On 16 September The AFAM Roadshow arrives in Rome: artificial intelligences, emotions and new aesthetics of the future at RUFA Campus.
The sixth event of the itinerant project of the AFAM Academies, coordinated by CNR ISPC and RUFA. A day of hybrid experiences between art, technology and education, hosted at the RUFA Campus in the Garbatella district.
16 September 2025
RUFA Campus – Via Giuseppe Libetta, 7 – Rome
Time 2.30 PM–9.00 PM – Free admission
After Ancona, Pontedera, Como, Milan and Naples, The AFAM Roadshow arrives in Rome with Creations · Emotions and Artificial Intelligences, exploring the relationship between artificial intelligences and emotions, and how technology can become a tool for creation, education and new aesthetics. A whole day of hybrid practices, where interactive installations, performances and talks open reflections on the role of AI in cultural processes.
The event begins at 3.00 PM with the Opening, the inaugural ceremony hosted in the Aula Magna (G13). The introduction will present the theme of the day and the scheduled sessions, among future scenarios, generative arts and performative practices. After the institutional greetings, the floor will be given to speakers who will outline the research trajectories to be explored throughout the day.
Welcoming remarks by: Fabio Mongelli (RUFA Director), Costanza Miliani (Acting Director CNR ISPC), Antonella Polimeni (Rector of Sapienza), Laura Negrini (Director IED Rome).
Concluding the Opening is the pitch by sociologist Derrick de Kerckhove, one of the leading scholars of digital culture and Special Guest of the Roman event. A student and successor of Marshall McLuhan, de Kerckhove directed the McLuhan Program in Culture & Technology at the University of Toronto from 1983 to 2008. Author of essays such as The Skin of Culture and Connected Intelligence, he is Scientific Director of Osservatorio TuttiMedia and Media Duemila, as well as a lecturer at various Italian and international universities.
After the coffee break, at 4.00 PM the Table Talks will start, thematic workshops by invitation coordinated by the partners of the Grand Tour AFAM. In the Campus classrooms, the discussion will revolve around the macro-theme of Digital Cultural Heritage, including design, copyright, education and shared design.
The structure of the tables includes introduction, parallel discussion and final restitution.
The programme in detail:
«AI AND DESIGN: INTERFACES, EXPERIENCES, INTERACTIONS»
curated by Emanuele Panizzi, Sapienza
«AI, COPYRIGHT & CREATIVITY»
curated by Alfonsina Pagano and Marco Arizza, CNR ISPC
«LEARNING WITH AI. NEW AESTHETICS OF EDUCATION»
curated by Francesca Gollo, RUFA – Rome University of Fine Arts
«ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND SHARED DESIGN»
curated by Alberto Iacovoni, IED Rome
The Genius Academy
Lectio magistralis delving into the world of Artificial Intelligence, open to students and beyond
The Genius Academies are lectio magistralis designed for students interested in the world of Digital Cultural Heritage, but also open to researchers, professionals and those curious about contemporary culture.
The sessions are free of charge, with mandatory registration (see links below). They take place in the afternoon, starting at 4.00 PM, and address topics related to artificial intelligence, new forms of learning and artistic practice as a critical exploration of the present.
4.45 PM – 6.00 PM
Duration: 75 minutes – Max. 25 participants per class
AI-DRIVEN ANALYSIS: LARGE LANGUAGE MODELS TO GENERATE A KNOWLEDGE GRAPH
curated by Paolo Sernani, University of Macerata
→ Register at this link
The Genius will show how artificial intelligence can help read and interpret complex historical texts through integrated AI tools. By using tools for the recognition and linking of names of people, places, works and concepts, it will be possible to build knowledge graphs: true interactive maps that connect events, characters and ideas.
Research on the writings of Giacomo Leopardi and Aldo Moro has shown how large language models, combined with more traditional methods, can overcome the difficulties of historical language and reveal connections often invisible at first reading.
This approach can help not only to make literary and political heritage more accessible and navigable, but also to offer new insights, opening innovative ways to explore cultural memory and its impact on the present.
DIGITAL PLURALS. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, FLUID IDENTITIES AND NEW FORMS OF LEARNING
curated by Luca Longobardi, IED
→ Register at this link
What happens when pedagogy meets artificial intelligence? And what happens when it does so in an era in which identity is no longer singular but plural, fluid, multiple? The lecture explores the transition from centralised and vertical educational models to scenarios where AI becomes both tool and interlocutor. At the same time, a new type of pedagogical subject emerges: no longer unitary and defined, but “plural”, who learns, creates and transforms in hybrid environments, between physical and digital.
