AI & the Future of Art Summit
Schedule
All times listed below are in Central Standard Time (CST) (GMT -06:00). Attendees may use the same Zoom link to join sessions throughout the Summit. Each session includes built-in Q&A time, and attendees may submit questions to the moderator throughout the session.
Click the dropdown menus below to learn more about each session and the speakers.
Tuesday, November 18, 2025
Opening Remarks – Welcome & Overview
- Dr. Sidney A. McPhee, MTSU President
- Dr. Mark Byrnes, MTSU Provost
- Dr. Sara A. Abdoh, Summit Organizer
Session Title: OTHER FORMS
Quote: In a time of rapid transformations driven by technological advancements, Revitalizing the Conversation through critical reflection is of paramount importance.
Speaker Bio: Filippo Nassetti is a designer and multimedia artist, whose practice explores the visual languages and creative potentials that emerge from challenging conventional oppositions such as natural and artificial, digital and material, human and non-human. Operating at the intersection of art, design and technology, it relates research on algorithmic processes, artificial intelligence, biomimicry, advanced manufacturing and new media.
Filippo is the Director of Filippo Nassetti Studio and a Lecturer at UCL The Bartlett School of Architecture (London). His work has been exhibited and published internationally.
Session Title: From futurism to AI: Exploring the intersection of art and tech
Quote: Like futurist artists imagining changes from the Industrial Revolution, today we witness art and technology evolving together at the dawn of the AI revolution.
Speaker Bio: Denis Semenov, aka Saint Denis, creates AI-driven audiovisual performances and immersive installations that merge creativity with cutting-edge technology. His works explore how algorithms push the boundaries of imagination, spanning painting to music. Recognized with awards including an Emmy nomination, a Webby People’s Voice Award, and Red Dot Best of the Best, his projects have been presented at SXSW, Cannes, and New Images Festival. Since 2023, Denis has been a member of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS).
Session Title: Phygital Portals
Quote: The importance of examining the ongoing developing technologies’ effects to human perception remains crucial as we continue to inhabit both the physical and digital worlds.
Speaker Bio: Snow Yunxue Fu is a New York based New Media Artist, Curator, and Assistant Arts Professor at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts, Institute of Emerging Media. Working with imaging technologies, such as 3D Simulation, AR, XR, Metaverse, Virtual Production, and AI, she creates computer-rendered images, moving images, interactive projects, installations, etc, and merges sociological, anthropological, philosophical, and interdisciplinary explorations into the universal aesthetic and definitive nature of the techno sublime. Fu’s work draws parallels between the physical, virtual, metaphysical, and multi-dimensional, setting the viewer in a liminal space at the threshold of each in what the anthropologist Victor Turner called “a period of scrutiny for central values and axioms.”
Session Title: A.I. Art, Freedom, and the New Clinamen
Quote: The future of art and A.I. is a transformative partnership where the artist becomes a conductor of systems, using the algorithmic clinamen to generate dynamic, open works that are developed by the audience, thus reclaiming human freedom and expanding aesthetics by building upon our cultural heritage.
Speaker Bio: Davide Scalmani is recognized for his contribution to international cultural relations and intellectual exchange. As a senior executive in the Cultural Department of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he has spearheaded initiatives in cultural cooperation, forging connections across continents and communities. His leadership roles have included directing the Italian Cultural Institutes in Cairo, Belgrade, Mexico City, and serving as Cultural Attaché in Madrid and Vilnius. In addition to his diplomatic engagements, Scalmani has shared his expertise as a lecturer and visiting professor at leading universities in Rome, Madrid, Seoul, and Boston, inspiring students through his passion for Italian language and culture. He is also the author of scholarly works on cultural history and history of ideas, reflecting a lifelong commitment to critical inquiry and the arts. Throughout his career, Scalmani has consistently emphasized openness, dialogue, and innovation as crucial dimensions of global cultural cooperation.
Summit Organizer Dr. Sara A. Abdoh will close out Day 1.
Quote: AI does not define the future of art. Artists do. Technology may spark new possibilities, but human imagination will decide what creativity becomes.
Speaker Bio: Sara A. Abdoh is an award-winning art historian and professor, formerly Head of the Department of Sculpture, Architectural Formation, and Restoration at the Faculty of Applied Arts. She currently serves as a visiting professor at the University of Catania in Italy. She graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts at Alexandria University and went on to earn both her Master’s degree and PhD in the History of Art from Helwan University. Dr. Abdoh has received international recognition for her academic work, including awards from Italy and India. She is the organizer of this summit, AI and the Future of Art Summit 2025: Creativity Reimagined, in collaboration with Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU), bringing together global voices at the intersection of art, culture, and artificial intelligence. Dr. Abdoh serves as a reviewer for scientific journals and international conferences in countries such as Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Croatia, India, Portugal, South Africa, and Greece. She is also a member of the editorial boards of several prestigious international journals and has contributed to numerous publications in global conferences and academic outlets. In addition to her research and editorial roles, she teaches at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels and supervises multiple graduate theses. A frequent speaker at international seminars and conferences, she is also the author of Art and Technology in the 21st Century: Metaverse, NFT, VR, AR, XR, and Digital Art.
Wednesday, November 19, 2025
Summit Organizer Dr. Sara A. Abdoh will open Day 2.
Quote: AI does not define the future of art. Artists do. Technology may spark new possibilities, but human imagination will decide what creativity becomes.
