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ELIA Biennial 2024 Agenda
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ELIA Biennial 2024 Programme

Programme Booklet

Venue: NABA Campus, Via Carlo Darwin, 20, Milan

09:00 – 18:30
Registration open
09:30 – 11:00
Parallel ELIA sessions

Mind the Gap

ELIA’s Working Group Arts in Education teams up with colleagues from the ECCITE project to focus on the gap between secondary education and higher arts education. This is a gap that some students can never bridge, be it for cultural or economic reasons. Some institutions try to minimise this access gap by integrating a secondary school into their organisations, others offer full-time preparatory courses. Does everyone get an equal chance? And what about preparation for the professional field, how does this take place? Are these ‘gaps’ the same across Europe or are there different approaches to dealing with them? Come and see the presentation on the ECCITE project and discover good practice, with colleagues from the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, the Ernst-Litfass-Schule for vocational education Berlin and University of Plymouth International College. Working group chair Ana Telles will lead a panel discussion and the debate with the audience.

09:30 – 12:30
Parallel ELIA sessions

Towards a Manifesto for Critical Openness in Artistic Research

For more than a decade, open science has been a key topic on the international research policy agenda. The concept is based on fundamental norms about the democratisation of knowledge, the quality of research, contributions to sustainable development of society, and political justification for public use of resources. Conditions have changed and openness in artistic research must be met with a critical awareness of openness vs. opacity.
ELIA’s working group for Artistic Research invites the community to reflect on these questions through a series of open informal meetings as a build-up to the Milan conference. The platform meeting in Milan will be the physical milestone on the way to a possible manifesto for Critical Openness in Artistic Research.

The status of 3rd cycle programmes in the arts in Italy

Twenty-five years after the reform of higher education and the adaption of the European Quality, Italian Higher Arts Education Institutions have just been allowed to offer 3rd cycle degrees. This has consequences for educators, students, researchers, institutions, and beyond. Where lie the challenges? The platform meeting invites you to a round-table discussion.

ETHO is ELIA’s platform for technical staff and services, which aims to advance hands-on learning and innovation in all artistic disciplines through an inclusive community. The ETHO session will feature tours of NABA lab spaces (Fashion, Textile, Visual Arts, Design, Media), practical presentations, and open discussions around the topics of sustainability regarding textile materials, circular campus, and transitions and connections from the physical to the digital environment, as well as techniques related to virtual production in designing and developing new educational practices.

Higher arts education institutions are never monoculture. We can say this because there is a connection between art at all levels: local, regional, and international. The latter connection makes it interesting to investigate the cultural compositions of our institutions: students, teachers, and supporting staff. The main question is how we deal with the different cultural perspectives in our education, research, marketing, communication, and assessment. Intercultural awareness, understanding, and communication connected with internationalisation of curriculum are the main topics dealt with in this workshop. How does all the above relate to our purpose, aims, and ambitions in terms of internationalisation? Participants will draw a framework for internationalising art institutions and the different facets and aspects involved in art education and research.

11:30 – 12:30
Meet & mingle for newcomers
12:30 – 13:30

Lunch break


13:30 – 14:30
Optional activities

Art academies play a crucial role in nurturing creativity and artistic expression. However, they also bear the responsibility of minimising their environmental footprint. In this workshop, participants will explore practical strategies and the best practices for managing paint waste in art academy classrooms.
Workshop Objectives:

  • Gain insight into the environmental impact of paint waste in art education environments.
  • Learn effective methods for reducing, reusing, and recycling paint materials.
  • Explore innovative approaches for sustainable paint management in art academies.
  • Develop an action plan for implementing sustainable paint practices within participants' own institutions.


Participants will acquire practical knowledge, tools, and the inspiration to implement sustainable paint management practices in their own art academies, resulting in a more environmentally responsible and socially conscious approach to art education.
This workshop is designed to empower participants with the knowledge and resources they need to take proactive steps towards reducing paint waste and promoting sustainability within their art academy environments.
The workshop will be led by Katja van Strijk from Royal Talens.

Managing an art institution is uniquely complex, especially compared to other educational institutions. Timetabling, scheduling, room booking, and event management bring a unique level of complexity and need for flexibility. This session addresses these challenges, by introducing you to ASIMUT software, allowing you to concentrate on your core mission: nurturing world-class artists.
Shift focus from Logistics to Innovation: Enable your staff to focus on fostering creativity rather than being entangled in day-to-day logistics.
Collaborative Planning: Allow your staff to focus on creativity by streamlining operations with ASIMUT software. Create a resilient planning system, allowing everyone to contribute and communicate schedules clearly, even with last-minute changes.
Maximize Productivity: Envision your institution efficiently managing all activities, freeing up time for producing art, organizing performances, and curating exhibitions.
Enhance Resource Utilization: Gain insights on how spaces and resources are used into ensuring optimal use of them.
ASIMUT brings their experience working with over 80 academies of music, performing art, and visual art across 21 countries. ASIMUT invites you to work together to ensure that your staff and faculty can invest their time in what they do best: cultivating the next generation of artistic talent.

14:30 – 15:00
Informal opening
15:00 – 16:30
Parallel ELIA sessions

Higher arts education institutions are never monoculture. We can say this because there is a connection between art at all levels: local, regional, and international. The latter connection makes it interesting to investigate the cultural compositions of our institutions: students, teachers, and supporting staff. The main question is how we deal with the different cultural perspectives in our education, research, marketing, communication, and assessment. Intercultural awareness, understanding, and communication connected with internationalisation of curriculum are the main topics dealt with in this workshop. How does all the above relate to our purpose, aims, and ambitions in terms of internationalisation? Participants will draw a framework for internationalising art institutions and the different facets and aspects involved in art education and research.

As the rise of far-right ideologies and extremism gains momentum across Europe, equity, diversity, and inclusivity efforts in higher arts education are increasingly at risk. These movements not only challenge the values of openness and creativity that underpin the arts, but they also threaten the inclusive environments we strive to cultivate in our institutions.
This session aims to provide a space for arts educators, leaders and students to confront these pressing issues. We will explore how art institutions can stay resilient and uphold the values of justice and democracy amidst political changes. With sensitivity and honesty, we will examine the leadership, spaces, and mechanisms needed for meaningful conversations about the role of art institutions in countering these political developments.
We will start by sharing key insights from the Group's work over the past two years, highlighting efforts to advance EDI practices within higher arts education. Once grounded in the space, we will delve into real-world case studies highlighting the pressures on EDI initiatives in the face of rising extremism, illustrating how extremism and divisive ideologies are manifesting in higher arts education, placing our institutions under strain.
Through a series of World Café exercises, participants will work collectively to share experiences, explore the impacts on students, staff, and curricula, and co-create actionable strategies. Together, we will develop practical, community-driven responses to safeguard inclusivity and creativity in their institutions, by strengthening EDI practices in this increasingly polarised environment and explore ways to foster resilience, inclusivity, and solidarity in our institutions.
Join the session to collaboratively develop concrete strategies and a supportive network to sustain these vital discussions and actions beyond the Biennial. Let's explore what we can achieve together.
The session is co-curated and will be delivered by EDI Working Group members Cecilia Roos, Stockholm University of the Arts; Ankna Arockiam, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland; Mata Ayoub, Kingston University London, Kingston School of Art; Egija Inzule, Nida Art Colony Vilnius Art Academy; Ali Şahin, Willem de Kooning Academy / Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences; Núria Sempere, Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMUC); Ingrid Schacherl, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna; and ELIA Representative Board Member Pratāp Rughani, University of the Arts London.

Climate action, higher arts education, student voices, community outreach, innovation, as well as global and urban contexts all interconnect when we think about environmental sustainability. Arts universities have the potential to play a pivotal role in climate action. Students are vital actors, often the voice of change. Reducing institutions' negative impact/carbon footprint is already on the minds of many. It starts with revisiting our own practices and policies. Taking one step further, many arts universities are integrating sustainability skills and thinking into curricula. Should we also consider working with local communities, industries, and municipalities to boost innovation and creativity in climate crisis transition initiatives? During this session, you will hear stories from peers, students and ELIA’s Green Team about innovative projects such as the CrAFt Horizon Europe project on sustainable cities, the Erasmus+ project Envirology, and ELIA’s own eco-certification successes and challenges. Giving ample room to share your own stories, this session will be led by ELIA Representative Board member, Úna Henry.

The Policy and Funding session will highlight not-to-be-missed developments at the European level. Together, we will look ahead at what the higher arts education field can expect from EU institutions after the European Parliament elections in June 2024. Most importantly, we invite you to join conversations with colleagues and the ELIA Team about how and on which topics the ELIA community can stand together to make its voice heard by policymakers throughout Europe and beyond.

This interactive session will be a voyage from the ‘personal’ to the ‘professional’, ending with the ‘political’.
The session will begin with a short presentation of an ELIA survey on this theme (2018) and outcomes of the Disorderly Women Alliance. Then, we propose to focus on the following questions:

  • What are the main obstacles for women on their way to leadership positions, and is the educational sector different from other sectors?
  • Does female leadership exist, and if so, what are the skills? What are the differences compared to male leadership?
  • How can we achieve more equality (salary differences, blind spots in recruitment, etc.) and support new female talent in our sector?
  • What needs to be done?


The Disorderly Women Alliance, initiated in 2018, promotes and supports women working in leadership roles in the cultural sector in Europe by encouraging solidarity, raising visibility, and empowering both established and emerging generations.  The session will be led by Carla Delfos, founder of ELIA and Art Futures; Dr. Chrissie Tiller, teacher, thinker and activist; and Mercedes Giovinazzo, President of the BJCEM – Biennale des jeunes créateurs de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée.

