AI and ancient art: generating images to think about text

Abstract

In this talk I explore how AI image generators can be used to get students to engage with the close reading of historical texts through a specific activity created for an ancient Greek and Roman art and architecture unit. The activity focused on an ancient text about art and asked students to pull apart pieces of the text to use as prompts to ‘recreate’ an ancient art gallery using an AI image generator. In addition to encouraging students to read the ancient passages carefully in order to create prompts from them, by combining text and image, this activity instigated broader conversations about the place of art in society, the role of the artist, and the meaning and place of creativity and imagination.

 

Synopsis

Download synopsis