Demystification and Remystification: free relation to AI

Presented by Zhenzhen Qi

Talk Details

Conference: CAA 113th Annual Conference
Date & Time: Thursday, February 13, 2025, 11:00 AM–12:30 PM
Location: New York Hilton Midtown, 2nd Floor, Beekman, New York, NY
Presentation: Remystification and Demystification, 11:05–11:25 AM
Presenter: Zhenzhen Qi, University of Connecticut – Digital Media & Design Department
Core Topic: Examining how to reframe human agency, interface design, and critical relationships with artificial intelligence beyond single-agent/monolithic models.

Panel Information

Panel Title: Critical AI Literacy in Art and Design Education and Practice
Panel Chairs: Leigh-Ann Pahapill, Bowling Green State University; Charles Kanwischer, Bowling Green State University; Michael Grillo, University of Maine

Panel Description

Organized by CAA’s Professional Practices Committee, the panel addressed the critical adoption of rapidly developing AI technologies in art and design education and practice. It considered artists’ practices, scholarly standards, ethics, human–AI collaboration, and ways AI-augmented art can foster reflection on AI’s cultural, social, and political implications. Topics included critical AI literacy in curricula, ethical approaches to collaborative art-making, AI’s effects on professional practices, and emerging standards for art and design education.

Presentations

11:00–11:05 AM: Chair Remarks
11:05–11:25 AM: Remystification and Demystification — Zhenzhen Qi, University of Connecticut – Digital Media & Design Department
11:25–11:45 AM: The transformative power of AI gaze in art-making: creativity and ethics — Daniel Raffini
11:45 AM–12:05 PM: Critical AI Literacy in Design Education: Navigating Ethical Integration and Collaborative Creativity — Danilo Ljubomir Bojić, Winona State University
12:05–12:25 PM: Emergent Phenomena in AI and its Implications in Art Pedagogy — Niloofar Gholamrezaei, Washington and Lee University

Summary & Key Themes

This presentation series addresses current debates on artificial intelligence that are often trapped in polarized narratives—either viewing AI as an existential threat to human subjectivity or praising it purely as an instrumental efficiency tool. Drawing on Heidegger’s concept of technology as a “mode of revealing,” Qi and zzyw propose reconstructing humanity’s connection to AI through a dual framework of Demystification and Remystification to cultivate a “free relation” to technology.

In “Demystification and Remystification: free relation to AI,” Dr. Qi explores:

Demystification (Exposing the Black Box): Deconstructing and exposing the political, ecological, and material costs hidden within automated computational systems through critical technical education and software design.
Remystification (Reclaiming Meaning-Making): Embracing ambiguity and incommensurability rather than calculable certainty. Rather than treating AI outputs as authoritative knowledge or commands, recasting them as divinatory, poetic revelations that require active human interpretation.
Beyond Tool-Dominion Frameworks: Moving past binary views of technology (either total control or total submission) to build a reflective, non-extractive framework for human-machine symbiosis.