David Crombie, HKU University of the Arts Utrecht, Netherlands
Soenke Zehle, HBKS, Academy of Fine Arts Saar, Germany

Ideas around artistic or creative intelligence are particularly valuable as this allows us to consider other intelligences, and artificial intelligence in particular. As our relationship with the machine changes, so does our individual and collective agency, and we must increasingly consider the degree of artificiality we are prepared to accept in different contexts. The CYANOTYPES project has developed a competence and skills capacity building model with a new dimension at its core: different types of agency. This session will present the Creative Agency Circle and describe the initial pilot ecosystems being deployed across Europe.

16:30 – 17:00
Coffee break
17:00 – 18:30
Parallel ELIA sessions

The world is facing numerous fundamental challenges that demand wisdom-infused solutions. The "know-how" of expanded generations must be included if we are to survive and thrive—from the full range of humans and non-humans who are physically present, to the generations of ancestors whom we have lost, to the unborn to whom we owe everything. How do we look back while looking ahead? How do we reflect and repair and feel joy in an uncertain present? Right now, we are in a tough situation. We fear future pandemics. We endure daily climate emergencies. We witness violent global conflict. We face digital disinformation. We fail refugee communities. We ignore pervasive loneliness. Mistrust in core institutions is at an all-time high, including parliaments, judiciaries, and even higher education. We need to change the status quo if we are to work holistically in efforts of “worlding” where all will have a voice in designing a better future. To this end, ELIA is committed to researching, employing, and pioneering new modes of generational thought and action that can bring youth and elders together, while also expanding our definition of “generationality” to look into the deep past, forward into unknown futures, and to learn from species other than our own. This session introduces the idea of the polylogue: a step beyond dialogue, the polylogue supports complex multi-vocal, cross-perspectival, and temporally rich conversations that dig deep and project far. ELIA’s supporting members identified the art school as a special place where generational conversation can thrive. The same could be said for ELIA itself – could the voices of many generations be meaningfully integrated in everything the network does? In the last year, Rebecca Duclos has researched what a sustainable generational dynamic might mean for ELIA and what disciplinary work for the organisation might look like. After providing a conceptual overview, Rebecca and colleagues will introduce just two projects in which ELIA is partner—the CrAFt project and Agents of Transformation—that are poised to move generational thinking outwards by looking at how higher arts education might change from within.

Immerse yourself in the outcomes of interdisciplinary workshops with NABA students, led by international educators. Get ready for the Arts Plural experience at NABA! Student centred learning in higher arts programs Ylva Hofvander Trulsson, Stockholm University of the Arts Revolutionising the Reel: AI's Role in Decolonising Cinema Érica Faleiro Rodrigues, Lusófona University Decoding Political Washing: How to Shape Critical Responses to Climate and Socioeconomic Urgencies via Role-Playing? Stéphane Blumer, Goldsmiths College

Nothing new— ELIA remains an extensive network of leaders and practitioners in higher arts education. And we all know and believe that art and artistic methodologies can be used to push ideas and innovation beyond common societal and sectoral expectations.
But what if we harnessed ELIA's strengths and vast networking potential to address our own personal challenges as we navigate our working practices. Whether you are a student, a lecturer or a C-level executive, this workshop asks how we can create space for experimentation and testing? What implications does generational learning hold for individuals and institutions? How can we assist individuals, institutions, and their partners in reshaping their operational landscapes?
Join us as we gather in Milan, utilising ELIA's resources and tapping into our collective experience and hive mind. Participants are encouraged to bring their own questions and challenges to the workshop so that we can collectively discuss effective solutions. We eagerly await your active participation. See you there!
Hosted by the working group currently known as ‘Careers in the Arts’.

ELIA’s UAx Platform was established in November 2022, precisely two years ago, to address some of the challenges encountered by Ukrainian higher arts education in the wake of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Supported financially by the Abakanowicz Arts and Culture Charitable Foundation (AACCF), the platform supports the capacity building of Ukrainian higher arts education institutions during periods of crisis and recovery, aiding war-affected Ukrainian art students to continue their degree studies. Central to the initiative is the establishment of an ELIA Sister School network. Each year between 2022 and 2025, UAx forms five new partnerships between five Ukrainian and five non-Ukrainian ELIA member institutions. In November 2024, UAx will announce the last open call for five ELIA member institutions to become Sister Schools. We invite you to join the UAx session at the ELIA Biennial Conference to learn about the key initiatives of the platform and how to get involved.

The Laboratory for Artistic Intelligence invites SKKG, Wider Sense and others to speak to the ways in which philanthropy has been ‘innovating’ and moving toward empowerment, participation, and trust-based philanthropy. Come to hear about the experimentation that is happening within funding circles, and offer your perspective on how there could be more creativity, fulfilment, risk-taking, and meaningful progress. In the future, what can funding be, and what can being funded mean for individual artists and art academies?

19:00
Dinner

Morning venue: Teatro Manzoni, Via Alessandro Manzoni, 40, Milan
Afternoon venue: NABA Campus, Via Carlo Darwin, 20, Milan

08:00 – 09:00
Registration & coffee
09:00 – 09:30
Official opening |HYBRID|

Featuring performances by Virginia Sutera and Ambra Pittoni

EXTEMPORA
Virginia Sutera
In the plurality of languages, the visual in music. Improvisation is the essence of music itself. Composition and performance happen in the same moment. Starting from evocations of place, visual hints, visual scores, the violinist Virginia Sutera will lead a performance between sounds and colors, notes and graphics, showing the infinite and plural connections between the arts; everything is score.Listening and the present are the key words.

The Air Talking
By Ambra Pittoni and Paul-Flavien Enriquez-Sarano
Restaged and performed by Ambra Pittoni
Air Talking is a lecture performance, inspired by Air Guitar, mimics famous guitar solos’ gestures and stage movements. Participants are judged on authenticity and interpretation, embracing simulation aesthetics without mastering techniques. It extends to simulating diverse events, maintaining simulation as a discipline. This withdrawal from socialization constructs a gestural system for a “third nature” strike, integrating simulation into reality. The performance explores collective behaviours’ economic implications through body expressions. Here we are, or almost. There is no more difference between work and life, between the private and the public, between production and its rest, between the intimate and the mundane. Our presence is perpetual and ineluctable. What does it mean to oppose, when the very act of opposing takes part in the staging of our performativity? Is it possible to strike from one's own existence? Which body will we need? Welcome to the Air Talking.

09:30 – 10:30
Opening keynote by Helen Yung |HYBRID|
10:30 – 11:00
Coffee break
11:00 – 12:30
Plenary session featuring Matilde Cassani, Alessandra Ferrini, Mauro Martino and Rebecca Moccia|HYBRID|
12:30 – 14:30
Lunch & transfer
14:30 – 16:30
Breakout Session 1 (parallel sessions)

EVOLVE

Alexandra Ross, The Glasgow School of Art / University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
Rob van den Nieuwenhuizen, Ingrid Grunwald, Maarten Cornel, Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, Netherlands
Inge Linder-Gaillard, Les Beaux-Arts de Marseille, France
Savvas Lazaridis, Christophe Alix, IAD - Institut des Arts de la Diffusion, Belgium

Following the success of their inaugural performative workshop, ‘The Board Meeting’, at ELIA Biennial 2022 in Helsinki, the Splinter Group, comprising seven colleagues from four schools, reunites for a new session in Milan. Emerging from shared interests at ELIA in Brussels, the group addresses pressing issues faced by art schools. The session explores evolving challenges, including geopolitical crises intensifying student stress. This performative workshop takes the form of a Board Meeting, where all members, adopting fictional roles such as head of art school, tutor, or student, engage in equal-level conversations based on true, albeit fictionalised, stories and dilemmas. Attendees, representing various art school roles, will delve into meaningful engagement with students and address pertinent questions. The Splinter Group eagerly anticipates a dynamic exchange with students and colleagues, collectively exploring and unravelling the intricacies of contemporary art education dilemmas.

ECHO

Julia Lewicka, Kamila Różańska, Polish-Japanese Academy of Information Technology, Warsaw, Poland
This session aims to showcase the potential of using art, specifically zines, for local activism. The focus is on reviving zines as tools of protest, echoing their historical role, and amplifying the voices of silenced poets. By employing physical creation and subsequent digitisation, the zines transcend local distribution, reaching a broader online audience. Through the lens of select poems, participants engage in collage-based visualisation, creating zine spreads that serve as a unique form of protest. The overarching goal is to highlight diverse avenues of protest, fostering awareness and empowering individuals to leverage art for social impact.

ECHO

Demis Quadri, Angela Calia, University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland, Switzerland
‘Guess How’ is an innovative research project intertwining movement and sounds, placing experiential and sensory learning at its core. This exploration aims to enhance movement practices through sound, challenging participants to recognise and understand movements solely by listening, without visual cues. The project involves creating distinctive sounds for specific movements, prompting the audience to guess the corresponding actions and details like the number of participants or location. In its initial phase as a collective experiment, ‘Guess How’ prioritises group participation, but as it progresses the project seeks to uncover new pathways for artistic composition and teaching methods. Notably, it addresses inclusivity by helping individuals with specific educational needs, such as those on the autistic spectrum, to develop competences and social skills. Led by the collaborative efforts of Accademia Dimitri's research department, including physical theatre theory teacher Demis Quadri, performer Angela Calia, and communication specialist Susanna Lotz, this project combines diverse expertise for a comprehensive and inclusive approach. Join this exciting venture, where movement and sounds converge to redefine learning experiences.

SURPRISE

Ilga Leimanis, University of the Arts London, United Kingdom
Join this speculative space for thinking through a question, using sketching and diagramming as tools to decipher, explore, and engage with the idea of emergence. The session will take both the form of a practical workshop as well as sharing practice following a pilot year facilitating Sketching Potential at University of the Arts London. The approach draws on diverse concepts such as hope as action, drawing to see, and notation as a refuge, and affect theory's bloom-space. Bloom-spaces, described as excess, autonomous, and collective, capture the essence of these workshops. The facilitator delves into the transformative potential of sketching, addressing aspects like idea development, problem-solving, anxiety management, and fostering multiple perspectives. Join this session to unleash the emergent possibilities of visual thinking and collaborative exploration.

