Crossing Wires - Arts, AI & Robotics

Crossing Wires is a three day event dedicated to Arts, AI and Robotics, presented by Ohme and hosted in collaboration with BrIAS - Brussels Institute for Advanced Studies.

The programme features art installations, workshops, engaging talks and a resonant closing night to celebrate the closure of the second edition of the Sustainable Robotics artistic residency.

Artists and researchers reflect on current themes such as ethical issues, climate change and our collective future in the age of automation and artificial intelligence. They share their vision and process, aiming to offer insights into our complex relationship to creative thinking and the computational systems that increasingly shape our world. Crossing Wires investigates topics like sustainable robotics, the future of Generative AI, creative computers, dystopian narratives, fake news and the complex dynamics between Art and AI.

Focusing on exploration rather than definitive answers, this event opens a space for dialogue and exchange on how artistic and scientific practices can challenge each other in shaping tomorrow’s society.

Participation to the event is free but registration is recommended due to limited capacity, especially for the workshops.

Use the Select Tickets button on this page to register.

ART INSTALLATIONS
The installations developed as part of the Sustainble Robotics residency will on display during the entire three days:​​

Plantoid by Dewi Brunet is a bio-inspired work that merges robotics and nature. This interactive installation invites visitors to discover robotic plants that respond to their environment. Plantoid explores the potential for harmonious interactions between technology and nature, highlighting how robotic art can enrich our relationship with biodiversity.

The Garden of the Future by Kris Verdonck imagines an ecosystem where self-sustaining robots, powered by renewable energy sources like solar and wind, perform ecological roles in harmony with natural cycles. Free from batteries or power grids, these robots adapt to energy fluctuations, challenging conventional consumption.

Carbon Technostructure by Guillaume Slizewicz and Gijs de Heij is an interactive installation that materialises the often invisible environmental impact of digital infrastructures. By employing real-time data analysis and physical visualisation techniques, the project bridges the gap between the intangible nature of digital services and their tangible carbon footprint.

MONDAY 26.05 . 17:00
AI in education: Where are the opportunities?
Professor Sarah Howard (U Leeds) & Professor Jo Tondeur (VUB)

In the fast evolving landscape of digital technologies, the introduction of new artificial intelligence (AI) has caused great excitement and unrest in education. In "Teachers and Machines: Is something new happening?”, we consider interactions between teachers and AI-advancements. The aim is to examine claims, possible benefits and the conditions. The discussion presented in this talk is not just about the feasibility of AI tools in education, but also about the context, vision, and strategic planning required to usefully integrate these technologies into the educational practice of tomorrow. Ultimately, this work provides a perspective of putting teachers in a position to select and integrate new AI-enabled tools.

Sarah Howard is professor at the University of Leeds. The driving question of her research is: how can we help teachers best use digital technologies to support what they value in learning? A key focus of this work is experimenting with new approaches, technologies and multimodal data to observe the classroom and explore digital technology integration, with the aim of conducting research that is meaningful and useful in practice.

Jo Tondeur is Professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Prior to academia he was a teacher across various levels of schooling. His research interests are in the field of educational innovation, technology use, online and blended learning, and professional development. Most of his current research focuses on the interplay between (digital) innovations and pre/in-service training.

MONDAY 26.05 . 18:30
Workshop: Carbon Technostructures
Guillaume Slizewicz & Gijs de Heij

A hands-on workshop on the carbon technostructure of the web, inviting participants to trace the journey of their HTTP requests and to link each network node to its energy source. By combining developer tools with API calls, attendees will gain a direct sense of the geographic and environmental footprint of web activity. The aim is not only to reveal where data travels, but to connect those pathways to real-world energy systems.

In the first part, we will use traceroute commands and IP-localisation services to map the path taken by requests to a chosen website. Participants will learn to interpret each hop and record its location. In the second part, we will query public energy-production APIs to discover the mix of renewables, fossil fuels and other sources that power each node.

