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.

Art and culture instructors

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

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.

Former instructors

Dr. Téo Sanchez

Dr. Téo Sanchez is a postdoctoral researcher and computer scientist focusing on human-AI interaction and the artistic communities of practice that form around AI technologies. His research ranges from the early AI artists who engaged with deep learning in the late 2010s to today’s recreational online communities centered on text-to-image generation. From 2023 to 2024, he was a lecturer and academic contributor at the AICA Digitalization College. Trained at IRCAM Paris, he is currently a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at the “Munich Interactive Intelligence Initiative” at LMU Munich under Prof. Ophelia Deroy, as well as a member of the research initiative “Regaining Power over AI,” in collaboration with Kate Crawford, Gonzalo Ramos (Microsoft Research), and Baptiste Caramiaux (CNRS).