art_ai:breaking_the_mold_of_normalization

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Abstract

“Liberate the possible from the tyranny of the probable.” (Dan McQuillan, Goldsmith University)

In this module, we will develop a critical perspective and some hands-on experience at the same time.

Our starting point is to consider «Artificial Intelligence» (AI) as a historical-material practice, i.e. shaped by the concrete conditions of its development and use. In particular, we want to look at the issue of “normalization”, the tendency of commercial generative AI to create very similar-looking content, drawn from a relatively narrow range of possibilities.

We will investigate the roots of this issue and its political and cultural consequences. We will look at artistic practices that break the mold of the normal and use it as a tool to interrogate the past and imagine different futures.

Course requirements:

Monday

  • Introduction
  • Experiences with using AI
    • add tools to the pad
    • add positive and negative experience for each tool

Orientation

  • Read together: McQuillan, Dan. 2022. Resisting AI: An Anti-Fascist Approach to Artificial Intelligence. Bristol University Press (read Chapter 1: Operations of AI, p.10-26) PDF in Paul
  • Group 1: Stalder, Felix. 2025. “Das Gene­ra­tive der Künst­li­chen Intelligenz.” Geschichte der Gegenwart, January 19. https://geschichtedergegenwart.ch/das-generative-der-kuenstlichen-intelligenz/
  • Group 2: Bender, Emily M., Timnit Gebru, Angelina McMillan-Major, and Shmargaret Shmitchell. 2021. “On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots: Can Language Models Be Too Big? 🦜.” Proceedings of the 2021 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency, March 3, 610–23. https://doi.org/10.1145/3442188.3445922.
  • Group 3: Steyerl, Hito. 2023. “Mean Images.” New Left Review, no. 140/141 (April): 82–97. (PDF in Paul)

Positions in Art Schools

ZHDK:

Oberlin College (WP, Tuition)

Tuesday

The Issue of Normalization
Sources of Normalization
  • Nikki Böhler, Céline Nauer, t8y, Poisoning Reality, 2026
  • Holly Herndon/ Matt Dryhurst. xhairymutantx, Withney Biennial, 2024
  • Herndon, Holly, and Mat Dryhurst. 2024. All Media Is Training Data. Edited by Eva Jäger and Caroline Busta. Serpentine.
  • Corporate Policy
  • OpenAI Guardrails
  • Avoiding controversy (in the US)
  • Reinforcement Learning

Group Work, part 1

What do we want from AI at an Art School?

Brain-storming session, list with as many possible points as you think of, not all of them need to be included in the next version.

Wednesday

Creativity & Homogenization

Group Work, part 2

What do we want from AI at an Art School?

Choose the points you agree, and write a statement, you can use any tools you like, but in the end, it's your statement.

Thursday

Start at 10:30, lunch break at 13:00, end at 19:00

Sources of Normalization, cont

  • Gillespie, Tarleton. Custodians of the internet: platforms, content moderation, and the hidden decisions that shape social media. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2018.
  • Gray, Mary L., und Siddharth Suri. Ghost work: how to stop Silicon Valley from building a new global underclass. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019. (read introduction, p. ix-xxiii)

Lateral Thinking

“Solving of problems by an indirect and creative approach, typically through viewing the problem in a new and unusual light.”

Oblique Strategies, by Peter Schmidt Brian Eno, 1975

Group Work, part 3

Draw five cards from the deck, chose the one most productive for you and revise the statement following the strategy chosen.

— Kino Toni Toni Areal,

«Platform Brutality»

  • Keynote, Q&A mit Geert Lovink
  • 15:00 - 16:30 Uhr

Geert Lovink, a media theorist and internet critic from the Netherlands, will discuss the current projects of the “Institute of Network Cultures” in Amsterdam, which he directs, and present his new book, “Platform Brutality.” The keynote address will be delivered in English.

More Information: https://cast.zhdk.ch/news/geert-lovink-from-platform-brutality-to-social-media-alternatives/

«Bilder aus dem Prompt: KI zwischen Markt, Kunst und Verantwortung»

  • Panel, Q&A mit Tobias Fueter & Boris Eldagsen, Moderation Manuel Hendry
  • 17:30 - 19:00 Uhr

Ab 17:30 Uhr sind Tobias Fueter und Boris Eldagsen «zu Gast bei Cast». An unserem Panel «Bilder aus dem Prompt: KI zwischen Markt, Kunst und Verantwortung» treffen die zwei profilierten, konträren Positionen aufeinander, um das Spannungsfeld zwischen kommerzieller Anwendung und künstlerischer Intervention auszuloten. Moderation: Filmemacher und Forscher Manuel Flurin Hendry.

More information: https://cast.zhdk.ch/news/bilder-aus-dem-prompt-ki-zwischen-markt-kunst-und-verantwortung/

Friday

Piotr Winiewicz, About A Hero, 2024, 85 Minutes

https://thefilmverdict.com/about-a-hero/

Group Work, part 4

What do we want from AI at an Art School?

Finish and presentation.

Feedback & End

Additional Information

IEA (2025), Energy and AI, IEA, Paris

  • 2.0 Understanding the energy-AI nexus
  • 3.0 Energy demand from AI
  • 4.0 Energy supply for AI

US tech firms successfully lobbied EU to keep datacentre emissions secret, The Guardian, UK, 17 Apr, 2026.

Ben Jordan *Data Centers' Hidden Health Hazard: The Infrasound Threat*, 20 Feb, 2026

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  • Last modified: 2026/04/20 15:34
  • by fstalder@zhdk.ch