AICA project leader

Mariya Dzhimova (HMTM/HM)

Mariya Dzhimova is a sociologist whose research and interests focus on digital innovations in the arts and cultural sectors. As a research associate at the Institute for Cultural Management and Media at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich, she investigates the application of artificial intelligence both in artistic practice and within the operational processes of cultural institutions. She has collaborated on various projects at the intersection of science, art, and technology. Since the end of 2022, Mariya Dzhimova has been heading the Digitalisierungskolleg AICA (Digitalization College AICA).

Scientific instructors

Scientific instructors prepared the technical content hosted on this website. They can guide you through the tutorials and your final project implementation.

Dr. Benedikt Zönnchen (HM)

Benedikt is a software engineer, researcher, and lecturer whose research interests focus on the intersection between self-learning algorithms, society, and individuals. He currently serves as Head of Research at the Munich Center for Digital Sciences and AI (MUC.DAI) at Hochschule München University of Applied Sciences. Benedikt’s academic background includes extensive experience in modeling and simulation of complex systems, particularly crowd dynamics. Leveraging his expertise in complex systems, Benedikt is actively applying/extending a theoretical framework to understand the systemic relationships between self-learning algorithms, psychic systems (minds), and social systems. Additionally, as a contributing member of the AICA project, he engages with creative practices, bringing practical experience in symbolic music generation and creative coding.

Dr. Esther Fee Feichtner

Dr. Esther Fee Reinhardt is an expert in artificial intelligence and sound. She studied computer science and musicology and earned her PhD from the International Audio Laboratories Erlangen (Fraunhofer IIS & Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU)). Her research focuses on optimizing artificial neural networks for timbre analysis in audio signals. Additionally, as an improvisation coach and composer, she deeply engages with human creativity, examining its relationship to current mechanisms underlying hypothetically creative AI systems.

Art and culture instructors

Artistic instructors can guide you through the artistic and cultural aspects of your project.

Grit Wolany

Grit Wolany is a freelance art director and AI scout at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK). Her fascination with AI began during her master’s studies at ZHdK and later evolved into exploratory artistic work with generative algorithms. Grit teaches at various universities on the topic of generative AI and regularly conducts workshops and gives lectures.

Helena Held (HMTM)

Helena Held is an arts and culture manager. She has previously worked on projects at the intersection of science, art, and technology. As a research associate at AICA, she develops project ideas and the student program. Her academic degrees in Visual Ethnology and Environmental Studies enable her to adopt various perspectives within this interdisciplinary field.

Teaching assistants

Students from HM and HMTM will also be present on-site to help organizing the course.

Tanja Huber (HM)

Tanja Huber is a trained photographer currently pursuing a part-time degree in Cultural Studies with a major in Philosophy at the FernUniversität in Hagen. She is in the process of completing her bachelor’s degree, critically examining questions of whether machines can think and be creative. With her creative and design expertise, coupled with her academic interests in philosophy, art, culture, and artificial intelligence, she supports the AICA team as a student assistant.