The European project has officially started its journey with the celebration of its kick-off meeting, marking the beginning of a new international collaboration focused on the relationship between cultural heritage, digital archives and generative artificial intelligence.
Funded by the European Programme Creative Europe, the project will be developed between 1 April 2026 and 30 September 2028 and is coordinated by MEET Digital Culture Center in Milan. archAIve was created to establish a space for dialogue between digital art archives and emerging technologies, exploring new forms of access to, interpretation and reactivation of Europe’s digital cultural heritage.
The project brings together an international consortium of leading institutions in the field of digital art, preservation of audiovisual archives and cultural innovation:
- MEET Digital Culture Center (Italy)
- NEWART Foundation (Spain)
- Zer0 Museum (Portugal)
- Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision - NISV (Netherlands)
- Public Art Lab - PAL (Germany)
From NEWART Centre, we celebrate being part of this European initiative that connects artistic research, technology and cultural mediation to critically reflect on the future of archives and the role of artificial intelligence in contemporary culture.
Reactivating digital art archives since the 1960s
archAIve’s main objective is to revitalize historical media art archives developed since the sixties through a critical dialogue with generative AI technologies (GenAI). The project will work especially on:
- reinforce the role of archives as tools for analysis and critical reflection on AI;
- promote digital literacy among artists and cultural professionals;
- promote new forms of access and participation in the digital cultural heritage;
- explore the relationship between AI and cultural heritage through the AI for Culture and Culture for AI.
International artistic residences
One of the main axes of the project will be the artistic residency program, which will select 18 emerging artists through an open international call.
Each selected artist will receive a €5,000 grant and will participate in a 12-month residency at one of the consortium’s institutions. During this period, they will have access to historical archives, workspaces and a curatorial and technical mentoring program to develop new digital works that reinterpret archival materials in relation to artificial intelligence technologies.
Living heritage for the digital future
archAIve wants to transform media art archives into active platforms for artistic experimentation, research and technological innovation. The project aims to democratize access to digital cultural heritage and promote new narratives capable of connecting memory, technology and contemporary creation.
With this initiative, Europe not only preserves its digital past, but also reimagines and reinvents it from a critical and contemporary perspective.
