ELISAVA REWRITES THE CULTURAL CODE THROUGH INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS
Elisava’s Master in Applied AI for Arts and Design (MAIAD) is a technology intervention program for thinkers, designers and creators. In the belief that those who understand artificial intelligence they are the ones who will shape it future of culturethe Mr – offered in Barcelona (in English) and Madrid (in Spanish) – frames the algorithm as raw material forr artistic innovation and critical reflection. It is a curriculum designed to educate a new kind of creative – someone who analyse, build and challenge with intelligent systems to rewrite the way culture is produced, distributed and believed.
Zeynep Atik’s work Generated Nostalgia | all images courtesy of Elisava
CREATORS AND THINKERS ON THE EDGE OF LIVE PRACTICE
Built on Elisava’s 65-year heritage of engineering and design excellence, the Master in Applied AI for Arts and Design (MAIAD) run by a faculty active professionals and award-winning professionals working at the forefront of the industry.. Directors Pau Garcia and Marta Handenawer from Domestic Data Streamers, along with Paadín, they bring a rigorous, activist sensibility towards the direction of the program.
The teaching staff includes award-winning contributors recognized by Ars Electronica, along with internationally known artists (Printing Workshop or Mans-O)curators (Lluís Nacenta), and guest speakers from many countries. This team of experts guides students into unconventional areas, with modules such as; Writing Against Algorithmic Mediation, Resistance and Poetic Dissent (with If Quito), AI & Sculpture (with Mark Maderios)and Hype & AI (with Andreu Belsunces), ensuring that the curriculum does not resonate with the industry’s radical default optimism or pessimism.
the school is run by active and award-winning professionals
MAIAD FROM TECHNICAL INDEXES TO THE PURPOSELY UNCOMFORTABLE PROJECTS
Over the course of an intensive year, MAIAD students move through five interconnected practices that balance deep technical rigor with critical social inquiry. This progress moves from the ethical foundations of artificial intelligence to intensive tooling—mastering everything from Python and Midjourney to TouchDesigner—before expanding to interactive applications and research. The curriculum culminates in a final thesis that requires more than just aesthetic output. Students are asked to articulate a vision that says something important beyond simply demonstrating what an algorithm can do.
a new kind of creative that dissects, builds and challenges with intelligent systems
The impact of this approach is already evident in the deliberately awkward work emerging from the program’s current cohort. For example, Zeynep Atik’s ‘Nostalgia was created‘ uses imaging tools to test machine memory reconstruction, testing the limits of how we perceive our own history. Similarly, Tara Monheim’s ‘Great Again: The Politics of Nostalgiatreats artificial intelligence as a tool of political analysis, mapping how algorithmic logics encode and escalate a reactive sensibility.
By pushing creators to move beyond the role of passive user and take on the responsibility of author, the program forces direct engagement with the central challenge: if you could shape how artificial intelligence behaves in culture, what would you force it to do?
Zeynep Atik’s uses image production tools to explore the idea of memory reconstruction
technically fluent Zeynep Atik’s work “Generated Nostalgia”
AI generated image by Zeynep Atik’s
