UNBOUND: Transcending Technology and Disciplinarity

A symposium on Critical Studies and AI in the arts on April 17, 2025.

https://calarts.edu/unbound

Building on our inaugural 2024 AI symposium, California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) announces UNBOUND, a symposium for the campus community scheduled for April 17, 2025. This symposium emerges at a crucial moment when technology is reshaping not just the tools we use, but the very nature of artistic creation, knowledge production, and critical discourse.

UNBOUND recognizes that preparing artists for the future requires more than technical literacy—it demands a deep engagement with critical thinking, theoretical frameworks, and ethical considerations. The symposium’s name reflects our commitment to moving beyond conventional boundaries: between disciplines, between human and machine creativity, and between traditional and emerging forms of knowledge.

By bringing together critical studies and technological innovation, we aim to explore how these seemingly disparate domains can enrich each other. How might criticality inform our understanding of AI’s role in artistic practice? How can emerging technologies enhance our approaches to critique and analysis? These questions lie at the heart of UNBOUND’s mission to foster a more nuanced and comprehensive approach to artistic education in the age of AI.