Georgia Tech Arts

Middle Schoolers’ Feedback Informs New Approach to AI-based Museum Exhibits

dgivens8 — Fri, 30 May 2025 18:14:41 +0000

Middle Schoolers’ Feedback Informs New Approach to AI-based Museum Exhibits dgivens8 Fri, 05/30/2025 - 14:14

Researchers at Georgia Tech are creating accessible museum exhibits that explain artificial intelligence (AI) to middle school students, including the LuminAI interactive AI-based dance partner developed by Regents' Professor Brian Magerko.

Ph.D. students Yasmine Belghith and Atefeh Mahdavi co-led a study in a museum setting that observed how middle schoolers interact with the popular AI chatbot ChatGPT.

“It’s important for museums, especially science museums, to start incorporating these kinds of exhibits about AI and about using AI so the general population can have that avenue to interact with it and transfer that knowledge to everyday tools,” Belghith said.

Belghith and Mahdavi conducted their study with nine focus groups of 24 students at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry. The team used the findings to inform their design of AI exhibits that the museum could display as early as 2025.

Belghith is a Ph.D. student in human-centered computing. Her advisor is Assistant Professor Jessica Roberts in the School of Interactive Computing. Magerko advises Mahdavi, a Ph.D. student in digital media in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication.

Belghith and Mahdavi presented a paper about their study in May at the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) 2024 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Their work is part of a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant dedicated to fostering AI literacy among middle schoolers in informal environments.

Expanding Accessibility

While there are existing efforts to reach students in the classroom, the researchers believe AI education is most accessible in informal learning environments like museums.

“There’s a need today for everybody to have some sort of AI literacy,” Belghith said. “Many middle schoolers will not be taking computer science courses or pursuing computer science careers, so there needs to be interventions to teach them what they should know about AI.”

The researchers found that most of the middle schoolers interacted with ChatGPT to either test its knowledge by prompting it to answer questions or socialize with it by having human-like conversations.

Others fit the mold of “content explorers.” They did not engage with the AI aspect of ChatGPT and focused more on the content it produced.

Mahdavi said regardless of their approach, students would get “tunnel vision” in their interactions instead of exploring more of the AI’s capabilities.

“If they go in a certain direction, they will continue to explore that,” Mahdavi said. “One thing we can learn from this is to nudge kids and show them there are other things you can do with AI tools or get them to think about it another way.”

The researchers also paid attention to what was missing in the students’ responses, which Mahdavi said was just as important as what they did talk about.

“None of them mentioned anything about ethics or what could be problematic about AI,” she said. “That told us there’s something they aren’t thinking about but should be. We take that into account as we think about future exhibits.”

Making an Impact

The researchers visited the Museum of Science and Industry June 1-2 to conduct the first trial run of three AI-based exhibits they’ve created. One of them is LuminAI, which was developed in Magerko’s Expressive Machinery Lab.

LuminAI is an interactive art installation that allows people to engage in collaborative movement with an AI dance partner. Georgia Tech and Kennesaw State recently held the first performance of AI avatars dancing with human partners in front of a live audience.

Duri Long, a former Georgia Tech Ph.D. student who is now an assistant professor at Northwestern University, designed the second exhibit. KnowledgeNet is an interactive tabletop exhibit in which visitors build semantic networks by adding different characteristics to characters that interact together.

The third exhibit, Data Bites, prompts users to build datasets of pizzas and sandwiches. Their selections train a machine-learning classifier in real time.

Belghith said the exhibits fostered conversations about AI between parents and children.

“The exhibit prototypes successfully engaged children in creative activities,” she said. “Many parents had to pull their kids away to continue their museum tour because the kids wanted more time to try different creations or dance moves.”

Summary sentence

Partnering with Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry, Researchers at Georgia Tech are creating accessible museum exhibits that explain artificial intelligence (AI) to middle school students.

Summary

Ph.D. students Yasmine Belghith and Atefeh Mahdavi co-led a study in a museum setting that observed how middle schoolers interact with the popular AI chatbot ChatGPT.

Dateline

Fri, 06/21/2024 - 12:00

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Nathan Deen

Communications Officer I

School of Interactive Computing

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go-ai

artificial intelligence

middle school

AI education

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Research Horizons

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Community

Education

Exhibitions

Georgia Tech Arts

Music and Music Technology

Mercury ID

675196

Source updated

Wed, 07/17/2024 - 10:05

Teaching AI to Collaborate, not Merely Create, Through Dance

dgivens8 — Fri, 30 May 2025 18:14:41 +0000

Teaching AI to Collaborate, not Merely Create, Through Dance dgivens8 Fri, 05/30/2025 - 14:14

Two children are playing with a set of toys, each playing alone. That kind of play involves a somewhat limited set of interactions between the child and the toy. But what happens when the two children play together using the same toys?

“The actions are similar, but the choices and outcomes are very different because of the dynamic changes they’re making with the other person,” says Brian Magerko, Regents’ Professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Literature, Media, and Communication. “It’s a thing that humans do all the time, and computers don’t do with us at all.”

Welcome to the next frontier of artificial intelligence (AI) — not just generating but collaborating in real-time.

Magerko and his colleagues, Georgia Tech research scientist Milka Trajkova and Kennesaw State University Associate Professor of Dance Andrea Knowlton, are putting a collaborative AI system they’ve developed to the ultimate test: the world’s first collaborative AI dance performance.

