Artificial Intelligence (AI) and algorithmic technologies now permeate almost every aspect of our lives, making it essential to examine their impact on knowledge creation, the environment, and society. Popular applications like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Midjourney have brought AI into mainstream culture, but a deeper interdisciplinary understanding of other algorithms and their effects is still needed. The Artificial Worlds group aims to fill this gap by fostering critical engagement with these pressing issues. While many initiatives focus on technical solutions, interdisciplinary perspectives—particularly in applied contexts—are often neglected.

Artificial Worlds provides a collaborative space for artists and researchers to come together, discuss the challenges AI presents, and explore how these issues intersect with their own practices. Addressing topics such as biases, labour extraction, resource depletion, and environmental impact, the group encourages transdisciplinary approaches to critically engage with and reflect on these complex topics.

Since 2022, the group has been centred around open research sessions, where guest artists and researchers are invited to design exercises or workshops that reflect on and creatively explore AI in relation to their practice and the materials that emerge from it. In this way, we seek to create a space for exploration and critical reflection that departs and connects to the often-overlooked materiality of algorithmic technologies. 

As Katherine Hayles puts it: “responsible theorizing about [artificial intelligence] requires close attention to the materiality of bodies and computational media, a clear understanding of the recursive feedback loops cycling between them, and contextualizations of bodies and machines that reveal how meaning is created through the cascading processes that interpret information.” (p. 155, Cybernetics). 

These sessions are organised and led by researcher and artist Mariana Fernández Mora. Participants include Ada Popowicz, Akash Sheshadri, Andy Dockett, Angelo Custodio, Asa Horvitz, Barbara Visser, Benjamin Schoonenberg, Carlo De Gaetano, Claudio Celis Bueno, Elki Boerdam, Evelyn Wan, Flavia Dzodan, Janine Armin, Jordi Viader Guerrero, Lisa Meijer, Liza Federmesser, Luis Lecea, Maarten Groen, Marcelo Agustin Martinez, Mariana Lanari, Martina Raponi, Paula Albuquerque, Pei-Sze Chow, Rahel Koch, Roosje Klap, Sabine Niederer, Sara Nuta, Saskia Robben, Somaya Ben Allouch, Sonia de Jager, Sophie Horsman, Špela Petrič, Tommaso Campagna, Vera Van Der Burg, and Zachary Formwalt among others. ‍

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Public Events & Participation

Artificial Worlds events are announced through the ARIAS Calendar, the newsletter, and social media channels, and are open to anyone who is interested in participating. Read more about past events by using the filter AW and search bar on sub themes on our main page. Artists and researchers who want to engage in further exchange are welcome to join both the  group and our shared research activities.