Creating Presence in Embodied AI — WORKSHOP
JAN ZUIDERVELD (Nederlands)
24 October 2025, 15:30-18:30, Sala Multifuncțională CINETIC UNATC (3-b Tudor Arghezi Street Bucharest)
Creating Presence in Embodied AI
This hands-on workshop explores how to bring AI into dialogue with the physical world through conversational interfaces. Led by artist Jan Zuiderveld, participants will experiment with giving everyday objects voice and personality, investigating what makes us perceive machines as present, alive, or worth engaging with.
Through practical exercises and creative experimentation, we’ll work with text and speech to create AI systems that feel less like tools and more like entities. The workshop combines conceptual exploration with hands-on prototyping, followed by group testing and reflection on what we’ve discovered about machines, conversation, and connection.
Requirements: Participants should have basic programming experience in Python and bring their own laptop with Python 3.X installed. Ages 18+.

Jan Zuiderveld (1995, NL) is an Amsterdam-based artist and researcher whose background spans Physics, Neuroscience, Artificial Intelligence, and ArtScience. His interdisciplinary approach examines how algorithms mediate power, identity, and social relations. Drawing from philosophy and cognitive science, he creates work that challenges how we understand and relate to AI systems and ourselves, arguing that certain forms of knowledge emerge only through embodied encounters rather than explanation. Selected presentations and exhibitions: NeurIPS (2021, CA), Het Nieuwe Instituut (2024–2026, NL), Prix Ars Electronica (2024, AT), USC Cinematic Arts (2024, US), The Media Majlis (2025, QA), ShanghaiTech University (2025, CN), Kumu kunstimuuseum (2026, EE).
The workshop is part of the the second edition of the AI in Art Practices and Research international conference, organized by UNATC in Bucharest from 23–26 October 2025. The event explores the impact of AI on artistic creation and research, as well as its broader applications in society, such as accessibility, healthcare and well-being.