Dance Partner

LuminAI is an interactive system that allows participants to engage in collaborative movement improvisation with an AI virtual dance partner projected on a nearby screen or wall. LuminAI analyzes participant movements and improvises responses informed by memories of past interactions with people. In other words, LuminAI learns how to dance by dancing with us.

The National Science Foundation-supported project began about 12 years ago in a lab and became an art installation and public demo. LuminAI has since moved into a different phase as a creative collaborator and education tool in a dance studio.

“We’re looking at the role LuminAI can play in dance education. As far as we’re aware, this is the first implemented version of an AI dancer in a dance studio,” says Trajkova, who was a professional ballet dancer before becoming a research scientist on the project.

To prepare LuminAI to collaborate with dancers, the research team started by studying pairs of improvisational dancers.

“We’re trying to understand how non-verbal, collaborative creativity occurs,” Knowlton says. “We start by trying to understand influencing factors that are perceived as contributing to improvisational success between two artists. Through that understanding, we applied those criteria to an AI system so it can have a similar experience with co-creative success.”

“We’re working on a creative arc,” adds Trajkova. “So instead of the AI agent just generating movements in response to the last thing that happened, we’re working to track and understand the dynamics of creative ideas across time as a continuous flow, rather than isolated instances of reaction.”

Students from Knowlton’s improvisational dance class at Kennesaw State spent two months of their spring semester working routinely with the LuminAI dancer and recording their impressions and experiences. One of the purposes the team discovered is that LuminAI serves as a third view for dancers and allows them to try ideas out with the system before trying it out with a partner.

The classroom experiment will culminate in a public performance on May 3 at Kennesaw State’s Marietta Dance Theater featuring the students performing with the LuminAI dancer. As far as the research team is aware the event is the world’s first collaborative AI dance performance.

While not all the dancers embraced having an AI collaborator, some of those who were skeptical at first left the experience more open to the possibility of collaborating with AI, Knowlton says. Regardless of their feelings toward working with AI, Knowlton says she believes the dancers gained valuable skills in working with specialized technology, especially as dance performances evolve to include more interactive media.

Refined Movement

So, what’s next for LuminAI? The project represents at least two possible paths for its learnings. The first includes continued exploration about how AI systems can be taught to cooperate and collaborate more like humans.

“With the advent of generative AI these past few years, it’s been really clear how great a need there is for this sort of social cognition,” says Magerko. “One of the things we’re going to be getting off the ground is sense-making with large language models. How do you collaborate with an AI system – rather than just making text or images, they’ll be able to make with us.”

The second involves the body movements LuminAI has been cataloging and analyzing over the years. Dance exemplifies highly refined motor skills, often exhibiting a level of detail surpassing that found in various athletic disciplines or physical therapy. While the tools designed to capture these intricate movements—through cameras and AI—are still nascent, the potential for harnessing this granular data is significant, Trajkova says.

That exploration begins on May 30 with a two-day summit being held at Georgia Tech to discuss its application for transforming performance athletics, with interdisciplinary participants in dance, computer vision, biomechanics, psychology, and human-computer interaction from Georgia Tech, Emory, KSU, Harvard, Royal Ballet in London, and Australian Ballet.

“It’s about understanding AI's role in augmenting training, promoting wellness as well as diving deep in decoding the artistry of human movements. How can we extract insights about the quality of athlete’s movements so we can help develop and enhance their own unique nuances?” Trajkova says.

Summary sentence

Georgia Tech and KSU faculty are putting a collaborative AI system they’ve developed to the ultimate test: the world’s first collaborative AI dance performance.

Summary

Georgia Tech and KSU faculty are putting a collaborative AI system they’ve developed to the ultimate test: the world’s first collaborative AI dance performance.

Dateline

Thu, 05/02/2024 - 12:00

Contact

Megan McRainey
megan.mcrainey@gatech.edu

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artificial intelligence (AI)

go-ai

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Art Research

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Georgia Tech Arts

Mercury ID

674495

Source updated

Fri, 05/10/2024 - 14:03

Artistic Innovation at the Heart of Georgia Tech’s Newest District

admin — Wed, 28 May 2025 12:49:46 +0000

Artistic Innovation at the Heart of Georgia Tech’s Newest District admin Wed, 05/28/2025 - 08:49

In West Midtown, steps away from the heart of the Georgia Tech campus, the Ferst Center for the Arts, and Science Square, a vision is taking shape.

It’s Tech’s latest planned innovation district — an arts and entertainment hub for Atlanta called Creative Quarter.

Running along North Avenue and Marietta Street, Creative Quarter will be a place for Tech students to create and connect. It will also serve as another link between Tech and the city — this time through the energy and engagement of arts and creative industries — in a space where new technologies for producing art are developed and shared.

Leaning Into Arts and Creativity

Jason Freeman, associate vice provost for the Arts, and President Ángel Cabrera recently visited the space that will one day anchor Creative Quarter: the former Randall Brothers site, where one of Atlanta’s premier building products manufacturers was established in 1885, the same year as Georgia Tech’s founding.

Both are energized by the enormous potential of what’s to come here, from academic and office space to residential and commercial areas, creative makerspaces, performance halls, soundstages, and production studios.

“This makes so much sense for us as a place to lean into arts and creativity because it connects to what our students do and what they want to explore,” Freeman said. “They want to pursue their passion for the arts while they're students here, whether that's in their academic studies or the activities they pursue outside of class.”