SURPRISE

Delphine Chapuis Schmitz, Zurich University of the Arts, Switzerland
Embark on an illuminating exploration of collective thinking through writing in this artistic workshop. Facilitated by a seasoned practitioner, the session seeks to unravel the intricacies of thinking collectively without overshadowing individual uniqueness. Rooted in a transversal approach to writing, the workshop unfolds as an iterative process, featuring a carefully curated selection of texts by eminent authors. Participants engage in a dynamic exchange, reading aloud and responding through individual and collective writing sequences. The focus lies on the experimental nature of the process, fostering relationalities beyond conventional categories. The resulting textualities, both shared and relevant, contribute to the communal understanding of sustainable modes of thinking together. Join this unique session to partake in a transformative journey of shared creativity and collective intellect.

TRANSFORM

Brenda Duggan, Nora Duggan, Technological University Dublin, Ireland
This workshop challenges the prevailing anthropocentric perspective that separates humans from their environment by prioritising intuition over conventional knowledge-making. Drawing inspiration from Henri Bergson's call to action, the session is designed to cultivate an affective and performative connection with the world. Participants, guided to a nearby location blindfolded, engage in walking, sitting, and note-taking exercises, relying on senses other than sight. By focusing on hearing, touch, and smell, the workshop aims to counter-map the environment, fostering an ecology of sensing practices. This counter-mapping seeks to shift participants' perspectives, quieting rational perception to allow intuitive knowing within a 'zone of in-determination'. The culmination involves creating a map that acknowledges shared internal, involved, and relational knowledge, challenging conventional sensory distributions and promoting embodied, relational thinking-in-movement.

EVOLVE

Jan van Boeckel, Anke Coumans, Luuk Schröder, Linde Ex, Minerva Art Academy, Groningen, Netherlands
One way to understand and appreciate artistic intelligence is to see it as stemming from an artistic attitude. An attitude, wherein the Other and, more widely, the more-than-human world, are approached with an open mindset, welcoming and being fully attentive to its distinct voices. Artistic inquiry, then, might take shape for example in (a series of) encounters in which the emergent can surface in in-between spaces. This workshop hinges on two artistic explorations in which such encounters are sought. Luuk Schröder will host the first workshop, in which he brings objects of electronic waste and shares the stories, fantasies, and speculations that he (and his colleagues at a recycling centre) had about these objects. Linde Ex will subsequently host an immersive, embodied, and collaborative experiment that aims to explore ways of connecting to the more-than-human world. The session will be introduced by Jan van Boeckel and concluded by Anke Coumans.

EVOLVE

Hanja Blendin, Katrin Stowasser, Zurich University of the Arts, Switzerland
Embark on a dynamic exploration of the evolving dialogue between artistic and artificial intelligence at the workshop. Delve into critical questions surrounding skill education and development, emphasising the relevance of art schools in nurturing graduates' critical capabilities. The interactive session, hosted by the Zurich Centre for Creative Economies and ZHdK's Quality Development Office, seeks visionary ideas for the future of art schools. Uncover the vibrant intersection of artistic intelligence, rooted in human creativity, aesthetic principles, and emotions, with the logical and predictive nature of artificial intelligence. This experimental workshop promotes an agile, holistic approach, encouraging experimentation, embracing failure, and fostering critical reflection. Join the conversation shaping the strategic concept of artistic intelligence, where artists seamlessly integrate artificial intelligence into their practice. Discover the diverse dimensions of artistic intelligence and contribute to envisioning the next generation of art schools.

EVOLVE

Christian Schmidts, Jonny-Bix Bongers, Berlin University of the Arts, Germany
‘Hyperlinked Rituals’ is an ongoing artistic research venture exploring performance methods in virtual realms, employing open avatars and interactive spaces within the gaming software Unreal Engine. This project establishes a 'playable' world where performers navigate and spontaneously generate live performances, delving into the agency and accessibility of such digital environments. Focused on the belief that contemporary digital visuality diverges from prior eras, it anticipates the rise of 'Bio Medias’, envisioning images as systems evoking 'life-like behaviour’. The project challenges seclusion in metaverses, advocating for a playful approach. It aims to harmonise artificial and biological life, fostering a de-hierarchised connection between real and virtual worlds. Through character design and world-building, Christian Schmidts and Jonny-Bix Bongers explore new forms of interaction. Associated with the Master's Programme in Design and Computation at UDK/TU Berlin, they present their findings in a unique lecture-performance, blending theory and practical experimentation within the Unreal Engine.

USE

Giovanni Ottonello, IED – Istituto Europeo di Design, Milan, Italy
In this workshop, participants will delve into themes of adaptation, innovation, knowledge, sustainability, and inspiration, guided by a critical reading of the current landscape of creativity. Through interactive discussions, attendees will explore the trajectory of creative endeavours and identify potential project scenarios aimed at envisioning solutions for future citizens. Key questions will be posed, such as: What keywords will shape designers' efforts in fostering positive impacts? How can a design mindset aid in navigating through challenging times? Together, participants will engage in reflective exercises and collaborative brainstorming sessions to envision pathways towards a brighter future. Through this exploration, attendees will gain insights into emerging trends and develop strategies for leveraging creativity to address pressing societal needs.

USE

Lara Kneschke, Muthesius University of Fine Arts and Design, Kiel, Germany
In the multimedia installation ‘Shifting Landscapes’ the transformation of the landscape caused by the rise in sea level is translated into the digital world. The focus is on the effects of the climate crisis on the Wadden Sea in northern Germany and the related issues of environmental protection and human responsibility. The VR experience allows visitors to explore and experience the North Sea coast. Its shapes and textures are preserved in an immersive virtual space. An emotional and poetic approach helps to make the changes more tangible and accessible to society.

TRANSFER

Marinda Verhoeven, Paulien Oosterhuis, HKU University of the Arts Utrecht, Netherlands
Discover the transformative power of artistic intelligence in the educational realm with this session presented by HKU Design. Unfolding since 2016, the initiative reshapes arts education, creating a pluralistic space for the emergence of alternatives. The session delves into a systemic exploration of crucial elements in educational and pedagogical design from a multi-perspective standpoint. Attendees will engage in iterative activities, using visual imagery and objects to reflect on systemic relations within educational set-ups. From student to dean, participants will experiment with altering arrangements to enhance artistic intelligence. The session prompts reflection on interventions necessary for future art and design education, emphasising the importance of plural voices. Strengthening artistic intelligence within systems ultimately empowers artists and designers to contribute significantly to social transformations. Join this session to envision a more inclusive and impactful future for arts education.

TRANSFER

Juan Pablo Aschner, Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá, Colombia
Unveil the outcomes of ‘Creative Education in the Global South’, a research project funded by the Open Society University Network, in an interactive conference session. This research delves into pedagogical models for both practical and theoretical subjects in higher education, specifically within artistic and creative disciplines. Crossing traditional academic boundaries, our comprehensive approach explores education and creative sovereignties in the Global South, considering unique geographical and social contexts. Through interviews, case studies, and literature reviews, we gain insights into current educational practices within the cultural sector. This session engages participants in a dialogue, addressing key questions on pedagogical practices, motivating interest in indigenous knowledge, and developing frameworks for investigating and preserving traditional artisanal knowledge. Join us for a collective exploration of these crucial topics, contributing to the discourse on global education.

TRANSFER

Hilary Carlisle, Norwich University of the Arts, United Kingdom
This session advocates for ‘Critical Creativity’ as a contemporary and inclusive term encompassing attributes like reflection, curiosity, and creative risk-taking. It challenges traditional notions of intelligence, emphasising the distinction between achieving outcomes and exploring the world. The discussion delves into whether the concept of artistic intelligence may perpetuate fixed creative capacity, contrasting it with the ability to nurture critical creativity through staged learning. Norwich's Creative Learning Strategy rejects the expectation of fully formed creatives, focusing on developing resilience and creative confidence. Aligning with the World Economic Forum's emphasis on skills like resilience, flexibility, and curiosity, this participatory session prompts delegates to explore critical creativity and artistic intelligence within their contexts through questions and provocations. The goal is to encourage a dynamic understanding of creativity as a learned and evolving skill in higher arts education.

16:30 – 17:00
Coffee break
17:00 – 18:30
Breakout Session 2 (parallel sessions)

EVOLVE

Nina Araya Berrios, Kyiv Municipal Academy of Performing and Circus Arts, Ukraine
In this compelling exploration, ‘Arts Plural’ beckons participants to ponder the intricacies of artistic intelligence and its profound influence on our reality. Set against the backdrop of the circus and performing arts, the narrative challenges conventional boundaries, prompting a reconsideration of creativity and expression. Emphasis is placed on unravelling the structures enabling artistic intelligence to address global challenges. The unfolding circus of possibilities encourages readers to envision performing arts as agents of awareness, empathy, and real-world solutions. ‘Exploring Arts Plural’ serves as a rallying cry, urging artists and audiences to engage in a dialogue surpassing the stage and redefining artistic intelligence in the face of contemporary challenges.

EVOLVE

Thomas Arctaedius, Klas Nevrin, Royal College of Music in Stockholm, Sweden
This workshop unveils an innovative, sustainability-driven approach rooted in a process-relational perspective, shaped by cutting-edge artistic research. It delves into the unpredictable emergence of ideas through co-creation, reshaping problem formulation for increased space in nonlinear dynamics and transdisciplinarity. Collaborating with artists and industry leaders, the session adapts artistic co-creation methods for business contexts, uncovering possibilities overlooked by conventional industry innovation practices. Tools such as 'useful vagueness' and 'enabling constraints' introduce flexibility, fostering productive disordering to amplify indeterminacy and nonlinear dynamics. Rooted in the ‘Music in Disorder’ project, the workshop integrates perceptual-affective skills for attentive listening to generative vagueness and counterplay. Participants engage with the project's core ideas and practice them in a creative co-creation session, exploring the transformative potential of introducing artistic sensibilities into corporate settings.

