BRAID: Responsible use of AI in the creation, archiving, reactivation and conservation of artworks and their archives
Funder
UK Research and Innovation
Project team
Sarah Whatley - Co-Lead
Kate Marsh - Co-Lead
Lily Hayward-Smith - Research Assistant
Total value
£1,098,711
Collaborators
University of Nottingham - Lead
Goldsmiths University of London
Candoco Dance Company
London South Bank University
National Archives
University of Dundee
University of Exeter
Welly O'Brien
Duration
February 2025 – January 2028
Project overview
This project is part of the the new BRAID programme, which generates key new knowledge on responsible innovation and creativity when AI is used to create, document, reactivate and conserve artworks and their archives.
We will analyse how we can draw on AI to reactivate, document and archive complex artworks, including artworks created through AI, how to curate the exhibition of artworks, whether through historical records or their reactivations, and preserve them for posterity. We will develop a practical intervention in archival and conservation studies informed and led by humanities research on how to use responsible AI innovation to faster creativity and make archives more resilient.
Reactivating artworks in the context of this project will involve performing or exhibiting them again, drawing on their current documentation but also providing opportunities for further documentation. The project will explore how AI can help to reactivate, document and archive complex artworks, including:
- Artworks created through AI
- How to curate the exhibition of artworks, whether through historical records or their reactivations
- Preserving them for posterity
The Coventry team are working on two case studies. One case study explores the responsible use of AI to document, archive and generate dance performance. The focus is on dancing with robots to create an archive of dance/robot/machine interaction with a specific focus on human centred AI, disability and an ethics of care to re think normative methods of data capture extraction and representation.
We will also be contributing to another case study exploring the use of AI in relation to archives with a focus on Siobhan Davies RePlay.
Project objectives
Our project will advance the RAI ecosystem by providing new knowledge on the concepts of creativity, accessibility and responsibility based on expertise in arts and humanities research augmented by perspectives from artists, national institutions, AI experts, and the public. We aim to provide intellectual leadership in the RAI ecosystem by developing an innovative framework which can function as a catalyst for artists as well as museums, galleries and other institutions such as university or public libraries tasked with conserving or archiving artworks and collections.
Impact statement
The focus of the project has a strong basis in Arts and Humanities and aims to fill a significant gap in the research on responsible use of AI in this context by producing implementable frameworks. The outputs of the project have both national but also international significance. We are working with partners from the UK, the EU and the US: The project framework has the potential to be implemented globally by organisations introducing AI to their archives.
Outputs
- Press release: News - Responsible AI projects to boost creative and environment sectors - University of Nottingham
- News story:
- Workshops
- Workshop reports
- Public symposium (international)
- Project framework
- Policy report
- Journal articles
- Authored book
- Edited volume
Image: Welly O'Brien