What makes the space so special, Freeman noted, is its proximity to the core of campus. At the same time, its Westside location will make it easier for people who don't often visit Tech to attend events at Creative Quarter, making it a vital space where the campus community meets the surrounding community.

Some of that will take the form of collaboration with industry partners who want to explore new technologies and work with students and faculty. “But it will also be with people who live in the neighborhoods right around us: artists, community partners, and students,” he said.

The Spark

For Georgia Tech, Creative Quarter marks a deeper connection into the intersection of art and technology, drawing on the deep creative energy of Atlanta and the region. For Atlanta, it will be an exciting new arts and entertainment district in a bustling, growing part of the city.

“On this site and in this neighborhood, we want to attract creative industries and incubate the next great companies approaching art and technology in exciting new ways — and have that happen here, through the spark that Georgia Tech gives to this,” Cabrera said.

“I see genius happening here. I see new forms of art and new forms of technology emerging from this space. And I simply can't wait.”

Summary sentence

Georgia Tech's Creative Quarter will be a new arts and innovation hub for Atlanta

Summary

Georgia Tech’s new Creative Quarter, in West Midtown near the center of campus, will be a dynamic arts and innovation district that fosters collaboration between students, artists, industry partners, and the local community through arts, entertainment, and emerging technologies.

Dateline

Tue, 05/27/2025 - 12:00

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Author:

Stacy Braukman
Institute Communications

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media@gatech.edu

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682554

Source updated

Wed, 05/28/2025 - 08:49

Thesis on Human-Centered AI Earns Honors from International Computing Organization

dgivens8 — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 14:30:41 +0000

Thesis on Human-Centered AI Earns Honors from International Computing Organization dgivens8 Tue, 04/22/2025 - 10:30

A Georgia Tech alum’s dissertation introduced ways to make artificial intelligence (AI) more accessible, interpretable, and accountable. Although it’s been a year since his doctoral defense, Zijie (Jay) Wang’s (Ph.D. ML-CSE 2024) work continues to resonate with researchers.

Wang is a recipient of the 2025 Outstanding Dissertation Award from the Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (ACM SIGCHI). The award recognizes Wang for his lifelong work on democratizing human-centered AI.

“Throughout my Ph.D. and industry internships, I observed a gap in existing research: there is a strong need for practical tools for applying human-centered approaches when designing AI systems,” said Wang, now a safety researcher at OpenAI.

“My work not only helps people understand AI and guide its behavior but also provides user-friendly tools that fit into existing workflows.”

Wang’s dissertation presented techniques in visual explanation and interactive guidance to align AI models with user knowledge and values. The work culminated from years of research, fellowship support, and internships.

Wang’s most influential projects formed the core of his dissertation. These included:

CNN Explainer: an open-source tool developed for deep-learning beginners. Since its release in July 2020, more than 436,000 global visitors have used the tool.
DiffusionDB: a first-of-its-kind large-scale dataset that lays a foundation to help people better understand generative AI. This work could lead to new research in detecting deepfakes and designing human-AI interaction tools to help people more easily use these models.
GAM Changer: an interface that empowers users in healthcare, finance, or other domains to edit ML models to include knowledge and values specific to their domain, which improves reliability.
GAM Coach: an interactive ML tool that could help people who have been rejected for a loan by automatically letting an applicant know what is needed for them to receive loan approval.
Farsight: a tool that alerts developers when they write prompts in large language models that could be harmful and misused.

“I feel extremely honored and lucky to receive this award, and I am deeply grateful to many who have supported me along the way, including Polo, mentors, collaborators, and friends,” said Wang, who was advised by School of Computational Science and Engineering (CSE) Professor Polo Chau.

“This recognition also inspired me to continue striving to design and develop easy-to-use tools that help everyone to easily interact with AI systems.”

Like Wang, Chau advised Georgia Tech alumnus Fred Hohman (Ph.D. CSE 2020). Hohman won the ACM SIGCHI Outstanding Dissertation Award in 2022.

Chau’s group synthesizes machine learning (ML) and visualization techniques into scalable, interactive, and trustworthy tools. These tools increase understanding and interaction with large-scale data and ML models.

Chau is the associate director of corporate relations for the Machine Learning Center at Georgia Tech. Wang called the School of CSE his home unit while a student in the ML program under Chau.

Wang is one of five recipients of this year’s award to be presented at the 2025 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2025). The conference occurs April 25-May 1 in Yokohama, Japan.

SIGCHI is the world’s largest association of human-computer interaction professionals and practitioners. The group sponsors or co-sponsors 26 conferences, including CHI.

Wang’s outstanding dissertation award is the latest recognition of a career decorated with achievement.

Months after graduating from Georgia Tech, Forbes named Wang to its 30 Under 30 in Science for 2025 for his dissertation. Wang was one of 15 Yellow Jackets included in nine different 30 Under 30 lists and the only Georgia Tech-affiliated individual on the 30 Under 30 in Science list.

While a Georgia Tech student, Wang earned recognition from big names in business and technology. He received the Apple Scholars in AI/ML Ph.D. Fellowship in 2023 and was in the 2022 cohort of the J.P. Morgan AI Ph.D. Fellowships Program.

Along with the CHI award, Wang’s dissertation earned him awards this year at banquets across campus. The Georgia Tech chapter of Sigma Xi presented Wang with the Best Ph.D. Thesis Award. He also received the College of Computing’s Outstanding Dissertation Award.