SURPRISE

Bridgette Ashton, Mel Brown, Arts University Plymouth, United Kingdom
Dive into a transformative workshop inspired by Tim Ingold's exploration of the vitality of materials and intentional action. Following the success of our ‘Curiosity Incubator’ at the ELIA Academy in 2023, this session challenges traditional research cycles and embraces play and imagination to tackle global challenges. Shifting from 'What?' to 'What-if?' thinking, we encourage participants to prioritise experimentation and engage directly with materials, fostering a profound connection with purposeful action. Stripping back the design process, we revisit fundamental making aspects and tap into a universal skill set. Amidst the prevailing digital landscape, our workshop emphasises the unique qualities of analogue making, promoting hands-on experiences in a world influenced by AI. Explore spontaneous moments and engage tangibly with creativity, sparking perspectives that extend beyond the workshop. Join us in harnessing the power of play and imagination to approach global challenges in a meaningful, tangible way.

SURPRISE

Annette Kriszat, Linn Skoglund, Kristiania University College, Oslo, Norway
Embark on a dynamic creative journey with the workshop ‘On Your Feet’. This project merges writing, painting, and various creative tasks, fostering unexpected outcomes that surprise both participants and facilitators. Delving into the interplay between premises, obstacles, coincidence, and free associations, the workshop encourages multidimensional learning experiences related to creative thinking and problem-solving. Grounded in the belief that creative writing and visual art embody research, pedagogy, and art, the project explores prompts used in the pedagogy of these fields. By challenging participants with obstacles for the mind and body, the workshop aims to cultivate graduates who excel in creative thinking—individuals unafraid to experiment, challenge authority, and navigate within existing systems. It invites participants to embrace spontaneity, navigate limitations, and experience the fusion of aesthetic and cognitive breakthroughs within the creative process.

TRANSFER

Justin Carter, Susan Brind, April Lannighan, Garrett Ure, The Glasgow School of Art, United Kingdom
The Glasgow School of Art's Sculpture & Environmental Art Department (SEA) invites you to explore their ongoing collaboration with Midton Acrylics, focusing on the innovative use of the recycled material 'Remade'. This partnership, initiated in 2021, emerged from SEA's Materials Matter initiative, aiming to reintegrate hands-on engagement with materials post-lockdown. Amidst digital curriculum shifts during the pandemic, students faced material limitations in their home studios. The collaboration with Midton provided access to recycled materials, fostering environmental literacy and enhancing material skills. This dynamic partnership not only empowered students to explore new dimensions but also encouraged Midton's team to embrace fresh perspectives. Experience the transformative impact this collective action had on students, staff, and industry professionals, highlighting environmental consciousness, material expertise, and how it enriched professional practices cultivated through this collaborative venture.

TRANSFER

Falk Hübner, Heleen de Hoon, Fontys Academy of the Arts, Tilburg, Netherlands
Embark on a thought-provoking journey as this session unfolds the intricate relationship between artistic intelligence and complex social and societal issues. Artists have historically engaged with local and global contexts, providing unique perspectives through their practices. Artistic intelligence, in this context, offers a creative lens to navigate complex matters without seeking immediate solutions. Focusing on the economy, the session explores a collaborative project with the research group Economy as a Common and dance company The100Hands, titled ‘Exchange’. This participatory lecture performance challenges the economisation of life, aiming to reshape the narrative of growth and profit, one exchange at a time. Dive into the ongoing exploration of artistic research—collectively, participants will unravel the essence of ‘artistic intelligence at work’.

USE

Michael Li, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Hong Kong
Amidst the dynamic digital evolution, the fusion of art and technology, specifically General Artificial Intelligence (Gen-AI), emerges as a pivotal focus in performing arts education. Advocating for a student-centric transformation, this session unveils the profound impact of Gen-AI through compelling case studies from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA). In dance, students harness Wonder AI, revolutionising their creative process, analysing movement, and fostering autonomy. Similarly, music students engage Runway AI to visualise and interpret complex musical concepts, pushing the boundaries of comprehension. Performing arts educators now serve as catalysts, guiding students through ethical considerations, sparking a vital dialogue on challenges and implications. This session aims to propel these themes to the forefront of educational discourse, shaping the future of performing arts education.

USE

Kyuha Shim, Korea National University of Arts, Seoul, Republic of Korea
This presentation explores the transformative impact of integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into design education. The speaker, utilising personal examples, delves into multifaceted perspectives on the topic. Discussing opportunities, challenges, and considerations, the session concludes with an invitation to a broader dialogue among educators and practitioners attending the conference. It aims to spark diverse conversations influenced by academic disciplines, geographical locations, and national/institutional contexts. The speaker not only shares experiences and insights but collectively explores the responsible and effective integration of AI into design education. Join to contribute to shaping the next generation of designers adept in navigating a more AI-augmented world.

USE

Fabio Pelagalli, Michele Bianchi, NABA, Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti, Milan, Italy
The presentation aims to enhance learning processes for future generations by establishing a comprehensive and accessible training system. Drawing from empirical observations and questionnaire data, there has been a significant surge in the utilisation of generative AI systems, which are increasingly employed for exam preparation and project activities, both in classrooms and independently. A platform called COSMO, developed in collaboration with Futureberry, has been tested at NABA, offering virtual assistance for teachers and personalised tutoring for students. Through practical demonstrations, the presentation will showcase the platform's effectiveness in enhancing learning experiences, focusing on aspects such as personalised learning, teaching quality improvement, class and resource management, and automation of routine tasks in artistic and creative subjects.

TRANSFORM

Silke Lange, Adriana Cobo Corey, Norah Dankwah, Zeina Rady, University of the Arts London, United Kingdom
Embark on a journey into ethical considerations within creative practices at the upcoming session led by the Ethical Table. Originally focused on architecture and spatial practices, the platform has expanded its horizons to include art and design. The session endeavours to discuss ethical frameworks and guidance for creative practitioners, addressing current global challenges. This collaborative session, drawing insights from workshops at Central Saint Martin's, UAL, seeks to co-produce an ethical framework. Participants will explore and contribute to the conversation, sharing experiences and contemplating the integration of ethics into diverse curricula beyond architecture. Join to shape the discourse and leave with a co-produced document for ongoing exploration in your teaching and learning contexts.

SURPRISE

Markéta Fagan, London Contemporary Dance School, The Place, United Kingdom
Explore the uncharted realms of consciousness and choreography in this intriguing session led by a researcher delving into the symbiotic relationship between these two realms. Bridging psychology, philosophy, phenomenology, and choreography, the exploration aims to redefine the very essence of choreography. The session navigates the intersection of disciplines, addressing concerns about the current lack of symbiosis between choreography and other fields. The presenter seeks to inspire a shift in perspective, envisaging a conscious choreography that incorporates choreography as a discipline within broader philosophical learning. Join this unique journey of expanding consciousness and reimagining choreographic possibilities, challenging preconceptions and fostering a more interconnected approach to the art of choreography.

SURPRISE

Magda Stanová, Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, Czech Republic
Join this short, drawing-based lecture showing how the attention of members of an audience diverges and converges with that of the lecturer. Conferences, lectures, and panel discussions took on conventions that make perception difficult: reading aloud texts that are too complicated for listening, speaking very fast in order to squeeze in as much material as possible, showing slides with long texts. We feel guilty when we stop paying attention and start mind wandering. But mind wandering is necessary for creative thinking. This lecture show will dissect the decorum of conventional presentation formats, distinguish various kinds of mind wandering, and invite the members of the audience to share their experiences with mind wandering.

TRANSFER

Cormac Burmania, Inés Sauer, John Johnston, Joey Schrauwen, ArtEZ University of the Arts, Arnhem, Netherlands
ArtEZ's 'artist-educator' programmes foster issues-based learning in site-specific contexts, promoting socio-criticality and social change principles of equity and justice. The programmes uniquely blend artistic interventions and collaboration with local communities to facilitate dialogue and understanding across diverse perspectives. Emphasising both process and outcome in practice-led research, the approach embraces Site Specificity and Issues-Based Arts Education, requiring openness, compassion, and a 'moral imagination'—the capacity to envision solutions rooted in real-world challenges. The session will showcase two case studies. Case Study One delves into post-conflict Belfast, addressing intercultural dialogue, identity, and conflict prevention, illustrating programme evolution in a socially deprived area. Case Study Two explores Royal Burgers’ Zoo Arnhem, navigating ethical education amid conflicting perspectives on environmental measures in a rural region.

TRANSFER

Susanne van Tongeren, Michiel Kole, Brahma T. Ramsodit, Patrick Jonkman, Saxion University of Applied Sciences, Enschede, the Netherlands
Human language has a creative capacity. There is no other species that is capable of producing language with an aesthetic value. Language is part of our artistic intelligence. Yet, much of our education is focused on the functional side of language. Let’s teach language as an art form. Literature and poetry have historically played a significant role in driving change. We need to show students the power of language so they can use it to tell their stories. Being a good storyteller will allow them to articulate their ideas, complementing their visual art forms. This multidisciplinary approach can lead to unique artistic output, allowing these young artists to inspire action across diverse platforms to raise awareness about global challenges in compelling and influential ways. In this multidisciplinary performance, the Academic and the Spoken Word Artist will show you the possibilities of this artistic intelligence to engage in wicked world problems.

TRANSFER

Adan Farias, Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá, Colombia
In the dynamic landscape of contemporary art education, where artificial intelligence shapes fundamental practices, the session offers a pulsing opportunity to dissent and diverge into dystopian landscapes. Embracing a 'decomputing' perspective, it challenges conventional roles in design, reimagining the creative narrative in a decentralised structure. The presenter advocates artistic intelligence as a means to imagine discordantly, disrupting dominant creative narratives and empowering underrepresented voices. The session comprises a conference to share insight and a workshop, guiding participants to revisit their creative past, challenge inclusion in historical narratives, and sketch alternative design timelines. It aims to foster a pluralistic understanding of creativity, envisioning diverse futures in design practice and education.

