What are you going to do?In the context of the
Sectorplan Investments in the Humanities, the University of Amsterdam intends to grow its teaching and research in Humane AI. We are looking for a colleague with expertise in historical experimental formations of processing in the arts, with respect to mechanical and automated implications in artistic practices. You will teach and conduct research on the protohistoric dimensions of artificial intelligence and machines in the arts. You will have ample opportunities to develop new teaching modules on these and related topics for both BA and MA students.
Your research will be part of the
Amsterdam School of Historical Studies (ASH), one of the five research schools of the
Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research. ASH represents and fosters the study of the human past from Antiquity to the present day. It brings together more than 200 academics from Amsterdam's Faculty of Humanities, who participate in ca. 25 research groups. You will be based in the
Arts and Culture department in the Theatre Studies, Music Studies or Art Studies group. Arts and Culture is a large academic department that connects research and teaching in Art History, Heritage and Memory Studies, Museum Studies, Cultural Studies, Book Studies, Music Studies, and Theatre Studies. As a department we appreciate and stimulate interdisciplinary collaborations. You will especially contribute to the new Bachelor Programme Global Arts, Culture and Politics, which includes four majors, of which AI and Art and Media are of special interest for you. You can also contribute to Theatre Studies, Music Studies and Art History, as well as to the interdisciplinary Research Master Art and Performance Research Studies, depending on your specific expertise.
Tasks and responsibilitiesYou will contribute to ASH with research activities related to the protohistoric dimensions of artificial intelligence and machines related to the arts. The long tradition of the interconnectedness between technique, art and media demonstrated in spectacular events across disciplinary and geographic borders, forms an important part of the protohistory of digital artificial intelligence. (Public) experiments with pre-digital techniques of automatization and mechanisation in the arts reach back far into the early modern period and challenge the clearcut divisions of disciplinary historiographies established since the 19th century. Located at the crossroads of the history of science and technology, art history, history of ideas, performance studies, and media history, research into the history of Artificial Intelligence and Machines preceding the digital turn requires a genuine interdisciplinary approach, and includes topics such as the long history of automatons and robots in their relation with performance; the translation and interfaces between techno-institutional and artistic communities; the creation (and education) of new audiences and the affectation of mass-audiences through experimental public demonstrations in the conjunction of arts and (new) technologies; the modelling of arts through concepts of automatization; the history of global data transmissions (telematics).
You will independently conduct research in the field of protohistory of artificial intelligence and machines in the arts resulting in academic publications in peer-reviewed international journals and/or books. You are expected to actively pursue external funding for research, notably from national as well as European research councils, and to develop new terrains of research and envisioning an inspiring and relevant future research agenda. Moreover, you will be actively involved in inter- and transdisciplinary historical research at the UvA, establishing and seeking out co-operations with scholars in the history of science, art history, media history, theatre studies, history of technology, musicology and cultural studies. You will join one of the research groups of the Amsterdam School of Historical Studies in which you will play an active role. You will collaborate with research and artistic institutions in The Netherlands and abroad, with a special focus on active participation in the
Vossius Center for the History of Humanities and Sciences and the
Humanities Labs as well as in the Research Priority Area
Human(e) AI.
Your teaching will mainly contribute to the interdisciplinary Bachelor program Global Arts, Culture and Politics, with a special focus on the majors Human and Artificial Intelligence and Art, Media and Visual Culture. Depending on your specific expertise, you will also teach in one or more MA programs of the department. You will moreover contribute to the interdisciplinary Research Master program Art and Performance Research Studies. Preferably, you will also develop interdisciplinary teaching activities together with staff members from other groups in or beyond the department of Art and Culture. You will supervise bachelor and master theses, and act as a co-supervisor of PhD students. You are committed to fostering an inclusive classroom.
Finally, the candidate will be expected to take up administrative and managerial duties within or beyond the department.