‘Critical optimism’ key to using AI in art, says academic’s review

Using AI in art should be viewed with "critical optimism" and not through a dystopian lens, according to a pioneering report curated by a Goldsmiths academic.

Dr Rachel Falconer, Head of Creative Technology in the School of Computing, has authored The Liminal Review: New Signals in Arts Technologies which maps creative innovation and radical transformation within the field of digital art over the last year.

Presented by the team behind the Lumen Prize for artists working with digital technlogies and in collaboration with Sonar Festival of Advanced Music and Multimedia Art based in Barcelona the review explores "a critical mapping of the forces shaping digital arts in 2025".

The review which draws on more than 2,200 submissions from 71 countries says this year has marked a "profound transformation in how artists engage with technology".

It adds: "Artists have emerged as system designers, creating bespoke AI models and forging unprecedented collaborations with machines that challenge our very understanding of authorship and creativity.

"Alongside this artistic evolution, this year also saw established art world institutions recalibrate their approaches to digital art, reflecting both the volatility of speculative markets and the growing integration of these practices into the wider cultural and collecting contexts.

"Far from signalling decline, these shifts highlight the resilience of decentralised models and artist-led infrastructures that continue to flourish in scope. They also affirm that art made with technology has matured beyond novelty, positioning itself as an essential part of the 21st-century artistic canon.

With contributions from the Tate, Christie's and leading digital art experts, the review is broken down into three themes:

• Synthetic Trauma and the Poetics of Erasure, which addresses "the confrontation and recalibration of loss, both ecological and cultural"
• Techno-spiritualism and Digital Animism, which "resists the flat rationality and utilitarianism of dominant tech culture and instead showcases artists who are turning to computational systems as modes and models of deconstructing and reassembling time, interiority, and the persistence of renegotiated identities"
• Anarchival Re-renderings, which "responds to the erasure or exclusion of histories and delineates a turn against traditional archival regimes"

Dr Falconer is a leading curator of Digital Art and has collaborated with international institutions including Tate, New Inc, The New Museum, New York, V&A and the Barbican.

As Head of Creative Technology her authorship of the Liminal review positions Goldsmiths at the forefront of thought leadership and innovation in the Subject Area and creates an exciting and progressive learning environment for students as this expertise is embedded within the curriculum.

The review contributes to the long-standing history of digital art practice across the artworld as well as introducing the new and emerging critical standpoints around the tensions and opportunities artists encounter when placing their practice in dialogue with advanced technologies, particularly AI and Machine Learning.