GO BEYOND

Trish Osler, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada
This workshop delves into the intricacies of creative cognition, challenging traditional notions by exploring convergent and divergent thinking through the lens of recent neuroscientific developments. Emphasising the interplay of memory, affect, sensorial experiences, and cognitive processes, it addresses the core of arts-based research in education. By empowering creative processes through metacognitive approaches, participants gain access to intuitive, affective, and non-linear expression. The session encourages arts educators to reconsider assumptions about the creative process and advocates for transdisciplinary pedagogies promoting creative flexibility. Engaging in divergent thinking strategies, the workshop models the neural processes behind creative decision-making, urging participants to disrupt and challenge their aesthetic preferences. Through mindful exercises, individuals explore intentional disruptions in object/space relationships, fostering unexpected connections and novel narratives. The culmination involves creating personal artworks that reflect newfound connections and meaning, making the artistic process visible and accessible through discursive, metacognitive unfoldings.

ECHO

Aïssatou Traoré, Willem de Kooning Academy, Irene Garofalo, ELIA, Netherlands
Cultuur&Campus Putselaan (C&CP) aims to establish a vibrant and sustainable hub in Rotterdam South in 2025, fostering local connections and innovative education models through co-creation with local stakeholders and civil society. The project employs ongoing placemaking initiatives such as the Bloemhof Festival, Makersweek, and issue wrestling events to build trust and strengthen community ties, laying the groundwork for the future campus. By involving residents in shaping their neighborhood's future, C&CP creates a model for sustainable urban development that resonates beyond Rotterdam.
This approach prepares the community for the upcoming campus while establishing a blueprint for how educational institutions can integrate into local ecosystems, driving innovation and social cohesion. The project builds trust and community as a foundation for the campus, and this workshop unveils methods and results, inviting participants to question current approaches and co-create future steps. The session aims to offer inspiration and discuss methods to innovate arts education by cultivating external relationships.
The project is part of the European Union's New European Bauhaus initiative, funded by Horizon Europe. C&CP is a collaboration between the municipality of Rotterdam, Erasmus University, Willem de Kooning Academy, Codarts Rotterdam, Hogeschool Rotterdam, BuzinezzClub foundation, and De Afrikaanderwijk Coöperatie.

ECHO

Josh Slater, Baptiste Bourgougnon, London Contemporary Dance School, The Place, United Kingdom
This innovative pedagogical unit at LCDS works with students from diverse London-based communities, including stroke survivors, older individuals, refugees, and youth clubs. An experimental unit fostering a creative, co-creative journey with participants. Engaging in participatory art practices, students reflect on the transformative nature of dance, challenging established norms. Hear insights and findings from students, practitioners, and participant reflections, using this experiment as a catalyst for discussions on immersive art practices. We'll burst bubbles related to Conservatoire Dance student self-awareness and hierarchy, community dance practice and ‘who dance is for’—institutional methods for authentic relationships with communities—and the transformational nature of participation in multiple ways. The World Café format will provoke discussions and co-creation of methods, drawing inspiration from Ruth Pethybridge and Diane Amans's cross-generational participatory arts practice, addressing crucial questions about training and knowledge. Attendees can explore adapting similar experiments in their artistic practices and institutions.

ECHO

Maarin Ektermann, Estonian Academy of Arts, Tallinn, Estonia
Embark on a critical exploration of the ‘Artists in Collections, Collectives, and in Communities’ project co-initiated by Maarin Ektermann in Estonia in 2017. This session unravels the dynamics of decentralising contemporary art, addressing challenges in small towns and villages grappling with population decline and cultural concentration in larger cities. Focusing on artistic intelligence, it delves into an artist's capacity to discern the extraordinary in ordinary situations and communicate these insights through site-specific, multisensorial experiences. Ektermann analyses nineteen projects executed under this initiative, examining the complexities of engaging with diverse communities and their visible and invisible borders. The presentation, titled ‘Uninvited Guests’, draws inspiration from Markus Miessen's ‘crossbencher’ practice, fostering dialogue on the unexpected outcomes and discussions that unfolded in contexts with minimal infrastructure for contemporary art. Explore the transformative potential of artistic intelligence in redefining cultural landscapes and fostering dialogues across communities.

20:00
Dinner

Morning venue (incl. lunch): NABA Campus, Via Carlo Darwin, 20, Milan
Afternoon plenary venue: Teatro Manzoni, Via Alessandro Manzoni, 40, Milan

08:30 – 09:00
Registration & coffee
09:00 – 11:00
Breakout Session 3 (parallel sessions)

GO BEYOND

Angelica Boehm, Film University Babelsberg, Germany
Embark on a journey of collaborative, transdisciplinary storytelling that envisions desirable climate futures in this innovative workshop presentation. Developed through a partnership between Griffith Film School and the Art for Futures Lab at the Film University Babelsberg, the project explores futuring as a narrative framework to counter dystopian climate tropes, fostering hope and agency in participants. Co-creation practices integrate diverse knowledge, including scientific perspectives from the Australian Rivers Institute, enriching the storytelling process. Grounded in the Blue Heart wetlands regeneration project, the narrative comes to life through place-based storytelling and screen futures technology, offering a virtual experience of the site. The workshop not only showcases the project's process and learnings but also raises discussions on the futures it envisions.

GO BEYOND

Ian Biscoe, Design Academy Eindhoven, Netherlands
In response to global challenges, Transdisciplinary Design Networks (TDN) explores innovative approaches to transdisciplinary collaboration. As experts face silos, geographical dispersion, and language barriers, TDN investigates sustainable network creation through technological and holistic means. Utilising networked collaborative spatial environments (the ‘Metaverse’ or ‘Intraverses’) and transdisciplinary mediators, TDN aims to overcome obstacles to greater transdisciplinarity. This initiative raises the intriguing prospect of designers, including artists and freethinkers adept at transcending discipline-specific thinking, serving as ‘choreographers’ of transdisciplinary conversations. The session delves into transformative methodologies to facilitate collaborative efforts in the face of urgent planetary issues.

GO BEYOND

Sarah Kolb, Jutta Strohmaier, University of Arts Linz, Austria
Delve into the multifaceted realms of art, science, and practical wisdom with the collaborative endeavour ‘Mycelial Space’. Since its inception in 2021, this project has fostered cross-disciplinary collaborations, intertwining the expertise of artists and practitioners across diverse fields. At its core, Mycelial Space utilises fungi as a focal point to unravel the intricacies of relational, non-binary knowledge production. This collaborative exploration aims to fortify the concept of artistic intelligence, drawing on fundamental cultural techniques like observing, reflecting, and storytelling. The workshop invites participants to collectively construct a mycelium network, intertwining stories, perceptions, and imaginations around fungi. Join this transformative session, exploring the intersection of art, science, and practical wisdom in the context of Mycelial Space.

ECHO

Peter McCaughey, Ben Parry, Roddy Buchanan, The Glasgow School of Art, United Kingdom
The International Peripatetic Sculptors Society (IPSS), founded in Glasgow in 2003, extends its artistic footprint globally with divisions in Norway, Finland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Czech Republic. Renowned for crafting spontaneous, unsanctioned public sculptures in overlooked urban spaces, IPSS melds situationist dérive with Allan Kaprow's ethos of reclaiming everyday art. This session immerses participants in action-based walks, employing peripatetic exploration to transform cityscapes through small, creative gestures. Led by artist and lecturer Peter McCaughey, IPSS invites individuals to co-produce this artistic journey, fostering engagement, playfulness, and provocation.

SURPRISE

Bettina Benedikte Teiman Iversen, Kamilla Berge, Ragnhild Weltzien, Linn Skoglund, Lene Utigard, Kristiania University College, Oslo, Norway
‘Disobedient’, a student-led event from the Bachelor of Text and Writing programme, is making its mark in Milan. This inclusive gathering invites participants from diverse creative fields to showcase their interpretations of a given task on stage. Participants will receive the task three days before the event, fostering a spontaneous and varied array of performances. The organisers aim to recreate an intensified version of Disobedient, highlighting how artistic intelligence thrives amid chaos and limitations. The specific task remains a secret until the conference, promising relevance to the theme of celebrating and questioning artistic intelligence. The event encourages audience members to present their own unique solutions to the undisclosed challenge.

SURPRISE

Magnus Quaife, University of the Arts Helsinki, Finland & Chris Evans, LUCA School of Arts, Belgium
Explore the intersection of artistic intelligence and its potential for social and political change within art schools through the lens of dissent histories. Join the participatory workshops of the Archive of Art School Dissent, established in Helsinki in March 2024 and extended to Tilburg in April, with ongoing iterations in the months that followed. These workshops collectively map genealogies of dissent within art schools, analysing instances where subversive actions triggered significant shifts in our understanding of the world. The workshop serves as a reflective moment, consolidating previous insights and uncovering hidden histories. Delegates contribute incidents to the living archive, collectively identifying materials for critical examination. The session culminates in evaluating broader social implications through diverse lenses, recording the process through a collective mapping that reinterprets previous iterations of the archive. Engage in this exploration of artistic pedagogies and thinking to envision transformative futures.

TRANSFER

Marc Boumeester, Bob Verheijden, Mara Joustra, Lucas Verweij, Marijke Meester, ArtEZ Academy of Art & Design, Zwolle, Netherlands
Embark on a session delving into a social movement gaining momentum, the imperative to replace the Anthropocene. Addressing the pragmatic question of what should replace it, the session highlights the intricate nature of the polycrisis and the need for a holistic outlook in decision-making. Our academy's initiatives, encompassing academic writing, holistic curriculum development, and interactions with participants, will be shared, emphasising our commitment to dismantling false dichotomies and gender-related binaries. The collective session format integrates elements such as academic writing, curriculum development, architectural design, and audience interaction. Through this interactive approach, we aim to fuel discussions on how art schools can respond to pressing concerns for the future state of societies and the planet. Join us in exploring innovative ways to navigate the challenges ahead and shape a more sustainable future.

