' understanding and ownership in order to strengthen joint interpretation of AI's social role.

This approach dovetailed with the objectives of project AICON of which Team Kallenbach is project lead. AICON is an initiative of Erasmus University in cooperation with the City of Rotterdam and the Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie in which artists, scientists and residents collectively investigate the social implications of AI.

This Food for Thought session will take you through the findings of these projects. We explore the social impact of AI and learn how we as citizens can be more resilient in the changing media landscape.

Creative research and the logic of prompting

Previous studies have used 'generative AI' to frame creative research, in which stories were co-authored. But how well does AI actually work as a co-author in creative research? And what happens when you start such a process together?

From the Centre of Applied Research of the Faculty of Digital Media and Creative Industry (FDMCI) at AUAS, Jeroen de Vos and Maarten Groen will guide an interactive session, where participants can explore generative AI and the logic of prompting for themselves.

More background information on this topic can be found via 'The Art in Artificial: AI as Co-Creation Storytelling Device'.

About the speakers

Nanna Kassenaar and Annemiek Mi-Jin de Groote together form Team Kallenbach: an independent organisation dedicated to curation, concept development, process supervision of projects at the intersection of art and society.

The projects are very diverse, ranging from murals, publications and campaigns to events and exhibitions, among others. What they have in common is that they all have social relevance and the process is as important as the result.

Participation, transdisciplinary collaboration and co-creation are the basis for shaping the projects. Team Kallenbach is project lead of AICON: an Erasmus University initiative to collectively investigate the social impact of AI. AICON is a broader collaboration with partners such as Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie, municipality of Rotterdam, TU Delft and the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS).

Nanna and Annemiek are making their presentation together with two students from the Breitner Academy in Amsterdam North: Puck van der Velden and Noor Valstar.

Within the Centre for Applied Research FDMCI, Jeroen de Vos is a lecturer-researcher in the research group Creative Media for Social Change. There, he works on developing creative participatory research for empowering citizens in a changing media landscape.

He has a background in cultural anthropology and media studies and in recent years has been working within both theoretical and applied media research. Jeroen is also affiliated with the Digital Methods Initiative at the University of Amsterdam.

Maarten Groen is lecturer-researcher at two research groups: Visual Methodologies and Responsible IT. He conducts research on collecting and analysing data from the city from different perspectives.

For instance, he develops tools and methods to collect and interpret data together with residents.

He also works on data analysis projects in which large amounts of data from the city are analysed using, for example, image recognition algorithms. Maarten teaches at HBO-ICT.

Creative Media for Social Change

Want to know more about the Creative Media for Social Change research group at the Centre for Applied Research FDMCI? Then take a look at this portal.

Centre of Expertise Creative Innovation

If you are curious what exactly the CoE Creative Innovation does, you can find more information on the website.

Expo 'Queer as the Ocean'

A time when people and water ecosystems are one? And that represented in a fashion shoot? That seems impossible ... or does it?

From 15 to 26 April, you can check out the exhibition 'Queer as the Ocean' on weekdays between 10am and 4pm. visualised by Carlo De Gaetano. He is a researcher at the research group Visual Methodologies (FDMCI).

Carlo created the images in collaboration with Midjourney. Come see this experimental project @FLOOR where the Food for Thought is also taking place.