What is artistic intelligence?

According to Helen Yung, lead at the Laboratory for Artistic Intelligence, it is “the curatorial application of and creative working with artistic knowledges for social change”. To that, Mark Campbell, DJ and scholar, would add that “how you define artistic intelligence has a lot to do with your relationship to and your definition of art. What you see, what you’ve known, what you’ve been trained to view as art”.

This question permeated the Ellia 2024 Biennial Arts Plural which celebrated artistic intelligence by querying how artistic practitioners, designers, students, and educators could be recognised as agents of change, innovation, and evolution. They asked how arts education can contribute to society in a more pluralistic way, and what structures are necessary for artistic intelligence to play a role in addressing planetary problems?

Their recently published reader is meant to be a glimpse and extension of the conversations, workshops, and lessons learned at the Biennial. It examines differences in perception and  position while trying to frame or define artistic intelligence; how artistic intelligence can exist as a fundamental feature of arts education  pedagogy, but like all fertile grounds it needs maintaining and  nurturing; and how the dawn of Artificial Intelligence has set the arts  education sector in a spin, and the choices that need to be made  on how we utilise new technological imaginings. It also showcases  practice and making processes in action as well as the artistic works  themselves, and the multitude of positive effects the arts bring to  the sector and beyond. These are just some of the trains of thought  to be found and enjoyed between the pages that follow.

The reader also features a fantastic interview with Helen Yung and Mark Campbell, both Keynote speakers at the event.

Their interview sheds light on the importance of  diverse knowledge systems, the need for expansive thinking within universities, and the many applications of artistic intelligence.

While the reader resists being pinned down to a single definition, it reveals a fundamental certainty: practices, processes, and pedagogies that demonstrate artistic intelligence in motion. Whether it’s developing pedagogy for creative risk-taking, analysing judgments as heartfelt responses, equipping students to navigate unstable worlds with care, or embracing imperfections, ELIA practitioners, educators, and artistic researchers are contributing to a vital conversation that is actively advancing arts education.