SURPRISE

Lars Koens, Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom
JuJu Kusanagi, Tokyo University of the Arts, Japan

JuJu Kusanangi, a choreographer, and Lars Koens, a sound artist, present an experiential movement and vocalisation workshop. This session aims to unite participants through improvisation, responding to ecological soundscapes and prompts. Grounded in embodied touch and influenced by Japanese language-inspired ontology, the workshop explores an intersensorial language of movement and vocalisation. Stemming from their practice-based research for the choreographed piece ‘1:1:1’ (Kusanagi, 2023), the workshop delves into the convergence of objecthood and eventhood, fostering a dynamic state of being: ‘I am the space, and the space is me’. Rejecting dualistic and hierarchical approaches, JuJu and Lars cultivate awareness, care, and compassion, encouraging collaborative and participatory movement art. The workshop promotes inclusivity, asking participants to be self-aware, adopt a perspective rooted in totality, and practice inclusivity within the unified whole. Embracing post-humanist modes of being, the session offers a unique exploration of ecological connectivity and embodied expression.

SURPRISE

Beatriz Cantinho, University of Évora, Susana Mendes Silva, CEIS20 – Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Coimbra, Portugal
In this performative lecture, Beatriz Cantinho and Susana Mendes Silva revisit their immersive performative walk, initially presented at the ELIA Academy 2023, bringing its transformative essence to the ELIA Biennial audience. Drawing from choreography, performance, and visual arts, they employ composition strategies involving written instructions, historical narratives, sounds, and human landscapes. These strategies, previously shared with students, become a catalyst for discussions on aesthetic and political dimensions. The duo delves into the legacy of the situationist drift, exploring how movement and performance can redefine experiences of territories, visible and invisible spaces, durations, and relations. By sharing their compositional methodologies, Cantinho and Mendes Silva aim to challenge perceptions, fostering a collaborative exploration of diverse possibilities within the realms of visual arts and choreography. This session invites artists and researchers to engage in a collective dialogue on the transformative power of movement and encounter.

TRANSFER

Kateřina Jebava, Janácek Academy of Performing Arts, Brno, Czech Republic
Will you play with me? Spielst du mit? Zahrajem to? Vuoi giocare con me? Explore Theatrum.online in this hands-on presentation—a new digital handbook on theatre for education of young adults. Engage in an experimental session, delving into how the immersive world of performative art leaves a lasting impression on the minds and bodies of actors. Discover ways to share these experiences, fostering spaces for imagination, engagement, and spontaneous communities. Through playful interactions, participants will negotiate, create, and share theatrical situations, reflecting on the experience to raise poignant questions about the potential and limitations of integrating performing arts into education, social change, politics, intercultural dialogue, and the overall well-being of individuals.

USE

Serena Cangiano, University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland, Switzerland
Embark on an exploration of digital transformation in women's healthcare, with a unique focus on creating a genuinely women-centered perspective in the realm of digital health solutions. This session unveils an experimental research-through-design approach, aiming to collaboratively construct a bottom-up repository of women-centric data through digital stories. The research sheds light on the gender inequalities surrounding urinary tract infections (UTIs) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The presentation delves into key challenges, methodologies, and results gleaned from three years of workshops with women. Attendees can engage in an interactive session using the experimental visual interface employed in the workshops, fostering the creation and sharing of digital stories. This contribution not only highlights critical issues but also paves the way for a discussion on how design and creative practices can shape a future women-led discourse in healthcare, emphasising fair data sharing models.

GO BEYOND

Ann Mbuti, FHNW Academy of Art and Design, Münchenstein, Switzerland
In an immersive workshop, participants will delve into the creative power of fictionalisation for pressing global challenges. Drawing inspiration from the practice of Public Fictions, the session employs various artistic disciplines to equip attendees with tools for future implementation. Inspired by world-building techniques, the workshop integrates a writing approach from Adrienne Maree Brown and Walidah Imarisha's Octavia's Brood, prompting participants to envision worlds they strive for. Additionally, it explores ‘Storyworld 2.0’ by Simon Jon Andreasen, emphasising diverse narrative content circulation channels. Participants engage in accelerated world-building, gaining insights into fictionalisation applications for social change. The workshop fosters individual creativity while creating collaborative structures for interdisciplinary idea development, challenging traditional narrative patterns for broader audience accessibility.

GO BEYOND

Elisa Poli, Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti, Milan, Italy
Explore the future of artistic intelligence at this engaging session. Delving into the evolving relationship between mind and brain, the session traces the shift from traditional notions of intelligence to multifaceted approaches. This session, blending theoretical discourse with a dynamic workshop, unravels key binomials like original-copy and invention-assembly. Participants employ modified Propp's cards to craft futuristic stories set in 2034, intertwining creativity with AI's 'magic element'. Led by the NABA Research Centre, this exercise prompts creatives to artistically reflect on the transformative impact of technological advancements on their work. Aiming to transcend anthropocentric perspectives, the workshop envisions futuristic self-portraits, exploring themes of hybridisation, selection, and falsification in the post-digital era. This workshop challenges artists to move beyond anthropocentric frameworks to illustrate how themes such as hybridisation, selection, and falsification extend in a process that presents remarkable similarities (Heidegger, 1977), from the Renaissance to the present day.

BLOOM

Michal Pauzner, Oded Kutok, Olga Stadnuk, Ginosar Wolf Hansel, Danielle Barrios-Oneil, Nirit Binyamini Ben-Meir, Carolina Ramirez-Figueroa; PADLab - The Post Anthropocene Design Laboratory. Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art, Israel, Royal College of Art London, United Kingdom.
Dive into the ‘Multispecies Gathering Pond’ workshop – an immersive exploration aimed to shift participants from an anthropocentric worldview to a more ecocentric perspective. Addressing humanity's impact on the natural world, the session offers cutting-edge design-based pedagogical tools to foster a collective imagination of future possibilities. Set against the backdrop of a pond, participants will experiment with interactive and augmentation tools to assume roles as animals or plants. They will experience an AI-driven method for exploring how landscapes may transform through plausible climate scenarios, simulating a compressed evolutionary process through a real-time display. Participants will engage with collaborative methods, playing roles of other-than-humans, to investigate how communities might adapt to climate changes. Drawing on extensive experience in design, art, and pedagogical research, this workshop encourages innovative thinking, critical debate, and a transformative understanding of humanity's relationship with the environment.

BLOOM

Sara Burkhardt, Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design, Halle, Germany
Embark on an immersive exploration of regional identity, conflicts, and ecological challenges with the workshop ‘materialXchange’. Evolving from an online collaboration during the ELIA Biennial 2020, this physical presence workshop invites participants to bring objects reflecting their region's uniqueness. Participants need to bring along objects from their region which tell something about its particularity, its conflicts, its ecological challenges. This can be a certain raw material, a found object, a handcrafted artefact, or a particular industrial product. In Milan, participants interweave their objects with things they find in the city, such as colours, materials, topics, or artefacts. Throughout the session, objects become focal points for detailed examination, description, and contextualisation, creating a network rich in knowledge, associations, and narratives. Bridging sensitivity, knowledge, and aesthetics, the workshop advocates for material-based art education transcending boundaries into politics, ecology, and cultural studies. Concluding with a joint discussion, the session envisions a transformative impact on educational practices.

EVOLVE

A conversation without light

Ambra Pittoni, University of Arts Linz, Austria
As part of their practice-based PhD research, the presenter introduces ‘The Dark Parlor’, a unique space and practice dedicated to sharing artistic projects, ideas, and discussions in darkness. Embracing the inherent uncertainty and intuition within artistic research, this session explores a dimension that is often challenging to articulate to external audiences. Participants, gathered in darkness, will read and discuss projects using minimal reading lights, creating an atmosphere that amplifies the emergence, sensation, and embodiment of artistic knowledge. Focused on the theme of intuition within this specific spatial context, the Dark Parlor aims to foster conversations that transcend conventional language, tapping into the embodied and sensuous aspects of artistic intelligence.
Participants are invited to bring along words, ideas, intuitions that are important for them, things they already know or that they cherish without having an explanation yet.

11:00 – 11:30
Coffee break
11:30 – 12:30
Breakout Session 4 (parallel sessions)

TRANSFER

Sonja Spee, Bert Willems, Milan Gillard, PXL-MAD School of Arts Hasselt, Belgium
Els De Bruyn, Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, Belgium

This session, presented at the ELIA conference on Artistic Intelligence, offers a fresh approach to knowledge acquisition, redefining its essence within artistic and academic realms. The focal point is connection—bridging alternative visions, diverse organisations, and individuals with varied roles and disciplines. Drawing on years of collaborative experience, the workshop centres around shared moments of trust-building. Participants engage in a unique activity: cooking and sharing soup around a long table adorned with embroidered statements, such as 'the school of arts should function as a garden (hortus) than as a campus (field).' This interactive meeting aims to generate discussions whose outcomes become part of the tablecloth, symbolising a collective vision of knowledge development. By using connection as a tool, the workshop strives to address the pressing need for unity in today's world.

GO BEYOND

Eloïse Vo, HEAD – Genève, Switzerland
Embark on a captivating journey through a performative lecture rooted in a practice-based PhD, delving into the intersections of performance, 3D modelling, and post-natural ecologies. Centred around the enigmatic Dolphin House—a fusion of science lab, knowledge factory, and domestic space from a 1960s interspecies communication experiment—the session explores its physical, mediatic, and relational dimensions. From a post-human and feminist lens, the presenter uses performance and 3D modelling to unveil the agentivity of space, objects, technologies, and bodies within this historical context. Recovering the cybernetic experiment's overlooked potentialities, the study prompts reflections on animality, femininity, and their roles as technologies. Offering a performative guided tour of the Dolphin House, the presenter invites participants to engage in discussions, exploring the performativity of art-based research and challenging the ambiguities of more-than-human symbiosis in the face of climate crisis.