RE\:HUMANISM. ARTISTIC PRACTICE AS AN EXPLORATION OF THE LATENT SPACE
curated by Daniela Cotimbo, RUFA
→ Register at this link
The Genius Academy analyses how contemporary artistic practices are addressing the ethical, social and cultural implications of artificial intelligence. The concept of “latent space”, from the language of machine learning, is used as a key to reflect on how AI technologies contribute to new forms of representation and interpretation of reality. Through mapping and datafication practices, art becomes a field of experimentation capable of imagining alternative scenarios and proposing critical and speculative visions of the present and future.
At 6.45 PM the Closing takes place, a final moment that brings together voices, experiences and reflections emerged during the day. In the Aula Magna (G13), protagonists of the Table Talks, the Genius Academy and the PopUp Show gather to share perspectives, contents and future trajectories.
Leading the final panel: Alfonsina Pagano (CNR ISPC), Francesca Gollo (RUFA), Emanuele Panizzi (Sapienza) and Luca Prandoni (IED Rome).
The day closes with a cocktail reception in the Campus spaces, from 6.45 PM to 9.00 PM.
PopUp Show
Installations and projects between AI, creativity and cultural heritage
For the whole day of 16 September, from 2.30 PM to 9.00 PM, the RUFA Libetta Campus hosts the PopUp Show of The AFAM Roadshow, a widespread exhibition featuring works, installations and projects by students and partners of Italian AFAM institutions.
Interactive experiences, virtual environments, performances and visual experiments offer the public an opportunity to engage with the languages of the present, between artificial intelligence, digital culture and new forms of expression. Access to the exhibitions is free.
PopUp Show curated by RUFA:
LAN_scape_001 by Martino Cassanelli
“LAN_scape_001” is a video installation exploring the expressive possibilities of artificial intelligence. Created with the StyleGAN2-ADA model trained on the “landmark” database, it generates new landscapes that do not objectively express the content of the source database, i.e., they do not faithfully reproduce the reality within it.
Exhibition of works by RUFA students from the Fashion Design, Comics, Photography and Design Courses.
PopUp Show curated by Sapienza:
In Fellini’s studio: a virtual environment between sounds and visions curated by Digilab Sapienza
A virtual space that allows the exploration of Federico Fellini’s world through images, videos and original sound suggestions. The experience invites immersion in an environment inspired by his creative imagination, revealing hidden details and new perspectives on his cultural legacy.
The sweet challenge: exploring Fellini’s heritage through play curated by Digilab Sapienza
A mobile edutainment game guiding participants through the Fellinian sites of Rome. Through interactive maps, quizzes and multimedia puzzles dedicated to the director’s films and life, players collect special objects and enrich their own “Roma Felliniana Album”.
PopUp Show curated by IED Rome:
A.I. and Plurals, the open generation – a project by 200 IED Rome students
Curator: Luca Longobardi
Tutors: Benedetto Battipede, Benedikt Hartl, Federico Coderoni, Valerio Ciminelli, Viviana Gravano, Marco Loi, Ginevra Napoleoni, Canio Salandra, Silvia De Gennaro
Eight interdisciplinary workshops explored the relationship between Generation Z and artificial intelligence. Installations, performances and visual elaborations address themes such as deepfakes, synthetic identities, digital loneliness and reinvented collective rituals. The most significant results will be presented to the public in a collective narrative.
PopUp Show curated by CNR ISPC:
In search, the first word 2.0 curated by Valentina Sciarra
A multisensory table invites visitors to discover ceramic tablets engraved with word-synesthesias, turning them into tactile and sound experiences. In version 2.0, the sensored tablets produce sounds when placed on the interactive surface, creating an immersive experience intertwining touch, hearing and language.
/IMAGINE curated by Bruno Fanini, CNR ISPC
Experiments of generative artificial intelligence bring to life content for 3D environments and works inspired by cultural heritage. Interactive models, narratives and visuals merge into experiences also accessible via browser, combining traditional elements and modern interpretations (to explore the project: https://aton.ispc.cnr.it/a/imagine/).
The AFAM Roadshow. Research, Creativity, Innovation.
The AFAM Roadshow is an itinerant project celebrating the excellence of Italian Higher Artistic, Musical and Choreutic Education (AFAM) institutions and the scientific research carried out by the National Research Council CNR ISPC and Sapienza University of Rome, through seven events in seven national cities.
Through this thematic roadshow, CNR ISPC, Italian AFAM institutions and Sapienza position themselves as a driving force of innovation, bringing the public closer to the richness and diversity of Italian creativity increasingly devoted to recovery, reuse, multisensoriality and multidimensionality, and inclusion in all its forms. A concrete and virtual journey that travels across Italy with art, design, music and dance in all their tangible and intangible forms.
VIEW THE EVENT BROCHURE – THE PROGRAMME