Art and Labour in the Age of AI

Workshop

Datum: 29.09.2025
Uhrzeit: 10:00 - 17:00
Vortragende(r): Workshop
Ort: Villino Stroganoff, Via Gregoriana 22, 00187 Rome and online
Kontakt: katja.hackstein@biblhertz.it

From the nineteenth century onwards, progressive historians emphasized labour as central to social history, and to artistic practice itself: the artist as worker. But what becomes of this view when labour—artistic as well as non-artistic—is fundamentally reframed by artificial intelligence? This question connects directly to the work of Hans Hess, the German Jewish émigré art historian who introduced museology to the UK and played a decisive role in the postwar reception of German Expressionism. Hess placed labour at the centre of art history, and his many unpublished writings are now coming to light through an ongoing archival project.

The day opens with reflections on Hess’s intellectual legacy, including a contribution from Annemarie Jaeggi and a round table on the Hess project.

The programme then turns to questions of social art history in the digital age. Alexander Supartono reflects on his experience within a collective of art workers, navigating the tension between labour and artistic production, as well as between using art as a political tool and responding to the recent appetite of established art institutions for such “tools.” Lucy Burke explores the intersection of disability arts practice, the politics of access, and the temporal and spatial violence of late capitalism, before leading a participatory “guestbooks” exercise.

In the afternoon, Tristan Dot and Leonardo Impett consider the prospects for a “history from below” of visual culture in the context of digital humanities and artificial intelligence. The day closes with a round table asking how value, solidarity, and exploitation are reconfigured when artistic practice is shaped by intelligent machines.

SPEAKERS: Leonardo Impett (Bibliotheca Hertziana), Anita Halpin (daughter of Hans Hess), Annemarie Jaeggi (Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung), Phil Katz, Anita Halpin, Paul McGee, Ramune Kregzdyte (Hans Hess Project), Alexander Supartono (Edinburgh Napier University), Lucy Burke (Manchester Metropolitan University), Tristan Dot (Cambridge University), Caterina Martinelli (Bibliotheca Hertziana)

You can follow the event also online on our Vimeo Channel: https://vimeo.com/event/5376331

Schedule

10:00 - Welcome and introduction: Leonardo Impett, Bibliotheca Hertziana 10:15 - Brief remarks, Anita Halpin (daughter of Hans Hess)

Topic: Hans Hess and his legacy

10:30 – Annemarie Jaeggi, Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung (online) 11:00 – Round table: Hans Hess project (Phil Katz, Anita Halpin, Paul McGee, Ramune Kregzdyte)

11:30 – Coffee (all)

Topic: Art and society after the digital

11:30 – Alexander Supartono, Edinburgh Napier University

12:00 – Lucy Burke, Manchester Metropolitan University

12:30 – Lunch (speakers only)

13:30 – “Guestbooks” exercise led by Lucy Burke

Topic: Digital Humanities and ‘History from Below’

14:30 – Tristan Dot, Cambridge University and Leonardo Impett, Bibliotheca Hertziana

15:30 – Coffee (all)

15:45 – Round table: Art and Labour in the Age of AI

Alexander Supartono, Lucy Burke, Caterina Martinelli (Bibliotheca Hertziana)

Scientific Organization: Leonardo Impett (Bibliotheca Hertziana)

_{Image: Photographer unknown, Photograph of Hans Hess in
Switzerland, late 1960s, Private Collection, England.
Quote 'The Goods have Become the Gods' is a quote from
Hans Hess and a chapter title from ' Hans Hess: Selected Writings Vol.3 - Art
and Ideology'}