GO BEYOND

Roberta Bernasconi, Alessia Prati, Alessandro Tollari, Iuav University of Venice, Italy
Tanya Beyeler, Pablo Gisbert, Teresa Barbagallo, Project El Conde de Torrefiel, Spain

Embark on a journey that challenges traditional Western approaches to knowledge production. Delving into the intersection of aesthetics and politics in performing arts, the institution, renowned for its exploration of pedagogical and epistemological potentials, invites participants into a paradigm where fictionality isn't a mistake but a wellspring of possibilities. Led by the internationally acclaimed El Conde de Torrefiel, known for their groundbreaking work in theatre and performance, this workshop questions the linear constraints of time and the stifling predictability of education. Join the lecture-performance to unravel how bodies, spaces, and histories interweave, challenging conventional notions of knowledge transmission. Additionally, a workshop during the NABA Experience will explore Milan's Navigli district, fusing embodiment and fiction in a captivating research process.

TRANSFORM

Elin Festøy, The Norwegian Film School, Lillehammer, Norway
TElin Festøy introduces an innovative transmedia project leveraging simulation to raise awareness and empathy for Children Born of War—those born to enemy soldiers and women in occupied regions. At the forefront is the game My Child Lebensborn, simulating the experiences of a child born during World War II, which fosters empathy by challenging players to navigate historical situations of bullying and abuse. The project extends to a documentary featuring Norwegian Lebensborn children, contributing to the game's development. An educational app integrates the film and game, providing over 70 online lesson plans and group gameplay for classrooms. Proceeds support the ‘Children Born of War Project’, advocating for and researching the well-being of these children. With over 20 million plays, the game proves effective in creating empathy. The audience can engage through the app's group dialogue functionality, gaining access to the classroom version of the game. Actively participate in this workshop to explore the transformative power of this transmedia strategy in fostering empathy and driving positive change.

TRANSFORM

Paola Riviezzo, Luca Prandoni , IED – Istituto Europeo di Design, Milan, Italy
The session ‘Ecocentrico’ invites participants to contemplate the essence of places on the fringes of urban landscapes, serving as dynamic intersections between human activity and the natural world. This reflection challenges traditional notions of nature as a passive backdrop, urging a broader critical examination of humanity's role in the ecosystem. Through public participatory workshops, the session explores the potential of design to regenerate lost connections and foster new symbiotic relationships within our environment. Participants will delve into the plural meanings of abandoned spaces, crafting projects that narrate the layered identities shaped by interactions between cityscapes, communities, and diverse living species. The session also prompts reflection on the purpose of education, emphasising experiential learning and the ethical dimensions of design practice.

ECHO

Staffan Mossenmark, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Examine the significance of students, artists, and musicians venturing beyond university confines to champion free speech, freedom of opinion, and democratic ideals in public spaces. In this session, attendees will explore impactful projects like the Verona Risuona festival, an annual collaboration between the Conservatorio E.F. Abaco, Accademia Cignaroli, and the University of Gothenburg, fostering interdisciplinary engagement. The facilitator will showcase a series of workshops, including ‘Sound Art in City Spaces’ (2009–2011) and ‘Interdisciplinary Involvement and Community Spaces’ (2012–2014), illustrating the potential of students to catalyse social change through art. The presentation also delves into the restoration of the agora, emphasising the role of developed listening in artistic expressions that leverage sound as a conduit for memories and social values. Discover how these initiatives navigate the urban soundscape, connecting with diverse audiences and prompting meaningful conversations. Join the conversation on redefining public spaces through artistic endeavours, fostering collective identity and dialogue.

ECHO

Samar Nahas, Stefania Matache, ifs Internationale Filmschule Köln, Germany
‘Beyond the Noise’ is an interactive installation that explores current and emerging narratives of the feminine, specifically beauty ideals and ageing. The installation is designed as a journey that moves through distinct yet interconnected experiences, tracing the path from rejection of outer noise to acceptance of inner wisdom, to embracing connection. The installation moves along the path of transformation from being defined by external voices to finding an inner voice of acceptance and healing. This journey from the outer world to the inner one, from societal noise to personal silence, encapsulates the essence of moving from pain to healing, symbolising the profound process of reclaiming one's identity and worth in a world that often seeks to diminish it.

GO BEYOND

Ties van de Werff, Ulrike Scholtes, What Art Knows, Maastricht Institute of Arts, Zuyd University of Applied Sciences, Maastricht, Netherlands
Join the What Art Knows research centre in an engaging workshop exploring the transformative potential of artistic research. As artistic researchers are increasingly called upon to engage with societal concerns, this session focuses on experimenting with embodied methods to foster a generous and resonating research practice. The workshop challenges the traditional conceptualisation of the body, advocating for a form that extends beyond individual, bounded structures. Breaking away from the one-body-one-person rule, the experiment explores postmodern perspectives that view bodies and boundaries as leaky, permeable, and dissolving. Through body work exercises, participants will experience blurred boundaries, practice attunement, and feel connected. The session concludes with a lively dialogue on the societal and planetary impact of thin-skinned, weakly bounded, and attuned artistic researchers, questioning and complicating individual authorship, voice, and self. Don't miss this opportunity to delve into the evolving landscape of artistic research and its potential to transform arts education.

BLOOM

Beatrice Catanzaro, Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti, Milan, Italy
Methods to overcome the separation between inner and outer action, engender eco-social insight, and facilitate new forms of transdisciplinary Socially Engaged Art Practice. Embark on a transformative session, ‘Journey into Relatedness’, delving into the intersection of social change and individual mindset shifts. With a focus on redressing the oversight in Socially Engaged Art education, the session unveils methods fostering the interconnectedness between societal narratives and personal perspectives. Drawing from extensive practice and a practice-based PhD, the facilitator shares relational engagement approaches like 'collective self-reflective arenas' and 'situating glossary'. Participants explore 'image-word' dynamics, fostering intersubjectivity where individual and shared social contexts become dynamic realms of action. The aim is to cultivate a holistic philosophy promoting genuine self-other listening, laying the groundwork for an eco-social coexistence among humans and more-than-humans. Join this enlightening journey towards a nuanced understanding of Socially Engaged Art and its transformative potential.

ECHO

Daria Holosko, Kyiv National I. K. Karpenko-Karyi Theatre, Cinema and Television, Ukraine
Embarking on a comprehensive exploration, Daria Holosko aims to compile a report delving into the intricacies of filming in front-line cities. This session seeks to investigate the profound impacts on residents, examining both the advantages and disadvantages inherent in representing the lives of individuals residing in war zones.

ECHO

Sofiia Zinchenko, Kharkiv I. P. Kotlyarevsky National University of Arts, Ukraine
Explore the profound shifts in theatre within a front-line city through ‘Homecoming: Research on Theatre at War’, a compelling session led by an artist deeply connected to the current crisis in Ukraine. This work in progress delves into the transformative impact of the full-scale invasion on the creative life in Kharkiv, offering a first-hand account of the challenges faced by theatre performers. The session unfolds as a narrative of resilience and adaptation, shedding light on the evolving theatre language and the unique bond forged between actors and their audience amidst shared traumatic experiences. The artist, having returned to a city marked by air raid alarms and distant explosions, navigates the surreal intersection of art, life, and conflict. Join this exploration of the theatre's metamorphosis, probing into the creation of a new artistic language and envisioning its future in the face of adversity.

TRANSFORM

Koenraad Hinnekint, LUCA School of Arts, Belgium
Join a transformative exploration of speculative ideas challenging the human-centric paradigm in higher arts education. In this innovative intervention, participants embark on a journey to reimagine education from a nature-oriented perspective. Delving into non-human forms of knowledge, the session transcends traditional boundaries, fostering a holistic understanding of the continuum between living and non-living entities. In this thought experiment, participants will reflect on approaching artistic and learning environments from an ecosystem perspective (nature) rather than relying solely on human approaches (culture).

TRANSFER

Adnan Balcinovic, Aurianne Chevandier, Fabian Fischer, University of Applied Arts Vienna, Austria
Explore the innovative realm of cross-disciplinary learning with the Cross-Disciplinary Capabilities Lab (CDCLab), a focal point of the Cross-Disciplinary Strategies Department's curriculum. This session offers a practical introduction to CDCLab, unveiling its evolution and inviting participants into a workshop that recreates a key method. The aim of the workshop is to bring in a concrete proposal for cross-disciplinary practices TO MOVE and KEEP MOVING. The session delves into overarching questions about the interplay between disciplines, discourses, and methods, encouraging a dialogue on the delicate balance between structure and fluidity. Attendees will gain insights into creating spaces that empower students to develop independent, cross-disciplinary practices, drawing on scientific and artistic research. This session will exemplify that, within numerous interdisciplinary approaches, there isn't a universally ‘correct’ answer to a given question.

TRANSFER

Aoife Keogh, Finola McTernan, Rayne Booth, National College of Art and Design, Dublin, Ireland
The annual Clancy Quay studio residency award and Superprojects professional development programme, a groundbreaking collaboration between higher education, private enterprise, and the professional art world, emerges as a vital bridge for emerging artists transitioning from the National College of Art and Design, Ireland. Functioning as a co-created initiative, it addresses the uncharted space between art college and the professional art world. With a focus on the experiences of emerging artists, the programme provides a platform for fifteen fine art graduates from across Ireland, incorporating biweekly online and in-person sessions, workshops, mentoring, and gallery visits. The evolving programme collaborates with early and mid-career artists, curators, and professionals to guide participants, culminating in a handbook for emerging artists. The ELIA Biennial offers an opportunity for critical discussion, questioning, and mind mapping on key themes, enhancing the programme's international perspective through an interactive workshop.

