Research Retreats and Residencies

Research retreats and residencies offer you a unique and enriching environment for deep, focused exploration. These settings provide the time and space for you to immerse yourself fully in your work, free from the usual daily distractions. The extended period dedicated to research or creative projects fosters deeper engagement and allows for sustained thought and experimentation, often leading to breakthroughs that might not occur in a more fragmented work schedule.

The collaborative nature of our retreats and residencies encourages the exchange of ideas among participants. This can lead to new perspectives and insights as individuals from diverse backgrounds and disciplines interact and share their approaches and findings. Such environments are fertile grounds for networking, where lasting professional relationships and collaborations can develop. The informal and often interdisciplinary nature of these interactions can spark innovative ideas and partnerships that extend beyond the retreat or residency itself.

Additionally, the physical environment of a retreat or residency often plays a significant role in the creative and intellectual process. UKAI's residencies and retreats span from a former dairy farm in Reykjavik, Iceland to a regenerative farm in Quebec, Canada to encounters with the publishing industry in Milan, Italy. Locations are carefully selected to stimulate creativity and new ways of thinking. This change of pace and place can rejuvenate participants, offering a fresh perspective and renewed energy for their work.

List of Research Retreats and Residencies

A lovely blog

Intelligent Terrain 2025

Intelligent Terrain 2025

Express your interest to join UKAI Projects' Intelligent Terrain program by November 1, 2024. As we anticipate a world facing increased climate damage, rising authoritarianism, and the failure of centralized...

Intelligent Terrain 2025

Express your interest to join UKAI Projects' Intelligent Terrain program by November 1, 2024. As we anticipate a world facing increased climate damage, rising authoritarianism, and the failure of centralized...

Aberrant AI

Aberrant AI

Aberrant AI invites artists and others to explore the potential creative applications of artificial intelligence to express conditions of horror and the macabre. Horror is a profound way of engaging...

Aberrant AI

Aberrant AI invites artists and others to explore the potential creative applications of artificial intelligence to express conditions of horror and the macabre. Horror is a profound way of engaging...

Past Cohorts

2024

  • Shipwreck, Reykjavik, Iceland
  • Intelligent Terrain Research Residency, Wakefield QC
  • Factitious Residency, Toronto, ON

2023

  • Poetics of Synthetic Language, Milan, Italy
  • New Strategies, Online
  • This is Not a Schoolhouse, Toronto, ON

2022

  • Intelligent Terrain Artists-in-Residence, Wakefield, QC

2021

  • Ferment AI
  • Entangled, Kensington Market, Toronto, ON

2020

  • New Not Normal, online
  • Migration, online
  • Ferment, Toronto, ON

Past Residency Participants

  • Darian Razdar— Poetics of Synthetic Language, Intelligent Terrain (CA/US)

    "Participating in UKAI's Poetics of Synthetic Language residency (2023) and Intelligent Terrain working group (2024), I've grown a deep admiration for the work this organization is spearheading. Cultural interventions into Artificial Intelligence are not only timely, they allow us to gain a greater appreciation for the many kinds of intelligence we interact with daily -- embodied, ecological, creative. UKAI's unique vision for the future matched with its support of both artists and technologists is something I have rarely encountered and I can't wait to see how the organization grows!"

  • Michael F Bergmann— Shipwreck, artist (CA/US)

    During the first week of the residency, I came to understand the space and the people and the aphorism that the map is not the territory. I took on the role that I enjoy the most: helping to make impossible things happen. But through conversations with our group, especially Kasra, I understood that I could accept what my practice was. That building systems and working with others can be something worthwhile. And maybe could even be called an artistic practice."

  • Kristen Ferguson— Shipwreck, art director and producer (CA/US)

    "Having those people around allows you to come up with bigger and better ideas than if you just were using your own little stack of ideas within your own brain. You get to tap into something that is more meaningful and more universal"​​.

Event Schedule

Upcoming Events

AI Workshop Series: Halifax

all 3 days of workshops in Halifax, NS

Wed Dec 11, 2024 @ 09:00 am

Register

Delivery: in-person

Event Type: 1-day Workshop

This package includes all three workshop days - Finding your way with AI, AI Art Intensive, and the AI Community Session and Poetics of Synthetic Launch (and after-party) in Halifax, NS in December, 2024.

