AI – from textile architectures to deep neural networks

Welcome to a lecture at Kulturhuset Stadsteatern with Paola Torres Núñez del Prado, where she explores the connections between textiles and machine learning, and shows a shared history of algorithmic pattern creation. Paola is a PhD student at SKH and leads the SKH Critical AI Working Group (KAIA).

Towards a Divergent Genealogy of Algorithmic Patterns in the Age of AI

“In this talk, I trace the connections between textiles and machine learning, revealing a shared history of algorithmic patternmaking. Moving beyond the Jacquard loom, I explore non-Western genealogies — from Persian rug algorithms to Andean textile technologies. The aim is to weave a critical history of AI while recognizing the current impact of such technologies, so to move beyond the polarization — uncritical embracing vs. absolute rejection — that dominates local AI art discourse.”

About Paola Torres Núñez del Prado

As an artist, her work weaves together living systems, ancestral technologies, and algorithmic processes to challenge dominant narratives about technology and culture. Paola has received the Stockholms stads kulturstipendium 2022 and the Prix Ars Electronica 2021 Honorary Mention, the Artists + Machine Intelligence Grant from Google Arts and Culture and Google AI in 2020 and was the winner of the "Local Media: Amazonian Ecoregion: Vivo Arte.mov competition in Brazil, 2013. Her works are part of the collections of the Swedish Public Art Agency and the Malmo City Museum. She is currently a PhD student at SKH.