Degenerativa

Degenerativa starts from the idea that AI should not simply be used, but explored, questioned and bent toward new uses. Through technical foundations, critical exchange and collective practice, the programme offers tools for developing an autonomous approach to AI within contemporary artistic research.

With a methodological approach oriented more toward facilitating and enabling processes and thinking than toward acquiring purely technical skills, Degenerativa invites participants to experiment with error, hallucination, bias and deviation as tools for artistic research, turning AI into a space for critical imagination without setting aside an ethical perspective.

Who it is for

Degenerativa is aimed at 18 artists under 35 active in the visual, performing and multimedia arts who want to deepen their engagement with the relationship between art and generative artificial intelligence. The programme is designed for those who want to use AI, cultural archives, datasets and generative AI tools as material for research and creation.

The training programme

Online training

A preparatory programme of around 20 hours between October and November 2026, dedicated to the theoretical, cultural, technical and ethical foundations of generative artificial intelligence. With trainers Sei Iturriaga Sauco and Mateusz Miroslaw Lis, together with guest artists and experts from the sector.

Artistic residency in Bologna or Catanzaro

In January and February 2027, 5 days of intensive campus designed as a space for research, experimentation and production, where the selected artists work in groups to create prototypes. The programme closes with a public presentation of the collaborative project work developed during the residency.

Trainers

Mateusz Miroslaw Lis

Mateusz Miroslaw Lis is an ML/AI Engineer specialised in the research and development of artificial intelligence solutions applied to the creative industries. He provides technical consultancy for integrating AI systems into artistic and audiovisual production processes. Alongside, he teaches at academies and universities, exploring the practical and theoretical application of predictive and generative models. He is co-author of the book “Introduzione all’uso dell’IA nell’audiovisivo” (“An Introduction to the Use of AI in Audiovisual Production”) (Dino Audino editore, 2025).

Sei Iturriaga Sauco

Emma Selene Ixchel (Sei) Iturriaga Sauco is a Mexican writer, independent researcher and consultant based in Turin. Her practice combines a systemic approach to communication with transmedia research (digital storytelling, visual essays and experimental video games) and posthumanist methodologies. As a senior corporate trainer, she designs programmes on the conscious use of AI and on developing relational skills within the digital transition. Her practice draws on creative-development methodologies to guide artists and professionals toward a critical understanding of emerging technologies, exploring the intersection of the human, the algorithmic and the environment to build spaces for dialogue and new narratives in the post-digital era.

Federico Bomba

President of Sineglossa and researcher at the Human Technology Lab of the University of Bolzano. After earning a degree in analytical philosophy, he directed performances staged at festivals worldwide until 2014, when he founded Sineglossa, an international cultural research center. He focuses on creating physical and digital ecosystems where artists, scientists, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and artificial intelligences collaborate to drive economic and social development. He also leads the Nonturismo book series (published by Ediciclo) and the editorial project Mangrovia.

Credits

DEGENERATIVA is a project by Sineglossa. The Bologna edition is in collaboration with DumBO and SCG, realised with the support of the Italian Ministry of Culture and SIAE, within the programme “Per Chi Crea”. The Catanzaro edition is financed under the Catanzaro Integrated Development Strategy. Operation sheet 5 intervention 3 “entrepreneurship training”. Funds: PR CALABRIA ERDF ESF+ 2021-2027 – URBAN STRATEGY 21/27-CUP: D69I26000260006.

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