CLCF Cluster Theme 2 “Creativity: Artistic Responses to AI in a Digital World” focuses on how artists’ projects can inform and contribute to pathways for building more equitable futures in the changing world of digital labour. Activities to be undertaken include developing artist and researcher residencies and interventions on and about specific digital platforms and uses of AI in Canada, Brazil, and elsewhere.
This year, the theme is being activated through a series of pilot projects (including a series of micro-residencies that we will share in an upcoming blog post). The pilot for a Speaker Series took place in the fall of 2024 led by cluster member Laura Risk. Risk curated and hosted an artist workshop-performance-presentation that focused on sustainable working conditions and sustainable creative practices for freelance artists, specifically in the traditional arts. Internationally acclaimed dancer and dance researcher Nic Gareiss presented a talk entitled “Corporeal Sustainability, Movement as Sound, and Queer Dancestry” and led a participatory movement workshop. He was joined by Appalachian fiddler Jack Devereux. Read more about Risk’s research here.
In 2025, Sanaz Mazinani will hold CLCF’s first meet-up events for photographers and visual artists affected by AI-image generator softwares. These events will incorporate listening spaces and brainstorming sessions to discuss how AI has changed the work of and livelihood opportunities for artists and photographers in the commercial and creative industries. The goal of this project is to create a working protocol where photographers can be properly compensated for their labour in this era of artificially generated imagery. This effort will build on previous fee schedules and structures for other kinds of media, including those generated by various union agreements, the Independent Media Arts Alliance fee schedule and the CARFAC Copyright Collective fee schedule and protocols. Read more about Mazinani’s research here.
CLCF Co-Director & Postdoctoral Fellow
Daphne Rena Idiz (she/her) is a Co-Director of the Creative Labour and Critical Futures (CLCF) cluster and Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Arts, Culture and Media at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC).
CLCF Co-Director & Associate Professor
Dr. MaryElizabeth (“M.E.”) Luka is PI and Co-Director of the Creative Labour and Critical Futures (CLCF) cluster and Associate Professor, Arts & Media Management, at University of Toronto, where they examine modes and meanings of co-creative production and distribution in the digital age for arts, culture, and media.
Assistant Professor
Laura Risk is Assistant Professor of Music and Culture in the Department of Arts, Culture and Media at the University of Toronto Scarborough, with a graduate cross-appointment at the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto.
Assistant Professor
Sānāz Mazināni (she/her) is an artist, educator, and curator based in Tsí Tkarón:to/Toronto. Working across the disciplines of photography, sculpture, and large-scale multimedia installations, Mazinani creates art objects that invite a rethinking of how we see and experience knowledge.
