AI, Curation and Cultural InfrastructuresFriday 13 November 2026, 17:00 – 18:45

Making Exhibition Archives Legible: A Tool for AI-Assisted Curatorial Inquiry

  • Christian BabskiResearch Scientist ECAL / University of Art and Design Lausanne
  • Patrick KellerAssociate Professor in Media and Interaction Design; Researcher ECAL / University of Art and Design Lausanne

Working as researchers within the Swiss National Science Foundation-supported project Paik Replayed (www.paikreplayed.org), their broader research investigates the evolution of online and hybrid exhibition practices since the public appearance of the web, alongside the digitisation of non-digital-native art. Works by Nam June Paik serve as primary case studies for this investigation.

A central component of their methodology involves constructing a selective historical archive (1993–present) to map curatorial trajectories and establish a distinct taxonomy. This repository also functions as a structural framework to explore the transition from conventional database architectures (content, interface) to secure, locally queried natural language models (LLMs). The tools resulting from this work critically evaluate the creative and curatorial implications of standard versus LLM-driven methodologies.

Panel

AI, Curation and Cultural Infrastructures

Friday 13 November 2026, 17:00 – 18:45

Chair: Lívia Nolasco-Rózsás — UCL Computational Media Research

AI, Curation and Cultural Infrastructures examines how artificial intelligence is reshaping the conditions, practices, and infrastructures of contemporary cultural production and curatorial work. The panel brings together perspectives on the ways AI systems intervene in processes of selection, classification, interpretation, mediation, and knowledge production, while also asking how their underlying computational infrastructures transform cultural institutions themselves. Rather than approaching AI simply as a new curatorial tool, the panel considers the material, political, and epistemological conditions through which these technologies operate, including data, platforms, labour, energy, and systems of governance. It explores how curators and cultural producers might critically engage with AI while developing alternative forms of curatorial agency, institutional responsibility, and building the digital commons.

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