Art as bridge: how emerging technologies reshape creative expression across cultures

As ISEA2026 Dubai opens its academic programme, Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed reflects on art's power to connect humanity, navigate artificial intelligence responsibly, and centre cultural identity amid technological transformation.

The convergence of art, science and technology creates a particular kind of space: one where questions about identity, belonging and human dignity become urgent and necessary. This autumn, Dubai has become such a space, as the 31st International Symposium on Electronic and Emerging Art opened its core sessions, drawing artists, researchers and innovators from across the globe to examine what happens when creativity meets artificial intelligence, when algorithms encounter heritage, and when emerging technologies reshape how we understand ourselves.

Organised by Dubai Culture and Arts Authority in partnership with Zayed University, ISEA2026 Dubai unfolds under the theme ‘ELYAH: Constellating Place, Data, and Identity’, a framework that acknowledges something fundamental: that place, data and the stories we tell about ourselves are inextricably woven together. The symposium brings together more than 1,000 submissions across artistic and academic programmes, with over 100 artworks and installations selected for presentation across Dubai’s cultural venues.

In her welcome address, H.H. Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairperson of Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, positioned the gathering as an act of cultural citizenship. “Dubai’s hosting of ISEA2026 invites an international conversation about art and technology to a country where cultural ambition and future thinking are closely connected,” she said, speaking directly to the particular responsibility that comes with hosting such conversations. She emphasised that art transcends geographical and cultural boundaries, offering ways to explore human connection and understand what those connections mean across contexts and communities.

Her Highness spoke with particular clarity about the ethical dimensions of technological change. As artificial intelligence and emerging technologies reshape how knowledge is produced and cultures are encountered, she argued, choices about representation, voice and value become urgent matters of responsibility. “It is our responsibility to ensure that human dignity, cultural diversity, and creative freedom guide this transformation,” Sheikha Latifa said, framing the question not as an inevitable march of progress but as a series of deliberate choices that different societies must make together.

The symposium’s online academic programme explores this terrain through four thematic threads: Celestial Dialogues, Charting Constellations, Eco-Tech Futures and Starlinked Worlds. Sessions investigate how machine learning can transform ballet movements into evolving sound textures, how artificial intelligence might facilitate artistic exchange across cultures, and how emerging technologies can help recover ecological memories and sensory experiences at risk of disappearing. One keynote explores artificial intelligence itself as an artistic collaborator, examining the possibilities for interaction between creative practitioners and large language models.

Speaking at the opening, Hala Badri, Director-General of Dubai Culture, described ISEA’s longer history: a three-decade tradition of bringing together people who see possibilities where others see boundaries, who experiment with new tools and discover new forms of artistic expression. The value of such gatherings, she suggested, lies in the unexpected conversations that occur between sessions, the collaborations that spark across entirely different fields, the experiments that begin in one place and transform creative practice in studios and laboratories elsewhere in the world.

For Emirati and regional practitioners, ISEA creates a vital opportunity to exchange expertise with an international community, building connections that strengthen Dubai’s creative ecosystem, as Sheikha Latifa has emphasised in her broader work supporting emerging talent and innovation.

The responsibility to navigate technological change ethically, Prof. Janet Bellotto, Dean of the College of Arts and Creative Enterprises at Zayed University, emphasised, falls to both academic and creative institutions. Universities must nurture imagination alongside technical expertise, equipping future generations with not only skills but also critical thinking and ethical awareness. Prof. Kevin Hall, President and CEO of Zayed University, highlighted how collaboration between art, science and technology drives innovation, and how higher education must prepare students to shape rather than simply navigate digital transformation.

Sheikha Latifa returned to this question of generational responsibility in her closing remarks: young people will inherit the cultural and technological choices this generation makes, and they deserve the opportunity to understand their roots, to exercise their judgement and to contribute their own ideas with confidence. This places education and talent development, she argued, at the centre of any truly responsible approach to cultural change and technological advancement.

What it means for Abu Dhabi

ISEA2026 Dubai reflects a broader commitment across the Emirates to position culture and creativity at the centre of progress and innovation. As the UAE continues to lead in emerging technologies and digital transformation, this symposium demonstrates that these advances need not come at the expense of cultural identity or human values. Rather, the gathering suggests, artistic practice and ethical reflection must guide how these technologies are developed and deployed.

For Abu Dhabi residents and Emirati creative practitioners, the symposium offers opportunities to engage with an international community of artists, researchers and innovators, to explore new forms of expression and to contribute Emirati perspectives to global conversations about technology, identity and artistic practice. As Sheikha Latifa has noted, trust earned through action and opportunity shapes how cities and societies navigate change, and cultural investment reinforces that trust by demonstrating commitment to human flourishing alongside technological progress.

Source: WAM