“Georgia Tech attracts many great minds, and I’m glad that some, like Jay, chose to join our group,” Chau said. “It has been a joy to work alongside them and witness the many wonderful things they have accomplished, and with many more to come in their careers.”

Summary sentence

Zijie (Jay) Wang (Ph.D. ML-CSE 2024) is a recipient of the 2025 Outstanding Dissertation Award from the Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (ACM SIGCHI).

Summary

Dateline

Thu, 04/17/2025 - 12:00

Contact

Bryant Wine, Communications Officer
bryant.wine@cc.gatech.edu

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artificial intelligence (AI)

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Source updated

Tue, 04/22/2025 - 10:29

Richard Utz Named Interim Dean of Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts

admin — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 13:33:41 +0000

Richard Utz Named Interim Dean of Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts admin Tue, 03/19/2024 - 09:33

Richard Utz, senior associate dean and professor, has been appointed interim dean of Georgia Tech’s Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, effective April 20. Dean Husbands Fealing, who served in that role since 2020, has been appointed assistant director of the National Science Foundation Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences.

Utz is an experienced academic leader who has served as a senior associate dean in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts and as chair of the School of Literature, Media, and Communication (LMC). Under his leadership, LMC experienced remarkable growth, including increased external research funding, faculty productivity, and student enrollment. Notably, he championed the expansion of the School's curriculum to include interdisciplinary minors in Black media studies, science fiction, and social justice, and a master's degree in global media and cultures.

As senior associate dean, Utz has demonstrated commitment to faculty affairs processes and professional development, implementing comprehensive resources and mentorship programs to support faculty growth and success. He played a pivotal role in shaping the Ivan Allen College strategic plan and organized impactful events that fostered integration between the arts, humanities, and social sciences with STEM fields. Utz also worked to garner funds for LGBTQ+ projects and international summer internships for students.

In addition to his administrative responsibilities, Utz is a highly respected scholar with expertise in medievalism, literary and language studies, and the interconnections between humanistic inquiry and science and technology. He has authored many publications on these topics, including three monographs, 21 edited essay collections, and over 80 journal articles and book chapters, earning international acclaim for his contributions to the field.

“We are fortunate that Richard has agreed to step into the interim dean role,” said Steven W. McLaughlin, provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs. “He is a pillar of the Ivan Allen community, with impressive campus leadership credentials. Ivan Allen couldn’t be in better hands as we bid farewell to Dean Husbands Fealing and begin the search for the next dean.”

Utz will serve until a new dean is named. The search committee will be chaired by Dean of Libraries Leslie Sharp. An external firm will be identified to lead a national search. More information about the search committee and process will be provided soon.

Writer: Brittany Aiello, Faculty Communications Manager, Organizational and Academic Communications

Summary sentence

Utz will serve until a new dean is named and will begin his appointment on April 20.

Summary

Dateline

Tue, 03/19/2024 - 12:00

provostsoffice@gatech.edu

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Office of the Provost

Keywords

Richard Utz

Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts

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Mercury ID

673595

Source updated

Tue, 03/19/2024 - 09:33

Celebrating Black History Month on Campus and in Atlanta

admin — Fri, 23 Feb 2024 01:53:13 +0000

Celebrating Black History Month on Campus and in Atlanta admin Thu, 02/22/2024 - 20:53

Throughout Black History Month, events on the Georgia Tech campus and around the city of Atlanta will celebrate Black culture and engage community members in thought-provoking discussions.

On Campus

Black Georgia Tech Renaissance

When: Feb. 3, noon – 5 p.m.

Where: Ferst Center for the Arts

A collaboration between the African American Student Union and the Georgia Tech Black Alumni Organization, the third annual Black Georgia Tech Renaissance celebrates art and culture, highlighted by the premiere of There Is Something in the Water, a film by Georgia Tech alumna Kamryn Harris. The event will also feature art created by students and alumni, including a visual art display curated by Georgia Tech alumna I. Johnson, professionally known as Sir Bow Tie.

More Information.

Screening of 'Je suis Noires' and Panel Discussion

When: Tuesday, Feb. 6, 3 – 6 p.m.

Where: Scholars Event Network Theater, Price Gilbert Library

The Consulate General of Switzerland in Atlanta, in collaboration with the Georgia Tech School of Modern Languages’ French and German programs, will screen the Swiss documentary Je suis Noires (Becoming a Black Woman) by Rachel M'Bon and Juliana Fanjul. The movie explores the experiences and challenges faced by Black women in Switzerland, shedding light on issues of identity, racism, and the quest for belonging in a predominantly white society. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion moderated by Christophe Ippolito, professor of French at Georgia Tech.

More information.

Second Annual Black Excellence in Psychology Speaker Series

When: Feb. 7, 14, 21, and 28, 1 p.m.

Where: Clary Theatre, Bill Moore Student Success Center

Join the School of Psychology every Wednesday in February for the series featuring visiting psychologists leading engaging talks and discussions.

Feb. 7 – Natalie Watson-Singleton, associate professor, Department of Psychology at Spelman College – “Using Mindfulness-Based Digital Health Tools to Enhance the Well-Being of Black Americans”
Feb. 14 – Ciara Smalls Glover, associate professor, Department of Psychology at Georgia State University – “Cultural Shields: Strategies That Disrupt Racial Diversity and Promote Resilience”
Feb. 21 – Gena Cox, executive advisor, coach, and speaker; founder of Feels Human – “R-E-S-P-E-C-T: The Key to Inclusion and Connection”

Feb. 28 – Enrica Ruggs, associate professor of management, College of Business at the University of Houston – “Black Experiences in I/O Psychology: An Examination of Research and Scholars in the Field”

More information.

