AI as Co-Creator: Reimagining the Marble Archive through Speculative Material Practice
Combining photography, sculpture, AI, 3D printing/scanning, and photogrammetry, this practice-based research explores the relationship between artificial intelligence and marble, positioning AI as a co-producer in reimagining and transforming historic marble sculptures.
Marble, historically tied to processes of copying and replication, becomes a lens through which to question authenticity, originality, and permanence in the digital age. Its enduring symbolism as a material of longevity also invites reflection on mortality, memory, and ecological sustainability.
Grounded in New Materialism and posthuman philosophy, the project challenges binaries such as physical/virtual and material/immaterial, bringing marble’s mythological legacy into dialogue with AI’s emerging cultural narrative. It speculates on the future of archives, cultural heritage, and the legacy of AI itself.
As AI becomes embedded in creative practice, this research addresses how it can move beyond documentation and representation to actively generate new material forms. It interrogates authorship, labour, and environmental impact across computational and traditional modes of production.
Using archives at the British School at Rome as a starting point, the project will ‘activate’ historical artefacts and marble imagery to produce new artworks. Following an initial research phase, a series of participatory workshops will invite participants to co-create works guided by instructional AI, highlighting collaboration between humans and machines.