{"id":3218,"date":"2025-02-15T12:27:28","date_gmt":"2025-02-15T20:27:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pkmital.com\/home\/?post_type=pkm_teaching&p=3218"},"modified":"2025-05-15T06:11:52","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T13:11:52","slug":"ucla-cultural-automation-with-machine-learning-ii","status":"publish","type":"pkm_teaching","link":"https:\/\/pkmital.com\/home\/teaching\/ucla-cultural-automation-with-machine-learning-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"UCLA | Cultural Automation with Machine Learning II"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

UCLA 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Course Description<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This course explores the past, present, and future of how artists engage with digital media through its remix and adaptation of increasingly more automated algorithms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starting from early collage and montage practices, we’ll explore how artists have used cultural fragments as their medium to explore meaning through juxtaposition, appropriation, and d\u00e9tournement. We will then turn towards how computational methods enabled artists to explore such practices in increasingly surprisingly fidelity and magnitudes of data, leading to new aesthetics but also new questions surrounding its process and the underlying data. Finally we’ll speculate on the future of culture and machine learning in order to ask “Where is it all going?”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout, we will also extend the discussion into topics such as perception, augmentation, deep fakes, surveillance, privacy, automation, shifting labor markets, and ethical and legal considerations in order to provide a framework for how to engage with the machine learning tools we will be learning to use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The course will aim to balance theory, background, computational practice, and peer discussion and will shift focus between visual media, text media, audio media, and simulated \/ procedural environments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Previous Course<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Please see here for the course materials for the course Cultural Automation with Machine Learning<\/a> taught in 2023 at UCLA DMA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Download Course Syllabus<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Course Syllabus + Updated Course Schedule <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

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Week<\/th>Dates<\/th>Class Topic<\/th>Guest<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
1<\/strong><\/td>Tues, April 1, 2025<\/td>Lecture<\/strong>: Introduction, Critical Framework, and Cultural Automation Pt. I<\/td><\/td><\/tr>
<\/td>Thurs, April 3, 2025<\/td>Lecture<\/strong>: Introduction, Critical Framework, and Cultural Automation Pt. II<\/td><\/td><\/tr>
<\/td>Tues, April 8, 2025 <\/td>Lab: <\/strong>Student topic\/reading presentations<\/td><\/td><\/tr>
2<\/strong><\/td>Thurs, April 10, 2025<\/td>Guest workshop:  <\/strong>Introduction to Worldbuilding <\/td>Breanna Browning<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
<\/td>Tues, April 15, 2025<\/td>Lab: <\/strong>Student research\/concept presentations <\/td><\/td><\/tr>
3<\/strong><\/td>Thurs, April 17, 2025<\/td>Lecture: <\/strong>Generative Text<\/td><\/td><\/tr>
<\/td>Tues, April 22, 2025<\/td>Lab: <\/strong>Group crit<\/td>Yasaman Sheri<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
4<\/strong><\/td>Thurs, April 24, 2025<\/td>Lecture: <\/strong><\/strong>Generative Workflows<\/td>Hirad and Dalena<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
<\/td>Tues, April 29, 2025<\/td>Lab: <\/strong>Group crit<\/td><\/td><\/tr>
5<\/strong><\/td>Thurs, May 1, 2025 <\/td>Lecture: <\/strong>Generative Images \/ Video<\/td><\/td><\/tr>
<\/td>Tues, May 6, 2025 <\/td>Lab: <\/strong>Group crit<\/td>Peter Wu+<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
6<\/strong><\/td>Thurs, May 8, 2025<\/td>Lecture:<\/strong> Generative Agents<\/td><\/td><\/tr>
<\/td>Tues, May 13, 2025 <\/td>Lab: <\/strong>Group crit<\/td>Isabel Beavers<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
7<\/strong><\/td>Thurs, May 15, 2025 <\/td>Lecture<\/strong>: Generative Audio<\/td><\/td><\/tr>
<\/td>Tues, May 20, 2025 <\/td>Lab: <\/strong>Group crit<\/td>Sandunes<\/a>, Krishna Jhaveri<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
8<\/strong><\/td>Thurs, May 22, 2025<\/td>Lecture<\/strong>: Advanced Generative Agents<\/td><\/td><\/tr>
<\/td>Tues, May 27, 2025<\/td>Project Day <\/strong>(work session) <\/td><\/td><\/tr>
9<\/strong><\/td>Thurs, May 29, 2025<\/td>Final Project Presentations <\/strong><\/td>TBD <\/td><\/tr>
<\/td>Tues, June 3, 2025<\/td>No class \/ exam week <\/td><\/td><\/tr>
10<\/strong><\/td>Thurs, June 5, 2025<\/td>No class \/ exam week <\/td><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Contacts <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Office Hours<\/strong>: 1 hour following Tuesday class; otherwise, by appointment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Week 1: Introduction and Critical Framework <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Lecture: Introduction, Critical Framework, and Cultural Automation Pt. I<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuesday, April 1, 2025<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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DOWNLOAD: Introduction Pt. 1<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Lecture: Introduction, Critical Framework, and Cultural Automation Pt. II<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday, April 3, 2025<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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DOWNLOAD: Introduction Pt. 2<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Student Presentations \/ Group Crit<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuesday, April 8, 2025<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Homework presentations (See end of lecture slides from Thursday April 3)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Week 2: Introduction to Worldbuilding <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Workshop<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday, April 10, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Student Presentations \/ Group Crit<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuesday, April 15, 2025<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
DOWNLOAD: Worldbuilding Workshop with Breanna Browning<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Week 3: Generative Text <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Lecture + Lab:<\/strong> Generative Text<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday, April 17, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Student Presentations \/ Group Crit<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuesday, April 22, 2025<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
DOWNLOAD: Generative Text<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Week 4: Generative Workflows<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Guest<\/strong> Lecture: fuser.studio<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday, April 24, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Student Presentations \/ Group Crit<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuesday, April 29, 2025<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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