See each of the individual program descriptions for more details or reach out to us at home@ukaiprojects.com

Finding your Way with AI: Halifax

Wed Dec 11, 2024 @ 09:00 am

Register

Delivery: in-person

Event Type: 1-day Workshop

A 1-day crash course for creators worried about being left behind.

"Finding Your Way with AI" is a 1-day workshop being delivered across Canada. It is designed to support creators who feel anxious about the rapid integration of AI into artistic practices. "Finding Your Way with AI" aims to demystify AI and help participants discover how they can harness this technology to enhance their creative processes. Drawing from UKAI’s experimental approaches over the past five years, this information session will answer questions from potential participants about the types of hands-on activities, collaborative discussions, and exploratory exercises to expect and that might illuminate the possibilities AI offers for the arts. Workshops are structured to encourage a deep and thoughtful exploration of AI's role in artistic practice, emphasizing practical, real-world applications.

At UKAI Projects, our broader mission is to question dominant narratives and explore alternative ways of understanding and interacting with the world. By offering this series of workshops, we aim to equip artists with the tools to navigate the evolving landscape of AI in a way that aligns with their idiosyncratic practices and resists the homogenizing tendencies of centralized technological control .

Halifax Workshop Series Schedule

  • Finding your Way with AI: December 11, 2024
  • AI Art Intensive: December 12, 2024
  • AI Community Event and Poetics of Synthetic Language Book Launch: December 13, 2024

Participation Fee:

  • $35 for one day
  • $75 for all three days at your location (Finding your Way with AI, AI Art Intensive, and AI Community Event)

Acknowledgement: UKAI Project’s nation-wide AI programming is made possible through the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.

AI Art Intensive: Halifax

Thu Dec 12, 2024 @ 09:00 am

Register

Delivery: in-person

Event Type: 1-day Workshop

The "AI Art Intensive" builds upon the foundational knowledge from the "Finding Your Way with AI" workshop but attendance on the first day is not a requirement. This intensive session is dedicated to helping creators develop their AI-enhanced art projects from concept to realization. 

Participants will receive guidance on project development, prototyping, and testing their ideas in a supportive environment. The focus is on practical, hands-on learning, where participants can move their artistic ideas into actionable projects, using AI tools and techniques.

UKAI’s approach emphasizes the value of collaborative creation and the development of diverse perspectives in the use of AI. By supporting artists in moving from idea to implementation, we reinforce our commitment to fostering a polyphony of voices and approaches in cultural production. This method not only enriches individual artistic practices but also contributes to a more resilient and adaptable cultural ecosystem .

Halifax Workshop Series Schedule

  • Finding your Way with AI: December 11, 2024
  • AI Art Intensive: December 12, 2024
  • AI Community Event: December 13, 2024

Participation Fee:

  • $35 for one day
  • $75 for all three days at your location (Finding your Way with AI, AI Art Intensive, and AI Community Event)

Acknowledgement: UKAI Project’s nation-wide AI programming is made possible through the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.

Telling the Story of the End of the World: Halifax

Fri Dec 13, 2024 @ 01:00 pm

Register

Delivery: in-person

Event Type: 1-day Workshop

ALL REGISTRANTS WILL RECEIVE A COPY OF THE "TELLING THE STORY OF THE END OF THE WORLD" CHAPBOOK

Join us for an immersive and thought-provoking workshop designed to explore the themes of storytelling, disorder, and synthetic language through creative and practical lenses. Whether you are a writer, artist, researcher, or someone curious about how we might navigate the complex realities of today and the uncertain future, this workshop offers a space to engage with these ideas and apply them to your own practice.

