AI and its Consequences – Austrian Cultural Forum, Warsaw – 26.02.-09.04.2026
Artistic Positions on Post-Digital Futures
Participating Artists:
Die Aschenbrecher, The Future Foundation, Begi Guggenheim, Olivier Hölzl, Lukas Lex, Daniel Mazanik, The Meaningful Noise Collective, Anna Pelz, Sebastian Pfeifhofer, Sebastian Pirch, Bettina Schülke, Annette Tesarek, Norbert Unfug, Ana Vollwesen, Moritz Wildburger
Programme
Opening: Thursday, February 26, 7:00 p.m.
Talk: Friday, February 27, 3:00 p.m.
Lecture by Jörg Menche (LBI-NetMed) on artificial intelligence, biological networks and the role of Art & Science collaborations in contemporary research.
Closing event: Thursday, April 9, 7:00 p.m.
Opening hours: Mon-Fri, 9:00 a.m-5:00 p.m.
© Photo courtesy of Ana Vollwesen
Since late 2022, the rapid rise of generative AI systems has increasingly shaped artistic, societal and political debates. Within just a few years, enormous investments have been made in data centres, and new infrastructures and global power configurations have begun to emerge. At the same time, questions concerning energy consumption, regulation, digital ethics and democratic oversight have moved to the forefront.
Examples such as the virtual AI minister “Diella” in Albania or the admission of the non-binary AI system “Flynn” as a student at the University of Applied Arts Vienna illustrate how deeply AI is already embedded within social, institutional and symbolic orders. Central terms such as deepfakes, neural networks or AI agents have become ubiquitous, yet remain opaque to many.
This exhibition approaches these developments from an artistic perspective. Adopting a critical and post-autonomous stance, art is positioned here as a framework, mirror, testing ground and early warning system. The exhibition asks whether debates surrounding AI can extend beyond concerns about artistic autonomy and whether broader social transformations must be negotiated collectively with other actors.
At its core, the exhibition engages with themes such as humans and machines, bodies and data, publics and authorship, histories and entanglements, as well as the ambivalence between fascination, ideology and power. AI appears not merely as a tool, but as a cultural infrastructure: it reproduces norms and biases, shapes narratives and imaginaries of the future, sets aesthetic standards and exerts political and material agency.
A dedicated section of the exhibition focuses on questions of digital ethics. Lectures, presentations and discussions accompany and deepen the artistic positions on display.
Academic Partners:
Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Network Medicine, University of Vienna (LBI-NetMed)
The Future Foundation
https://www.thefuturefoundation.eu/en
curated by:
Andreas Schlichtner
https://artcoas.com/