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Sunset at the North Campus © Roland Baege​/​TU Dortmund
Artificial intelligence in art and culture

NRW-Wide AI Competence Network Launched in Dortmund

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Photo: People in a blue-lit room. © lustre art group​/​stock.adobe.com
“K3 KI.Kunst.Kultur” promotes the use of artificial intelligence in art and culture in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Artificial intelligence (AI) affords new creative possibilities for art and culture. It can, however, at the same time fundamentally change how such works evolve, are presented and acknowledged. To help artists harness these opportunities and overcome the associated challenges, the State of North Rhine-Westphalia has set up the regional AI competence network “K3 KI.Kunst.Kultur”. It unites 23 institutions from culture, higher education and cultural policy, among them TU Dortmund University. Theater Dortmund has hosted the network’s administrative office, which will receive funding of around €2 million until the end of 2028, since 1 March.

“Artificial intelligence presents a tremendous opportunity for artists – but at the same time it poses an enormous challenge in some areas: Many artists are asking themselves what these developments mean for their profession and their activities. We are supporting our region’s creative minds by better interconnecting and expanding the excellent knowledge about AI in art and culture available in our federal state and making it more accessible. Nationwide, our K3 network is pioneering. This benefits our cultural institutions and their artistic offerings. Nowhere else in Europe are these as diverse as in North Rhine-Westphalia,” said Ina Brandes, Minister for Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, at the presentation of the new competence network.

Photo: A group of people stands together behind a podium at an event.
Ina Brandes (front row, 4th from the right), Alexander Kalouti, Mayor of the City of Dortmund (front row, 3rd from the right), FH President Prof. Tamara Appel (back row, 3rd from the right), and TU President Prof. Manfred Bayer (back row, 2nd from the left) at the launch.

The consortium, led by Theater Dortmund, participated in a European call for tenders and emerged as the successful candidate. The Akademie für Theater und Digitalität (Academy for Theatre and Digitality) hosted there is now responsible for setting up the administrative office. Dr. Philipp Bojahr is the network’s managing director. The aim is to offer further training and continuing education programs, longer training courses over several months and artist residencies. TU Dortmund University is making the expertise of its Academy of Fine Arts, where artists and academics engage in creative work and research, and of the Lamarr Institute for Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence available to the consortium.

Key elements of the network are:

  • A continuing education program on AI in art and culture for professionals working in culture in North Rhine-Westphalia. This will link and spotlight existing offers as well as develop new ones. Topics will include, for example, the use and operating principles of digital tools, copyright issues and the effect of AI on art and society.
  • An “AI Academy” as a program lasting several months for selected artists, where they can hone their skills in working with AI, gain an understanding of how AI functions and gather artistic experience.
  • “AI Fellows”: To complement the continuing education program, the network will facilitate residencies for artists, which will enable them to explore artistic issues related to AI in greater depth.

Press release by Theater Dortmund (in German only)

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