We are excited to announce a PhD scholarship for research into creative AI in artistic and curatorial practice in collaboration with the Serpentine Gallery funded by LAHP. We welcome applicants from the field of new media studies, art and gallery studies, science and technology studies, scholarship and professional practice in visual and media arts and other fields linked to creative AI and machine learning. Advanced AI expertise is not needed but we are looking for someone who can demonstrate academic achievements to study creative AI, AI as a new medium and/or new media art as these are the project’s relevant subject areas. If you are curious to study the role of this new medium in art and society with particular attention to the challenges it poses for art institutions from an academic perspective in theory and practice at the Serpentine, you should apply [full project description here].
Focus of the research project
Machine learning has had a transformational impact on the corporate world while the cultural sector is still in need of acquiring adequate ‘media literacy’ to engage with this technology. The aim of the PhD project is to tackle the existing gap in media literacy around AI and to offer a much-needed foundation from which cultural institutions may play a pivotal role in offering a space for societal critique and reflection. Curators and cultural institutions often struggle to understand the technology’s functioning and its creative capacity, holding cultural actors back from much needed engagement – the need to reflect on the societal impact of this technology critically but also creatively has been recognised widely. This interdisciplinary PhD project will research and synthesize knowledge production by linking scholarly research with cultural initiatives, in particular the Creative AI lab, generating guidance for the wider cultural sector. Part of the research project is practice-based in the form of an embedded study working with the Serpentine’s Digital Commissions and Research & Development Team responsible for developing and presenting artistic projects that are engaging advanced technologies. Continue reading “Call for PhD scholarship applications ‘Creative AI as a medium in artistic and curatorial practice’”