Frictions, overlaps, and productive tensions: Embodiment in Creative AISaturday 14 November 2026, 10:00 – 11:15

Excessive Data

  • Roberto BottazziAssociate Professor / MArch UD Programme Director, The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL

Through algorithmic manipulation, AI models produce and augment data to generate representations that are greater than the reality captured through the training data. The talk identifies in such excessive representations the area in which creativity can be explored and a tension between embodiment and abstraction can be located. Examples from art and urban design will support the argument.

Panel

Frictions, overlaps, and productive tensions: Embodiment in Creative AI

Saturday 14 November 2026, 10:00 – 11:15

Chairs: Fiona Zisch — UCL The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL; UCL Network for Creative AI, Annarita Papeschi — UCL The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL; UCL Network for Creative AI

AI research often approaches machine intelligence through frameworks that abstract cognition from bodies, spaces, and materiality. Yet embodiment remains a central concern across AI research and creative practice. This session explores the frictions, overlaps, and productive tensions between different understandings of the relationship between cognition, bodies, and environments. Through creative and critical AI practices, the discussion will examine how different approaches intersect, challenge, and inform one another, considering how these intersections might unsettle established distinctions between human and machine intelligence.

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