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Google Arts & Culture Lab’s Freya Salway on innovation and creativity

A collection of red, blue, green, yellow petri dishes containing digital storage cards.
  • Written byRachel Segal Hamilton
  • Published date 05 December 2023
A collection of red, blue, green, yellow petri dishes containing digital storage cards.
BI0xMICR0° by Hollis Hui, 2023 BA (Hons) Fine Art, Central Saint Martins, UAL

Artists have always used the tools available to them. Today, as technology is evolving faster than ever before, Freya Salway, Head of the Lab at Google Arts & Culture, who guest curated the Innovative Dialogues UAL Showcase collection, expands on the theme of innovation and creativity...

Google Arts & Culture is a Google initiative that brings the world’s culture to our fingertips in partnership with cultural institutions around the world. The app and online platform invite you to explore a myriad of cultural topics such as art, food, fashion, craft and science; discover cultural connections; get inspired with a daily personalised culture feed and play with culture via interactive experiments and games.

At Google Arts & Culture Lab, our focus is on facilitating experimentation with advanced technologies for culture, collaborating with artists, technologists, researchers and cultural institutions. Cultural learning and discovery underpins much of our work; with a focus on new ways to experience arts and culture online.

Our Artists in Residence Programme explores the application of AI and machine learning in an artistic and cultural context, both as a tool and a collaborator. The programme has been running since 2018.

A virtual recreation of a waterside location
RHITM ( recreating history in the metaverse) by Michela Cherenti, 2023 BA (Hons) Interior Design, Chelsea College of Arts

Recent Lab experiments have explored the application of generative AI to aid cultural learning and discovery through play, for example XYZ Toy by Gael Hugo Artist in Residence at the Lab; applying Media Pipe Pose technology to inspire visitors to the V&A exhibition Hallyu! The Korean Wave to participate in a collective dance via the V&A K-Pop Dance Challenge created with artist and engineers; exploring AI for creative expression with Viola the Bird by artist David Li.

I am interested in the ever-evolving relationship between art and technology and the importance of space for experimentation to explore new ideas and possibilities.

The diversity of ideas on display in  Innovative Dialogues, my guest-curated UAL Showcase collection, was inspiring. I was particularly drawn to work that explored application of emergent technologies to spark the creative process and solve a challenge.

Many of the projects within the collection I have curated for the Graduate Showcase reference multiple disciplines - this interdisciplinary approach mirrors how we live our lives today.

A hand reaches across a screen covered in green and white rectangles
READING DIGITAL INTERFACE by Zihan(Marie) Yang, 2023 MA Graphic Communication Design, Central Saint Martins, UAL

There is no right or wrong way to experiment. If there’s an intention or a question behind it and you're curious, then you should see where it leads.

Collaboration is essential for experimentation. It’s at the heart of what we do. I think the three key ingredients of collaboration are: curiosity, openness and adaptability. When they truly come together, they can take a project in unexpected directions. And the unexpected is where the magic happens.