Date: Friday, December 13 2024

Time: 3:00 PM - 9:00 PM


Schedule:

  • 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM: Telling the Story of the End of the World Delve into the challenge of representing large-scale volatility—climate change, AI, authoritarianism—and how to craft stories that allow us to make meaning of these seemingly abstract changes.
  • 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM: Reading from "In Praise of Disorder" Explore the themes of disruption, disorder, and creativity through selected readings that open conversations about the ways disorder can offer new approaches to art and life.
  • 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM: Introduction to the Poetics of Synthetic Language Discover how synthetic language, AI, and poetic forms intersect. This session introduces the principles of creating and interpreting poetic works in the age of machines and explores how language evolves in digital and human contexts.
  • 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM: Workshop: Applying These Themes to Your Own Practice Participate in a hands-on session where you will explore how these ideas can be applied to your own creative or research practice. Guided exercises will help you synthesize insights and craft new approaches.
  • 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM: Social Time and Connection An opportunity to meet and connect with fellow participants, share insights, and build relationships with like-minded individuals interested in storytelling, art, and the evolving landscape of creativity.

Join us for an evening of deep exploration, creativity, and community.

We will also be introducing our Poetics of Synthetic Language publication.

Poetics of Synthetic Language was a multi-month research residency for cultural producers exploring the poetics of large language models and synthetic language generally. What happens to the poetics of a work when language is being drawn not from engagement with the world but rather from a large language model trained on a vast corpus of human language? What are the risks and opportunities of relying on synthetic language that is not participating in the continuous process of becoming and evolving that defines language running wild in the world?

Halifax Workshop Series Schedule

  • Finding your Way with AI: December 11, 2024
  • AI Art Intensive: December 12, 2024
  • Telling the Story of the End of the World: December 13, 2024

Participation Fee:

  • $15 for one day (includes Telling the Story of the End of the World)
  • $75 for all three days at your location (Finding your Way with AI, AI Art Intensive, and Telling the Story of the End of the World)

These programs aim to create a supportive and dynamic environment for artists interested in exploring the intersection of AI and creative practice, ensuring that participants leave with a richer understanding and practical skills to integrate AI into their work.

Intelligent Terrain Spring 2025 Residency

Mon Feb 03, 2025 @ 12:00 pm

Register

Delivery: online and in-person

Event Type: Residency + Retreat

Intelligent Terrain is a yearly land-centered residency drawing on terrain near Wakefield, Quebec. During this residency, interdisciplinary artists individually and (where safe) collectively explored cognitive technology’s relationship to land and imagined approaches that bring us into a closer relationship with our environment while working toward the preservation of our world for future generations.

Join this information session to learn more about the program, the application process, and connect with others interested in the themes expressed.

Just as we inhabit our physical bodies, we inhabit landscapes and live within and from them. We have seen the impact of failing to acknowledge our entanglement with natural systems. From stone tablets to silicon chips, intelligent machines are not further away from the land than an engraved piece of stone.

To varying degrees, we are organized by our landscapes, and how might land inform AI’s development and our responses to it? How might we change the focus of surveillance from monitoring and control to understanding the relationships among people and environments? How might traditional knowledge and stewardship underpin ethical AI?

According to legal scholar and member of the Chippewa of the Nawash First Nation John Borrows, in oral and visual cultures, law flows from the people and from the natural world and is reflected in the artistic and physical world. To imagine ourselves as disentangled from our landscapes creates the conditions for the evacuation of these spaces. How might an ethic of stewardship, centered in natural environments, suggest developmental pathways for AI and responses to its excesses?

UKAI Projects leads a yearly, land-centered residency drawing on terrain near Wakefield, Quebec. During this residency, interdisciplinary artists individually and (where safe) collectively explored cognitive technology’s relationship to land and imagined approaches that bring us into a closer relationship with our environment while working toward the preservation of our world for future generations.

Most discourse tacitly or explicitly positions human beings, their relationships, and the environments they inhabit as ‘objects’ of ethical systems, algorithmic decision making, corporate action, and government regulation. Our cultural life extends from how we experience ourselves and how we experience others. AI amplifies and distorts what we actually and potentially experience.

Reimagination is possible.

Our experiences establish the ideas we can draw upon. AI has no body, no physical environment organizing its development, and no culture to weave and reweave into social life. There is no ‘dark matter’ for the machine to draw upon and our algorithmic culture is increasingly asking us to ignore our own semantic contexts. By (re)inhabiting the body, the land, and our cultures we might imagine a new ethics for algorithms and support others to appreciate the path we find ourselves on.