https://www.schoolofma.org/summer-2026/data-cyborg-stories
INVESTIGATIVE STORYTELLING FOR LIBERATION USING DATA AND AI
“Data Cyborg Stories is a one-month full-time program that explores how artists, activists, and concerned citizens can use data and AI as tools for investigation, interpretation, and public storytelling. Inspired by traditions of whistleblowing, citizen-led journalism, and critical art practice, the course focuses on uncovering hidden structures and transforming them into works that can be experienced, questioned, and shared in public space.
Rather than treating data as neutral truth, we approach it as evidence: partial, situated, and shaped by systems of power. Every dataset contains absences. Every method of collection reflects a perspective. Every model produces a version of reality. The task is not simply to analyze data, but to extract meaningful narratives responsibly and translate them into forms that make sense beyond technical contexts.
The course is organized around the practical workflow of an investigative creative practice: finding a question, gathering traces, structuring and interrogating data, extracting patterns, and translating those patterns into public form. Participants will learn hands-on methods in Python, web scraping, data cleaning, visualization, AI-assisted research, and rapid prototyping, while developing their own exhibition-oriented projects.”
“in this program you’ll learn:
- how to prototype public-facing works using data and AI
- how to translate research into an artwork, interface, installation, or exhibition piece
- how to situate technical methods within feminist, eco-feminist, and critical design perspectives
- an amazing network and community of like-minded creative beings and potential future collaborators through weekly potlucks and other events”
