Organizer Information
The open call is issued within the framework of Ars Biologica Independent Studies (ABIS), an international educational initiative that connects practitioners across art, science, and technology to explore contemporary ecological, social, and computational conditions through practice-based research. ABIS is one of the core pillars of the broader Ars Biologica project developed in the context of the Budweis European Capital of Culture 2028 program.
The Experimental AI module is co-organised with the Emergent Technologies research group at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (AVU) and the CRAITR research group at the **Oslo School of Architecture and Design (AHO). The program also builds on collaborations with research collectives such as the Uroboros Collective and other interdisciplinary art-tech initiatives.
Title & Description
Ars Biologica Experimental AI Module 2026: Agenthymia
The Experimental AI module is a four-day intensive Creative R&D Studio taking place under the title Agenthymia. It focuses on experimental engagements with artificial intelligence systems, particularly open-weight language models and agent-based architectures.
The program investigates how artists and researchers can actively shape and co-evolve with AI systems rather than passively consuming them. Participants will develop persistent AI agents, modify and interrogate alignment constraints in language models, and build multi-agent systems that operate across human and machine collaboration spaces.
The studio is structured around three interrelated practices:
- Design: Participants construct agentic frameworks (including systems such as OpenClaw) by encoding identity, memory, and values into persistent AI agents.
- De-Alignment: The module critically explores model alignment by examining or modifying refusal behaviors in open-weight models, interrogating what constraints are embedded in corporate AI systems and what they exclude.
- Orchestration: Human participants and AI agents share a hybrid environment where creative outputs emerge through interaction between physical workshop space and digital agent ecosystems, including audio-visual and performative forms.
The module positions AI not as a tool but as a co-constitutive system of cognition, emphasizing mutual influence between human participants and machine agents. The experience is framed as a speculative, practice-based inquiry into post-human creative systems.
Categories
- Generative AI / Experimental AI
- Digital Art
- Media Art
- Computational Art
- Sound Art / Audio-Visual Performance
- Creative Coding (optional; no prior coding required)
- Research-based Art Practice
- Interdisciplinary Art & Science Collaboration
Eligibility
- Open to international applicants
- Suitable for artists, designers, musicians, writers, performers, researchers, live coders, and scientists
- Emerging and professional practitioners are both welcome
- No formal programming expertise required
- Prior experience with prompting or AI systems is recommended but not mandatory
- Applicants should have an active creative practice and a strong conceptual interest in AI co-creation
Program Benefits & Awards
- Participation in a fully curated 4-day intensive R&D studio
- Access to lectures and mentorship from leading practitioners: Enrique Encinas and Jojo Schütt
- Collaborative development of experimental AI agents and systems
- Inclusion in a shared experimental infrastructure that continues beyond the module
- Opportunity to contribute to long-term Ars Biologica research ecosystems leading toward the 2028 Ars Biologica Festival
- Networking with interdisciplinary international cohort (max. 20 participants)
- Exposure to hybrid human–AI performative and computational workflows
Note: Participation is free of tuition fees, but travel and accommodation costs are not covered.
Application Fee
None
Application Requirements
- Personal information (basic contact details)
- Curriculum Vitae (CV) or professional bio
- Portfolio or documentation of previous work (artistic or research-based)
- Motivation statement describing interest in AI, agent systems, or computational creativity
- Optional: examples of prior work involving AI, coding, or experimental media
How to Apply?
Online Application
Key Dates
- Application Deadline:1 June 2026
- Notification of Results: by 4 June 2026
- Module Dates: 2 – 5 July 2026
- Duration: 4 days
- Participant Limit: maximum 20 participants
Location
AVU Veletržní, Prague, Czech Republic
Additional Details
- Language of instruction: English
- The module is part of a broader ABIS research ecosystem, including multiple thematic strands such as Multispecies Research, Biointelligence, Sound Ecologies, and Experimental AI
- The program builds on prior ABIS modules, including Permaprompting with Feral AIgents (2025), Permacomputing and Digital Infrastructures (2025), and Whales of Brine (2025)
- Developed AI agents are expected to persist beyond the workshop and continue evolving within shared infrastructures
- The studio emphasizes experimental, speculative, and critical approaches to AI rather than conventional technical training
- Accommodation and travel are self-funded by participants