Museums and AI Cultural Heritage.
Registration link: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/9LEdRE3TW8?origin=lprLink

PROGRAMME

DAY 1 - 26 NOVEMBER 2026
Digilab East (Martin Hall)

9.30–10.00: Welcome and refreshments

10–10.15: Introduction: Kathryn Brown (Loughborough University)

10.15–11.15 Panel 1
1. Celia Kieffer (Ruhr University, Bochum): From the Musée Imaginaire to Algorithmic Image Orders: Trevor Paglen’s From ‘Apple’ to ‘Anomaly’ and the Museum as a Site for Negotiating AI

2. Sara Raquel de Andrade (University of Amsterdam): How do policy bodies and museums narrate the adoption of AI?

3. Piotr Stec and Katarzyna Biczysko (Institute of Law, University of Opole, Poland): AI and Museum Law: Mapping the Landscape

11.15–11.45: Discussion

11.45–12.00: Break: Tea/coffee

12.00–13.00 Panel 2
1. Oladélé Ajiboyé Bamgboyé (University of the Arts, London): Beyond AI Interpretation: Museums as Computational Knowledge Infrastructures

2. Cassandra Kist (University of Strathclyde): Sociotechnical imaginaries of the museum: Conversational Agents and Visitor Engagement

3. Kathryn Brown and Alison Kahn (Loughborough University): Scoping a Museum of AI Cultures

13.00 – 13.30: Discussion

13.30 – 14:15 Lunch

14.15–15.15 Panel 3
1. Kiersten Thamm (Navigating.art, Berlin): Sorted in Advance: AI and the Inherited Categories of Art Museum Collection Data

2. Eirini Angeli (Tech Hive Labs, Greece) AI as a Cultural Object: Building a Methodological Framework of Cooperation between Historians, Museum staff and Curators, Communities, Artists and Engineers

3. Olsen Jean-Julien (University of Montreal): Exhibiting the AI Revolution

15.15–15.45: Discussion

15.45–16.00: Break: Tea/Coffee

16.00–17.00: Panel 4
1. James Wang (The Pennsylvania State University): Can Museums Show What AI Sees? Mapping Painterly Gesture through Streamline Visualization

2. Giulia Taurino (Northeastern University/Getty Research Institute), Curating provenance: AI and the Exhibition of Ownership Histories

3. Kamil Zeidler and Paula Chmielowska (University of Gdansk): From Excavating the Past to Curating Algorithms: AI and the Future of Archaeological Heritage

17.00–17.30 Discussion

DAY 2 – 27 NOVEMBER 2026
Digilab East (Martin Hall) and Digilab Central

10.00–11.00 Panel 5, Digilab East
1. Jun Yu (National University of Singapore): The Unsettledness of AI in the Everyday Work of Interpretation

2. Suweon Kim (Hankuk University, Korea): Funding the Pluriverse: AI Curation in African Heritage Spaces

3. Asya Natapov and Sergey Saveliev (Loughborough University): From space to experience: redefining visitors’ engagement in museums through visibility analysis

11.00–11.30: Discussion

11.30–11.45: Break: Tea/coffee

11.45–12.45 Panel 6, Digilab Central
1. François Gutherz (Université Paris-8): pLLMdered_hearts: Playing or Commenting to Revive Interactive Fiction

2. Kenneth Wong See Huat (Curator and Founder of People Ideas Culture, Penang): Towards an AI Heritage Companion: CultureAtlas and Living Heritage Interpretation in George Town

3. Nicola Urbino (Vanvitelli University, Italy): AI-Enabled Operational Workflows for Small and Medium-Sized Museums: Automation, Public Engagement and Institutional Sustainability

12.45– 13.15 Discussion

13.15–14:00 Lunch

14.00–15.00 Panel 6
1. Street Art Museum (Amsterdam) The Street Is the Interface: Co-Creating AI Heritage with Youth and Communities

2. Camille Coutant (Independent Researcher, Paris): AI and Archeology: 3D generated models

3. Lusine Tumanian (Painting Restorer, Armenia): AI and Conservation: The Matenadaran Museum, Armenia

15.00–15.30: Discussion

15.30–15.45: Break

15.45–16.45. Panel 7
1. Ana Candida de Avelar (Federal University of Sao Paulo): From AI Mediation to Critical Curatorial Infrastructure: Regenerating Historical Museum Collections through AI and Contemporary Digital Art

2. Myra Mentari Abubakar (Visiting Fellow: National University of Singapore: Curating the Algorithmic Heroine: AI-Generated Images of Cut Nyak Din as Museum Objects

3. Sandra Samolik (University of Leicester): Trusted Custodians in an AI Age: Museums, Public Trust, and the Ethics of Cultural Data

16.45–17.15. Discussion

Conference closes

This conference is made possible through support from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK).