photo © Maren Brauner, 2025
"Let's talk about" series of talks by the Art Department of Swiss Post
02.07.2025, 17:00 at the Swiss Post Office branch St Clara in Basel. artist duo Dorota Gawęda & Eglė Kulbokaitė in conversation with Giulia Bini (curator and head of Arts at CERN, Geneva), moderated by Adrian Christopher Notz (curator and lecturer as well as former AI and art curator at the ETH AI Center, Zurich) about "Art and Artificial Intelligence"
In July 2025, the Art Department of Swiss Post launched its new discussion series, 'Let's Talk About', in Basel, beginning with an inspiring conversation about art and artificial intelligence. I moderated a panel discussion featuring artist duo Dorota Gawęda and Eglė Kulbokaitė, as well as Giulia Bini, curator and head of arts at CERN in Geneva. Drawing on Dorota and Eglė’s Mouthless video series and Giulia’s curatorial work, which explores how techno-scientific discourse and transdisciplinarity are redefining artistic practices, institutions and exhibition methods, the discussion examined how AI can function as a creative tool, a conceptual framework, and a metaphorical entity in contemporary artistic practice.
It also delved into how the aesthetic and idea of AI — particularly GANs — seems to blur the boundaries between nature and culture, fact and fiction, and the human and non-human. It was discussed how AI serves as a stylistic metaphor for transformation, myth and magic in the work of Dorota and Eglė. Examples of how art and science can enrich one another through shared tools and methodologies were shown during their residencies at EPFL and CERN. Giulia provided critical insights into how techno-scientific discourse is reshaping artistic methods, institutions, and the contexts in which art is produced and exhibited.
Questions about creativity in the age of automation emerged during our discussion. We reflected on how AI challenges traditional notions of artistic skill and originality, revealing creativity to be a 'reductionist concept' in the context of art. We also critically discussed the dominant narratives shaped by big tech, which lack visionary depth and instead promote a deeply capitalist agenda: 'Big tech has no vision for the future beyond capitalism'. With our highly engaged and informed audience, we also addressed concerns about the impact of AI on skills connected to learning and education.
It was a great pleasure and honour to moderate this talk with these fantastic artists and curators.