AI, Art, and Afrofuturism With Nettrice R. Gaskins

When: Thursday, Feb. 8, 11 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

Where: Scholars Event Network Theater, Price Gilbert Library

Georgia Tech alumna and digital artist Nettrice R. Gaskins will share her expertise in STEAM learning, techno-vernacular creativity, and Afrofuturism, among other cultural movements. Gaskins’ AI-generated and assisted art has been displayed at the Smithsonian Institution and in publications, murals, films, and galleries around the country.

More information.

Black History Month Open Mic Night

When: Friday, Feb. 9, 6 – 8 p.m.

Where: Cypress Theater, John Lewis Student Center

Hosted by the AASU, the Organization for Social Activism, and the Office of Student Diversity Programs, this event is dedicated to the celebration of Black artistry and expression.

Impact Presents: A Conversation with Ambassador Andrew Young and Bill Curry

When: Monday, Feb. 12, 5 – 6:30 p.m.

Where: Atlantic Theater, John Lewis Student Center

The Impact Speaker Series brings former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young to campus to reflect on his career as a pioneer in and champion of civil and human rights, serving as a member of Congress, African American U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and an ordained minister among other leadership positions. Young will share the stage with Georgia Tech Hall of Famer and two-time Super Bowl champion Bill Curry, with the conversation to be moderated by Chuck Easley, professor of the practice at Scheller and a former standout Yellow Jacket football player.

More information.

Black History Month Lecture

When: Wednesday, Feb. 21, 5 – 8 p.m.

Where: Atlantic Theater, John Lewis Student Center

Sponsored by the Division of Arts, Belonging, and Community at Georgia Tech and the AASU, the annual Black History Month Lecture will feature Aja Monet, a contemporary poet, writer, lyricist, and activist. Aligned with this year's national theme focusing on African Americans and the Arts, Monet will illuminate her journey of inspiration within the African American community through the power of her works.

More information.

Walking Tour of Historical Locations on Campus

Where: Georgia Tech Campus

Talk a stroll through campus and visit the numerous locations that tell the story of Black history at Georgia Tech, including The Three Pioneers statue honoring the Institute’s first Black students in Harrison Square, The First Graduate statue inside Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons depicting Ronald Yancey, the former site of the Pickrick Restaurant, and more.

More information.

Arts and Experiences Around Atlanta

Ruth and the Green Book

When: Jan. 31 – Feb. 25

Where: Center for Puppetry Arts

Based on Calvin Alexander Ramsey’s The Green Book, this production tells the story, through puppetry and animated projections, of 8-year-old Ruth and her family as they travel from Chicago to Alabama in the 1950s.

More information.

Roswell Roots

When and Where: Dates and locations vary.

This month-long series of programming promotes cultural awareness through art, poetry, storytelling, and other educational programs.

Full schedule.

College Football Hall of Fame Honors the Wyoming Black 14

When: Tuesday, Feb. 6, 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Where: College Football Hall of Fame

The Hall of Fame will screen The Black 14: Healing Hearts and Feeding Souls for the public, highlighting the courage of 14 University of Wyoming football players who were kicked off the team in 1969 for attempting to speak out against racially biased Mormon policies prior to a gameagainst BYU. Three members of the team will participate in a panel discussion afterward.

More information.

Black History Month Movie Series

When: Feb. 8 and 22, 7 p.m.

Where: Atlantic Green at Atlantic Station

The Color of Friendship – Thursday, Feb. 8, 7 p.m.
Remember the Titans – Thursday, Feb. 22, 7 p.m.

The National Center for Civil and Human Rights

When: Hours vary.

Where: 100 Ivan Allen Jr. Blvd. Atlanta, GA 30313

Explore the immersive exhibits throughout the museum detailing the history of the Civil Rights Movement and the papers and artifacts of Martin Luther King Jr. On Saturday, Feb. 24, the museum will screen The Space Race as part of its Black History Month programming.

More information.

Georgian Chamber Players Presents: A Musical Journey Celebrating Black History Month

When: Tuesday, Feb. 27, 7 p.m.

Where: McElreath Hall, 130 W. Paces Ferry Road NW Atlanta, GA 30305

During this concert hosted by the Atlanta History Center, the principal players of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, led by concertmaster and violinist David Coucheron, will honor Black History Month with an array of musical tales and historical ancestry.

More information.

Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Park

When: Hours vary.

Where: 450 Auburn Ave. NE, Atlanta GA 30312

Hear the story of Martin Luther King Jr.’s life, visit his home, and hear his voice in the church where he preached. The National Historic Park includes a visitor center, the Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, Fire Station No. 6, and Freedom Hall. King’s birth home is temporarily closed for repairs, but all other buildings at the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park remain open during regular park operating hours.

More information.

Subtitle

Celebrate Black History Month on the Georgia Tech campus and around the city.

Summary sentence

Celebrate Black History Month on the Georgia Tech campus and around the city.

Summary

Celebrate Black History Month on the Georgia Tech campus and around the city.

Dateline

Thu, 02/01/2024 - 12:00

steven.gagliano@gatech.edu

Contact

Steven Gagliano - Institute Communications

Associated importer

Keywords

Black History Month

Martin Luther King Jr.

