Tasks and Activities

Reimagining Heritage Art with AI

Task steps and details

Young Man and Wife (by Jawad Saleem/ Iraq 1919–1961)

This picture is taken from Wikimedia Commons.

Step 1. Heritage Art Exploration:

  • Students browse online databases and choose a piece of art from their heritage culture.
  • Encourage them to consider artwork they find visually striking, culturally significant, or personally meaningful.

Step 2. Picture Talk Activity:

Before diving into the presentation creation, dedicate a class session to a picture talk activity focused on the chosen artwork.

Preparation:

  • Project a high-quality image of the chosen artwork for the entire class to see.
  • Prepare guiding questions beforehand to prompt discussion and analysis. These questions can touch upon:
    • Location
    • Time
    • Action
    • People and their relations
    • Objects, their function, and cultural relevance
    • Feelings, sentiments, and attitudes
    • The subject matter and overall composition of the artwork
    • The color palette and artistic style
    • Any symbols or cultural references that might be present
    • Historical context surrounding the artwork’s creation

 

Step 3: Art Analysis and Short Presentation Activity:

Individually, students analyze their chosen (or a class-chosen) artwork and prepare a short presentation slide (or section) that incorporates:

    • A high-quality image of the artwork
    • A brief description of the artwork (title, artist, date, medium)
    • Key details about the artwork’s style, subject matter, and any significant symbols or colors, drawing insights from the picture talk activity.
    • Culturally significant objects, events, actions, customs, etc.

Step 4: AI Reimagination:

Students use an AI image generation tool ( such as https://www.meta.ai/ or https://stability.ai/ or https://chatgpt.com/ )  to create multiple images (at least 2-3) inspired by their chosen artwork. They can experiment with different prompts written in the target language and settings in the AI tool to explore various artistic interpretations.

Step 5: Long Presentation Creation:

Students create a multimedia presentation showcasing the original artwork and their AI-generated reimaginations. The presentation should include:

    • An engaging introduction that introduces the chosen artwork and its cultural context, incorporating insights gained from the picture talk activity.
    • A clear explanation of the artistic choices made in the AI-generated images and how they connect to the original artwork.
    • A creative narrative element. This could be a fictional story inspired by the artwork or a comparison between the original and AI-generated versions, highlighting themes and symbolism.
    • Images and videos (including their AI creations) to visually support their presentation.

Reimagining Heritage Art with AI Is© 2024 by Sarab Al Ani is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0