Speaker Bio: Sara A. Abdoh is an award-winning art historian and professor, formerly Head of the Department of Sculpture, Architectural Formation, and Restoration at the Faculty of Applied Arts. She currently serves as a visiting professor at the University of Catania in Italy. She graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts at Alexandria University and went on to earn both her Master’s degree and PhD in the History of Art from Helwan University. Dr. Abdoh has received international recognition for her academic work, including awards from Italy and India. She is the organizer of this summit, AI and the Future of Art Summit 2025: Creativity Reimagined, in collaboration with Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU), bringing together global voices at the intersection of art, culture, and artificial intelligence. Dr. Abdoh serves as a reviewer for scientific journals and international conferences in countries such as Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Croatia, India, Portugal, South Africa, and Greece. She is also a member of the editorial boards of several prestigious international journals and has contributed to numerous publications in global conferences and academic outlets. In addition to her research and editorial roles, she teaches at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels and supervises multiple graduate theses. A frequent speaker at international seminars and conferences, she is also the author of Art and Technology in the 21st Century: Metaverse, NFT, VR, AR, XR, and Digital Art.
Session Title: An Embodied Digital Art Practice
Quote: In the wake of Generative AI, originality, artistic process, embodied practice, and intentionality rise as vital forces that redefine the meaning and value of art.
Speaker Bio: Renowned, pioneering, influential, and widely exhibited digital artist and OG NFT artist known for her unique style of Post Digital and Glitch figuration, 3d Animation and critical discourse. With over 4 decades of computer and digital art exhibitions, museum shows, and winner of numerous awards from ASCII Best Computer Art (2000) to the first NFT Digital Art prize in 2023. Adobe Artist-In-resident, Forbes’ Best AR Art, numerous public art commissions, and sold-out NFT collections since the early crypto art era. She is a tenured, full professor of digital art & XR at the Brooklyn Campus of Long Island University (LIU).
Session Title: Augustus AI, writing partner extraordinaire
Quote: The astounding power of AI as a creative partner
Speaker Bio: Karen Essex is a national and international bestselling author whose novels spotlight history’s fascinating women. Her books include two acclaimed biographical novels, Kleopatra and Pharaoh, that explore the political acumen of the Egyptian queen, and Leonardo’s Swans, the story of Leonardo da Vinci’s powerful female muses. Her books are published in twenty-nine languages. She is also a prolific screenwriter and has written for studios, streamers, and networks. A graduate of Tulane University, she attended graduate school at Vanderbilt University, and received an MFA in Writing from Goddard College. A New Orleans native, she has also lived in London, Paris, and Los Angeles.
Session Title: AI, Visual Culture, and Altruism: Between Apocalypse and Utopia
Quote: With extraordinary resources recently allocated to expedite the already exponential growth of artificial intelligence, it is vital to revitalize the conversation about the future of AI and the role art can play in helping to envision and design speculative scenarios to help us chart an ethical course that minimizes the risks and maximizes the potentials of super-intelligent agents.
Speaker Bio: Edward Shanken writes and teaches about the entwinement of art, science, and technology with a focus on interdisciplinary practices involving new media. A Professor of the Arts at University of California, Santa Cruz, he is best known for his books and essays about art and technology, including Art and Electronic Media (Phaidon), Systems (MIT), and Telematic Embrace (University of California). He is currently organizing an exhibition on technoshamanism for Real Art Ways and stewarding the English publication of The Book of Healing of the Huni Kui of the Rio Jordaõ.
Session Title: AI as an Artist’s Instrument: Perspectives from Photographic Art
Quote: AI isn’t the artist. It’s an instrument and a dialogue partner. Authorship and meaning come from the artist’s intention, curation, and context.
Speaker Bio: Laura Rautjoki is a Finnish visual artist and photographer (M.C.A., Photographic Arts, 2024) whose thesis examined AI and authorship in photographic art. Her AI-based work has shown at Forssa Museum (solo, 2024), Colorado Photographic Arts Center (History Reimagined, 2025), Museum für Kommunikation Frankfurt (New Realities, 2025–26), and Tampere Architecture & Design Week (Unframed, 2025). Her work is in CPAC’s permanent collection. Named to Leonardo.ai’s “Top 50 Women AI Artists.” Represented by Kate Vass Galerie.
Summit Organizer Dr. Sara A. Abdoh will offer closing remarks to end the 2025 Summit.
Quote: AI does not define the future of art. Artists do. Technology may spark new possibilities, but human imagination will decide what creativity becomes.
Speaker Bio: Sara A. Abdoh is an award-winning art historian and professor, formerly Head of the Department of Sculpture, Architectural Formation, and Restoration at the Faculty of Applied Arts. She currently serves as a visiting professor at the University of Catania in Italy. She graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts at Alexandria University and went on to earn both her Master’s degree and PhD in the History of Art from Helwan University. Dr. Abdoh has received international recognition for her academic work, including awards from Italy and India. She is the organizer of this summit, AI and the Future of Art Summit 2025: Creativity Reimagined, in collaboration with Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU), bringing together global voices at the intersection of art, culture, and artificial intelligence. Dr. Abdoh serves as a reviewer for scientific journals and international conferences in countries such as Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Croatia, India, Portugal, South Africa, and Greece. She is also a member of the editorial boards of several prestigious international journals and has contributed to numerous publications in global conferences and academic outlets. In addition to her research and editorial roles, she teaches at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels and supervises multiple graduate theses. A frequent speaker at international seminars and conferences, she is also the author of Art and Technology in the 21st Century: Metaverse, NFT, VR, AR, XR, and Digital Art.