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Campus and Community

Categories

Community

Georgia Tech Arts

Special Events and Guest Speakers

Mercury ID

672589

Source updated

Thu, 02/22/2024 - 20:52

Search Begins for Inaugural Assistant Vice Provost for the Arts

admin — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 13:12:41 +0000

Search Begins for Inaugural Assistant Vice Provost for the Arts admin Thu, 10/05/2023 - 09:12

Georgia Tech is looking for a new leader to champion arts education and research.

Provost Steve McLaughlin has convened a search committee charged with selecting the inaugural assistant vice provost for the Arts (AVP-A). This new position will help advance Tech’s strategic goal of more deeply integrating the arts into education and research.

This position is open to current full-time tenure-track and nontenure- track faculty at Georgia Tech. Leslie Sharp, dean of Libraries, will serve as chair of the search committee.

Reporting to Senior Vice Provost for Education and Learning Laurence Jacobs, the position will sit at the intersection of art and technology, offering students and faculty a new opportunity to innovate.

“This new role is so exciting because it will help Georgia Tech develop new and reimagined curricular experiences that nurture different ways of thinking, understanding, and problem-solving,” said Jacobs. “Weaving arts and STEM disciplines together creates a more comprehensive and interdisciplinary learning environment, which benefits our students and society as a whole.”

Emphasizing the curricular components of the arts could ultimately create academic majors, minors, or certificates that would distinguish Georgia Tech students from competitive institutions, Jacobs added. He also noted that students with such qualifications are well placed to make a sizable impact on the state’s already exploding arts and production scene.

According to the Georgia Council for the Arts, the creative industries generate a $62.5 billion economic impact in Georgia. That includes 200,000 employees who earn a combined salary of $12.1 billion. Georgia Tech wants to position itself as an arts-in-technology trailblazer that could fuel an even more significant economic boon for the state.

Among other responsibilities, the AVP-A will:

Liaise with College deans, School chairs, and leadership as well as faculty (e.g., tenure-track, lecturers, research and academic professionals, librarians, and archivists) to design and lead the implementation of innovative programs that develop and incorporate the arts.
Contribute to the Institute’s Arts@Tech and Arts Square strategic planning initiative.

Facilitate student engagement in arts-based curricular and cocurricular learning experiences, encouraging creative expression and critical thinking across disciplines.
Collaborate with the associate vice president for Arts, Belonging, and Community in the division of Student Engagement and Well-Being to ensure alignment between curricular and cocurricular efforts and to integrate performing, visual, and all other forms of art into learning, service, and scholarship.

Candidates should log in to OneUSG Connect (https://oneusgconnect.usg.edu), click the Recruiting Self-Service tile, click the Apply for Jobs tile, and search for job ID 264210. Candidates should submit a CV, cover letter, and list of three professional references by Nov. 1, 2023.

For more information, visit https://provost.gatech.edu/assistant-vice-provost-arts-search, or contact Susan Gilstrap (susan.gilstrap@gatech.edu).

Summary sentence

Georgia Tech is looking for a new leader to champion arts and education.

Summary

Dateline

Thu, 10/05/2023 - 12:00

susan.gilstrap@gatech.edu

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Susan Gilstrap

susan.gilstrap@gatech.edu

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Art Research

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Thu, 10/05/2023 - 09:12

Get Ready for Fall With Activities Around Atlanta

admin — Tue, 03 Oct 2023 16:44:41 +0000

Get Ready for Fall With Activities Around Atlanta admin Tue, 10/03/2023 - 12:44

There will soon be a chill in the air, and Georgia Tech students will soon be enjoying fall break, Oct. 9 – 10. Whether you’re thrill-seeking or looking for a relaxing activity, there is plenty to do around Atlanta to get you in the season’s spirit.

Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Woodland Spirits Exhibit

When: Runs through Nov. 5. Open daily from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Where: 767 Clifton Road, Atlanta, GA 30307

The seasonal Woodland Spirits exhibit at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History offers visitors a chance to take a walk on the supernatural side. The exhibit “evokes mystery, adventure, and imagination during the Halloween season” through commissioned sculptures created by artist Laura Lewis. The exhibit is included in the cost of a general admission ticket.

More information.

‘The Space Race’ Documentary — Advanced Screening

When: Friday, Oct. 6, 1:30 p.m. – 4:05 p.m.

Where: Ferst Center for the Arts, 349 Ferst Dr. NW, Atlanta, GA 30332

Produced by National Geographic, The Space Race weaves together the stories of Black astronauts, including Guion Bluford, Ed Dwight, and Charles Bolden, among many others. The Tech community is invited to view a free advanced film screening, followed by a panel discussion led by Damon Williams, associate dean for Inclusive Excellence and senior lecturer in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering. Lawrence Williams — one of the first Black students at Tech — is slated to participate on the panel along with students from AeroAfroAstro.

More information.

Fall Festival on Ponce

When: Oct. 7, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Oct. 8, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Where: 1451 Ponce de Leon Ave., Atlanta, GA 30307

Head to historic Olmsted Linear Park on Ponce for this Atlanta-centric festival with over 125 displays of arts and crafts, music, and local food vendors. The two-day festival is free and open to all ages.

More information.

Poetry@Tech Reading Series

When: Saturday, Oct. 7, 2 p.m.