This comparative analysis will show how different regions rely on different energy mixes and invite discussion on how choice of infrastructure affects carbon intensity.

By the end of the day, participants will have a working script, and a clearer understanding of the hidden carbon cost of their web projects.

Please bring your own laptop to take part.

Guillaume Slizewicz is a designer and digital artist whose work sits at the intersection of technology, the environment, and societal issues. Through his practice, he engages with the tension between innovation and sustainability, using technology in poetic, evocative and critical ways. His approach draws connections between ancient practices and contemporary digital tools.

Gijs de Heij is a Brussels based designer and programmer. He is a member of the collective Open Source Publishing which exclusively uses free and open source software (F/LOSS). Through his work he questions the influence and affordances of digital tools to make design and to enable different modes of collaboration.

TUESDAY 27.05 . 14:30
Vicious and virtuous interaction between Art and Generative AI
Professor Willem Zuidema & professor Marianne de Heer Kloots, University of Amsterdam

The last few years have seen dramatic improvements in the abilities of AI models to generate text, speech, images and video. These AI models have been trained on massive amount of human-generate creative work, often without proper credit, consent and compensation. At the same time, these models also give rise to new possibilities for artists. In this workshop, we explain how these models work, why they need so much data and why 'giving credit' is technically so challenging. And we present examples of new art that can be based on it, and discuss the ethics marching forward on the path Generative AI is currently on.

Willem Zuidema is an associate professor in Natural Language Processing, Explainable AI and Cognitive Modelling at the Institute for Logic, Language and Computation of the University of Amsterdam. He has a long term interest in computational modelling of language processing and in the biological basis of language. He gives public talks on artificial intelligence and the evolution of language.

Marianne de Heer Kloots works at the Institute for Logic, Language and Computation of the University of Amsterdam. She studied Brain & Cognitive Sciences and Linguistics. She researches human-like linguistic biases in self-supervised speech models.

TUESDAY 27.05 . 16:30
More than Generative AI: Creative Computers and the Future of Humans
Professor Geraint Wiggins (VUB) and Professor Hannu Toivonen (University of Helsinki)

In the past few years, Generative AI has made waves in science and in society, with its ability to copy human language use, make striking images, and even generate music. There’s no doubt that a new Industrial Revolution is happening. But is it enough to be “generative”, and what would it mean for a computer to be genuinely creative? In this lecture, Hannu Toivonen (Professor of Computer Science, Helsinki University and Francqui International Chair, 2005) and Geraint Wiggins (Professor of Computational Creativity, Vrije Universiteit Brussel) discuss this deep question and its consequences for humanity. The lecture will include demonstrations of creative outputs of computers and of how human capacity to understand the world determines the very idea of creativity itself. We finish with a look at the potential benefits and drawbacks of AI to humans and human society.

Geraint Wiggins is Professor of Computational Creativity at the VUB and at Queen Mary University of London, UK. He was one of the founders of the research field of computational creativity, which provides an alternative approach to the simulation intelligent and creative human activities on computers.

Hannu Toivonen is Professor of Computer Science at the University of Helsinki, Finland. He works in the areas of artificial intelligence and data science. He is a leading expert in data mining and computational creativity.

TUESDAY 27.05 . 18:30
T.B.C.

WEDNESDAY 28.05 . 18:00 - 21:30
Closing Night – Celebrating Two Years of Sustainable Robotics

To mark the end of two years of collaboration between BrIAS and Ohme on the Sustainable Robotics artistic residency, this special evening will highlight the installations created during the 2023–2024 edition, presented in the presence of the artists.

The evening will also feature a keynote talk by 2025 BrIAS resident Guillaume Slizewicz, joined by Professor Yael Edan, on Creative Collaborations – Art, Design and Human-Robot Interaction.

The evening will conclude with a live performance followed by a concert—an open invitation to continue the exchange in a festive and informal setting.