GeniaLAB Officially Joins the CYANOTYPES European Pilot Network

AANT is proud to announce that geniaLAB has been selected as one of the official Pilots of the European project CYANOTYPES – Strategic Skills for Creative Futures.

With this recognition, geniaLAB becomes part of an international network of institutions engaged in testing new approaches to education, research, and innovation in the cultural and creative sectors, contributing to the definition of future strategic competences.

CYANOTYPES is a project funded by the European Union under the Erasmus+ programme, involving over twenty partners including universities, training institutions, cultural and creative industries, innovation hubs, and European networks. Its goal is to develop a future-oriented competence ecosystem capable of responding to the challenges posed by the digital, green, and social transitions currently shaping the cultural sector as a whole.

What is geniaLAB. geniaLAB – short for Generative Intelligence, Artificial Life and Arts Laboratory – is AANT’s permanent hub for research and experimentation. It is an interdisciplinary lab dedicated to the critical and creative exploration of artificial intelligence, cognitive technologies, and their implications in art, design, culture, and society.

The lab’s statute defines an ambitious mission: not only to develop research and innovation projects, but also to rethink models of learning, knowledge production, and dissemination in the age of generative intelligence. GenIALab promotes a hybrid, embodied, and relational approach, combining speculative practices, design methodologies, and critical reflection.

What It Means to Be a CYANOTYPES Pilot. In the CYANOTYPES project, a Pilot is not just a teaching lab or a series of workshops—it is a strategic learning infrastructure that experiments with, tests, and adapts training approaches on a real-world scale.

Each Pilot is invited to integrate the CYANOTYPES Competence Framework—a set of 25 competences grouped into five “agency” clusters—into its research, education, or cultural production activities.

The Pilots are the operational core of CYANOTYPES: they are the spaces where theory meets practice, and where alternative models of learning, collaboration, and transdisciplinary design are tested.

geniaLAB’s Contribution to the Project. As a CYANOTYPES Pilot, GenIALab will activate a series of interlinked actions, including:

  • educational experiments on AI and generative design
  • speculative labs exploring future scenarios and prompt thinking methodologies
  • co-creation projects involving artists, researchers, and students
  • mapping activities of emerging competences
  • public events for dissemination and critical dialogue

All activities will be guided by the principles of triple-loop learning and will be evaluated in relation to their contribution to the CYANOTYPES Competence Framework—especially in the areas of regenerative agency, critical engagement with digital technologies, and the valorisation of ideas and ethical perspectives.

A European Challenge, A Local Responsibility. Joining CYANOTYPES as a Pilot means taking on a dual responsibility: contributing to the design of future competences for the entire European creative ecosystem, and at the same time generating value for the local community of reference—students, educators, professionals, industrial and cultural partners.

geniaLAB is committed to meeting this challenge through research rigour, project creativity, and an ethics of collaboration.

Let’s have a chat, become AANT people

AANT is in ROME

Fill out the form, and one of our tutors will contact you to answer your questions!

Contact us >

geniaLAB is born: the new transdisciplinary Research HUB of AANT

With the Directorial Decree of July 23, 2025, AANT officially launches geniaLAB, a new interdisciplinary Research HUB dedicated to artificial intelligence, digital culture, cognitive technologies, and creative innovation. With this initiative, the Academy reaches a strategic milestone in strengthening its identity and positioning in the national and international research landscape.

The mission of geniaLAB is to serve as a permanent interdisciplinary observatory, open to dialogue with external experts, for the co-creation of innovative projects aligned with the Academy’s strategic vision. The HUB is conceived as a laboratory of excellence, combining the Italian tradition of art, philosophy, communication, and media with technological innovation, while developing critical and creative approaches to the transformations brought by AI in the contemporary age.

geniaLAB aims to contribute to the advancement of artistic and scientific research, and to the innovation of teaching methods in the disciplinary fields of AANT, by experimenting with new techniques and didactic models to enrich and expand its educational offer. It will be devoted to critical inquiry, creative experimentation, and advanced training in the fields of generative AI, cognitive technologies, and their cultural, artistic, and social implications.

The Statute of geniaLAB defines a series of specific objectives, including:

  • Critically analyzing the impact of artificial intelligence and cognitive technologies on society, culture, and human experience;
  • Developing innovative methodologies for interdisciplinary research on emerging technologies;
  • Promoting critical and creative literacy in generative AI technologies;
  • Training researchers, artists, designers, and professionals to consciously navigate the AI ecosystem;
  • Exploring the applications of AI in the creative industries and cultural heritage sectors;
  • Developing new models and technological solutions for the humanistic and artistic domains of the Academy.

The program of geniaLAB embraces a broad spectrum of research areas, reflecting the highly transdisciplinary nature of the initiative. Topics explored range from the philosophy and anthropology of cognitive technologies, to the analysis of the relationship between artificial intelligence, digital culture, and society, and to creative and experimental methodologies for using AI in art and design.

Other research lines include:

AI applications for cultural heritage and digital archives;

Innovation in the creative industries and design fields;

Development of innovative pedagogies for the AI era;

Ethical and democratic governance of technologies;

The study of computational aesthetics and artificial poetics.

The governance of geniaLAB, as outlined in the decree and Statute, includes a Coordinator leading the HUB and a Scientific Committee supporting its strategic direction.

Prof. Gianna Angelini, Scientific Director of AANT, has been appointed as Coordinator of geniaLAB, with a renewable three-year mandate. She is responsible for representing and managing the HUB’s operations.

The Scientific Committee is composed of prominent figures from both within and outside the Academy, with expertise in the fields of art, philosophy, technology, and digital culture. Its members are:

Gianna Angelini
Rossana Quarta
Simone Arcagni
Maurice Benayoun
Luna Bianchi
Alex Braga
Massimo Canevacci
Pier Luigi Capucci
Matteo Ciastellardi
Andrea Colamedici
Derrick de Kerckhove
Maura Gancitano
Marco Gori
Paolo Granata
Sabina Minardi

The Committee is chaired by Andrea Colamedici.

geniaLAB is designed as an open and inclusive initiative, in ongoing dialogue with the wider world. Through this HUB, AANT expresses its strong commitment to active collaboration with experts, academics, research centers, as well as with cultural industries and national and international partners, with the aim of sharing knowledge and developing joint projects.

The Statute allows for the affiliation of both AANT faculty members and scholars from other AFAM institutions or universities, in addition to external experts. Partnerships and research agreements with public and private entities are encouraged, thus contributing to the Academy’s third mission.

With the launch of geniaLAB, AANT strengthens its identity as a leading institution in research and education at the intersection of art, culture, and emerging technologies. This new HUB is not merely an internal research center, but a catalyst for innovation and cross-disciplinary dialogue, positioning AANT as an authoritative player in the contemporary landscape of cultural and technological transformation.

Through geniaLAB, the Academy affirms its readiness to contribute with ideas, projects, and expertise to the ongoing global debate on artificial intelligence, digital culture, and the future of creativity.

FACCIAMO DUE CHIACCHIERE, DIVENTA AANT PEOPLE

AANT È A ROMA

Un nostro orientatore ti ricontatterà e ti aiuterà, rispondendo senza impegno ad ogni tua domanda!

Contattaci >