Where: Cypress Room, John Lewis Student Center

After a three-year in-person hiatus, Georgia Tech’s renowned Poetry@Tech reading series returns to campus Saturday, Oct. 7. The first reading in this year’s series will celebrate the life and work of esteemed poet, teacher, and mentor David Bottoms — Georgia’s Poet Laureate from 2000 to 2012. Bottoms’ works have earned multiple awards and honors, and his poems have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s, The Kenyon Review, The New Yorker, and many others.

More information.

Pumpkin Patches and Corn Mazes

Dates and hours vary by venue.

Find the perfect pumpkin for your fall decor and navigate your way through a corn maze to celebrate the arrival of fall, with each farm offering its own unique lineup of family-friendly activities.

Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta – Special event Oct. 7 – 8.
Randy’s Pumpkin Patch, Lawrenceville
Buford Corn Maze, Buford
Uncle Shuck’s Corn Maze, Dawsonville
Sleepy Hallow Farm, Powder Springs
Southern Belle Farm, McDonough
Burt’s Farm, Dawsonville
Pettit Creek Farms, Cartersville
Berry Patch Farms, Woodstock

Netherworld Haunted House

When: Select dates through Nov. 11.

Where: 1313 Netherworld Way, Stone Mountain, GA 30087

Consistently recognized as one of the scariest haunted houses nationwide, Netherworld is back for its 27th year with a new theme, movie-quality special effects, and monsters. If you’re looking to get spooked this fall, the venue recommends purchasing tickets in advance. Tickets are date- and time-specific and reserved in half-hour entry windows.

More information.

The Georgia State Fair and the Atlanta Fair

Nothing says fall like a funnel cake and a Ferris wheel. You can find both, and much more, at the Georgia State Fair, which runs through Oct. 8, and the Atlanta Fair, beginning on Friday, Oct. 6 and running through Nov. 5.

Georgia State Fair information.

Atlanta Fair information.

Subtitle

Make the most of your fall break and dive into the season with these activities around metro Atlanta.

Summary sentence

Make the most of your fall break and dive into the season with these activities around metro Atlanta.

Summary

Make the most of your fall break and dive into the season with these activities around metro Atlanta.

Dateline

Tue, 10/03/2023 - 12:00

Steven.gagliano@gatech.edu

Contact

Steven Gagliano - Communications Officer

Institute Communications

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Community

Georgia Tech Arts

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670128

Source updated

Tue, 10/03/2023 - 12:43

Exploring Art and AI in Georgia Tech's School of Literature, Media, and Communication

admin — Fri, 14 Jul 2023 18:26:31 +0000

Exploring Art and AI in Georgia Tech's School of Literature, Media, and Communication admin Fri, 07/14/2023 - 14:26

Painting may seem old school, but it’s a profoundly technological practice. From the tech behind brushes to the mathematics of perspective, artists of all kinds have long placed themselves where science, technology, and art meet.

But it’s never been more challenging to pinpoint where a relentless ocean of technology splashes over the ever-shifting sands of artistic expression amid the rise in artificial intelligence tools such as DALL-E and ChatGPT capable of generating images, text, and even music from relatively simple text prompts.

This landscape has proven fertile ground for School of Literature, Media, and Communication (LMC) resident painter Mark Leibert, who for years has turned to algorithms and computational methods to help inspire and refine his work.

Leibert and collaborators from the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) have gone even further, recruiting a team of student researchers in the Art & AI Vertically Integrated Project (VIP) to explore the artistic implications of AI and the technological implications of art. In fact, they were well ahead of the recent public buzz over artificial intelligence tools, having launched four years ago — before DALL-E and ChatGPT became household names.

“We have a really unique situation here where we can think about how these techniques can be used for artistic means and how to use those creative neurons to approach some of these new technologies,” said Leibert, an LMC professor of the practice.

Art and Computation Central to LMC’s Mission

The Art & AI VIP is one of many arts-and-technology efforts housed entirely or partly in LMC, a unit of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. The most recent initiative is Interactive Media Arts, a partnership between the Ivan Allen College and the Georgia Tech Library, that features many LMC faculty.

Other projects include Professor Brian Magerko’s widely acclaimed EarSketch coding-through-music platform; work examining the shared DNA behind quilting and computing spearheaded by Anne Sullivan, an LMC assistant professor whose doctorate is in computer science, and Professor Janet Murray’s continued exploration of the impact of digital technology on storytelling. The School also recently added a new artist-in- residency program, in collaboration with the GT library, to further examine the nexus of art and tech. It also has invited musicians to a residency program with similar aims, that one in conjunction with the School of Music.

“LMC has always been about looking at how technology is shaping literature, art, and storytelling in general,” said Kelly Ritter, chair of the School. “The Art and AI VIP is one way we’re doing this, but whether it be a new center dedicated to exploring the nexus between media arts and research, the extraordinary work of faculty such as Brian Magerko and his team, who are helping teach young students to code, or how technology and its impact is suffused throughout our writing and communication program, this sense of interplay between technology, textual study, and media arts is central to what we do.”

AI: ‘Solutions in Search of a Problem’

DALL-E’s AI-generated take on Leibert leading a class.

The VIP draws students from across campus, many interested in exploring the creative potential of technological degrees or in scratching a creative itch they aren’t always able to satisfy amid a heavy courseload in computing or engineering.

“Tech has great resources for technology and amazing resources for literature, media, and communication. This seemed like one of the few bastions in which the two were really intermingling,” said Jude McClaren, a second-year computational media student.

Leibert formed the VIP team in 2020, initially partnering with now-retired GTRI researcher Betty Whitaker. He’s now working with Ethan Trewhitt, another GTRI researcher, who helps students dig deeper into the sometimes mystifying ways in which AI and artistic intent interact.