TRANSFER

Andrea Cammarosano, NABA, Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti, Milan, Italy & Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, Belgium
Embark on a transformative journey with CLUTTER, a Milan-based creative studio founded in 2018 by a visionary fashion designer. Positioned as an extension of the fashion industry and education, CLUTTER's mission revolves around collaborative and co-creative initiatives. Their expansive network includes mills, manufacturers, brand designers, schools, universities, and public institutions, fostering projects that intertwine artistry, technical expertise, and social impact within the fashion landscape. Beyond higher education, CLUTTER addresses a critical challenge—the dropout rates in secondary technical and professional training. With a focus on at-risk youth, the studio collaborates with fashion and textile companies, youth centres, educators, and social housing communities to stimulate creativity, sociability, and collaboration. Join the session to explore innovative approaches that bridge the gap in fashion education, empowering vulnerable youth with skills, pride, autonomy, and self-fulfilment, thus fostering a more inclusive and diverse industry.

TRANSFORM

Mahmoud Saleh Mohammadi, Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, Belgium
This interactive workshop delves into the potential of artistic intelligence within urban contexts, emphasising community engagement and social change. Participants will explore transformative principles through collaborative activities, discussions, and hands-on exercises inspired by Mahmoud Saleh Mohammadi’s impactful projects at Spazio Nour. Key objectives include understanding artistic intelligence, analysing case studies aligned with the conference theme, developing co-creation skills, critically reflecting on participatory art interventions, and envisioning future urban spaces infused with artistic intelligence. The structured session includes an introduction with an icebreaker and presentation, case study analysis through group discussions, a co-creation activity, guided discussions on challenges and opportunities, and a visioning and action planning segment. Mahmoud facilitates discussions and adapts the workshop based on participant backgrounds. Post-workshop engagement involves a follow-up discussion forum, fostering reflections and collaboration. The closing remarks include a summary of key learnings and networking opportunities for potential collaborations. Join this workshop to explore the transformative power of artistic intelligence in reshaping urban narratives.

12:30 – 14:00
Lunch
14:00 – 16:00
Mobile visits

Visit the Academy and its main location:
The Palazzo takes its name Brera from the German “braida” which indicates a grassy open space. It is built on the site of a convent of the Humiliati Order, the palazzo passed then to the Jesuits (1572) who in the following century entrusted its renovation to Francesco Maria Richini (from 1627-28).
Following the dissolution of the Society Of Jesus in 1772, it received a new institutional set-up to which, next to the Astronomical Observatory and the Library, founded by the Jesuits, the Botanical Garden in 1774 and the Academy of Fine Arts, in 1776, were added.
While the architect Giuseppe Piermarini saw to the building’s completion, the Accademia started to fulfill its function, according to the plans of the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, to distance the teaching of the fine arts from artisans and artists by subjecting it to “public supervision and public judgement”.
The world has changed dramatically since then, but the mission of the Accademia has remained unaltered and timeless: to support young artists from all over the world in their growth, guaranteeing them the tools and expertise necessary to face the complexities of contemporary life.
Today the Palazzo is the point of reference, the buzzing centre of the life of the Accademia, which, through the Presidency, the Management, the Secretariats and the administrative offices every year welcome students from all over the world and it is still the place of those who want to make art their livelihood. Many well-known artists have passed through its doors as students and as teachers. Adolfo Wildt and Arturo Martini, Lucio Fontana and Fausto Melotti, Luciano Fabro and Alberto Garutti are just some of the artists who endorse the close relationship between art and teaching.

Fondazione Prada, a cultural institution founded in 1993 by Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli, believes that art and study are useful and necessary to understand the world’s changes through new and engaging perspectives. The Milan venue of Fondazione Prada, conceived by architecture firm OMA—led by Rem Koolhaas—expands the repertoire of spatial typologies in which art can be exhibited and shared with the public. Characterized by an articulated architectural configuration which combines seven existing buildings with three new structures (Podium, Cinema and Torre), the venue is the result of the transformation of a distillery dating back to the 1910’s.

The Museo del Design Italiano celebrates Triennale Milano’s 100 years of history with an itinerary that starts from the institution’s foundation in 1923 and extends to the development of technological, material and social researches that changed the identity, aesthetics and main features of Italian design. The exhibition presents the iconic pieces in Triennale’s permanent collection, relating them to the history of the institution. The story of Italian design is told through the reconstruction of various interiors whose logic represented a fundamental line of development in the discipline. A journey through history that culminates in the Design Platform, a space that hosts temporary exhibitions of young designers with a focus on design today.

The Museo del Novecento, located inside the Palazzo dell’Arengario in Piazza del Duomo, hosts a collection of over four thousand works that catalyze the development of 20th century Italian art.
The Museo del Novecento was established on 6 December 2010 with the goal of spreading knowledge of 20th century art and offering a more comprehensive insight into the collections that the city of Milan has inherited over time. Beside its core exhibition activity, the Museum is active in the conservation, investigation and promotion of 20th century Italian cultural and artistic heritage with the final aim of reaching an ever wider audience.

The Museo Teatrale alla Scala is a theatrical museum and library attached to the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Italy. Although it has a particular focus on the history of opera and of that opera house, its scope extends to Italian theatrical history in general, and includes displays relating, for example, to the commedia dell'arte and to the famous stage actress Eleonora Duse.

Fondazione studio museo Vico Magistretti is based in the studio where Magistretti worked throughout his lifetime: in the centre of Milano, facing the Conservatory of Music, next to the beautiful Santa Maria della Passione Church.
The studio is now a museum that narrates – through the architect-designer's projects, his objects, the spaces where he unleashed his creativity, the views of the city from the windows – chapters of the culture of design, stories of innovation, tradition and production.

The Foundation’s main purpose is to catalogue, order, archive and digitize the projects, drawings, photos, models, films, conferences, objects, books, magazines, in short, the whole world within which Achille worked during more than 60 years of activity, first with his brother Pier Giacomo, then from 1968, from alone.
During the visit, the four rooms of the studio are shown: the first contains the prototypes and models, the second the drafting machines and many curiosities, the third room contains the anonymous objects that Achille Castiglioni collected during his life and which he used in his lessons at the Polytechnic of Turin and Milan, to tell, through them, important themes on design and finally in the meeting room there are various objects that have made the history of design over a long period of time.

Immersed in an ample private garden with a swimming pool and a tennis court and set in the center of Milan, the Necchi Campiglio Villa was completed by the architect Piero Portaluppi in 1935. Commissioning the structure was the Necchi Campiglio family, part of the rich and elegant industrial middle class of Milan in the 1930s. The disposition of the interior spaces corresponds to the traditional layout of noble homes: the daytime areas on the ground floor, the bedrooms on the first floor, the service rooms in the areas under the roof, and the den as well as the changing rooms and the bathrooms for the pool in the basement. The Necchi Campiglio family wanted above all to distance themselves from the traditions of their day, and planned ample areas dedicated to the reception of guests and to the social whirl: the dining room, the smoking room, the library and the grand salon. Right after WWII, areas of the villa underwent changes effected by the architect Tomaso Buzzi, who sweetened the linearity of Portaluppi’s style, and inserted aspects inspired of the 18th century, especially those in the style of Louis the 15th of France.

Step into the vibrant streets of Milan, where each stop along the way reveals a hidden gem of artistic and cultural significance, inviting you to delve deeper into Milanese heritage. Explore the narratives that echo throughout this historic city, offering a glimpse into its vibrant past and enduring legacy.

No exploration of Milan's fashion district would be complete without paying homage to the legendary Quadrilatero della Moda. This prestigious enclave is home to a constellation of heritage fashion houses, including Armani, Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, and Valentino, whose exquisite designs have captivated audiences around the world.

16:00 – 16:30
Coffee break
16:30 – 18:00
Closing keynote by Mark V. Campbell|HYBRID|
Closing ceremony |HYBRID|

FINAL ACT of The Air Talking
By Ambra Pittoni and Paul-Flavien Enriquez-Sarano
Restaged and performed by Ambra Pittoni

19:00
Closing party

Venue: NABA Campus, Via Carlo Darwin, 20, Milan

08:30 – 09:30
Registration & coffee
09:30 – 12:30
ELIA General assembly (incl. coffee break) |HYBRID|
 
Art as intelligent commentary in dialogue with AI

Jakub Maciejczyk, University of Rzeszów, Poland
Embarking on a unique project rooted in AI-generated neutral opinions, this session tackles pressing global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, and social injustice. The focus is not to exhaust participants but to gauge their capacity for perceiving and responding to these issues during routine activities. The project questions whether people are fatigued by constant discourse on these challenges and aims to explore subtle ways of fostering awareness and choices. The presenter intends to conduct text-based art interventions in unconventional spaces, such as restrooms or cafeterias, using items like napkins or plates. The objective is to prompt reflection on the global issues under discussion in an unobtrusive manner.

 
Panopticon: Come Closer

Anna Klimczak,Tomasz Miśkiewicz, Sefa Sagir, Polish-Japanese Academy of Information Technology, Warsaw, Poland
Exploring the theme of surveillance and the pervasive monitoring inherent in digital systems, this session adopts creative approaches to engage the audience. The project centres on unmonitored live-stream webcams, discreetly observing unaware individuals, with live coverage streamed online. Visitors to the exhibition have the unique opportunity to select one of four global locations for observation by standing on designated spots on the floor. Intriguingly, participants themselves become subjects of monitoring, contributing to the interactive installation. Inspired by Shoshana Zuboff's The Age of Surveillance Capitalism and influenced by artists like Krzysztof Wodiczko, the project delves into the nuanced connection between covert surveillance and the experience of pleasure. Join the session to witness a thought-provoking exploration of digital surveillance and its impact on human emotions.