A new initiative dedicated to artistic experimentation in the languages of artificial intelligence is presented in Parma. It isAI Horizons. Art Beyond Algorithms, an international call addressed to artists under 35, promoted by thecultural association 360° Creativity Events APS as part of the PARMA 360 Festival of Contemporary Creativity, in collaboration with Parma European Youth Capital 2027. The project is also part of the path towards Parma European Youth Capital 2027, supported by a network of institutional and private stakeholders.
The official launch of the call is scheduled for Saturday, May 16, 2026 at 4 p.m. at IL PUNTO - Creative Hub, a cultural participation space located in Piazza Garibaldi in Parma. The meeting will be held in the presence of the promoters, institutional partners and sponsors involved in the project. The project is supported by Parma European Youth Capital 2027 and benefits from the contribution of Polo Parma, COLSER-Auroradomus and DS Solutions, realities that are funding three special prizes aimed at specific thematic areas of the call. AI Horizons. Art Beyond Algorithms was created with the aim of investigating the relationship between human creativity, artificial intelligence and contemporary cultural transformations. The call invites new generations of artists to engage with generative technologies not only as operational tools, but as critical and poetic devices capable of redefining the relationship between imagination, visual production and algorithmic systems.
The initiative represents the evolution of the pilot project SYNTHETIC HORIZONS. New Geographies of Artificial Intelligence, an exhibition curated by Chiara Canali and realized as part of the tenth edition of PARMA 360 Festival at the Casa del Suono in Parma. The previous project was developed with the support of the Ministry of Culture and SIAE as part of the Per Chi Crea program, involving a generation of artists engaged in experimentation between artificial intelligence, visual arts and digital cultures. The call is open to students from Fine Arts Academies and young artists under 35 from Italy and abroad. Applications should concern projects that use artificial intelligence, digital languages and emerging technologies as tools for aesthetic, design and critical research.
The call pays particular attention to three thematic macro-areas. The first, called Parma Heritage, concerns projects dedicated to the reinterpretation of the material and immaterial heritage of the city of Parma, with reference to memory, archives, traditions and cultural identity. The second, The Care, focuses on works that reflect on the ethical, relational and social aspects of technological innovation, including themes related to well-being, inclusion and community dimensions. The third, Sustainability and Ecology of Data, on the other hand, addresses the invisible cost of digital technologies, the environmental impact of artificial intelligence systems and the relationships between data, energy and memory. The selection involves the identification of 20 finalists who will take part in a group exhibition planned for spring 2027, included in the 11th edition of PARMA 360 Festival and in the program of Parma European Youth Capital 2027. The exhibition will represent the outcome of the research path developed through the call and will be a moment of public restitution of the selected projects.
The awards system includes several prizes. The AI Horizons Award gives an absolute prize of 1,500 euros. There is also the Piazza of Beauty award, given by the Parma European Youth Capital 2027 Committee to the best young European artist, which will include the opportunity to participate in an artistic residency in Parma during the period of the group exhibition in April 2027. Alongside this, the Polo Parma prize, the COLSER-Auroradomus prize, and the DS Solutions prize, each worth 1,500 euros, are for the Parma Heritage, La Cura, and Sustainability and Data Ecology categories, respectively.
There is also a special prize awarded by Rome New Media Week, which will offer a selected artist the opportunity to participate in an exhibition project in the 2027 edition of the Rome event dedicated to new media. An additional special mention, Giovanarte, will be awarded by the Associazione Amici dell’Arte APS to an artist who stands out for quality of research, originality of language and consistency in the use of contemporary languages. The total budget for the awards is 6,000 euros, to which additional benefits will be added. The May 16 meeting will also feature a detailed presentation of the call rules, how to participate and the partners involved. The event marks the operational start of the project and opens the international application phase.
Participation in the call is free of charge. Applications can be submitted until October 31, 2026 through the online form available at the link application form or by email contact at .
In parallel to the call track, IL PUNTO - Creative Hub is hosting a program of workshops and talks dedicated to the themes of creativity mediated by artificial intelligence. The meetings, curated by the artists involved in the exhibition SYNTHETIC HORIZONS, are divided into three appointments. On May 16 from 5-7 p.m. there will be AI Generated Cinema, a workshop led by HARIEL dedicated to audiovisual generation through artificial intelligence. On May 23, in the same time slot, Dataset Driven Art will be presented, a workshop led by Vandalo Ruins focused on the creative use of generative code as an expressive tool. Finally, on May 30, there will be AI Storytelling Lab, led by Manuel Macadamia, dedicated to the construction of AI-assisted transmedia narratives. The workshops are free and require registration via the Eventbrite platform at the Parma 360 Festival Eventbrite link.
"With Parma European Youth Capital 2027, " says Beatrice Aimi, Councillor for the Youth Community, Youth Policies, "we want to open concrete spaces where new generations can not only participate, but produce vision, languages and future. AI Horizons goes exactly in this direction: it invites young artists to confront Artificial Intelligence not as a mere technical tool, but as a critical, creative and cultural ground. It is a project that combines innovation, heritage, curation and sustainability, central themes for a city that wants to question its future together with young people."
“AI Horizons was born from the desire to build a space for critical reflection on the transformations that Artificial Intelligence is producing in contemporary visual culture,” says curator Chiara Canali. “The goal of the Call is not only to identify new AI Art talents, but to support conscious artistic practices capable of interrogating themes such as authorship, memory, data ecology, the relationship between human and machine, and the transformation of cultural heritage.”
"Artificial Intelligence is transforming every field, and art is one of the most fertile places to really understand its impact. That’s why for Polo Parma supporting AI Horizons means concretely investing in the young talents and new forms of creativity that are redefining our present," explains Michele Soavi, CEO and co founder Polo Parma, “We believe that the dialogue between technological innovation and cultural heritage is a strategic lever for the development of the territory, and we are proud to contribute to a project that puts Parma at the center of an international reflection on Artificial Intelligence and its concrete potential.”
"As Colser-Auroradomus Cooperative Group," Colser-Auroradomus Group emphasizes, "we operate every day in different fields but deeply connected by the same responsibility: to contribute to the quality of life of people, places and territories. Supporting the award dedicated to Care within AI Horizons means bringing this vision inside a project that talks about the future, young generations and new languages. Artificial Intelligence asks us important questions: about ethics, relationships, inclusion, and the social impact of innovation. We believe art can help us traverse these questions with a new point of view."
"Supporting AI Horizons," says DS Solutions, "means first of all contributing concretely to the cultural growth of the area, trying to give back some of the value we build every day together with communities, people, customers and suppliers.But it also means confronting issues that we live daily in our work: Artificial Intelligence has entered the world of events and communication in an increasingly concrete way, and as DS, we have always looked at innovation, technology and change with curiosity and attention. However, we believe that such powerful tools also need spaces for reflection, sensitivity and vision. In this sense, art can become a real engine of innovation, capable of generating new questions, new languages and new points of view even within companies. This is why supporting AI Horizons means, for us, fostering the encounter between technology, creativity and critical thinking: worlds that we want to be increasingly present in the daily life of our reality and the communities we work with."
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| Parma launches AI Horizons: international call on art in the age of algorithms |
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