With AI’s ability to automatically produce content and process complicated datasets with high accuracy, museums worldwide are exploring ways in which this innovative technology can help them better achieve their missions and advance accessibility efforts. Through case studies, learn about three applications of this technology: content digitalization, language accessibility, and visual description.
October was filled with new debates on AI policies, a halt to one of the most significant AI safety bills in the United States, and a host of new AI developments in video, music, and even podcasts.
Arts and cultural nonprofits often operate in multiple markets for earned and contributed revenue. With increasing attention on data-driven decision making, effective market orientation often depends on effective data use. This fundamental collection, transmission, use, and interpretation of data within an organization collectively contributes to what can be considered an organization’s data culture.
Museums have increasingly begun to volunteer their spaces as polling places, acting as a democratic vehicle for their communities and adding to the greater fabric of America’s election infrastructure. In doing so, they can support local democratic processes and prove to their communities that they are not unbreachable temples for the elite, but open platforms for the people.
As exemplified by the Hollywood strikes of 2023, we find ourselves in a new era of Artificial Intelligence in film and television. While studios are looking to cut costs, performers seek job security, and consumers seek quality content. Through research conducted in collaboration with facial motion capture technology provider Faceware Technologies Inc., Master of Entertainment Industry Management students at Carnegie Mellon sought to gain insight on how AI-generated content will transform existing industries, including how this technology could affect employment in the entertainment industry, content development, budgets, contracts, legislation, and privacy rights.
Dance relies on the audience’s sense of sight to experience a performance. However, dancing itself is a very tactile experience. A dancer’s precise movements depend on a heightened internal awareness of the body – how joints are stacked and what muscles are activated. They must also maintain an awareness of external forces – how one limb moves in relation to the other, how their skin feels sliding against the floor, and where they sense other dancers moving with them in space.
The experience of the audience is vastly different from that of the dancer. Is there a way to bridge this divide and communicate a multi-sensory experience to the audience, and allow those who cannot see to feel? Tapping into this sense of touch might help audiences experience dance in a new way.
The application of Virtual and Augmented reality in music has been around for a while. From collaborative creation and interactive music videos to its incorporation in art museums, it seems as if the arts industry is competing with itself to enhance the audience experience. As concerts are a highly user-oriented experience, these technologies have started gaining more traction in the live music space. The demand for interactive and immersive experiences has called for innovative models to be incorporated within music. Thus, the application of such models is added to the concert experience with the implementation of VR and AR technologies to help maximize its interactivity.
MR, or Mixed Reality, is appearing across the arts world, but its actual meaning is not well understood. A strong beginning includes a foundational understanding of the concepts of reality and virtuality. The future application of MR technology is unlimited, increasing the possibility of creating experiences that reflect what is seen in sci-fi films. While many practitioners believe that MR is the future, the technology lacks popularity in the consumer market. However, with the continuous development of MR technology, more cost-effective solutions will be found, and the future of a truly immersive experience will come.
Deepfakes, one of the hottest topics to burst onto the technology scene in the last five years, have received a lot of negative publicity because of the risks they can present in the hands of bad actors. However, when used in good faith, they have many positive and exciting uses within the arts and culture sector. This report will briefly explain what deepfakes are and how they work, as well as some of their weaknesses and negative implications. Additionally, three case studies will examine the positive ways in which deepfakes can be used in artistic and cultural institutions.
As the world seemed to erupt with NFTs in spring 2021, AMT Lab thought it would be an appropriate time to curate a collection of essays on the emerging, some might say exploding, world of NFTs with a focus on the arts and technology’s disruptions. The following article provides context to the arts marketplace, ownership, and the disruptions caused by blockchain technology, especially NFTs, and concludes with a short commentary on the forthcoming collection and an existential thought to send you along your way down the rabbit hole of NFTs and blockchain.
While NFTs took the arts market by storm in the beginning of 2021, with the environmental impact of blockchain technology coming to light, more artists and groups have not only been criticized but have also begun calling out the technology and not participating. Others are calling on more long-term changes, such as renewable resourcing for crypto-mining. How will NFTs fit in long-term in the art world, considering their impact on artists and the environment?
In recent months, NFTs have had a large presence on news feeds, especially in artists’ circles. NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are “digital assets that [represent] real-world objects like art, music, in-game items and videos.” Because of this, they are challenging the traditional ways that people view, buy, and sell artwork. This research will look at how NFTs came to be and what artists and arts administrators should consider when utilizing this technology.