“AI systems, in some cases, are solutions looking for a problem, and giving them new outlets helps you recognize where the limitations of those systems are,” said Trewhitt, a senior research engineer at GTRI. “Then the creative motivations of the people using these systems can create new ways to solve problems that can then be used toward what you would consider more practical applications that aren’t necessarily art. So it’s kind of a feedback loop.”

Exploring the Intersection of Art and AI

In its four years, students in the Art and AI VIP have explored the intersection of the two fields through various projects. In recent years, students have tried using AI to write horror, create moving portraits, animate children’s books, explore new takes on old music, creative interactive, emotion-sensing art, and tools to visualize poetry and music.

In the Spring 2023 semester, an interdisciplinary group of students with experience in coding, illustration, 3D-modeling, computer animation, website design, marketing, and AI systems worked on creating a human-like extension to the ChatGPT AI tool.

You can see a gallery of some of the recent work they have done in a database maintained by the Art & AI VIP.

Their techniques include generative adversarial networks, diffusion models, transformer models, and natural language processing models, as seen in publicly available tools such as DALL-E, EbSynth, and ChatGPT.

“I would say the bulk of the students are working in the deep-learning space, which tends to be a little more black-box kind of functionality,” Trewhitt said. “The fun thing about this is there really isn’t such a thing as failure, so it’s safe to really play with things that can surprise you.”

While Trewhitt is still working through ways to dive deep into the technology behind such systems in a way that works for a team with a range of backgrounds, some more technical than others, some teams have surpassed his knowledge in some areas.

“We had students working on a music video project recently, and by the end of the semester, they definitely understood it better than I did. I had dabbled in it, but they had spent hours really getting it working the way they wanted, peeling back the layers of a complex system to get it to do what they wanted it to do.”

Michelle Lee, an Art & AI VIP member and second-year computer science student from New York, is working on a music visualization program. She said the VIP has allowed her to use her computing knowledge in a creative way that she hopes will help after graduation.

“I hope to bring creativity wherever I go,” Lee said. “I hope to work at a tech company, and I’d really like to bring this kind of creativity to make my work different and unique.”

Thinking About the Ethics of AI and Art

Tools such as DALL-E and ChatGPT have made headlines in recent months. The coverage ranges from astonishment at the tools’ ability to render true-to-form, if sometimes absurd, images or text to outright alarm at the potential the tools have to deceive or perhaps even put artists and other creatives out of work.

It’s a topic of discussion in class, of course. Leibert, Trewhitt, and the students have discussed how emergent technologies, such as the AI tools used in class, can scramble methodologies, disciplines, and careers. They’ve also discussed how working with art creates opportunities to be nimble, reframe conventional thinking, and surface novel ways to solve problems. Leibert says that can, in turn, lead to the creation of new tools or even new careers. Case in point: the rising demand for people skilled in “prompt engineering” — in other words, able to coax quality results from a tool that can sometimes be mysterious and even erratic.

That kind of work is something creative people have done for a long time, Leibert said.

“Artists and writers have worked with generative prompts and games for much of the last 100 years,” he said. “Sometimes it has been the flip of a coin, consulting I Ching, or selecting from a deck of prompt cards. Tools like Photoshop and Illustrator have been a part of my process for at least two decades, and working with this group has increased my appreciation for the work computer scientists do.”

Ethical issues also come up, of course, such as who is doing the creating — the human, the machine, or some mixture of the two — and who can claim ownership over the resulting works.

“This is a very new and fast-moving field, so we spend a lot of time talking about the technologies and the creative and conceptual potential of AI in art. But the nice thing about what we are doing is that we are able to have these conversations about ethics in an informal manner as we work, so this kind of ethical thinking becomes as much a part of what we do as the technical inputs or the artistic outputs.”

Students in the VIP are well aware of the ethical issues and committed to using AI for good. And many view the use of AI to make or remix art as natural, just another tool in an artists’ toolkit.

“AI is a legitimate way of making art,” said Marin Hyatt, a third-year computer science student from New York. “I think, like anything else, AI is just a tool, similar to Photoshop. It’s just a different way to make art.”

Subtitle

Summary sentence

The Art and AI VIP explores the interplay between artistry and artificial intelligence.

Summary

Where does technology end and art begin? The question is central to the students and faculty involved in the Art and AI Vertically Integrated Project (VIP), led by faculty from the School of Literature, Media, and Communication and the Georgia Tech Research Institute. The team, which predates AI tools such as DALL-E and ChatGPT becoming mainstream, seeks to understand how such technologies can be applied for artistic ends, and how artistic creativity can inform technological advancement.

Dateline

Fri, 07/14/2023 - 12:00

michael.pearson@iac.gatech.edu

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Michael Pearson
Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts

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Keywords

artificial intelligence

AI. art

fine art

Art and AI Vertically Integrated Project

School of Literature Media and Communication

DALL-E

ChatGPT

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Science and Technology

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Digital Media and Entertainment

Computer Science/Information Technology and Security

Georgia Tech Arts

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Mercury ID

668484

Source updated

Fri, 07/14/2023 - 13:21

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Exploring Art and AI in Georgia Tech's School of Literature, Media, and Communication

Art and Computation Central to LMC’s Mission

AI: ‘Solutions in Search of a Problem’

Exploring the Intersection of Art and AI

Thinking About the Ethics of AI and Art

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